Discussion Questions:
- What is the purpose and aim of high education?
- How does traditional academic research contribute to that aim?
- How does community-based research contribute to that aim?
- Which elements of community-based research resonate most strongly with the work and mission of the CCE?
- What is your reaction tot he authors’ definition of community (p. 3)?
- Contrasts of various sorts — why? a. Ideal vs. reality (of collaboration, for example) – Why the difference? Implications for CCE’s work? b. Goal of substantial and long-lasting change vs. modest social action/improvement
- What are the benefits of collaboration for students? For community members? Do you agree? Do you see others?
- What’s your reaction to the claim — “CBR requires acknowledging the validity of local knowledge generated in and through practice in community settings and weighing this alongside institutionalized scientific and scholar professional knowledge familiar to faculty and students. Put simply, community-based researchers are interested in the epistemology of practice and, in particular, how each form of knowledge informs and guides the other” (11).
- Who are our community partners right now?
- Where should higher education commit their limited resources and why?
- What are some of the political and ideological ramifications associated with working with some groups as oposed to others?
- Why is CBR rendered “somewhat suspect within traditional academic reward structures?” If that’s the case, how can the CCE support faculty who want to conduct CBR?
- Principles of successful community-campus partnerships (28-42) — which strike you as more or less difficult to follow in the contexts of the CCE, Colorado College and Colorado Springs?
