Community Engagement Fundamentals
This section includes fundamental resources to help you get started with community engagement.
Expandable List
Get to Know McMaster University’s Office of Community Engagement – Learn more about the programs and supports that the OCE offers.
Office of Community Engagement Faculty and Staff Guide – This guide is for you if you are a McMaster faculty or staff member interested in building a partnership with a Hamilton-based community group in support of your research, education, or service activities.
Office of Community Engagement Community Guide – This guide is for you if you are a community member interested in building a partnership with McMaster University to support research, education, or service activities.
Office of Community Engagement Community Connector 101 – This is a quick and easy tool to help community and campus partners make connections and build relationships.
Fundamentals of Community Engagement: A Sourcebook for Students– A comprehensive guide to community-engaged learning at McMaster University. This resource is intended to support students as they participate in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular community-engaged opportunities. (Developed by the ExCEL Faculty Group)
Instructor Readiness for Community Engagement Worksheet – This worksheet can help instructors evaluate their readiness to build community-engaged components into their curriculum. (Developed by OCE)
Student Readiness for Community Engagement Worksheet – The following worksheet can help students reflect on their readiness to engage in/with the community before they start their journey. (Developed by OCE)
Community Engagement and Research LibGuide – This interdisciplinary guide is for those looking to understand the Hamilton context as they engaged with off-campus communities through teaching, research, and service. (Developed by McMaster University Library)
Reflective Guide: Authentic Community Voice in Community-Engaged Research – This guide is designed for both university researchers and community partners to reflect on their relationships with intermediaries in community-engaged research. It is meant to be used when: considering new partnerships or collaborations, evaluating ongoing research relationships, navigating questions about representation and authenticity, ensuring meaningful community engagement throughout a project. (Developed by OCE and SWAP Hamilton)
Sample Memorandum of Understanding for Partnerships – (Developed by OCE)
Community-Engaged Learning and Well Being (Wise Practices Book) – This online resource is based provides guidance on ensuring that community-engaged learning is ethical, accessible, and inclusive. Students who participate in community-engaged learning may encounter a wide range of experiences that have both beneficial and detrimental impacts on their mental health.
Responding to Sexual Harassment in Experiential Learning – Students who participate in experiential learning context are uniquely vulnerable to sexual harassment and/or violence. This toolkit supports staff and faculty in understanding what sexual harassment looks like for student who engaged in experiential learning. (Developed by Courage to Act)
McMaster University Accessibility Hub – The Accessibility Hub is a one stop shop for all things accessibility at McMaster. It includes links to training, an accessible event planning checklist, and information on groups and services available to students, faculty, and staff.
McMaster University Sexual Violence Prevention and Response Office – Provides supports for all members of the McMaster community, including undergraduate, graduate, and continuing education students, staff, faculty, medical residents, volunteers, visitors and visiting professors, and institutional administrators and officials representing McMaster University. Their website features educational material, guidance on seeking medical care, and information on McMaster’ sexual violence policy.
McMaster University Equity and Inclusion Office: Inclusion and Anti-Racism Education Program – The Equity and Inclusion Office provides supports for faculty, staff, and students to advance institutional equity, diversity, inclusion, and accessibility goals. Their website includes links to relevant institutional policies, educational content, and support for human rights complaints. The Inclusion and Anti-Racism program specializes in providing education and support regarding race, equity and inclusion, and human rights.
Reading List – A curated collection of resources on equity, diversity, and inclusion in experiential learning:
- Anti-Racist Community Engagement: Principles and Practices –Edited by Christina Santana, Roopika Risam, Aldo Garcia-Guevara, Joseph Krupczynski, Cynthia Lynch, John Reiff, Cindy Vincent, and Elaine Ward. Foreward by Timothy K. Eatman. (This book is available through the McMaster University Library) (See the Digital Companion for additional Resources)
- Culturally Engaging Service-Learning with Diverse Communities – Edited by Omobolade Delano-Oriaran, Suzanne Fondrie, and Marguerite W. Penick-Parks. (This book is available through the McMaster University Library)
- Educating for Citizenship and Social Justice Practices for Community Engagement at Research Universities – Edited by Tania D. Mitchell and Krista M. Soria. (This book is available through the McMaster University Library)
- Feminist Praxis Revisited: Critical Reflection on University-Community Engagement – Amber Dean, Jennifer L. Johnson, Susanne Luhmann. (This book is available through the McMaster University Library)
- The Wiley International Handbook for Service-Learning for Social Justice – Edited by Darren E. Lund
Guidance and Resources for Honoraria, Payments, Stipends, and Gifts in Community Research – (Developed by OCE)
Gift-Giving and Honoraria Practices for Teaching & Learning at McMaster University: A Resource for Staff & Faculty – (Developed by OCE)
Gift-Giving and Honoraria Practices for Teaching & Learning at McMaster University: A Resource for Community Partners – (Developed by OCE)
Community-Engaged Research
This page includes resources to support community-engaged research.
Expandable List
How to Develop Community-Engaged Research Questions – (Developed by OCE)
Community-Engaged Research Ethical Principles – Each principle includes a set of practical questions that a community engaged researcher might consider as part of their process. (Developed by Simon Fraser University CERi)
Community Engagement and Research LibGuide – This interdisciplinary guide is for those looking to understand the Hamilton context as they engaged with off-campus communities through teaching, research, and service. (Developed by McMaster University Library)
Community Resource Handbook: A Guide to Community-Engaged Research – This handbook is designed to help community organizations gain a practical understanding of community-engaged research. It also provides a guiding framework for developing a CER project. It can also be useful for students, early-career researchers and anyone who is curious about using research to advance community interests. (Developed by Simon Fraser University CERi)
Research Toolkit for Community-Based Organizations – Intended for community organizations trying to decide if they want to conduct research, and whether they should seek an academic partner to work with to conduct this research. This toolkit is designed as a project development checklist that acts as a guide for things to consider for community organizations conducting a research project. (Developed by Carleton University)
Toolbox for Conducting Community-Engaged Research – This guide provides researchers and community partners with CEnR tools for every phase of a project (e.g. relationship building, proposal development, project execution and dissemination). (Developed by Scripps Translational Science Institute, Scripps Whittier Diabetes Institute)
Participatory Action (PAR) Toolkit – Intended to provide guidance on what a PAR project commonly looks like, how to work together and some questions to ask as you go.
Closing the Loop: Strengthening Your Research Partnerships Through Communication – This guide builds on OCE’s principles of community engagement to help strengthen equitable research partnerships through clear, consistent communication and follow-up. (Developed by The McMaster Collaborative for Health & Aging)
Equity by Design: A Guide for Aging and Health Researchers – This is a resource to help researchers make aging and health studies more inclusive, equitable, and centred around older adults. (Developed by The McMaster Collaborative for Health & Aging)
Knowledge Mobilization Planning Template – This is a comprehensive, modifiable PDF-format toolkit that uses a “question and answer” format and checklists to elicit key components for wide-ranging knowledge mobilization (KMb) plans. (Developed by Research Impact Canada.)
Critical Self-Reflection Guide for Students – This tool invites reflection at different stages of the research process, offering key themes, prompt questions, and activities and resources to engage with. (Developed by Hana Chadwick, McMaster University)
Reflective Guide: Authentic Community Voice in Community-Engaged Research – This guide is designed for both university researchers and community partners to reflect on their relationships with intermediaries in community-engaged research. It is meant to be used when: considering new partnerships or collaborations, evaluating ongoing research relationships, navigating questions about representation and authenticity, ensuring meaningful community engagement throughout a project. (Developed by OCE and SWAP Hamilton)
Indigenous Research Primer – To guide those at McMaster University who are engaging with Indigenous Peoples and communities in their research. The Primer seeks to inform Indigenous and non-Indigenous, early and experienced researchers at any stage of their career and/or education.(Developed by McMaster Indigenous Research Institute [MIRI])
ʔit̓qawxawiȼikimik: Everyone Holds This Belief Together – Guiding principles for research and engagement within the Ktunaxa Nation. (Developed by the Ktunaxa Nation, University of British Columbia, and Canadian Institute for Substance Use Research)
Community-Based Research Canada (CBRC)– A national champion and facilitator of community-based research excellence, a research approach addressing challenging societal problems.
Research Impact Canada (RIC)– RIC is committed to helping universities and other organizations across Canada maximize the impact of research for communities.
Community-Campus Engage Canada (CCEC) – A national network and community of practice that fuels authentic research, learning, and creative partnerships between academic institutions and community organizations. CCEC brings participants in community-campus partnerships together, provide a national advocacy voice, and build capacity for community engagement professionals, engaged faculty and students, and community partners.
Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning
This page includes resources to support community-engaged teaching and learning.
Expandable List
Instructor Readiness for Community Engagement Worksheet – This worksheet can help instructors evaluate their readiness to build community-engaged components into their curriculum. (Developed by OCE)
Student Readiness for Community Engagement Worksheet – The following worksheet can help students reflect on their readiness to engage in/with the community before they start their journey. (Developed by OCE)
Guide to Experiential and Community Engaged Education at McMaster University – An interdisciplinary guide to integrating community-engaged components into a course based on expertise from staff and faculty at McMaster, as well as scholarly research and resources compiled by other postsecondary institutions. (Developed by the ExCEL Faculty Group)
Engaging with CityLAB Tackling Real City Challenges in Experiential and Project-Based Courses: A Guidebook for Instructors – A guidebook that answers frequently asked questions related to project uptake, delivery, knowledge mobilization, etc., for instructors interested in tackling real city challenges in experiential and project-based courses via CityLAB.
Student Guide: Preparing for Community-Engaged Experiences – This resource provides guidance for students on how to contact and prepare for placements with community organizations. (Developed by the Faculty of Social Sciences)
Creating Experiential Learning Opportunities in Any Course – This article outlines seven steps to integrate experiential learning opportunities with a focus on creating contacts in the community. (Developed by Timothy Hanrahan, Faculty Focus)
Experiential Learning Toolkit– The Experiential Learning Toolkit is a website that provides information, examples, and templates for designing, delivering, facilitating, and evaluating experiential learning in postsecondary education. (Developed by Niagara College Canada)
Fundamentals of Community Engagement: A Sourcebook for Students– A comprehensive guide to community-engaged learning at McMaster University. This resource is intended to support students as they participate in curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular community-engaged opportunities. (Developed by the ExCEL Faculty Group)
Critical Reflection as Assessment – Critical reflection is a metacognitive process whereby learners articulate connections between their own experiences and course content. This resource explains the benefits of critical reflection, as well as how to incorporate critical reflection as a method of assessment.
Assessing Reflection Using Rubrics – Assessing reflection is key because it signals to students the importance of experiential learning and the value of thinking about how they acquire knowledge. This resource explains how to grade reflection assessments using rubrics.
Prompts for Critical Reflection – There are many different frameworks that can help structure reflection. Regardless of the framework, providing students with prompts can ensure they are moving beyond summary to critically examine their learning experience. This resource provides a series of prompts that move students through the process of describing what they learned, synthesizing new knowledge with prior knowledge, and analyzing the impact of the learning on their educational, personal, or professional development.
Reflective Writing for Students – Reflection helps students think about how they acquire knowledge, but often students do not know how to write reflectively. This resource is intended for instructors to share with students as an introduction to writing reflectively.
Reflective Guide: Authentic Community Voice in Community-Engaged Research – This guide is designed for both university researchers and community partners to reflect on their relationships with intermediaries in community-engaged research. It is meant to be used when: considering new partnerships or collaborations, evaluating ongoing research relationships, navigating questions about representation and authenticity, ensuring meaningful community engagement throughout a project. (Developed by OCE and SWAP Hamilton)
Rubric Templates:
Reflection Rubric – 3 Levels – Download this sample rubric designed specifically for making critical reflection. This rubric features three levels of assessment.
Reflection Rubric – 4 Levels – Download this sample rubric designed specifically for marking critical reflection. This rubric features four levels of assessment.
Online Integration of Community-Engaged Facilitation and Learning – This resource provides a short summary of a background review which was completed to better understand best practices, challenges, and key consideration for courses facilitating community engagement courses online, or extreme e-learning. (Developed by OCE)
Virtual Engagement Toolkit – A reflection of lessons learned during the 2020 CityLAB Hamilton Semester in Residence Program. This document provides support for community engagement practitioners conducting virtual programming online. Topics covered include virtual facilitation skills, platform recommendations, and accessibility considerations. (Developed by OCE)
Adapting Experiential Community-Engaged Learning for the Remote Context – (Developed by the Ad Hoc Experiential Learning and Community Engagement Working Group [ExCEL])
List of Resources for Online Experiential Learning – A curated collection of resources for online experiential learning created by the Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning at the University of Calgary. The resource covers experiential learning broadly, which includes community-engaged learning, as well as work-integrated learning. (Curated by the University of Calgary Taylor Institute for Teaching and Learning)
