Skagit Valley College has made an institutional commitment to promote a civil society since 1957. Instructors teaching Political Science, Biological Science, English Composition, and Sociology require a service project connected to the curriculum to assure an opportunity to turn classroom learning into action outside the classroom.
During Fall Quarter 1993, Learning Into Action (LIA) became a transfer degree requirement. Learning Into Action projects are developed by students and their faculty sponsors. Service Learning Projects are vehicles for student to fulfill their LIA requirement.
Skagit Valley College has a rich history of serving the community through individual and collaborative contributions. These contributions are made through partnering with a vast number of community-based organizations including local school and nonprofit organizations. Community needs are addressed through projects that provide thousands of hours of service. Curriculum and faculty involvement provide the conduit that links students to important volunteer initiatives. To support faculty in their work with students, Skagit Valley College offers faculty service-learning externships.
The externship experience enhances teaching strategies so existing curriculum can be fused to a service learning component. By shadowing a community partner, faculty get a first-hand perspective of the skills and tasks required outside of the classroom. Faculty experience how the content of course work is linked to activities which nurture and sustain the work of the partnering agency. Faculty learn to assist students to understand the important link between “”learning”" and “”doing.”" Faculty identify strategies to match competencies and academic outcomes in the design of relevant, academically rigorous, service-based projects in collaboration with students and community partners. Each faculty member is expected to commit to a one-day service project and to develop a project for their students to complete.
Skagit Valley College provides annual training for faculty on the SVC campus. SVC hosts the training for other colleges which allows all faculty to hear about challenging and innovative projects that have been successfully completed. The 1999 2000 academic year saw the completion of externships by instructors in the following disciplines: Fire Fighting Science, Foreign Language, Social Science, Speech, Early Childhood Education, Chemistry, and Biology.
Externships increase civic curiosity in our faculty by engaging them in the same learning process as their students. Business partnership and professional relationships are cultivated in the areas of health, legal, economic and social fields. The pedagogy of service learning represents a substantial change from traditional lecture-modality and allows instructors to find another way to assist in the intellectual process of the service learning experience.
Skagit Valley College Learning Into Action web page
Mount Vernon Campus LIA Coordinator: Pam Church, church {at} skagit.ctc(.)edu
Whidbey Campus LIA Coordinator: Courtney Cleveland, cleveland {at} skagit.ctc(.)edu
