We want to be in your classroom and work with your students. Visit the Classroom Request form or contact the office so we can discuss what might be a good collaboration between our services and your classroom content.

As part of its commitment to college access and success, IHCC collaborates with AVID (https://www.avid.org/ ) programs in local school districts. During this on-campus classroom experience, the middle/high school students are taught a concept by Inver students. These experiences have ranged from cell model building in Exploring Biology to flint knapping in Anthropology, to dissecting sheep brains in Anatomy and Physiology – and many other experiences in between.

When Inver students take on the role of teacher, they benefit:

• Increases their understanding of course material
  • After participating in an “Inver Experience” teaching students about the parts and functions of the brain, student participants in one instructor’s classes raised semester over semester median scores on their brain exam from 75% to 95%.
• Gain hands-on experience working in groups
• Develops and enhances communication, collaboration, and leadership skills
• Develops critical thinking and problem-solving skills
• Improves their ability to handle ambiguity and be open to change

Community-Based Learning Faculty Resource Guide (PDF)

The Association of Colleges and Universities cites community-based learning (CBL) as a high-impact educational practice (www.aacu.org/leap/hips ). CBL happens when students and faculty enhance their course experience by applying the concepts and skills they have acquired in their coursework to a real-world context that meets a community need. A wide variety of possibilities exist for community-based learning collaborations between classrooms and community partners; including: direct service, indirect service, advocacy and research.

CBL is an effective pedagogy for learning outcomes that include:

• Application of concepts and knowledge in new contexts
• Effective oral, written and visual communication
• Working collaboratively across difference
• Taking ownership of learning
• Using a discipline’s knowledge base to address societal issues
• Developing skills and habits of critical reflection
• CBL should never just be an add on or afterthought. It should be selected because it is more likely to enable students to achieve at least some of the desired learning outcomes.

Some examples of CBL partnerships at Inver Hills include:

• Interpersonal Communication students are volunteering with Living Well and then creating an online volunteer training module on communication that will be used by the agency to train new volunteers.
• Pre-Social Work students are volunteering in human service agencies to learn more about their chosen career field.
• Ampersand Families will be speaking to our “18 and Nowhere to Go” learning community about the foster care system, after which students will write persuasive letters addressing an aspect of the system they’d like to see addressed or changed.

You are invited to meet with the Community-Based Learning Coordinator to brainstorm possibilities!

• Refer to our on-line job board
• Refer for resume assistance or a mock interview
• Refer to any of the Center's campus programing happening throughout the year. Incentivize if you can!
• Refer to our Facebook page in order to get the most up to date information about our office
• If you just don't know where to start, refer students to the Center and staff can help the student figure out where to begin.