Override the term "volunteer"
1 Comment
Nina Rogers
said
almost 6 years ago
Hi, Melissa,
I will look into what we can do here, since this suggestion has come up in the past. Because "volunteer" can act as a noun, a verb ("Volunteer Now"), or an adjective (volunteer snapshot") we've avoided adding the override. I will look at the site and see how me might be able to change some of the wording so that "volunteer" only shows up as a noun--which would strengthen the argument for an override. Thanks for your suggestion!
Nina
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Product Suggestions - Community Connect and Center
Melissa Lafferty
We are suggesting the ability to override the term "volunteer," so that we can replace it with "engagement."
According to the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching, "Community engagement describes the collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity."
Some students will use the UNC Engage portal to seek out and document academic engagement in the community. For example, they complete a project in the community as part of a course or research requirement.
Co-curricular community engagement, which is not related to course requirements, is also called volunteering. For example, students in a club/organization might engage in a community based/orientated initiative together.
The term "engagement" is broader than "volunteer" and covers both academic and co-curricular engagement/volunteering. Engagement acknowledges mutual benefit for the student and community partner, and ideally the development of lasting connections between the university and community partner.