Center for Community Engagement

Our Mission Statement

To foster a learning community that facilitates learning for civic engagement in our local and global communities; and that addresses societal challenges through long term sustainable partnerships.

What is Service Learning?

CSUCI is dedicated to providing students with experiential and service learning experiences.  Service learning is a teaching and learning method that links course content to "real-life" experiences that centers around a community need or issue. Through reflection activities students are given the opportunity to understand what was learned and experienced, and how the community was benefited.

What Characterizes Service Learning at CSUCI

Service learning and experiential learning can provide opportunities that reflect a community interest; however, service learning has certain characterizing elements that differentiates it from other forms of experiential learning (e.g., internships). The Center for Community Engagement will provide support and resources to service learning courses that are characterized by the following elements; as stated in the CSUCI Service Learning Policy:

CSUCI service learning courses must:

• serve a genuine community identified need/issue
  
  
• integrate teaching and course objectives with service-learning activities throughout the semester - service opportunities that allow students to better understand the content of a course so that they can reflect about their service experience in class assignments or use their service experiences to support their learning of theory and application
  
  
• integrate a service project that serves a community need and has been developed in collaboration with University approved community partners
  
  
• incorporate community projects that are more than a one to two time volunteer visit
  
  
• provide credit for academic learning and not service
  
  
• generate for each student, before placement, a Student Learning Plan, signed by student, faculty instructor and University-approved community partner, that identifies course and service objectives/goals
  
  
• provide a description of the service learning component of the class in the syllabus, stating whether service learning is a required component or not

Please click here to help you decide if it's service learning or another form of experiential learning (PDF, 23KB)

CSUCI Center for Community Engagement: Five Year Strategic Plan

In 2006-2007 the Office of Service Learning and Civic Engagement (OSL-CE) embarked on the development of our five year strategic plan that articulates the new Center for Community Engagement’s (CCE) pioneering vision and mission for service learning (SL), civic and community engagement. A diverse group of more than 40 people, representing key stakeholder groups (faculty, students, community partners, staff and administrators) created the focus question that the strategic plan would answer, collectively told the history of service learning and civic engagement at California State University Channel Islands (CSUCI), identified lessons learned from the history, assessed the current context and identified key vision elements they would like to see in five years. A smaller group of 7 community partners, students, faculty and staff drew from the focus question and vision elements to draft vision and mission statements, identify key barriers to the vision, identify four key five year strategic directions, and create a one-year implementation plan. Please click here to read the complete strategic plan.