Farm to Fork: How a Third Year Computer Science Class Took On the Issue of Food Insecurity

Sense of community has been largely taken out of the conventional education system, including higher education institutions. Community-engaged learning (CEL) challenges conventional teaching methods and encourages a reciprocal collaboration between higher education institutions and communities to create meaningful and positive change in communities. This process yields a wealth of benefits to students, such as improved comprehension of the subject matter and development of transferable skills. Although CEL is increasing in popularity, its presence is scarce in the field of Computer Science (CS). This article describes a project in an undergraduate Computer and Information Science class titled ‘Farm To Fork’ based on CEL principles and methods. This case demonstrates the benefits of applying CEL in a CS class for students. Results suggest students not only perform better academically, but develop skills they will utilize outside the classroom. Additionally, the Farm To Fork project increased students’ sense of community and their expectations of CS as a discipline. Most importantly, Farm To Fork demonstrates that CEL can be highly successful when applied in the discipline of CS.