Senior Integrative Seminar in Women’s Studies
The Senior Integrative Seminar in Women’s Studies is an interdisciplinary course which draws from scholarship in history, English, philosophy, political science, psychology, and religion. The course is designed to serve as a “”capstone”” experience for women’s studies majors and graduating seniors interested in women’s issues. Through service-learning, students are encouraged to draw connections between the personal and the political and to recognize that ultimately, the status of women depends on the collaboration and creativity of women working together across the boundaries of race, class, and sexual orientation. The service-learning component of the course concentrates on promoting education and providing assistance…
“Trends in Nursing” students attend “Nursing, the Community and Legislation” seminar
Four students enrolled in Trends in Nursing attended a seminar at the New Jersey State Nurses Association regarding the legislative process. As a result of what they learned from the seminar, the students interest was piqued, motivating them to follow a bill through the legislative process regarding mandatory overtime. Subsequently, they attended a senatorial committee meeting where they witnessed first hand the importance of their participation in the political process, as well as how their support and involvement could make a difference within the community. After reflecting on their experiences, they decided to prepare a document describing this process as…
Teacher education program incorporates community engagement
Changes in society warrant changes in education. As the United States as a whole is affected by progress in technology, developments in the economy, or shifts in values and beliefs, schools must evolve in response if they are to prepare youth for the world in which they live. Change in education occurs on a variety of levels, and a number of colleges and universities have used their resources to touch on many of these levels: from k-12 to adult to teacher education. It is the contention of Service Matters that one of the most important changes that can occur in…
The Speaking, Arguing, and Writing Program
Education for citizenship has always been a cornerstone of the Liberal Arts Education at Mount Holyoke College. We believe that institutions of Higher Learning have a particular responsibility in responding to society s major challenges, through their teachings and their own actions. The challenges of the 21st century demand that we reverse the widespread feelings of apathy, impotence, and cynicism towards public and civic life and that we build a common understanding of the pressing problems of our times and of possibilities for solving them. To that effect, Mount Holyoke College founded the Center for Leadership and Public Interest Advocacy…
The Women’s Performance Group
The Women’s Performance Group considers itself more than just a club. It is an environment where young women and men consider women’s issues, develop their unique talents, nurture their aspirations, and support others who are in needs. The group often uses visual and performing aids in its many service learning projects. As members of this group, the students design and prepare each activity. Student officers and committees plan, oversee, and coordinate activities, and all members proudly demonstrate ownership of this service learning group. The women’s Performance Group is currently working with district elementary and middle schools and with other districts,…
Designing & Delivering a Service-Learning Course
An online resource from Dr. Matt Roy, Assistant Provost & Director of the Leduc Center for Civic Engagement, UMASS Dartmouth, and Dr. Dwight Giles, Professor, College of Education and Human Development and Senior Associate with the New England Resource Center for Higher Education
Service Learning and Civic Engagement
Grades – This is a two semester course. 50% of the course grade will be determined from service participation as documented by timesheets The remaining 50% will be derived from research assignments, the course journal and online reflection assignments. Students are required to complete at least 45 hours of service work, documented by the course time sheet, signed by the site supervisor. There is no upper limit on possible service hours. Inability to meet this requirement should be discussed with the instructor. SLS2941 is a Service Learning course. Service-learning is a method of teaching, learning and reflecting that integrates community…
Community Service Learning I
COURSE DESCRIPTION: This course involves students in community service learning theory and practice. Through Project Horizon, the University of Hartford’s community outreach program, students partner with non-profit agencies and programs serving primarily vulnerable populations. Engagement, reflection, reciprocity and public dissemination are the vehicles through which service learning is implemented. This course is designed to enhance students’ understanding of the social determinants of illness, community public health nursing and civic engagement. Co/Prerequisites: NUR 443 COURSE OBJECTIVES: Upon completion of this course the student should be able to: Collaborate with key players in the service learning setting to promote health and…
Service Learning Practicum
Required materials This is an experiential learning course; i.e. you learn by doing and by application of information and techniques acquired in previous courses. There is no text for this course, but background information and appropriate web links will be posted online. Course description Numerous SJC courses have service learning components; CO 403 is a major experiential learning experience that uses the service-learning model to develop and enhance professional conduct. The course also gives students the opportunity to produce professional quality work for pre professional portfolios and work samples. Often there is confusion about the differences between internships and service…
Community Engagement
COURSE DESCRIPTION This interdisciplinary, community-based field study “laboratory” is a variable credit elective which provides students the opportunity to engage intensively in a community based project or program with academic application, support, guidance and supervision. Student may choose to take this course for 1-3 credits in order to more fully engage in a project derived from another class as a supplement to that class; or they may take this elective independently to pursue a project of interest with the community. Many students took this course in fall 2009 in order to participate in the USM LA Cares for Youth mentoring…
Introduction to Nonprofits and Philanthropy
Required Materials: Busse and Pascal Joiner, The Idealist Guide to Nonprofit Careers for First-Time Job Seekers, available online for free at: http://www.idealist.org/en/career/guide/firsttime/index.html All course materials will be available through Blackboard. Course Description: Surveys the role of the nonprofit and voluntary organizations in American society including the history, theory and challenges of the third sector. Includes a service learning project where students serve as philanthropists to their local community through the Students4Giving Project. Prerequisites: WR 115, RD 115 and MTH 20 or equivalent placement test scores. Recommended: BA 101. Please note: This course qualifies as a business elective at PCC and PSU…
Special Topics: Philanthropy
Course Description “Philanthropy can be both a potent vehicle through which public needs are met and an instrument for the expression of private beliefs and commitments” – Peter Frumkin, Strategic Giving, 2006 The roots and impact of philanthropy runs deep in American history and culture and the role of philanthropists and philanthropic organizations is pervasive in contemporary American society. The interplay and interrelationships between donors and nonprofit organizations will be the focus of this course. It will examine trends and issues impacting philanthropy. This will include a critical look at the growth and role of nonprofit institutions, their relevance and…
Seminar in Nonprofit Leadership
The goal of Nonprofit Education Programs at WMU is to strengthen the capacity of leaders to carry out the missions of the organizations they serve. This is accomplished through education, community-service, and research designed to improve the contribution that public-serving organizations can make to society. Special emphasis is placed on individual and community development as the pivotal function of nonprofit organizations and collaboration as the central mode of public problem solving. Lester M. Salamon articulates the key educational and community challenge facing us today, “The central challenge, particularly the central management challenge, confronting efforts to solve our pressing societal problems…
Public Engagement and Higher Education
Course Description and Objectives Welcome to Public Engagement and Higher Education! This course is designed to introduce students to the study and practice of public engagement in higher education. During this nine-week session, students and instructors will consider the civic roles of postsecondary education institutions both past and present. Special attention will be paid to contemporary philosophies and practices of engagement, and how engagement is expressed in various institutional contexts. This course is designed for both practitioners and scholars who seek to deepen their understandings about the ways in which institutions might become more productively involved with communities they serve….
Philanthropy & Grant Making
COURSE DESCRIPTION: For thousands of years philanthropy—the desire to help humanity through charitable gifts—has built universities, hospitals, and museums, preserved the arts, fed the hungry, housed the homeless, and most importantly made the world a better place. Philanthropy, students will discover, is not just reserved for the rich, but for anyone interested in serving humanity and making a difference. This course will be a unique opportunity and experiment in “student philanthropy” because our class will invest a minimum of $12,000* (in real money!) in local nonprofit organizations. This opportunity for grant making is made possible by Students4GivingSM—an initiative of Campus…
Service-Learning in the Latino Community
Course Description: This course is service-learning based and provides an immersion opportunity in a real world Spanish-speaking environment. It is in keeping with the mission statement of the university “to educate individuals to think and act as ethical leaders and responsible citizens in the global community.” The student is required to perform hours of service as designated on the course calendar with a community partner. The American Association of Community Colleges defines Service-Learning as a combination of “community service with academic instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking and personal and civic responsibility. Service-learning programs involve students in activities that address…
Reflections of Community Involvement
COURSE DESCRIPTION: ROCI4485 is an outgrowth of the purposes and objectives of the University. The series of activities integral to the community involvement course enhances the education of the student, compliments the senior seminar, and promotes reflection on the student’s obligation to human beings in need and society at large. GENERAL EDUCATION PROGRAM (GEP) ETHICS CATEGORY/COURSE OBJECTIVES & GOALS: Successful completion of this course fulfills the General Education Program Ethics category. The course addresses the category programmatic goals and supports the GEP through the following course objectives and goals: Stimulating a culture of civic engagement, renewal, and advancement of the…
Self & World: The Fate of the City
A syllabus at its best is a contract between the instructor, who commits to using cutting-edge knowledge to challenge students to develop their potential for personal insight and high capacity performance, and each individual student, who commits to stretching herself or himself intellectually and remaining open to what reflective enlightenment this world may offer. Course Description: This course explores the balance in American life between personal happiness and civic virtue, individual freedom and community responsibilities, market capitalism and social justice, and consumerism and citizenship. The implications of these democratic (im)balances for our communities and ourselves in the 21st Century will…
Youth Empowerment and Civic Engagement
Course Description What is civic engagement? Why do some heed its call, while others shrug their shoulders and change the subject? How do youth who are involved in their communities evaluate their contributions? How do adults view their efforts? What results can programs that seek to engage and empower youth show? How can researchers and evaluators measure these outcomes and their meanings for the youth, for adults, for their communities, and for society? This course will explore questions such as these, starting from the premise that youth civic participation is not just important, but imperative in a democracy. We will…
Poverty, Gender, and Microcredit
BACKGROUND TO SERVICE LEARNING AND COURSE OVERVIEW Alexis de Tocqueville in the 1800?s observed that the strength of American democracy lay in its spirited voluntary associations and emphasis on community. He declared however, that democracy and its manifestation of individualism, while a virtue, could become a vice when taken to extremes, especially in the form of hyper individualism. Several contemporary scholars have revealed that America has already reached this vicious stage of its democracy, one in which people are so preoccupied with their own concerns and successes that they have shut out of their consciences and consciousnesses the concerns of…
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