http://www.involved.tcu.edu/sl_workshop.asp

Service-learning is now recognized as a highly effective pedagogical tool. Simply put, students learn better by doing–by putting the knowledge they are learning in the classroom to work in the real world. Moreover, service-learning can also help institutions of higher learning bridge the gap between their campuses and local communities. One way to achieve both these goals is to design courses that use service-learning to teach about and work toward sustainability and social justice.

This interdisciplinary conference will bring together faculty, students, and members of community-based organizations to explore what sustainability and social justice could mean in the context of service-learning. How can service-learning be used to help students learn about social, economic, and environmental aspects of sustainability? How can service-learning courses and projects help us work toward sustainability and social justice in our colleges/universities/seminaries and local or global communities?

We welcome proposals for papers, panels, or poster presentations on any aspect of the conference topic, but especially on:

-best practices in terms of service-learning for sustainability and social justice from the perspectives of faculty, community-based organizations, and/or students
-problems encountered in service-learning courses on these topics and strategies for overcoming them
-student experiences of service-learning for sustainability and social justice
-teaching about urban issues involving sustainability and social justice through service-learning
-arts-based service-learning courses/projects on sustainability and social justice
-using reflection before, during, and/or after service-learning assignments to enhance learning outcomes
-community-based research opportunities around service-learning for sustainability and social justice
-developing and sustaining campus-community partnerships
-how to make practices in service-learning courses more sustainable
-how to design courses involving sustainability and social justice so that they can more easily lead to publications (pedagogical and/or research-oriented)
-techniques for assessing the success of service-learning pedagogies on these topics

We encourage students to submit proposals, and others to submit proposals that involve students and/or community partners as co-presenters.

Please send a 250-word abstract of your proposed paper, panel, or poster presentation BY FRIDAY 28 JANUARY in the body of an e-mail, as a Word for Windows attachment, or via snail mail or fax to:

Dr. Dave Aftandilian
Dept. of Sociology and Anthropology
Texas Christian University
TCU Box 298710
Fort Worth, TX 76129
fax: 817-257-7737
e-mail: d.aftandilian {at} tcu(.)edu