Required textbook: Focus on Community College Success , Constance Staley. Wadsworth.

Description:

This Learning Community Seminar is a 3-credit college level course designed to help incoming students make a successful transition to College. The Seminar enables students to reflect and explore college and career goals; introduce students to a range of college resources aimed at helping them establish academic goals; solve academic, personal and social problems; and overcome potential barriers to success; develop critical thinking, information literacy and communication skills; collaborate in active, diverse learning environments; and make connections between classroom learning and the larger community.

Core Theme:

“What is human nature?”. The seminar will attempt to answer this theme through the examination using the disciplines of psychology, sociology, history and cultural anthropology. How do these social sciences approach the study of man and human nature? In addition to providing an overview these disciplines, the course will explore various careers in these fields. Each student will take on the role as a budding social scientist and will examine this core theme and apply it in the examination of college life through this specific lens.

Description of Activities and Requirements:

In meeting the course outcomes: students will engage in extensive critical reading and writing activities in both assignments and in-class activities. These activities aim to provide opportunities to reflect on the meaning and value of a college education in relation to one’s career goals and aspirations. Personal “motivations” for a college degree and career goals within the context of service to the larger community of Boston will be explored. The class will also utilize cooperative learning strategies, use of online personality and career exploration tools, class trips to museums and a community organization. The observations of college life will be concretely documented through the lens of a camera. Students will be required to take pictures and share their findings. The textbook for this course is both a resource and a workbook to be incorporated into the theme of the course in a non sequential order. The students are expected to bring the textbook to class for in-class reading and activities.

One major requirement of the course is a community service activity. This Spring 2011 semester, the class will volunteer their services helping in the Boston Marathon on April 18, 2011. Most likely we will be working the food distribution at the finish line area from 7:30am – 4pm. The community service activity (Marathon) and tour of the Dudley Square Neighborhood Initiative (DSNI in Roxbury) will provide the class an opportunity to examine how groups in society bring about social change which sometimes lead to social movements.

An ePorfolio will be required of each student to capture the process and product of their work throughout the semester. All the reflections, integrated assignments, in and out of class activities and observations about college life will be included in the student’s personal ePorfolio. Each student will from the beginning of the course will learn the skills in creating an ePorfolio and do an in-class presentation of this ePorflio as part of the culminating class activity.

Another feature of this course is its pairing with PSY 101 taught by Prof. Arai. As a paired course, students of this class will also have the same group of classmates taking PSY 101. These two courses are integrated in several levels. Essay assignments are integrated. The work submitted for the Integrated Essay Assignments are requirements for both classes and are jointly graded by the professors of the course. The class activities in LCS 101 will be used in PSY 101 lessons and vice versa.

Electronic Skills Outcomes : BHCC

• Online Services – account, educational planning tools, BHCC email
• ePorfolio using BHCC Digication
• Career Inventory Assessment : Do What You Are
• Blackboard
• Library Online Database

LCS Outcomes

1. REFLECTION & EXPLORATION
2. GOAL SETTING & PROBLEM SOLVING
3. CRITICAL THINKING & INFORMATION LITERACY
4. COMMUNICATION
5. DIVERSITY & COMMUNITY ENGAGEMENT
6. INTEGRATION OF CONTENT

Course Requirements: 200 points

Attendance/ Workbook (15 class meetings ): 30 points

Reflective Essay # 1: Critical Reading and Writing : On Becoming Educated and Reflections on College Goals & Career plans: 20 points (Draft + Proof of Editing Help = 10 pts; Final = 10 pts)

Information Literacy Workshop: Annotated Bibliography on Current Trends /Topics in your field of interest/ discipline (Minimum 3 academic journal sources using APA format and annotation): 10 points

Integrated Assignment # 1 – Do What You Are (Career Inventory) And Psychology 101 (chpts 1-5): 25 points (Draft + Proof of Editing Help = 5 pts; LCS = 10 pts; Psychology 10pts)

Integrated Assignment # 2 – On Service Learning & Psychology 101 (chpts 6-11): 25 points (Draft + Proof of Editing Help = 5 pts; LCS = 10 pts; Psychology 10 pts)

Personality and Career Assessments Print Outs: 10 points

Completion of Educational Planning and Fall 2011 Registration: 10 points

Attendance in two student activity event (proof through pictures uploaded in Digication of your attendance): 10 points

ePorfolio : completion of all uploads & class presentation: 20 points

Exam – multiple choice (based on textbook): 40 points

ASSIGNED READINGS (to be distributed in class)

1. On Becoming Educated
2. The Truth About Grit by J. Lehrer
3. Self Discipline Outdoes IQ.. by A. Duckworth and M. Seligman
4. The Promise by C Wright Mills
5. Boston Massacre and Old State House Museum hand-out
6. From the American Century to the Global Century
7. Invitation to Sociology by Peter Berger
8. The Rennaisance in Dudley Street (DSNI) by Walljasper
9. Selected chapters from The Blank Slate by S. Pinker
10. NACIREMA by Horace Miner

LEARNING COMMUNITY SEMINAR 101-D / PSY 101

INTEGRATED ASSIGNMENT 2 – SERVICE LEARNING

A major requirement of the course is a community service activity. This semester one option is for members of the class to volunteer their time to work during the Boston Marathon. Other options through BHCC Community Engagement office will be available for those unable to attend this activity.

There are several outcomes to be explored with this volunteer activity requirement. The course theme of career exploration in the behavioral and social science specifically looking into personal motivations and social movements are to be addressed. Students who have the chance to volunteer with the marathon event will explore issues on personal motivations of marathon runner (and other sports), psychological issues faced by athletes, the field of sports psychology. Students doing volunteer work with other community organizations will explore the social issues being addressed by their chosen organization with the goal of understanding the role of groups in society that bring about social change.

A second outcome addressed by this activity will be critical thinking and information literacy. The BHCC library will conduct an Information Literacy Workshop where students will learn how to use library information system to find books, journal and newspaper articles that relate to their volunteer experience. The students will learn the APA – American Psychological Association styles guide in doing their annotated bibliography. The librarian, the faculty, student mentors will be at hand to help student evaluate the sources they are producing and collecting.

Students will also be encourage to evaluate and reflect pre- and post activity on their existing values on education and community engagement. Lastly, there will be an essay requirement that aims to integrate personal reflection on the volunteer experience as it relates to motivation and career goals. Students who volunteered during the Boston Marathon will focus on integrating psychology concepts covered in Psychology 101 and its relation to their personal observation and bibliographic sources from the library research findings.

Students who are volunteering with other community organizations will also focus on integrating psychology concepts covered in Psychology 101 and/or the article of C. Wright Mills on the role of sociology and history as well as bibliographic sources from library research. The focus will be on examining the role of groups (community organizations) in helping address social problems and issues and field of social psychology. The student’s personal experience on volunteering will also be explored in relation to their role within the community organization.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

(A) Community Service — Boston Marathon (April 18, 2011) or 8 hours volunteer work with community organization

(B) Integrated Assignment 2 – Forms A, B, C, D (with proof of writing tutor visit and rewrites for Form C)

DUE: Draft 5/2; Final 5/9

FORM A: Pre-Volunteer Activity

Boston Marathon – Boston Athletic Association or Name of Community Organization:

Business Address:

Community Organization’s website:

My Supervisor at the Community Organization will be (Full Name and Job Title):

My Personal Outcomes (Make a list below on what you consider as outcomes–things that you will get out of volunteering–write at least 5 objectives or outcomes from this activity):

FORM B: Community partner acknowledgement form (to be submitted only for volunteer work other than the Boston Marathon)

This is to acknowledge the completion of Mr/Ms. _____________________ volunteering with our organization for a minimum of 5 hours with our organization during the following date(s) and time:

The volunteer work involved the following activities within our organization (please list tasks/jobs to be assigned to volunteer) :

I understand that the volunteer is doing this as part of their Service Learning Project with Bunker Hill Community College, Boston MA.

Site Supervisor Name / Signature : ___________________________________

Organization/Agency: ___________________________________

FORM C: Service Learning Writing Assignment

Draft + Editing Help from TASC, Lang Lab or Writing Center = 5 points ( failure to submit draft + signed tutoring will result in deduction of 5 points).

The essay requirement aims to integrate personal reflection on the volunteer experience as it relates to motivation and career goals. Students who volunteered during the Boston Marathon will focus on integrating psychology concepts covered in Psychology 101 (chapters 5-11) and its relation to their personal observation and bibliographic sources from the library research findings.

Students who are volunteering with other community organizations will also integrate psychology concepts in relation to their personal observation and bibliographic sources as well as the article of C. Wright Mills, “The Promise” on the role of sociology and history (if applicable). The focus will be on examining the role of groups (community organizations) in helping address social problems and social psychological issues. The student’s personal experience on volunteering will also be explored in relation to their role within the community organization.

A. Give a detailed description of the work that your did (and/or continue to do), including a description of those with whom you worked, the actual activities you did, the organization’s goals for your work, its goals for you as an individual and its goal as an agency. What did you learn about the runners/ people with whom you cheered and encouraged (marathon) or worked or served (community organization)? In what ways has your service experience connect with your library research findings. Discuss how your research findings reflect, support, refute, critique your own service experience.

B. In what ways has your service learning placement made the course material relevant (or vice versa)? What core concepts or chapters in the psychology textbook were relevant? (Chapter 5-11) How were these concepts applicable to the runners you cheered and encouraged (marathon) or served in the community organization?

FORM D : Post- Activity Evaluation

How many service hours did you complete through this course assignment? _______

Where did you do your service learning assignment? __________________________

A. On my Personal Values On Education and Community

1. Has your goal of getting an college education been affected as a result of your volunteer experience ? How? If no, why has it remained the same?

2. What did it mean to you to do something for your community?

B. My Personal Outcomes

Given your list of 5 objectives or outcomes listed in Form B (Pre – Activity) :

1. Which of the outcomes were met? Why and how were they met?

2. Which outcomes were not accomplished? What factors or events led to this outcomes not being accomplished?