High-Impact Practices Fostering Important Conversations Through Community Engaged Learning
Lindy Davidson, PhD, Associate Dean, University of South Florida Judy Genshaft Honors College
Andrew Hargrove, PhD, Assistant Professor of Instruction, University of South Florida Judy Genshaft Honors College
This round table discussion will look at high impact practices, specifically community engaged learning, to discover how faculty can prepare Honors students to participate in challenging conversations. The facilitators will provide examples of community-engaged courses and other experiential learning programs within our Honors college. Additionally, we will examine how these programs build skills and confidence in student engagement with challenging topics. Then, we will invite round table participants to share their own experiences and challenges in developing experiential learning/community-engaged opportunities for Honors students.
Our end goals include:
- working together to solve emergent problems
- discovering new feasible ideas to connect students with diverse communities
- considering how we can foster good communication about challenging ideas through these connections.
Examples of community engagement within the Judy Genshaft Honors College:
Local/Regional
- The Grand Challenge competition (for more information: https://www.usf.edu/honors/news/2023/ grand-challenge-recap-2023.aspx)
- Courses connecting students to local non-profit organizations such as the Tampa Museum of Art
- Donor funded internships with local non-profit organizations
- Honors community gardening course with student leaders (for more information: https://www.usf.edu/ news/boundless-bulls/students/kobe-phillips.aspx)
- Study away opportunities in the national parks, the Florida Keys, Puerto Rico, and local sustainable organizations
International
- Virtual Global Exchange (COIL) with classes in Colombia (for one example, read “what projects are you facilitating?” here: https://www.usf.edu/news/boundless-bulls/faculty-staff/nazek-jawad.aspx)
- Beyond the Classroom study abroad courses in Germany, the Dominican Republic, Japan, South Korea, and Ghana. (for more information: https://www.usf.edu/honors/accelerated-programs/study-abroad. aspx )
- Internships with partners in the Dominican Republic
