"Plan for the Worst, Hope for the Best, but Realistically, Expect a Combination of Both:" Lessons and Best Practices Emerging from Community-engaged Teaching During a Health Crisis

Abstract

AbstractThis article outlines a framework that I implemented when delivering a community-engaged course during the earlier days of COVID-19. I argue that these guiding principles—centering the community partners' needs, assessing, and remaining flexible to students' circumstances, and cautiously mapping and selectively using institutional resources to deliver the course—allowed me to provide a community-engaged experience to undergraduate students despite pandemic restrictions. At the same time, I ensured that the intersectional feminist and critical ethos of the class were not compromised and that the commitment to the community partners' sustainability was not cast aside. Additionally, I share two detailed exemplars of community-based learning projects highlighting the possibilities, challenges, and limitations when applying this framework. I close this piece with several points of departure to stimulate future conversation among educators, researchers, and practitioners on the role of community-based service-learning during times of societal crisis.