Selecting a Community Partner

On the last post concerning teaching with SL I covered the establishment of learning goals and course objectives specific to the pedagogy. In this post I will cover the issue of connecting your course to a community partner. Indeed it is not possible to teach via SL if there is not a partner in the community for you and your students to work with to the benefit of both. Some good questions to find answers to when selecting a community partner include:

1. Do the goals of the agency or organization fit with the learning goals and objectives in the course?

2. Does the agency or organization have reasonable expectations of the students?

3. Is the project one that challenges but not overwhelms the students?

4. Has the agency or organization done any projects with other faculty on campus? If so, what effect will this have on your project?

5. If the students need specialized skills, who will do the training?

6. Is the agency or organization willing to become involved in assessing and evaluating students?

7. Is this an agency or organization that the students will like to work with on the project?

8. What type of service does the agency or organization perform?

9. What skills or qualities can students develop as a result of working with the agency or organization?

10. Who will supervise students outside of the classroom when working on the project?

Tomorrow I will share some tips on how to establish a good working relationship with a community partner so that the SL project is a success for all concerned.