Community-Connected Project Assistant Program

Students in the CCE Community Connected Learning course in class. One student looks at the camera with two thumbs up while the other two are listening to a speaker.

We train, support, and fund Community Connected Project Assistants (CCPAs) to provide instructional and logistical support for students executing community-based projects developed by faculty and community partners.

Fall 2024 Project Assistant Applications are open

We are accepting proposals for courses interested in working with a Project Assistant. The priority deadline for the application is May 15, 2024 by 5:00 PM.

Apply for Fall 2024

Benefits to Students

The positive learning potentials of community-connected learning (CCL) require highly collaborative leadership by those in instructional roles, reflective processes for students that allow for meaning-making and connections to other learning experiences and knowledge of social structures, and the support of students’ development of civic competencies and leadership skills.

Community Connected Project Assistant (CCPA) Program

Community-connected learning (CCL) requires additional support for community partnership relationships and logistics, and awareness of best practices for working with diverse others. Each semester the CCE trains and supports a cohort of Community Connected Project Assistants (CCPAs) who work with faculty to implement quality community-connected learning courses.

Trained PAs expand the feasibility and sustainability of CCPA for faculty, and allow more Middlebury College students to experience the impactful pedagogy. If you are interested in participating in this program find out more by contacting a member of the CCPA team.

We view this Project Assistant (PA) Training Program as a strategy for CCL expansion and success. The availability of trained and supported PAs will enable more faculty to implement CCL effectively and sustainably. PAs can help provide instructional and logistical support for the students executing projects developed by faculty and community partners.

The training program for student project assistants to support faculty in leading CCL courses takes place in the first month of the semester. Faculty accepted to participate in the PA program commit to 1) one cohort meeting with CCE staff and PAs in advance of the semester, 2) share a draft syllabus with CCE staff a month before the semester begins and 3) two training meetings with your PA prior to the start of the course. Timing and frequency of meetings with your PA during term will be mutually determined at the beginning of the term (usually once per week).

Application

Faculty who are interested in having PA support for their PBL course in Fall 2024 should complete this application form by May 15, 2024.

Project-Based Learning

The CCE is a partner in campus efforts to support Project-Based Learning as a high-impact pedagogy. For the Spring 2024 semester, we continued our collaboration with the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research to train a cohort of Project-Based Learning (PBL) Project Assistants that allowed all faculty to obtain this needed support for not only projects with external community-partnerships but also those including public products, a core component of all PBL courses.

For more Middlebury College-specific resources for faculty, visit the Center for Teaching, Learning, and Research.

FAQs

Q What is the role of the PA, and how many hours will they be available each week?

PAs have six hours/week to support a course (assuming standard spring term).

Each course will have a customized PA job description that the faculty member will propose during the application process requesting a PA and then refine through conversations with their PA.

Q What are some examples of the kinds of work and facilitation PAs could do in my course?

Examples of the type of work and facilitation a PA could lead include:

Provide an introductory overview of the principles of PBL to course participants
Facilitate team selection and team building with project groups
Lead project group discussions about power dynamics
Introduce and maintain project management tools
Manage community partner communication tools with project groups
Manage logistics of transportation if the project site requires
Implement proper risk management procedures needed for community partnership work (in consultation with CCE)
Contribute feedback on student work (written reflections, peer- and self-assessments, community partner deliverables, final presentation)

Q What kinds of training will PAs receive to support this work?

All PAs will be trained in six foundational areas

1. Goals and Principles of PBL

2. Relationship-building (between PAs and faculty, with community partners, etc.)

3. Team Building

4. Project Management

5. Liberal Arts Skills for the Public Good

6. Navigating the Institution (i.e. who can help PAs support your students in their project work)

More specialized training sessions would follow, depending upon the needs of the instructor and the project they are envisioning. PAs would, in consultation with their faculty member, choose these more customized training sessions to suit the particular project being developed. Each faculty member would complete a faculty inventory in advance, so that the training team could determine which special sessions would be needed.

Q What are some specific examples of skills, competencies and objectives that will be covered in their training, and that they will be able to bring to assisting me in my course?

Here are some examples of some of the learning objectives, competencies and themes our training modules will cover:

Developing shared expectations
Implementing community partnership best practices
What is reciprocity and what does it look like in practice?
Developing shared understanding of commitments between and among students and community partners
Contributing to clear, reliable communication
Bringing awareness of power dynamics across different groups
Discussing key dispositions of community-engaged learners: open-mindedness, cultural humility , appreciation of community cultural wealth, curiosity, empathy, commitment
Supporting team development within student and community groups
Identifying goals, challenges, and strategies for collaborative work
Holding the question: “What is ‘adequate understanding’ of the communities with which one is working”?
Assigning group roles based on individual strengths and learning goals
Addressing problem solving and conflicts productively
Consistently communicating about group dynamics
Managing logistics of projects using effective project management tools
Developing shared work plan, timeline, and accountability systems
Supporting transportation, risk management, and funding
Supporting sharing of deliverables (in person, electronically, etc.)
Creating reflective spaces for meaning-making
Leading discussions connecting learning and experiences
Responding to written critical analyses/reflections
Leading online asynchronous and synchronous reflections (if needed)

Diane Munroe

she/her

Assistant Director, Community-Based Learning

Diane Munroe is CCE’s Assistant Director for Community-Based Learning.

Email:: dmunroe@middlebury.edu
Tel:: (802) 443-5925
Office:: Franklin Environmental Center at Hillcrest Rm. 207

Katherine O'Brien