Teaching engaged with its territory: The role of Community Engagement (Vinculación con el Medio) in pedagogical innovation in Social Sciences

Abstract

Faced with the demand for greater social responsibility in higher education, the COLABORAR project of the UC Social Sciences Faculty seeks to strengthen public commitment through collaboration and a two-way relationship
with the territory of La Legua and its surroundings (San Joaquín). One of its main strategies is promoting innovative and co-responsible teaching with the territory,
articulating opportunities for collaboration with organizations, guiding various experiential learning methodologies, and promoting a collective vision around
social responsibility. In this way, the Community Engagement approach that COLABORAR promotes is an integration between the functions of the university
(teaching, research, and management) with the interests of social impact. After four years of implementation, a comprehensive evaluation of its implementation and its preliminary results in teaching the faculty are being carried out. The territorial focus of teaching and the diversity of proposed methodologies have allowed the development of more than 120 products, contributing to organizations in the territory in more than 20 different topics. Support for innovation, diversity of approaches, possibilities of continuity and lasting collaboration ties are some
of the strengths of COLABORAR.