Community Engaged Learning 

Susan McCahan, PhD, P.Eng. 
Professor of Mechanical Engineering 
Vice-Provost, Innovations in Undergraduate Education and Vice Provost, Academic Programs
University of Toronto

Community Engaged Learning (CEL) is a pedagogy that utilizes a number of key principles for the design of an effective learning environment.  These principles include contextualized practice drawing on situativity  theories of learning, and a social constructivist orientation.  CEL evolved out of community service learning as it was recognized that the students are not only serving the community partner, but are there to learn.  Thus one of the most important aspects of this form of pedagogy is the building of a reciprocal relationship that serves multiple interests.  In this talk Prof. McCahan will explain the underlying principles that inform the design of a CEL based course, and provide examples of these types of courses in engineering.  Practical issues such as finding community partners, and setting course objectives in a complex learning environment will be discussed.  This type of learning experience is becoming widely adopted as the value of experiential learning is apparent.  In engineering, the opportunity for students to get a broader perspective on their contribution to society is driving a growing movement toward community engaged curricula.
 

Learning Goals: 

• Explain the theories and principles that inform the design of Community Engaged Learning (CEL) experiences.
• Describe examples of how these principles have been applied to create effective learning experiences.
• Appreciate the outcomes, and challenges associated with this form of pedagogy.
• Identify future directions in this field.

Biography:

Prof. McCahan’s research is in the field of Engineering Education, which is aligned with her administrative portfolio at the University. She has published in the area of Universal Instructional Design and more recently on learning outcomes for skill development and valid assessment methods for measuring learning outcomes. Her research examines the learning environment as a designed system, and takes an engineering design approach to reimagining the learning experience. Her current administrative portfolio revolves around reimagining the undergraduate academic experience across the university and touches into pedagogical innovation programs, educational technology and academic data systems, course evaluations, work-integrated learning and pathway programs.  She is a Fellow of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in recognition of contributions to engineering education has been the recipient of several major teaching awards including the 3M National Teaching Fellowship and the Medal of Distinction in Engineering Education from Engineers Canada.