40 Hours of Community Engaged Learning

The Community Engaged Learning Program aims to support students in the School of Education, both undergraduate and graduate. We offer various opportunities to students such as: professional internships, research opportunities, CEL approved courses, professional development, and grad school preparation. If you have any questions or need any assistance, please contact the CEL team at cel@ucr.edu.

Current Undergraduate Education Majors 

An undergraduate Education, Society, & Human Development major must complete a 40 hour Community Engaged Learning requirement to be eligible to graduate. Please be aware that the 40 hour CEL requirement has a deadline depending on your exit term. Please refer below for a list of CEL deadlines.

To ensure that students meet their CEL deadline, we strongly encourage students to create a plan of how they will fulfill their CEL fieldwork requirement. For example, students should develop a plan A (e.g. CEL internship) and have a backup plan B (e.g. past/current fieldwork) in case they are unable to follow through with their original plan.

• Completing your requirements

  An undergraduate Education, Society, & Human Development major has four options to complete the Community Engaged Learning requirement.

  A detailed description of each option is provided below:

   Past or Current Fieldwork Experiences 

  • A student has the option to complete the Community Engaged Learning requirement by finding an education-related experience on their own. This experience can be paid or unpaid. Examples of past/current fieldwork experiences include but are not limited to: tutor, teaching assistant, after-school program leader, orientation leader, student ambassador, behavioral technician, camp leader, student mentor, etc. However, please note that high school experiences will not count.
     
  • If a student is interested in using a past/current fieldwork experience to complete their CEL requirement, they must submit a Fieldwork Opportunity Review Form. It is important to provide as much information and detail on the Fieldwork Opportunity Review form to provide a true description of responsibilities/tasks. Once a Fieldwork Opportunity Review Form is submitted, please allow 7-10 business days for a response from the CEL team.
     
  • If a student is unsure whether a past/current fieldwork experience is eligible to clear the CEL requirement, we recommend submitting a Fieldwork Opportunity Review form. The form will be reviewed by the CEL team and the student will be notified whether the experience counts as community engaged learning.
     

   Community Engaged Learning Internships 

  • If students do not want to find an education-related experience on their own, they have the opportunity to apply to be in a Community Engaged Learning cohort. The CEL cohort provides students the opportunity to participate in internships that are created by our community partners. To access these internships, students must be a part of the CEL cohort.

  • Here are some things to consider if students are interested in participating in a CEL cohort:

    • There are two cohort opportunities offered within the school year - Fall/Winter and Spring/Summer. Students will choose the cohort they wish to be a part of.

    • Students must commit to the CEL cohort program for a minimum of two quarters.

    • CEL offers a variety of internships to choose from. To see a list of available internships, click here.

  • Here are the steps to become a part of the CEL cohort:

    • Submit an application during the enrollment period. See below for enrollment period dates.

    • Once the application has been reviewed and accepted, students will receive an email from the CEL team to schedule an interview date/time.

    • Please note that we have limited spots available for each internship and select the most qualified students on a first come, first served basis. That is, if a student schedules an interview for the 1st of the month, they are more likely to receive the internship compared to a student who schedules an interview for the last day of that month. If you have any questions regarding enrollment periods, please contact the CEL team.
       

   Research with Faculty 

  • Students who are interested in participating in undergraduate research with a faculty member have the opportunity to enroll in an Education 190 Special Studies course. If a student is interested in using EDUC 190 to fulfill their CEL requirement, they must ensure that the EDUC 190 course is 2 or more units (1 unit = 30 hours per quarter).
     
  • How to register for an EDUC 190 course:
    • The student must reach out to a faculty member and ask if they are accepting research assistants
    • If the faculty member agrees to have a student on their team, the student must register for a EDUC 190 Special Studies course using this form: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfiCWTAjXme1WKXgh0kwLu6Rh79jBNWspY7xiQLmHOYT-CMYw/viewform
    • If a student has questions regarding this process, we encourage them to reach out to the CEL team.
       

    Service Learning 

  • Students can receive hours from an education course that has an embedded component of service-learning. A service-learning education course requires students to complete a certain amount of hours of Community Engaged Learning for the course grade. If a student believes they are in or have been in a service-learning course, they must contact CEL. Please note that the course syllabus will explicitly say when service-learning is integrated into the course. Once all corresponding steps have been completed, the CEL team will notify you when the requirement has been cleared from your degree audit.

   

• How to clear the CEL requirement from your degree audit
  1. Complete the 40 hours of Community Engaged Learning.
      
  2. If you are part of a CEL cohort and completed a CEL internship, contact the CEL team via email and let them know you are ready to start the clearing process. Please include your cohort and internship name.
     1. The CEL team will send you the CEL Completion form via DocuSign and your supervisor will receive the form to verify your hours. 
         
  3. If you completed a past/current fieldwork experience, you will need to submit a Fieldwork Opportunity Review Form. 
     1. Once you submit a form, your fieldwork experience will undergo a review and the CEL team will contact you with the results and next steps.
         
  4. If you were enrolled in an EDUC 190 course and passed with a S (Satisfactory) grade, your CEL requirement will be automatically cleared.
      
  5. Once all corresponding steps have been completed, the CEL team will notify you when the requirement has been cleared from your degree audit.