How Universities Communicate Community Engagement Projects
Connecting with local businesses and nonprofits is challenging for universities looking for community engagement (service-learning projects). Students can analyze a few examples and recommend improvements:
First, students might identify the primary audience (partners) and communication objectives for these pages. The primary objective is to encourage organizations to partner with schools for student projects. More specifically, they want prospective partners to understand the potential value of student work and identify projects that fit course and learning objectives.
Second, an audience analysis will tell them that these folks don’t have a lot of time or resources to spend learning about the program or partnership. The webpage is an indication of how much work they’ll need to invest—and it can’t be too much.
Then, students can develop a short list of criteria for these pages—the usual for audience analysis, content, organization, writing style, design, etc. For example, they might judge “you-focus” on the partner, including what the partner will get out of the partnership; clarity and conciseness of the writing; a clean visual look; examples of past projects; branding for the university or college; and a call to action with contact information.
Following are a few examples of webpages, with a couple of notes on each. Students might notice that many start with the program mission, which sounds like academic jargon—not a good choice for the opening of these pages for a partner.
Cal State San Marcos: Clear call to action with a form to complete.
Davidson College: Strong “you” focus in the first few paragraphs.
Florida Gulf Coast Service Learning: Also good “you” focus and clear design (although a lot of clicks).
Michigan State Community-Engaged Learning: Finding something positive from this page, which starts with “Criminal Background Checks,” is challenging.
NYU Wagner Capstone: Strong description of students and the value they bring.
Seattle Community Partnerships: Confusing with two separate sections, and link headings aren’t descriptive or organized in an intuitive way.
University of Nevada, Reno, Partner Resources: Welcoming suggestion to contact them up front, but the service-learning guidebook isn’t available—why mention it?
University of Rochester Community Engagement: Starts with clear “you” focus, but the writing sounds like academic jargon, and the organization mixes purpose and programs.
West Texas A&M Quality Enhancement Plan: Big points for the only video in this bunch, but we hear from students and faculty—not partners. If information is available for partners, it’s not apparent.