#805: A Community-Engaged Curriculum Design Model for Culturally-Responsive Tech Consulting

Minority small businesses operating in resource-constrained areas are actively building their digital capacity while facing significant barriers that existing digital services fail to address. We designed and implemented the Community Tech Consultants (CTCs) program to address this gap by offering accessible and effective digital support grounded in a deep understanding of these businesses’ realities, challenges, and needs. To deepen community partnerships and meaningfully engage university students, this study aims to develop a community-engaged curriculum that prepares students for culturally responsive tech consulting with these businesses, and that can be adapted across diverse cultural and community contexts. Through design-based research and co-design with community partners, we propose a community-engaged curriculum design model with five interrelated elements: co-design and co-instruction, authentic learning, adaptive scaffolding, iteration, and adaptability. We extend the discourse on cultural responsiveness in community-engaged learning and underscore the value of co-design between the community and the university.