ACE at St. Olaf
What are the goals of the ACE Program? The primary goal of the ACE Program is to support student learning within a real-world context as part of a for-credit course or mentored public scholarship. Another goal is to strengthen the larger communities of which St. Olaf is a part, including local, regional/state, national, and global.
How does St. Olaf define Academic Civic Engagement? It is an educational approach that encourages students to learn in community contexts. Students consider community-based experiences in relation to classroom learning and apply academic knowledge and skills to strengthen communities as an integrated component of an academic course. Often referred to as community-based research, service-learning, community-based learning and public scholarship, academic civic engagement facilitates the development of skills, habits of mind and relationships that prepare students for future internship, research, civic leadership and work roles.
What are potential benefits for students? Academic civic engagement has been identified by the AAC&U as a high-impact educational practice. Potential benefits associated with community-engaged learning include: enhanced motivation, greater retention of course material, increased interest in subject area, improved “self-efficacy”, greater understanding of community assets and issues, opportunities to build career-related skills and networks, and greater clarity in career and vocational choices.
How does a class receive an ACE designation? The decision is up to each individual instructor. The ACE designation must be renewed each time the course is taught. Each semester, the ACE Coordinator will contact the instructor to find out if the course should be listed as having an academic civic engagement component.
What constitutes an ACE course? ACE courses involve collaboration between students enrolled in St. Olaf College courses and the larger community for the purposes of a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources. Community partners are most often non-profit organizations, public agencies, or St. Olaf offices, but may also be for-profit companies.
What is ACE in the words of two students? (By Laura Romeyn ’12 and Ben Golden ’12)
Fundamentally, Academic Civic Engagement (ACE) is learning that happens in a community context. In a course with an ACE curriculum, you’ll be asked to consider community experiences and issues in relation to your classroom learning. A civic engagement experience will consist of students and the community (read: people outside of the St. Olaf “bubble”) collaborating on a project. Ideally, this project benefits students by becoming an integral part of their coursework, while the community benefits by receiving a useful product or service. Some ACE projects ultimately produce educational materials, while others don’t involve a quantifiable “product,” but involve teaching concepts to local schools or conducting research on behalf of a community partner. Some ACE projects involve careful observation and listening attentively to voices beyond the campus. Sounds pretty good, right? But it’s not that easy. Every community comes with hidden challenges, and engaging in this way requires a commitment to others and a passion for the place you call home – for however short a time you’ll be living there. “Civic passions” are the motivating factors behind successful civic engagement. In order to gain something, really gain something, from a collaboration, your energy and passion must come into play..…..Academic Civic Engagement involves bringing those skills and passions to your classroom and your community. However, don’t think that passions and interests are only brought into civic engagement. We enter Northfield with our passions from home, but stepping into a new community leads to all sorts of chance encounters and an opportunity to develop new skills and interests.
Also consider looking over the following… ACE Student Learning Outcomes
Each ACE course will address at least two of the seven ACE Learning Outcomes listed below. Through participation in an academic civic engagement course, students will demonstrate two or more of the following:
1. Civic knowledge Ability to describe the social, political and historical contexts of civic/community organizations.
2. Civic learning Ability to apply academic knowledge and proficiencies (such as written and oral communication, teamwork, critical and creative thinking, information literacy, intercultural competency, quantitative skills, etc.) in service of a civic/community aim.
3. Civic self-understanding Ability to evaluate one’s academic knowledge and proficiencies (such as written and oral communication, teamwork, critical and creative thinking, information literacy, intercultural competency, quantitative skills, etc.) in service of a civic/community aim.
4. Civic reflection Ability to describe and evaluate one’s civic/community aims and accomplishments.
5. Civic efficacy Confidence in one’s ability to contribute effectively to civic and community endeavors.
6. Civic action Commitment to pursue civic, community and work roles that foster the common good.
7. Vocational integration Ability to articulate how to use one’s knowledge and skills to contribute in personal, civic or work roles.
Kuh, G. D. (2008) High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U).
Scheibel, J., Bowley, E.M., and Jones, S. (2005) The Promise of Partnerships: Tapping Into the College as a Community Asset. Campus Compact.
These Student Learning Outcomes were drafted November 5th, 2010 by Mary Carlsen, Bruce Dalgaard, Eric Fure-Slocum, Dana Gross, Dan Hofrenning, Naurine Lennox, Paul Roback, Kathy Tegtmeyer Pak and Nate Jacobi (Center for Experiential Learning, now called the Piper Center for Career and Vocation).