E-Corps’ Implementation of Environmental Sustainability-Focused Service-Learning: Conditions Supporting the Establishment of an Epistemic Community

• DOI: 10.15695/jstem/v4i1.12
• Publication Date: 2021-11-29T19:49:15Z
• Authors: Rebecca Campbell-...; Todd Campbell; Byung-Yeol Park; Chester Arnold; John C. Volin; Maria Chrysochoou; Peter C. Diplock
• Keywords: Service-Learning; Community Engagement

Background: Environmental sustainability-focused service learning programs can aid communities in addressing environmental problems and provide students with hands-on training. Understanding the implementation of such inform research application. Purpose: We investigate an program at a large New England public university. Our inquiry sought to better understand epistemic by question: What conditions, including contextual factors resources (funding, university context) people (i.e. faculty, their orientation teaching, how they work together), supported establishment community E-Corps? Methodology/Approach: employ frameworks 1) Design Based Implementation Research (DBIR), which considers from multiple stakeholders' perspectives, collaborative design, pedagogical theory knowledge, capacity for sustaining change, 2) communities—the stakeholders recursively generating, using, refining knowledge. thematically analyzed interviews (n=7), two rounds faculty participant observations four E-Corp team meetings (n=13). Findings/Conclusions: Findings show that within E-Corps' was existing context university, robust university-partnership prioritizing benefits aligned instructor approaches. informs both on DBIR as well practical university-community partnerships.