Before moving on to the next step of designing an SL course, I would like to offer up some tips to follow to build strong relationships with Community Partners so that the student project will go a lot smoother. If there is not a good relationship with the chosen partners the students will suffer the consequences and the desired learning objectives will not be accomplished meaning a miserable experience for all concerned. Consider doing the following:
1. Know something about the agency or organization before meeting with those who may be interested in doing a SL project.
2. Go to the meeting with some idea about how the agency and your course could successfully form a partnership.
3. Meet agency or organization partners at their offices as often as you invite them to yours.
4. Always be sure to ask the agency or organization what their current needs are – don’t assume that they are necessarily in a position to create a partnership at the exact moment you are suggesting.
5. Be flexible. SL projects do not take place in a controlled environment like the classroom; because they take place in the community situations may arise where the initial plan of action has to be modified or revised to ultimately complete the project.
6. Value the experiences and knowledge of community partners. Consult with them and invite them to be part of classroom discussions and reflections.
7. Refrain from considering the community as your laboratory – it is the place where you live as well. The laboratory mentality suggests superiority of the university system and reinforces a server-recipient paradigm.
8. Communicate with your agency or organization partner regularly during the planning process as well as during and after the course.
9. Be up front in the commitment you can and are willing to make to the agency or organization. Do not promise long-term partnerships if a semester is all you can truly commit to at the moment. You might want to portray it as a “pilot” to give yourself clear option to end the partnership at end of the semester.
10. Make efforts to know the agency or organization inside and out. Spend time volunteering there so that you can get to know the assets of the staff and clientele.
11. Do not be afraid to ask questions.
12. Remember reciprocity, mutuality, and asset-based community building.
13. Celebrate achievements and relationships together at the end of the project.
14. Have fun and be ready to both teach and learn.
In tomorrow's post I will cover what is arguably the most important aspect of any SL course -- student reflection!
Friday, February 6, 2009
Thursday, February 5, 2009
Selecting a Community Partner
On the last post concerning teaching with SL I covered the establishment of learning goals and course objectives specific to the pedagogy. In this post I will cover the issue of connecting your course to a community partner. Indeed it is not possible to teach via SL if there is not a partner in the community for you and your students to work with to the benefit of both. Some good questions to find answers to when selecting a community partner include:
1. Do the goals of the agency or organization fit with the learning goals and objectives in the course?
2. Does the agency or organization have reasonable expectations of the students?
3. Is the project one that challenges but not overwhelms the students?
4. Has the agency or organization done any projects with other faculty on campus? If so, what effect will this have on your project?
5. If the students need specialized skills, who will do the training?
6. Is the agency or organization willing to become involved in assessing and evaluating students?
7. Is this an agency or organization that the students will like to work with on the project?
8. What type of service does the agency or organization perform?
9. What skills or qualities can students develop as a result of working with the agency or organization?
10. Who will supervise students outside of the classroom when working on the project?
Tomorrow I will share some tips on how to establish a good working relationship with a community partner so that the SL project is a success for all concerned.
1. Do the goals of the agency or organization fit with the learning goals and objectives in the course?
2. Does the agency or organization have reasonable expectations of the students?
3. Is the project one that challenges but not overwhelms the students?
4. Has the agency or organization done any projects with other faculty on campus? If so, what effect will this have on your project?
5. If the students need specialized skills, who will do the training?
6. Is the agency or organization willing to become involved in assessing and evaluating students?
7. Is this an agency or organization that the students will like to work with on the project?
8. What type of service does the agency or organization perform?
9. What skills or qualities can students develop as a result of working with the agency or organization?
10. Who will supervise students outside of the classroom when working on the project?
Tomorrow I will share some tips on how to establish a good working relationship with a community partner so that the SL project is a success for all concerned.
Wednesday, February 4, 2009
FELC Welcomes Chef Revival as Sponsor
I will continue the series on Service-Learning tomorrow. I wanted to welcome Chef Revival as a sponsor of our new learning community. Chef Revival has been a long time supporter of culinary arts and hospitality education. We have enjoyed working with everyone at Chef Revival over the years and happy that relationship will continue with our new learning community. Please visit their website to find out the myriad of ways they support the efforts of those preparing the next generation of chefs and hospitality managers at:Tuesday, February 3, 2009
Planning to Teach a Course via Service-Learning
The type of SL course I will advocate in the remainder of this series is the one established Purdue's Service Engagement Advisory Board that states it should be …”integral to higher level learning objectives and connected directly to course content such that learning can be identified, charted, supported, and assessed….In the Service Learning pedagogy, Service or Learning is not the goal. Rather it is Service and Learning; they are not separate.”
1. Establishing Learning Goals and Objectives
It should come as no surprise to you that a course that is taught with a SL requirement begins as it does with any course you have taught with establishing learning goals and objectives.
Learning goals and outcomes are broad statements that identify the general educational accomplishments or outcomes you want students to possess when the course is completed.
Some examples of SL learning goals include:
1. To better prepare students for their careers / continuing education
2. To enhance student learning by joining theory with experience and thought with action.
3. To fill unmet needs in the community through direct service this is meaningful and necessary.
4. To give student greater responsibility for their learning.
5. To help students know how to get things done!
(See more examples at: www.fiu.edu/~time4chg/Library/goals.html)
Separate from goals and outcomes, is the development of learning objective that are geared toward SL. Learning objectives should be written to so that it is clear as to what is expected of students during or after completing the SL project. They also put the faculty member in a position to properly assess or evaluate student performance on each of the objectives. Some of the action verbs that can be included in a stated learning objective include list, identify, state, describe, define, solve, compare and contrast, evaluate, operate as found in Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.
(Benjamin S. Bloom (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Company, Inc.)
Examples of SL Learning Objectives
1. Students will evaluate their own commitment to making meaningful contributions in their communities, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of their roles as citizens.
2. Students will identify course concepts as they emerge in the "real world" and compare what they are learning in the classroom to what they observe and/or experience in the context of their service activities.
3. Students will work with students in other disciplines to prepare and defend a proposed nonprofit foodbank.
Tomorrow, I will provide ideas on how to select a community partner to help you reach the learning goals and objectives for a course taught via SL.
1. Establishing Learning Goals and Objectives
It should come as no surprise to you that a course that is taught with a SL requirement begins as it does with any course you have taught with establishing learning goals and objectives.
Learning goals and outcomes are broad statements that identify the general educational accomplishments or outcomes you want students to possess when the course is completed.
Some examples of SL learning goals include:
1. To better prepare students for their careers / continuing education
2. To enhance student learning by joining theory with experience and thought with action.
3. To fill unmet needs in the community through direct service this is meaningful and necessary.
4. To give student greater responsibility for their learning.
5. To help students know how to get things done!
(See more examples at: www.fiu.edu/~time4chg/Library/goals.html)
Separate from goals and outcomes, is the development of learning objective that are geared toward SL. Learning objectives should be written to so that it is clear as to what is expected of students during or after completing the SL project. They also put the faculty member in a position to properly assess or evaluate student performance on each of the objectives. Some of the action verbs that can be included in a stated learning objective include list, identify, state, describe, define, solve, compare and contrast, evaluate, operate as found in Bloom’s Taxonomy of Educational Objectives.
(Benjamin S. Bloom (1956). Taxonomy of Educational Objectives, Handbook 1: Cognitive Domain. New York: David McKay Company, Inc.)
Examples of SL Learning Objectives
1. Students will evaluate their own commitment to making meaningful contributions in their communities, thereby gaining a deeper understanding of their roles as citizens.
2. Students will identify course concepts as they emerge in the "real world" and compare what they are learning in the classroom to what they observe and/or experience in the context of their service activities.
3. Students will work with students in other disciplines to prepare and defend a proposed nonprofit foodbank.
Tomorrow, I will provide ideas on how to select a community partner to help you reach the learning goals and objectives for a course taught via SL.
Monday, February 2, 2009
Rationale for Developing Service-Learning Course
I hope you have all recovered from your chosen Super Bowl celebration. I would like to pick up on the series devoted to teaching via Service-Learning (SL) with this post. Now that we have defined the concept and covered the 10 key principles, I would like to offer up the rationale for developing a course that uses this teaching pedagogy.
Please note that when teaching via Service-Learning (it should not be thought of as an add-on. It should be blended into the course as you would when assembling traditional learning goals and objectives that are consistent with the description and contents of the course. Having said that, if you can answer “Yes” to the following questions this pedagogy might be right for you:
1. Do you have sound reasons for using SL in your course?
2. Are you willing to incorporate the 10 key SL principles into the project that students will be required to complete as part of your course?
3. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges that result when engaging students in their learning?
4. Do you believe that incorporating social or civic responsibility in your course will enhance student learning?
5. Do you have an idea in mind as to what students should learn as a result of doing a service-learning project to enhance course content, develop new skills, etc.?
6. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges or problems students may encounter with the community partner when trying to complete the project?
7. Is this the only pedagogy that could be used to accomplish the learning goals or objectives you had in mind instead of service-learning?
8. Are you prepared to devote more, or a different kind, of time to teaching the course you intend to teach via SL than you have spent in the past?
9. Are the benefits intended to benefit the student and community partner equally?
10. Would you be willing to share your experience of teaching via SL with others?
For those who answered "yes" to each of the aforementioned questions the series on SL will continue to share the steps to integrate this pedagogy into your teaching.
Please note that when teaching via Service-Learning (it should not be thought of as an add-on. It should be blended into the course as you would when assembling traditional learning goals and objectives that are consistent with the description and contents of the course. Having said that, if you can answer “Yes” to the following questions this pedagogy might be right for you:
1. Do you have sound reasons for using SL in your course?
2. Are you willing to incorporate the 10 key SL principles into the project that students will be required to complete as part of your course?
3. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges that result when engaging students in their learning?
4. Do you believe that incorporating social or civic responsibility in your course will enhance student learning?
5. Do you have an idea in mind as to what students should learn as a result of doing a service-learning project to enhance course content, develop new skills, etc.?
6. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges or problems students may encounter with the community partner when trying to complete the project?
7. Is this the only pedagogy that could be used to accomplish the learning goals or objectives you had in mind instead of service-learning?
8. Are you prepared to devote more, or a different kind, of time to teaching the course you intend to teach via SL than you have spent in the past?
9. Are the benefits intended to benefit the student and community partner equally?
10. Would you be willing to share your experience of teaching via SL with others?
For those who answered "yes" to each of the aforementioned questions the series on SL will continue to share the steps to integrate this pedagogy into your teaching.
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