Office of Civic Engagement

How OCE Supports Faculty and Instructors Interested in incorporating Civic Engagement components into courses

OCE encourages the integration of community-based learning into course curricula as a way to infuse active learning techniques and assist students as they begin to connect the value of academic learning to their future careers and lives as citizens.

OCE staff assists faculty and instructors from across UMD with support in developing and implementing public work into their coursework. The range of support sought by instructors while planning a new course, or maintaining one that has been taught for years varies. Some instructors prefer to coordinate the logistical work behind a course with a civic engagement component, while other faculty members may prefer OCE staff to handle all of the logistical work and coordination of a course with a civic engagement component.

Here are some of the services provided by OCE:

• Knowledge of the community and of the field of civic engagement
• Partnerships with more than 150 organizations and agencies
• Ability to form new community partnerships based on needs and interests
• Identify appropriate community placements for students based on the course goals
• Connect with faculty with experience in civic engagement
• Maintain OCE's Civic Engagement Library, available to faculty and staff
• Conduct site visits to discuss course goals and objectives
• Provide ideas and methods for helping students to reflect on their community experience
• Provide students with site descriptions and site supervisor contacts
• Provide students with public transportation information
• Provide students with a copy of OCE/Darland Connection orientation booklet
• Assign students to their service sites and provide sites with student contact information
• Offer trainings to help students prepare for community work
• Maintain a database with student information and their community site placements
• Maintain correspondence with site supervisors to handle concerns and mediate resolutions
• Conduct mid-semester site visits to evaluate the partnership
• Disseminate and collect end-of-the-year community partner evaluations
• Disseminate and collect survey to students
• Highlight faculty work and community partnerships in various OCE reports