On April 3rd, the corners of the DCAL conference room were buzzing with conversations between community organization partners and Dartmouth College faculty and staff. Tucker Foundation hosted this session attended by representatives from eight community organizations and over 20 faculty and staff from undergraduate and graduate studies.
The eventual goal is to create a list of mutually beneficial partnerships, this session was an opportunity to begin the conversation between Dartmouth College and community based organizations about what is out there, what are the interests, and where are the matches. Helen Damon-Moore of Tucker Foundation laid out the groundwork for what makes a good community based learning partnership:
- Mutually beneficial.
Needs to provide a true benefit to the community and provide the students with a learning opportunity. Otherwise it is a burden to the community and the students.
- Asset-based model.
We (Dartmouth) are not out to fix the community. It is important to educate the students on this concept. Students instinctively have a “save the world/community” attitude and they need to understand this.
- Academic rigor.
Assignments need to be on par with college class work. Professors can grade based on effort but grading needs to be objective and evaluated in the same way any other course would be graded – heart alone doesn’t count.
The facilitation method used for this session was as interesting and innovative as the topic of community based partnerships. Open Space Technology is a facilitation method that allows the participants to drive the agenda and conversations. Tracy Dustin-Eichler from Tucker Foundation introduced Open Space Technology:
Law of two feet:
You (participants) are responsible for proposing agenda items, joining conversations and leaving the conversations when you are done. Start. Join. Leave.
Principles.
- Whoever comes are the right people to be there.
- Whatever happens is the right thing that could have happened. Focus on now.
- When it starts is the right time (freedom to come and go).
- When it is over, it is over. When it feels like it is done, ask “is it done”? and if the answer is yes, then it is done.
With the concept of Open Space Technology explained, conversation topics were proposed by participants:
- Government. entities in community
- Well Communities
- Links to careers/ post grad options
- What can students really do?
- Engineering/Architecture needs.
- Project Implementation
The conversation initiators found a space to host their conversation and the work began. Groups of varying sizes formed, people voted with their feet by leaving conversations and joining others. New conversation topics were added to the list as participants were inspired. This lasted for approximately 45 minutes and then the participants was brought back together again for a brief report out on the outcomes of the discussions.
A week later an email was sent to all the participants with notes from each conversation topic, a list of participants with contact information and an offer of assistance from Tucker Foundation for participants who “need help finding the right partnership, planning a partnership, or have questions about where to start”.
-by Jen Schiffman