Module 4: Moving Beyond the Classroom

Learning in the Community:

Evaluating Learning Opportunities

 

Activity/Curriculum Support

This section is designed to help you evaluate the learning opportunities each community resource presents. It also will help you clarify whether and how these opportunities are connected to the key course outcomes you previously compiled. Review your key learning outcomes in the context of each community resource. Apply the outcomes to each potential resource on the worksheet so that you have a focus to speak about when you contact the resource. Identify the opportunities for each resource. Some entities may be able to offer generalized support, such as mock interviews or Science Day judging. Faculty can also look at local resources to find specific, place-based applications of what students are expected to know and do.

Ask yourself how the student's experience in this activity relate to the curriculum and outcomes. This will help you to formulate questions that pertain to each resource, and thus receive helpful answers to your inquiry. Remember, you can also ask each resource to suggest more resources to add to your list.

Prioritize Potential Community Resources

Before you contact any community resources, you need to establish criteria for prioritizing them. High-priority resources would be contacted before resources with less value to the curriculum/learning outcomes. On the worksheet, rank them from 1 to 5 (where 1 is low and 5 is high).

In most cases, resources not clearly aligned with course or program outcome objectives would not be appropriate.