Assessing Student Learning in Community Engaged Learning (CEL)

MSU’s Faculty Engagement and Experiential Learning team sends out pre- and post-course assessment surveys to faculty each semester to help track learning outcomes, confidence shifts, and community collaboration effectiveness. 

We also partner with faculty to: 

• Align course activities with MSU learning outcomes 

• Design discipline-specific or interdisciplinary rubrics 

• Develop customized reflection prompts and storytelling tools 

• Interpret survey results for reports or faculty dossiers 

Use these tools to structure formative and summative assessments in CEL courses: 

• Burton Rubric for Service-Learning Evaluation (Burton, 1999)
  Focuses on aligning learning with service impact and application. 

• Bradley’s Criteria for Assessing Levels of Reflection (Bradley, 1995)
  Helps measure depth and criticality of student reflections. 

• Civic Engagement VALUE Rubric (AAC&U, 2009)
  Assesses civic identity, responsibility, and community knowledge. 

• Discussion Board Grading Rubric (Grande, 2011)
  Designed for online or hybrid reflection spaces. 

• Using Bloom’s Taxonomy to Create Assessable Objectives (Ash & Clayton, 2009)
  A practical guide for moving from abstract goals to measurable learning indicators. 

Fall 2024 & Spring 2025 Surveys Summary: 

• Confidence applying academic knowledge increased post-course 

• Equity-centered collaboration understanding improved 

• Student leadership and communication skills showed areas for growth 

• Community partnerships were rated highly effective by 78%+ of students

Student Voices 

“This class was amazing! We applied our learning to real community needs.”
“It helped me understand what client-based work looks like.”
“The collaboration pushed our projects to be more innovative.”