ERIC Number: EJ1116551
Record Type: Journal
Publication Date: 2014
Pages: 12
Abstractor: As Provided
ISBN: N/A
ISSN: ISSN-1076-0180
EISSN: N/A
What Counts as Outcomes? Community Perspectives of an Engineering Partnership
Reynolds, Nora Pillard
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, v21 n1 p79-90 Fall 2014
This study explored the perspectives of community organization representatives and community residents about a partnership between a College of Engineering and a rural municipality in Nicaragua. The intended community outcomes described by university participants during interviews corresponded with tangible project outcomes, such as access to clean drinking water and electricity as well as improved access to healthcare services. However, the community participants also described the following community outcomes: confianza, sense of pride, and consciencia. Comments about using the community as a laboratory illuminate how categorizing outcomes as positive or negative represents an oversimplification and draw attention to the importance of community participation in various ways including data analysis. Findings are analyzed using Fraser's framework for social justice and provide a model for enacting global service-learning partnerships with the potential to advance social justice.
Descriptors: School Community Relationship, Outcomes of Education, Community Attitudes, Partnerships in Education, Engineering Education, Foreign Countries, Community Involvement, Service Learning, Social Justice, Municipalities, College Administration, College Faculty, College Students, Mixed Methods Research, Semi Structured Interviews
Edward Ginsberg Center for Community Service and Learning, University of Michigan. 1024 Hill Street, Ann Arbor, MI 48109-3310. Tel: 734-647-7402; Fax: 734-647-7464; Web site: http://quod.lib.umich.edu/m/mjcsl
Publication Type: Journal Articles; Reports - Research
Education Level: Higher Education; Postsecondary Education
Audience: N/A
Language: English
Sponsor: N/A
Authoring Institution: N/A
Identifiers - Location: Nicaragua; Pennsylvania
Grant or Contract Numbers: N/A