Campus Compact » Program Models Reflection

The Caribbean Service Learning Program

tdomf_26a6d — Mon, 13 Dec 2004 00:00:00 +0000

Students and faculty spend two weeks during the winter break working within the schools on a small Caribbean island. During the subsequent semester, students enroll in a 3-credit course led by the program faculty that provides structured reflection related to the students’ Caribbean service experiences.

Contact: Lynn E. Pelco, Ph.D., Associate Professor, School of Education

Reflection as a part of “”Into the Streets day”"

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Learning is easily lost in massive one-day service events. The organizers of Into the Streets day take pains to keep reflection in for the 400 to 500 students involved. At the end of their day of service, students are given a list of questions and put into mixed groups to discuss their expectations and the service experience. These discussions later become the seeds for longer reflection papers that are incorporated into various service-learning classes.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: http://www.cgc.maricopa.edu/pecos/community/service_learning/

Articulating goals: A Learning contract

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

For many service-learning efforts, the biggest obstacle to assessing student impact is that they have never established what impact they intend to have. Articulating goals from the outset is a simple, but vital, step. Azusa Pacific University in Ontario, California, asks students to articulate their goals for the semester in a learning contract. This helps to set uniform expectations for service while lending professional credibility to the service experience. The stated goals form the basis for reflection later in the course and can be used by faculty to assess student learning and by community supervisors to assess student service.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: Judy Hutchinson, director of service learning, at 626.815.6000 Ext. 3780, Fax : 626.815.3801

E-mail: jhutchison {at} apu(.)edu

Interdisciplinary reflection sessions: small groups of students and faculty talk to and learn from each other

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Interdisciplinary reflection sessions offered at Miami-Dade Community College allow faculty and students to talk to and learn from others engaged in a broad variety of service efforts. During one week of the semester, five one-hour campus-wide reflection sessions are offered in which small groups of students from a variety of courses and service sites share what they ve accomplished and what they ve learned in service-learning classes. Faculty often attend these sessions for the exposure to different methods of reflection and lessons from students.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: Josh Young, director of the Center for Community Involvement, at jyoung {at} mdcc(.)edu
? Office Number: (305) 237-7477?
Fax Number: (305) 237-7580

Learning by presenting your case: “”Business and Professional Communication”"

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Rather than only discussing with classmates or writing an essay on their service experience, students who enroll in Business and Professional Communication at the University of West Florida have to do a presentation to the board. Students in the class, who come from a range of business disciplines, are paired with nonprofit agencies that can use the students specific expertise in fundraising, marketing, accounting or management. After having done 20 hours of service, each student writes a proposal to benefit the community agency where he or she worked and presents it to that agency s board of directors. The real-life presentation helps students to carefully think through their service.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

The Academy for Senior Professionals at Eckerd College (ASPEC)

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The Academy for Senior Professionals at Eckerd College (ASPEC) brings together retired professionals with distinguished careers who work with students in many ways: as lecturers or discussants in class sessions, and as partners in dialogue as students reflect on their service and internship experiences.

Website: http://www.eckerd.edu/aspec/

Sociology students provide services to retirement home residents

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Students enrolled in two sociology courses at North Idaho College augment their studies about both Interpersonal Communications and Marriage and Family by providing services to elderly members of the community of Coeur d Alene, Idaho. Participating students spend one-and-a-half hours a week assisting elderly residents of local retirement homes or other long-term care facilities. Students maintain a reflective journal documenting the experience and tie their discussions and lessons from the elderly into their lessons from class.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: http://www.nic.edu/coursedescriptions/CourseDescSection.asp?Course=Sociology

Action day : how to develop a quality one-day project

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The best way to explain a good one-day service effort is to start with the ways such efforts are criticized.

One-day projects are often seen as feel-good experiences that do little to effect real change. One-day projects are criticized for providing a fusillade of service designed more to look good for pictures than to help the community. One-day projects are criticized as ignoring evaluation, disregarding learning, and running roughshod over community relationships.

A glimpse into the development of an action day a weekly one-day event out of Southern Illinois University at Edwardsville provides a sound retort to the critics. The story shows how an idea built on relationships, learning, reciprocity, and continuity can lead to a high-quality, one-day project.

It starts with an idea. For instance, a student interested in women s issues wants to do a service project, but doesn t know where to go. The student suggests the idea to Suzanne Kutterer-Siburt, the director of the office of leadership development who organizes the campus s action days.

It is built on relationships. Suzanne has already established these relationships by regularly meeting with leaders of community organizations, taking the time to sit down and talk with them about what their organizations need and how students might be able to help. As a result, she knows that the Holy Angels Shelter, a shelter for homeless women in St. Louis, could use a day of student support, and she calls a contact there to suggest the idea. They discuss a possible service project and agree that it would be useful to the site.

It incorporates reflection. The relationship goes two ways students help the agency by providing services, and the agency helps the students by providing reflection. When the idea is suggested to her, a social worker at Holy Angels gets excited at the prospect of teaching about the issue. The social worker agrees that over lunch she will present an educational session to students, a practice that is common at the university s action day events.

Saturday comes and the action day goes off without a hitch. Sixty students gather on campus to go to the shelter, where they meet homeless residents and staff while providing much-needed fixing up. At lunch, they pause for reflection with the social worker.

And it continues beyond. Even after the day is over the connections with the community organization goes on. Suzanne remains in touch with the shelter, so that she can get their feedback on the project. Often community members will come onto campus later to speak to students in the leadership development program. In this instance, the social worker comes back to present a module on civic responsibility and citizenship.

Southern Illinois University s Action Days are built on strong relationships with the community. They turn to the community to identify needs and plan projects, build reflection into the project, and maintain the connection between campus and community beyond the duration of the project. While common criticisms of one-day events should be heeded, projects like the action days help prove the skeptics wrong.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact person: Suzanne Kutterer-Siburt, skutter {at} siue(.)edu

Kimmel Leadership Center web site: http://www.siue.edu/KIMMEL/

Service-learning coordinators

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The strong relationship between the University of Notre Dame and nonprofits in South Bend, Indiana, is based on reciprocity the mutual ability of all involved to serve one another. Eight staff members at the nonprofit agencies known as service-learning coordinators receive training from Notre Dame faculty and staff, and schedule and supervise reflection for Notre Dame students in their respective agencies. In turn, the coordinators present at faculty lectures and offer a one-hour educational module at the university. Through their work, the coordinators bring lessons and learning from the agencies to the university and back again. Sharing a staff member helps create a tie that binds.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact person: Annie Cahill, Director, Community Partnerships and Service Learning, Annie.Cahill.19 {at} nd(.)edu

Web site: <""http://centerforsocialconcerns.nd.edu/sub_community.html"" target=""_Model"">http://centerforsocialconcerns.nd.edu/sub_community.html

Principles of Speech/Honors course: presenting persuasive speeches to various civic organizations

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

This fall in Principles of Speech/Honors at Hutchinson Community College, students are presenting persuasive speeches to various civic organizations in the county, scheduled by the director of Big Brothers & Big Sisters, to persuade the audience to either contribute financially to the organization or to become a Big Brother or Big Sister. Kathy Mendenhall, Speech Instructor, has guided the students in incorporating the skills of audience analysis, organization, research, and delivery. The students videotaped their presentations to use for reflection on the activity. The public speeches have given the students practical experience and knowledge beyond the classroom setting.

Framing the experience

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

At the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, reflection is one part of a series of steps that frame the service experience. According to the PARE model, service consists of four interconnected steps. The process begins with preparation both logistical and ideological. The preparation stage combines pre-service reflection with nuts and bolts information. Action follows, then reflection, and evaluation. The last of these connects the experience back to those goals articulated in the preparation stage. Ideally, in an on-going project, Preparation, Action, Reflection, and Evaluation take place simultaneously and inform one another.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Problem-Based Service Learning (PBSL) in Education by Design program

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Activities such as journal writing and discussion can offer students the opportunity to process their experiences in the community, and to find the language and ideas to better understand their world.

In high-quality service-learning activities, reflection is not something that occurs at one isolated point in time. Rather, reflection permeates the service experience, and helps every participant to learn and be open to learning at every stage in the process.

Reflection, then, starts even before the service effort starts, when a teacher or facilitator decides how the service experience will be defined. Is service seen as a way for students to gain experience in a particular field or area of expertise? Is it described as a way to meet diverse populations and build community? Is it framed in terms of relationships? of religious principles? of democratic values?

In the Education by Design program at Antioch New England Graduate School, the service experience is framed as a challenge in finding solutions. Known as Problem-Based Service Learning (PBSL), this approach puts the student in the role of problem solver.

Once the service project has been framed within a particular model, students need a strong foundation to build upon. PBSL students engage in a series of experiential loops. These are small-scale exercises in which students practice the steps of identifying and addressing a problem. Students work in teams and engage in interviews as a form of capacity building. This helps students hone their decision-making, collaboration, and critical thinking skills.

Framed around problem-solving, and given a strong foundation, the structure of the service project grows from there. In PBSL, the effort starts with finding out what the problem is. Although many forms of service-learning offer students community problems that have long since been identified, this would undermine the reflection component of Problem-Based Service Learning. PBSL students meet with people in the community and talk to them to find out what problems they feel need fixing. Rather than looking at these people as service recipients, in PBSL they are appropriately described as clients, people who have enlisted the services of others to help solve problems that they cannot solve alone.

In the course of identifying problems, PBSL students build communication skills, and inevitably reflect upon the issues that they are discussing. This way of looking at things continues to inform students service activities as they engage in other stages of Problem-Based Service Learning, focused on such areas as: problem statement, project management, and assessment/exhibition of learning.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

For more information: http://www.edbydesign.org/pbsl/pbsl.html

Reflection and debate as the democratic way: the Citizenship and Service Education Program

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

At Rutgers University, the Citizenship and Service Education Program frames service in the context of democratic citizenship. Michael Shafer, professor of political science and director of the program, has found that when he incorporates service into his courses something curious happens: students take charge. Shafer sees traditional pedagogical styles in which professors talk and students listen as antithetical to democratic theory. In his political science courses, there is as much emphasis on the community service placement, as on the reflection that follows students service experiences. As a result, students often question and challenge assumptions from their texts and from other sources, and engage in debate around these issues, the kind of activity that democracy is all about.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Website: http://case.rutgers.edu/

“”City Serve”" day: encouraging new students to serve the community

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

At King s College, an urban campus in Wilkes-Barre, PA, we have engaged in several strategies to promote Civic Engagement. One of these strategies is the co-curricular initiative with faculty. As part of our orientation week for incoming students, we spend an afternoon on a project called “”City Serve.”" This past year all 430 incoming first year students spent one afternoon in service projects throughout the city of Wilkes-Barre. Some students went to a soup kitchen, others to day care centers, after school tutorial programs, homes for the elderly, to work in the city park, and other sites. The idea was to instill within our new students from the very beginning of their time at King s that service to the local Wilkes-Barre community ought to be part of their educational experience at King s. Each group of students was accompanied by a faculty member who was able to share in the experience and subsequently conduct a reflection session. Having been introduced to service possibilities in their first week, many of these students have continued on throughout the year in service to the city of Wilkes-Barre.

Contact person: Dave Devine, Director of Office of Volunteer Services, dcdevine {at} kings(.)edu

Web site: http://www.kings.edu/volunteer/city_serve.htm

Immersion for a day: urban plunge

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

One-day events can be an effective method for introducing service to students. Minimum time commitment and maximum choice of site appeals to the fledgling service participant, while reflection and community building activities help them feel a part of a group. Each semester, students, faculty, and staff at Clarion University can take part in the school s urban plunge. Participants congregate in the morning for breakfast and ice-breaker activities. They proceed to spend the day at one of several local sites in the city of Clarion painting, cleaning, or working with youth. When they return in the afternoon, they reflect on the day s activities and head home with a souvenir t-shirt in hand.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact: Diana Lynn Anderson-Brush, Director of the Community Service Learning Center, at (814) 393-1865 Fax: (814) 393-2707
E-Mail: anderson {at} clarion(.)edu

Mutual education

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

The combination of coursework and international service can make the phenomenon of culture shock a formal learning experience. Last year, sixteen students from the University of Pittsburgh participated in an education class that took them to Carocoyo, Bolivia, where they worked with a local community to help build the region s first secondary schoolhouse. Among other forms of reflection, students wrote anticipation papers before their trip and developed an interactive internet web-site upon their return. As part of the reflection incorporated into the course, students who went on the trip explained the experience in discussions with students who remained at home.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Contact:
University of Pittsburgh School of Education
Student Service Center
5N Wesley W. Posvar Hall
Pittsburgh, PA 15260
Phone: (412) 648-2230

Sociology II course: Serving multiple populations

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

Service to people in poverty can be a perfect fit for sociology courses in which students study the social relationships and institutions that affect poverty. Johnson & Wales University students who enroll in Sociology II, a course on the social institutions of society, have the opportunity to sample a wide range of service-learning experiences in and around Providence, Rhode Island. Students in the class are placed in sites that address a variety of issues connected with poverty: issues such as lack of education, poor health care, and homelessness. By serving a variety of populations affected by inter-related issues, students provide themselves and one another with greater insight into course topics. Reflection is built into the site visits students make to their sites and is encouraged through further work in class.

From Service Matters 1998: Engaging Higher Education In the Renewal of America s Communities and American Democracy

Institutionalizing reflection

tdomf_26a6d — Wed, 30 Nov -0001 00:00:00 +0000

We believe that reflection is a key element of community-based learning, and we have institutionalized this belief through faculty narrative evaluations of students, student narrative evaluations of faculty, student narrative self-evaluations, and faculty-student evaluation conferences.

Web (Evergreen public service centers): http://www.evergreen.edu/user/wto/publicservice.htm

Web (Tacoma campus community service): http://www.evergreen.edu/tacoma/community.htm