Patti Clayton - Academia.edu (original) (raw)

Papers by Patti Clayton

Experiential learning in and out of the classroom provides students with opportunities to learn f... more Experiential learning in and out of the classroom provides students with opportunities to learn from reflecting critically on concrete experiences. This article introduces Case-in-Point (CIP), an experiential teaching and learning strategy that uses critical reflection-in-action within the context of the classroom environment to modify behaviors in real-time. We broaden the use of CIP beyond its original realm of application, teaching leadership, to instruction in a range of disciplines, and we explore its use to build capacity for experiential learning and democracy.

Applied learning pedagogies-including service-learning, internships/practica, study abroad, and u... more Applied learning pedagogies-including service-learning, internships/practica, study abroad, and undergraduate research-have in common both the potential for significant student learning and the challenges of facilitating and assessing that learning, often in non-traditional ways that involve experiential strategies outside the classroom as well as individualized outcomes. Critical reflection oriented toward well-articulated learning outcomes is key to generating, deepening, and documenting student learning in applied learning. This article will consider the meaning of critical reflection and principles of good practice for designing it effectively and will present a research-grounded, flexible model for integrating critical reflection and assessment. Applied learning pedagogies share a design fundamental: the nurturing of learning and growth through a reflective, experiential process that takes students out of traditional classroom settings. The approach is grounded in the convictio...

Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2013

RIED. Revista Iberoamericana de Educación a Distancia, 2020

En este artículo pretendemos enmarcar la incorporación del aprendizaje-servicio y las tecnologías... more En este artículo pretendemos enmarcar la incorporación del aprendizaje-servicio y las tecnologías digitales en la enseñanza y el aprendizaje, a la vez que analizar la complejidad de algunos de sus desafíos y promesas. De esta forma, se compromete a los lectores con las preguntas y los problemas que se abordan en los artículos que componen este monográfico de RIED. Buscamos proporcionar perspectivas que puedan contribuir a la implementación de innovaciones e investigaciones pedagógicas que mejorarán la práctica y, en consecuencia, los resultados de aprendizaje. Comenzamos brindando una descripción general de lo qué es y el porqué del aprendizaje-servicio, para examinar, en una segunda parte, el cómo del aprendizaje-servicio en escenarios digitales. Finalmente, exploramos varios temas que pueden dar forma a nuevos desarrollos en el contexto de estas dos innovaciones pedagógicas.

Educational Theory, 2018

Randy Stoecker offers a broad critique of the current practice of service-learning as context for... more Randy Stoecker offers a broad critique of the current practice of service-learning as context for advocating what he describes as a liberating vision for civic engagement education. In a sense, the book is a provocation by a respected critical scholar and practitioner of service learning to others in the field. While reviewers Gabrielle Hickmon, Patti H. Clayton, and Sarah E. Stanlick share some philosophical ground with Stoecker, they take exception to several aspects of the central arguments of his book. Their review is not typical of those published in the Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement. First, it is a review essay. This form of writing calls on reviewers to offer broader reactions to books under review and fuller contextualization of them within the literature. In order to accommodate such thoroughly constructed commentary, review essays are longer than traditional reviews. In this case, five times longer than most JHEOE reviews. Secondly, this review is the product of a small team of authors, rather than a single reviewer. Hickmon, Clayton, and Stanlick refer to the experience of reviewing the book together within their review. By example, they make the case for group reading and discussion more generally. Most reviewers read and write alone, and even when partnered with a second reviewer (often a graduate student), offer no commentary on having had a shared experience reviewing a book. I appreciated that element; often scholarship-particularly community-engaged scholarship-is strengthened by being a community endeavor. Finally, this is a fairly critical review. Given the brevity of most reviews and the positive dispositions of people in this field, JHEOE reviewers are typically loath to focus on critique, sometimes needing to be urged to offer even constructive criticism in the service of authors and our readers. That was not the case here. Like Stoecker, Hickmon, Clayton, and Stanlick have a point of view. In sharing their divergent views both author and reviewers contribute to the intellectual quality of discourse in this field. Collectively, we are all well-served by their efforts.

To Improve the Academy, 2007

Civic engagement, which is presented as teaching, research, and service in and with the community... more Civic engagement, which is presented as teaching, research, and service in and with the community, presents new challenges for evaluating faculty work as part of the reappointment, promotion, and tenure process. The nature of service learning, professional service, and participatory action research are examined as faculty work that can be scholarly (i.e., wellinformed) and the basis of scholarship (i.e., contributing to a knowledge base). As such, examples of evidence for documenting the work and issues associated with evaluating dossiers are presented. Engagement 3 The Scholarship of Civic Engagement: Defining, Documenting and Evaluating Faculty Work Much of faculty work occurs on campus: teaching in classrooms, service to the university and discipline or profession, and research. However, each of these can also occur off campus when instructors deliver courses at remote sites, faculty provide professional services to the community (e.g., serving on boards, contributing to a government task force, consulting), and researchers collect data in communities. Figure 1 illustrates how community involvement is related to the traditional areas of faculty work. Although not part of this diagram, the intersection of teaching, research, and service in the community can occur when a faculty member designs and implements courses that use participatory action research. Community involvement can occur in all sectors of society (e.g., nonprofit, government, business) and has no geographic boundaries. We differentiate between the terms "community involvement" and "civic engagement" in the following way: community involvement is defined primarily by location and includes faculty work that occurs in communities and in clinical settings either on or off campus. Civic engagement is a subset of community involvement and is defined by both location as well as process (it occurs not only in but also with the community). According to this distinction, civic engagement develops partnerships that possess integrity and that emphasize participatory, collaborative, and democratic processes (e.g., design, implementation, assessment) that provide benefits to all constituencies, and thus, encompass service to the community. Civic engagement is consistent with many reinterpretations of community involvement that focus on the importance of reciprocity as a new model for these activities (e.g., Bringle et al., 1999a; Kellogg Commission, 1999). This distinction between community involvement and civic engagement is consistent with Boyer's call for fundamental changes in the structure and behavior of the Engagement 4 academy. Furthermore, it is also consistent with Rice's (1996) observation that faculty work is moving from the an emphasis on autonomous, individualistic work to collaborative, interdisciplinary work, and changing from the isolated character of higher education to a more public and democratic approach to academic work. This chapter focuses on one set of implications from this shift in perspective to civic engagement: How should the scholarship of engagement be documented and reviewed as faculty work? Documenting and reviewing traditional research and classroom teaching are familiar territory for most academic institutions. In contrast, the nature of service learning, professional service, and participatory action research (see Figure 1) are less familiar and may have unique qualities that warrant additional consideration as their scholarly nature is assessed. Each of these will be discussed as the basis for (a) faculty work, (b) scholarly work, and (c) scholarship. The discussion will begin with an overview of recent changes in the promotion and tenure process followed by a discussion on defining and documenting service learning, professional service, and participatory action research. In addition, issues related to evaluating dossiers along with suggestions for faculty development and institutional change will be offered. Emergence of Civic Engagement from Outreach and Community Involvement The manifestations of community involvement in higher education are remarkably varied. Faculty at many colleges and universities are involved in a range of community-based activities, including (a) cooperative extension, outreach, and continuing education programs; (b) clinical and pre-professional programs; (c) top-down administrative initiatives; (d) centralized administrative-academic units with outreach missions; (e) faculty professional service; (f) student volunteer initiatives; (g) economic and political outreach; (h) applied research, and most recently, (i) service learning courses (Thomas, 1998). Because each of these activities can be Engagement 5 situated within the traditional areas of academic work (i.e., teaching, research, service) they do not necessarily produce any tension towards change in defining, documenting, and evaluating faculty work. However, new interpretations and innovative approaches of community involvement, in particular service learning courses, have presented opportunities for both altering the ways that faculty work is valued and reinvigorating the public mission of higher education. The emergence of civic engagement within higher education produces a dynamic tension on existing views of faculty work and can become a driver for a re-examination of traditional approaches for defining, documenting, and evaluating scholarship. The foundational work for considering new approaches to scholarship was put forth by Ernest Boyer. Boyer wrote extensively on the role of service, community, and values in education, and his later years focused on implications for faculty and higher education (Glassick, 1999). Boyer offered an expansion of the use of the term scholarship to encompass faculty work in four areas, including discovery, teaching, application, and integration (Boyer, 1990), and this was followed with an analysis of the attributes of scholarship that could apply to these more extensive types of faculty work (Glassick, Huber, & Maeroff, 1997). Boyer (1996) promoted a new model for higher education in which "the academy must become a more vigorous partner in searching for answers to our most pressing social, civic, economic, and moral problems, and it must affirm its historic commitment to society" (p. 19-20). Boyer's vision did not simply target a quantitative increase in existing outreach and community programs, but rather called for fundamental changes in the academy. Boyer (1994) noted that, "What is needed is not just more programs, but a larger purpose, a larger sense of mission, a larger clarity of direction" (p. A48). Boyer (1994; 1996) added to his new vision a call for the "scholarship of engagement," which "means connecting the rich resources of the university to Engagement 6 our most pressing social, civic, and ethical problems, to our children, to our schools, to our teachers, and to our cities" (Boyer, 1996, p. 19). We assert that Boyer very intentionally articulated "scholarship" as an aspiration for his vision because of a belief that engagement could and should have the same scholarly qualities that are characteristic of traditional research. Although Boyer's view of the scholarship of engagement can be interpreted as an expansion of application, the scholarship of engagement can also be viewed as a new approach that reinterprets the nature not only of application but also of discovery, integration, and teaching (Bringle, Games, & Malloy, 1999c; Glassick, 1999; Rice, 2005). Many have built upon Boyer's thinking and offered critical examinations that explore how community involvement can change the nature of faculty work, enhance student learning, better fulfill campus mission, influence strategic planning and assessment, and improve university-community relations (e.g., Bringle,

Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2017

As a defining aspect of service-learning and civic engagement, relationships can exist among facu... more As a defining aspect of service-learning and civic engagement, relationships can exist among faculty members, students, community organizations, community members, and administrators on campus. This research developed procedures to measure several aspects of these relationships. Investigators collected information from 20 experienced service-learning faculty members about their relationships with repre-sentatives of community organizations using the newly-developed Transformational Relationship Evaluation Scale (TRES). Results indicate that transactional and transformational qualities can be dif-ferentiated using TRES and are related to other characteristics of relationships (e.g., closeness). Conceptual work underlying this study aims to advance practitioner-scholars ’ understanding of partner-ships as one type of relationship, offering a refinement on and an expansion of the terminology associ-ated with service-learning and civic engagement. Relationships are a central, defining d...

Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2015

As centers of experience, places teach us about how the world works and how our lives fit into th... more As centers of experience, places teach us about how the world works and how our lives fit into the spaces we occupy. Further, place makes us: As occupants of particular places with particular attributes, our identity and our possibilities are shaped. (Gruenewald, 2003, p. 621) The totality and complexity of the three part interaction of the natural environment, the built environment, and human culture and history, and the stories etched into [the] place, call into question traditional models of education and long-held assumptions about what it is that constitutes effective citizenship. (Stanley, 2012, p. 154) Twenty years ago Zlotkowski (1995) called for strategic change in the service-learning (SL) movement: an intentional and rigorous focus on integration within academic disciplines, a "broad-based adjustment that invests far more intellectual energy in specifically academic concerns" (p. 123). For all its compelling moral and ideological values, to secure the future of ...

Conducted in a nursing curriculum, this study explores the potential role of integrating critical... more Conducted in a nursing curriculum, this study explores the potential role of integrating critical reflection and case studies within professional practice degree programs. Fortysix students read a book-length case study, participated in a professional development event related to the book, questioned the book’s author in face-to-face interaction, and used the DEAL (Describe, Examine, Articulate Learning) Model for Critical Reflection (Ash & Clayton, 2009a; Ash & Clayton, 2009b). Feedback using the DEAL Model Critical Thinking Table was given to students after the first critical reflection essay, and students used that feedback to deepen their thinking in the second critical reflection essay. Analysis of the critical thinking scores on the first and second essays confirmed increases in the quality of student reasoning. Reflections also provided evidence of improved understanding of palliative care and student ownership of their own learning. Results suggested the value of enhancing t...

Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2005

Intentionally linking the assessment of student learning outcomes of service-learning with reflec... more Intentionally linking the assessment of student learning outcomes of service-learning with reflection allows each to inform and reinforce the other. This paper traces the evolution of a strategy that uses reflection products as data sources to assess and improve both individual student learning and program-wide approaches to reflection. Two tools were developed to guide the process of reflective writing in two courses. Associated rubrics were used to evaluate the quality of thinking demonstrated in the written reflection. Results suggest that these tools can improve students’ higher order reasoning abilities and critical thinking skills relative to academic enhancement, civic engagement, and personal growth, and as a result, can improve the overall quality of their thinking and learning. However, this assessment has also surfaced the need for further improvement, particularly with respect to academic learning outcomes.

Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2014

In this article we share the theoretical framework of threshold concepts--concepts on which deep ... more In this article we share the theoretical framework of threshold concepts--concepts on which deep understanding of a field of practice and inquiry hinges and which, once understood and internalized, open a doorway to otherwise inaccessible ways of thinking--and explore its relevance to learning how to teach, learn, serve, partner, and generate knowledge through service-learning. We extend the focus of work on threshold concepts beyond student disciplinary learning to faculty pedagogical learning, in particular to learning about service-learning; and we contribute to theory on how threshold concepts are learned by developing the idea of threshold experiences--reflective encounters with dissonance that give rise to deeper understanding and sometimes internalization of threshold concepts. In line with the exploratory nature of this piece, we use an example of an instructor learning a threshold concept in service-learning through a threshold experience to ground our extension of current ...

Inquiry and practice related to community–campus partnerships are ever evolving, with significant... more Inquiry and practice related to community–campus partnerships are ever evolving, with significant current momentum toward democratic engagement. To inform the ongoing development of associated practitioner scholarship, we examine the development of a tool for assessing the quality of community–campus relationships, the Transformational Relationship Evaluation Scale (TRES), as a microcosm of some underlying dynamics in previous and current work. After an overview of its conceptual foundations, we present TRES, review examples of its uses across multiple contexts, and share lessons learned from critical reflection on those uses along with associated implications for the future development of such tools. Subsequent discussion focuses on shifts toward conceptualizing both partnerships themselves and processes of inquiring into them in terms of systems and co-creation. Seeking to support readers in operationalizing democratic engagement in their inquiry and practice, we share conceptual ...

Welcome to the third in an ongoing series of special sections in the Michigan Journal of Communit... more Welcome to the third in an ongoing series of special sections in the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL) devoted to sharing the work of the Service-Learning and Community Engagement Future Directions Project (SLCE-FDP). This special section marks the second anniversary of the project. In this essay, we, the five curators of the SLCE-FDP, both introduce the thought pieces that comprise this special section and share our team's critical examination of the project's history and our sense of its own best future directions. First, a bit of background on the SLCE-FDP. In 2015 this project opened a broad conversation on the future of service-learning and community engagement (SLCE)--twenty years after the 1995 article "Does Service-Learning Have a Future?" in which author Zlotkowski called attention to the importance of institutionalizing service-learning as an academic endeavor, complete with strong disciplinary connections, professional development an...

Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, TransCanada Collaborative Research Program on... more Institute for Scholarship of Teaching and Learning, TransCanada Collaborative Research Program on Learning Innovations

This study investigates faculty learning resulting from a faculty development program implemented... more This study investigates faculty learning resulting from a faculty development program implemented at North Carolina State University to build capacity for community-engaged scholarship (CES). Previous work done under the auspices of Community Campus Partnerships for Health is extended by modifying an extant scale used to assess CES competencies and adding a retrospective pre-test to account for response-shift bias. This study also builds upon earlier work on assessment of student learning through the use of reflection by examining reflection products written by faculty at three points during the 12-month program. Quantitative analysis of responses to the CES competencies scale indicated a significant response-shift bias (participants overestimated their knowledge about CES at the start of the program). Qualitative investigation of participants" reflection products suggests they learned new language for CES, achieved new discoveries about their community-engaged work, and often ...

This document is a project of reclamation and transformation, one that is both ongoing and rooted... more This document is a project of reclamation and transformation, one that is both ongoing and rooted in years of dialogue within Imagining America and the work of its Assessing Practices of Public Scholarship research group (APPS). It emerges from our own experiences with assessment related to community engagement and from those of many other colleagues on campuses and in diverse communities. It is intended to bring together those who wish to reimagine assessment in light of its civic potential — to develop what we refer to as Democratically Engaged Assessment (DEA). In short, we are compelled by this question: How might assessment be an empowering process that enables us to create our path forward together, helps us “walk the talk” of our highest values, and allows us to share the story of our work in ways that are not only accurate but also authentic? Assessment imagined in this way becomes democratic practice, enacted in the context of democratic engagement and in the service of bui...