Proposal open date: June 1
Proposal close date: August 2
Project timeline: September-December 
Project duration: 15 weeks 
Number of projects needed: 10

SI 547: Engaging with Communities Syllabus

Description 

In SI 547: Engaging with Communities, master’s-level graduate students will develop recommendations and deliverables connected to an information challenge associated with community engagement identified by a project client. Student teams leverage their emergent knowledge and skills in content management and use, information workflows, contextual inquiry, needs assessment, solutions ideation, consultation, interdisciplinary specialization, and understanding of the complex relationships between people, information and technology, to frame, develop and hand-off an information solution connected to their project organizations’ mission and core work.

Deliverables

• Final report with recommendations
• Final presentation

Client Requirements

Level of engagement for course/program:

• 30-60 minute weekly or bi-weekly meetings with student team
• Regular feedback and communication to student team based on the course schedule
• Introduction to stakeholders and users for interviews and/or data gathering
• Access to organizational data, systems and/or resources necessary to project completion
• Attend final presentation
• Complete project evaluation

Previous Project Examples

• UMSI students provide Arab American National Museum invaluable community accessibility and usability expertise
• UMSI students design a makeover for the university’s archives

Client Testimonials

• “The students were amazing to work with and were able to complete so much more work than I even thought they would be able to get done. They really dug into the research doing personalized field visits and interviews so that they could analyze and prepare a better plan for our space. I did not personally have the professional knowledge or time to do a lot of the work that the team did, yet their research is crucial for helping us make decisions on library structure in the months ahead. The work that the students did will impact our school for years to come as we work to build a foundation and create a library that will truly serve students and staff at our school.” 
  • Josie Silver, Palmer Park Preparatory Academy
• “Because they aren't bogged down by the things we have done in the past, students have a freer way of thinking about possibilities that really benefits us. The work provided us with creative ideas about re-envisioning our space and next steps we can take to bring it to fruition.”
  • Clients from the U-M Bentley Historical Library

Past Clients

• Arab American National Museum
• Bentley Historical Library
• Pottsboro Library
• Salem South Lyon District Library
• Canton Public Library
• Temate Institute for Black Dance and Culture
• Charlevoix Public Library
• Media Burn Archive
• The Charles H. Wright Museum of African American History
• Black Bottom Archives
• Simon's Town Heritage Museum (South Africa)

Contact us

Engaged Learning Office | [email protected] | (734) 763-1251

Please complete this form to submit a project proposal for one of our client-based courses or other programs, or to receive information about these opportunities throughout the year.