Emplace was born out of the Community-Oriented Digital Engagement Scholars (CODES) program at Southern Illinois University Edwardsville, as a venue for students, faculty, and community members to engage in dialogue about wicked problems facing both the region and the world. CODES is a pathway for motivated students in all fields and majors to use their general education credits to work alongside community organizations to study and address the world’s most pressing problems.
CODES students take a set of core courses emphasizing transdisciplinary research and problem-solving methods together in their cohort. They meet each semester in research-team courses facilitated by their mentoring instructor and a community organization to address major problems in our region such as food insecurity or the inequitable effects of climate change. Students take their education beyond the walls of the classroom and into the St. Louis region.
The research teams analyze, visualize, and share their work with the broader public using digital storytelling, content-rich mapping, and audio and video production. In this way, the pathway gives students firsthand experience applying twenty-first century skills including collaboration, leadership, and innovative approaches to communication. In this community-based program, students learn the important skill of negotiating the civic responsibilities they bear toward others in both physical and digital spaces.
Curriculum
Semester 1: Study the Problem
Students learn about a wicked problem in its local and global contexts, as well as how to communicate across multiple modalities and audiences. At the end of the semester, they present their analysis of the problem at the IRIS Center Showcase.
Semester 2: Conduct Research
Students learn social science research methods and conduct surveys, interviews, and ethnographies with stakeholders to understand how the problem impacts the local community. At the end of the semester, they create a scrollytelling project outlining their research findings and future plans. They present their work to their community partner and receive feedback that will shape their implementation in the following fall semester.
Semester 3: Implement
Students develop a detailed implementation plan and begin work on-site, employing community-based participatory research methods. At the end of the semester, they share the outcomes of their work at the IRIS Center Showcase.
Semester 4: Refine & Showcase
Students reflect upon their work, produce and polish products from implementation, and share their findings and research with relevant audiences. At the end of the semester, they present their finished projects at SIUE’s Undergraduate Student Showcase.