Project Assistant Program

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.

Timing and frequency of meetings with your PA during term will be mutually determined at the beginning of the term (usually once per week).

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)

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 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.

The training program for student Project Assistants supporting 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.

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)