Change Lab

• The Change Lab is a faculty-led initiative designed to build institutional capacity for engaged scholarship (ES).
• It serves as a resource hub and innovation incubator, providing professional development, peer support, and tools for reforming faculty evaluation policies/reward systems.
• Endorsed by principles of shared governance, the Change Lab seeks to align policies/reward systems with UNO’s mission.
• One of our central goals is to support units (department/colleges) interested in revising their policies or guidelines (e.g., RPT guidelines) to more fully recognize the work of engaged scholars.
• These pursued additions to the RPT are not intended to replace current, traditional forms of research, but instead advocate for the inclusion of engaged scholarship as an alternative and equally-viable pathway.
• The Change Lab is funded by the Weitz Innovation and Excellence Fund.
• Our goals include:
  • Share and teach others of ES
  • Advocate for the legitimization of ES.
• Partner with units interested in updating (expanding/ making explicit what is now implicit) their governance documents/guidelines so ES is recognized, thus fostering alignment with UNO’s mission and strategic plan.
• The Change Lab team members (i.e., engagement advocates) are our point of contact if you would like to learn more about us, ES, or if you wish to partner with us in our mission.

“Engaged research has been developed, evaluated, and communicated in collaboration with community partners, but is rigorous in terms of its design and methodology. It is relevant to the needs of the community, and its outcomes should be valued by both academic peers and community partners. Examples of engaged research may include government funded research, corporate funded research; community group funded research; foundation funded research; community based participatory research; evaluation research studies; and/or applied research.” -Office of Engagement

Michigan State University has an extensive definition as well as what types of activities fall under this distinction.

According to its mission, UNO is committed to "collaboration between the University and its local, regional, national, and global communities for the exchange of knowledge and resources. As an engaged campus, UNO is fully committed to creating value through mutually beneficial partnerships where information and expertise are shared and applied for the common good." (From UNO).

ES is also vital to faculty and students because it aligns with all four pillars of UNO’s Strategic Plan, particularly community engagement, while also enhancing student learning, academic excellence, and institutional effectiveness. ES offers faculty a way to expand and translate their scholarship and teaching through meaningful, community-connected work that aligns with institutional goals and advancements in their own disciplinary fields. For students, it deepens learning by connecting classroom knowledge to real-world impact.

No, they are not the same.

ES refers to a broad approach to academic work where teaching, research, and service are integrated and conducted in collaboration with community partners to address public issues.

Service learning is a specific teaching method that combines community engagement with academic instruction. Service-learning exemplifies engaged teaching.

First, it is important to differentiate ES from community engagement. These terms are related but they are not the same.

ES was defined above in 2. Per UNO's Strategic Planning Steering Committee, community engagement is the "collaboration between the University and its local, regional, national, and global communities for the exchange of knowledge and resources. As an engaged campus, UNO is fully committed to creating value through mutually beneficial partnerships where information and expertise is shared and applied for the common good."

Michigan State University also makes a distinction between ES and community engagement, discussing the difference in definitions and activities that would classify under each.

Developing quality learning objectives for ES activities involves connecting academic content with community-based experiences in ways that foster deep and reflective learning.

Strong learning objectives should align with course goals, be measurable, and emphasize both disciplinary knowledge and civic or applied learning. Service Learning Academy has many resources that can support faculty in building students’ learning objectives.

Key concepts to keep in mind while planning quality learning objectives include: an alignment between the academic content and goals of the course and the activity in the community; a focus on reciprocity in the partnership with the community; and critical reflection.

ES relates to teaching, research, and service in varying ways depending on the work and where it shows up in institutional life. It might involve collaborative research with community partners, experiential teaching, or service that includes both campus-level responsibilities in support of ES and work to support external engagement efforts. These dimensions reflect the broad scope and integrative potential of ES.

Example of engaged research and teaching: A professor in World Languages collaborates with a local community organization that serves a predominantly Latinx population. Together, they co-create a culturally responsive literacy program designed to foster Spanish language development and maintenance among Latinx children. Students in the professor’s course implement the program through service-learning. The professor and the community partner co-lead a research study to examine the program’s impact on participating children and families, as well as on UNO students.

Yes, ES maintains the same level of academic rigor as traditional scholarship, though it may look different in form and process.

ES is guided by scholarly standards such as clear goals, appropriate methods, peer or expert review, and dissemination of results. What sets it apart is its emphasis on collaboration with community partners, real-world impact, and reciprocal knowledge production. (See Question 2 from above).

Rather than diminishing rigor, ES often requires additional layers of complexity, such as building trust, navigating different knowledge systems, and ensuring mutual benefit, all while maintaining methodological soundness and academic credibility.

RPT guidelines and other reward systems can meaningfully include the notion of rigor in ES evaluation criteria to reflect the unique contributions and standards of this work, while maintaining academic excellence.

UCRCA has award opportunities. They also provide different grant opportunities including those for high school internships and work-study assistants.

Academic Affairs (Honors & Awards tab) has several awards, some focusing on service-learning, mentorship, engagement, and research or creative activity.

Within the NU system, there is also IDEA (The Innovation, Development, and Engagement Award).

In the context of ES, the equivalent of a peer-reviewed article includes products that demonstrate rigor, scholarly contribution, and impact. (See Question 13 below)

While there’s currently no centralized dataset at UNO specifically isolating the effect of ES on student retention and graduation rates. However, national research and institutional reports consistently show that community focused practices, such as service-learning and applied, real-world experiences, are considered high-impact practices that positively influence student success, including retention, graduation, and career readiness.

Additional reading: The Effects of Service-learning on retention. (From Campus Compact)

UNO’s Community Engagement Partnership Initiative has examples of research highlighted in the past.

Examples of activities or projects: co-producing studies with a community partner; conducting participatory action research; evaluating public programs; producing community reports; developing educational initiatives; and engaging in public discourse.

Unlike traditional research, which is often faculty-driven and focused on academic audiences, engaged research is collaborative, context-driven, and designed to produce both scholarly knowledge and practical impact.

This will depend on the scholar’s field, department, and college. However, here are some ideas:

• Letters of support from community partners detailing the significance of the collaboration.
• Publications or products such as peer-reviewed articles, policy briefs, community reports, toolkits, or creative works.
• Evidence of use or uptake, like community implementation of your findings, citations in policy documents, or media coverage.
• Grants and funding secured for the project.
• Evaluation data, including surveys, impact assessments, or outcomes from program evaluations tied to the faculty’s work.
• Student outcomes, such as reflective assignments, course evaluations, or post-course impacts in service-learning settings.
• Narratives or case studies that describe the problem addressed, community collaboration process, mutual benefits, and broader significance.

Impact in ES is measured through a combination of academic and public-facing indicators that capture both scholarly merit and real-world influence.

Unlike traditional scholarship, which often relies heavily on metrics like publication counts or journal impact factors, ES evaluates impact more broadly and inclusively.

Key ways to measure impact include:

• Scholarly Outputs: Peer-reviewed publications, conference presentations, or academic citations that demonstrate academic recognition.
• Community Outcomes: Tangible benefits to community partners, such as improved services, policy changes, program implementation, or resource development.
• Partner Feedback: Letters or testimonials from collaborators affirming the quality, usefulness, and reciprocity of the work.
• Public Visibility: Media coverage, public talks, social media engagement, or policy briefs that extend the reach of the scholarship.

Ultimately, impact in ES is assessed by asking: Who benefited? How was the work used? And what changed as a result? This holistic approach values both academic excellence and societal relevance.

RPT guidelines and other reward systems can meaningfully include the notion of impact in ES evaluation criteria to reflect the unique contributions and standards of this work, while maintaining academic excellence.

To demonstrate the effectiveness of ES, a range of qualitative and quantitative metrics can be used, for instance publications, grants and funding, student learning outcomes, sustained and long-term partnerships, partner feedback, products such as exhibits or workshops.

Metrics should capture both academic rigor and public impact. See Questions 12, 13, and 14 above.

Existing data at UNO includes Service Learning Academy records, institutional data (e.g., graduation rates), faculty annual evaluation reports, grant reports, advising and Career Services reports.

Based on a recent analysis that the Change Lab carried out of select governance documents at UNO, we found that in many units, the responsibility to demonstrate the value of the work that engaged scholars do falls on them. Currently, in many units, engaged scholars seeking tenure/promotion must often translate their ES into language that aligns with traditional academic standards and expectations.

When preparing tenure and promotion files, engaged scholars explain how their engaged teaching, research, and service reflect scholarly excellence by framing their work by emphasizing the integration of their work as academics with community engagement. Key elements to include in a tenure/promotion file include:

• a clear articulation of scholarly rigor,
• documentation of both academic and public impact,
• alignment with institutional priorities (such as UNO’s strategic pillars), and a strong description of the reciprocal, collaborative nature of their partnerships.

Questions 2, 3, 7, and 8 above might be useful in addressing this question.

The Change Lab advocates for ES by helping faculty articulate its scholarly rigor and public impact, and by offering tools that can support the alignment of policies and governance documents with institutional values.

Through shared governance, faculty can also advocate for ES. Faculty can propose that ES be included in department and committee agendas; for example, faculty can request time to present examples of ES, suggesting revisions to RPT language, etc.

This would depend on the RPT guidelines for your department/college.

The Change Lab seeks to be an advocate and a resource hub for those units (colleges/departments) interested in making ES more visible and valued in their unit’s RPT guidelines.

The Change Lab can support evaluation and workload revision processes carried out by departments/committees and provide tools (e.g., professional development and resources) so faculty reward systems and workflows can better align with ES practices within a given unit.