Practical Learning: Engaging Community

Students have the opportunity to analyze and utilize different economic models and economic relationships while applying them to real-world problems using data or visualizations.

Objectives

• Provide opportunities for students to engage with and contribute to the community while using economic tools
• Develop students’ abilities to see how economic models, data causal modelling, and applied statistics connect with the real world
• Allow students to apply economic research in a way that mirrors the kinds of things they might do working in economics and related fields

Delivery

Lecture

Prep Work

• Instructor connects with community partners, using network or assistance of groups like the Centre for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL)
• Through scoping meeting, the instructor develops the structure of the project in collaboration with community partners
• Instructor prepares case studies relevant to project highlighting real-life issues in CEL with assistance from CCEL
• Instructor briefs students on structure for the project

Method

The students are expected to perform work similar to that which "junior analysts" might undertake at an economic consulting firm.

First, students take modules to develop their professional and community engagement skills, and learn about proper data use. These modules train students on how to communicate, listen, and work with community partners, and are supplemented by lectures and case studies illustrating real life issues when working with community partners (the case studies are created with assistance from Center for Community Engage Learning). Students are also trained on collaborative and ethical data use for community engaged learning, so that they understand how to work with data and what it means to secure data.

Then, several different community partners who have economics-related problems are invited to come meet with the students. A brief overview of the different community engaged learning projects is given, and students begin the process of helping the partners figure out solutions to the problems.

Over the semester, students put together several intermediate proposals to address the research question. In consultation with the community partner, students work in small groups to develop a research approach, determine appropriate data to address the problem, and implement an economic analysis to the situation to address the problem. The students are able to develop various skills, such as how to write an executive summary, how to communicate complex results non-technically, how to write research for a community partner, and how to disseminate their work and present it.

Grading

Multiple submissions throughout the semester, including:

• Research journal: from which students submit a self-reflection at the end of the year
• Research report and presentation: for which there is peer assessment and more ‘traditional’ assessment of the presentation and report, along with feedback from community partner into the evaluation of the students

The main thing the students express is that they enjoyed working on a “real problem”. A lot of stuff that the students generally learn, such as economic models, is mostly abstract, and intangible. Whereas when you are working with a community partner, they are encountering a real problem. For example, we had a team of students working with UBC Alma Mater Society (AMS) last year, where they helped AMS in putting together part of their carbon-action plan. The students evaluated the carbon intensity of some food products which AMS was sourcing. While students can study about carbon neutrality academically, but in this case the students were working on something which is going to be used.

Another thing that students appreciated was that their effort did not just go into a desk and what they were doing meant something to someone. This encouraged them to do a better job, because they knew if they did not do a good job, it would not only affect their grades, but it would disappoint their community partner and it would hurt our relationship with that partner.

One thing that I think has been a little bit problematic is the group aspect of the project. It has been difficult to ensure that everybody is getting the same level of experience. So, I have been trying to introduce reflective and self-assessment activities that are distributed over the semester, which ensures that students are all contributing in more cohesive manner to the project.

There are also a couple of administrative issues. First is that these kinds of experiences are time-consuming to put together year after year, so I try to include some static case studies motivated by a real-world problem, but by doing that I am trading off the fact that the experiences derived from the case studies become somewhat outdated over time and do not have the same level of tangibility. The other issue is that community partner engagement greatly varies, and some partners require specific skills from the students. I would like to include more activities to help student work in multi-functional teams; I have worked on this, but it is not where I want it to be.  I also would very much like to develop a Git training session since it is a tool that is very commonly used in business.

I think one may consider if they wish to do a static case study style, or something similar to community engaged learning, which is more active and evolving. Practical learning activities, such as community engaged learning, are more valuable to students but requires a lot of initial planning and take much more effort. The planning also depends a lot on the structure of the course and there are a lot of moving pieces to be carefully considered. So, my biggest tip would be to think about what you are trying to get your students to learn and then figure out if this is the most effective way to do it.

Although this kind of activity is lot of work to set up and implement, it has the great advantage of speaking very directly to a certain type of student who is often not engaged by “normal” coursework; this makes it a lot of fun to conduct.  I think you can lighten a lot of the work by drawing on partners, such as the Centre for Community Engaged Learning (CCEL), who can help with some of the specific training parts of the course.

Practical Learning with Dr. Jonathan Graves