Academic Service-Learning Opportunities

cover photo by barrie collins

Office of Service-Learning University of Georgia

The mission of the Office of Service-Learning (OSL) is to promote and support the development of quality academic service-learning experiences in response to critical community needs through a range of faculty development programs, services, and funding opportunities. Dr. Shannon O. Wilder, Director Office of Service-Learning Instructional Plaza North University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602 Phone: 706-542-8924 Email: osl@uga.edu

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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contents

Office of Service-Learning â&#x20AC;&#x201D; Programs and Resources

What is Academic Service-Learning?

S Designation for Service-Learning Courses

Service-Learning Fellows Program

2008-2009 Service-Learning Fellows

2007-2008 Service-Learning Fellows

2006-2007 Service-Learning Fellows

2006 Inaugural Fellows

2009-2010 Service-Learning Fellows

Service-learning is a teaching and learning approach that integrates community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.

Office of Service-Learning Programs and Resources MISSION

The mission of the Office of Service-Learning (OSL) is to promote and support the development of quality academic service-learning experiences in response to critical community needs through a range of faculty development programs, services, and funding opportunities. The OSL works with faculty, graduate students, administrators, and community partners to create opportunities for engaged scholars to become engaged citizens through increased access to service-learning opportunities.

PROGRAMS

The Office of Service-Learning offers a variety of programs to support and expand the development of academic service-learning offerings at UGA and to strengthen the University of Georgiaâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s commitment as an engaged public institution. More information on programs and upcoming events is available on the OSL website at www.servicelearning.uga.edu.

Service-Learning Interest Group (SLIG)

This monthly discussion forum is devoted to wide-ranging discussions on engaged teaching, learning, and scholarship and timely issues related to service-learning at UGA. SLIG is open to all faculty, staff, students, and community partners and is also a venue for participants to present opportunities for collaboration and share information on service-learning projects.

Service-Learning Fellows Program

The Service-Learning Fellows (SLF) Program is a year-long faculty development program that provides an opportunity for selected faculty members to investigate, develop, implement, and integrate service-learning into their teaching, research, and public service work while becoming recognized campus leaders in service-learning pedagogy and community engagement. Fellows are selected during a competitive review process during the Spring semester each year, and fellowships include a grant to support project development. The program is open to all permanent, full-time UGA faculty members including academic tenure track, academic professionals, public service faculty, instructors, lecturers, and clinical faculty members with an interest in service-learning. Familiarity with service-learning theory or practice is not required.

Senior Scholars Leadership Program

This program is designed to support the rapid expansion of service-learning activities at UGA and provides a platform for campus-wide leadership for targeted initiatives and existing OSL programs. Senior Scholars also work closely with the director as highly visible members of the OSL Leadership Team and contribute to long-range planning for service-learning at UGA. Scholars create a plan of work related to OSL goals to contribute to the advancement and further institutionalization of service-learning at UGA. Scholars are selected based on their demonstrated Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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experience in service-learning and outreach and engagement and are appointed for one academic year with the possibility of renewal dependent on the continuing needs of the OSL.

INITIATIVES S Suffix

Academic courses with a service-learning component can be designated with an S suffix through CAPA, UGA’s online course approval system (e.g., AESC 2990S). The course approval process can be used to revise existing courses or propose new courses by designating the S suffix, entering the degree of service-learning in the Non-Traditional Format field of the CAPA system, and by providing evidence of servicelearning in the Course Objectives and/or Topical Outline section of the course approval form.

Service-Learning Course Survey

This survey is administered at the end of each semester and measures the impact of servicelearning on student learning. Instructors teaching service-learning courses volunteer their courses for participation in an online or paper version of the survey and will receive a customized report on their individual courses.

Beth Wheeler (MHP 2005) walks hand in hand in Akim Oda, Ghana where an annual “Summer ServiceLearning Studio” involves local citizens in the community revitalization process.

Subscribe to SERVICE-LEARN@listserv.uga.edu

If you would like to receive information about upcoming campus events, meeting reminders, grant and conference information, and ENGAGE, the monthly e-newsletter from the OSL, join the SERVICE-LEARN listserv by sending an email request to osl@uga.edu.

Contact the OSL Dr. Shannon O. Wilder, Director

Phone: 706-542-0535 Email: swilder@uga.edu

Susan Parish

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Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

Administrative Associate II Phone: 706-542-8924 Email: osl@uga.edu

Participants in the Ghana ServiceLearning Studio meet with a local AIDS/HIV coordinator and students as part of their summer work in Akim-Oda, Ghana.

What is Academic Service-Learning? Service-learning is a teaching and learning approach integrating meaningful service activities responding to critical real world problems into academic courses in order to strengthen student learning and provide mutual benefit to the community. At service-learning’s core is a belief that providing service to others can enrich and transform student learning through active engagement and collaborative action with community partners to address critical issues and problems in local and global contexts.

Academic Service-Learning is—

• a course-based, credit-bearing educational experience; • a form of teaching and learning in which students engage in structured service that is responsive to community needs; • a mutually beneficial experience for students and community partners; and • an experience designed to include critical analysis and reflection linking service to academic, personal, and civic learning outcomes.

Academic Service-Learning is NOT—

• voluntary service with no link to instructional objectives; • completing minimum service hours in order to graduate; • a traditional internship or field practicum focused on students’ professional development; or • charity work or philanthropy.

At the University of Georgia, service-learning is most commonly linked to academic coursework and can be described as “a course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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students: a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs, and b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal values and civic responsibility.” (Bringle, R., & Hatcher, J. A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2, pp. 112-122.)

stated general education learning outcomes for students. As a form of experiential education, “service-learning responds to students’ desire to be in the world, learning from experience as well as classes, and to put their education to use for the good of others” (International Partnership for Service Learning).

Preparing Engaged Scholars for Engaged Citizenship

The University of Georgia has recognized the need to prepare students to address complex challenges in our interconnected communities. The 2005 Report of the Task Force on General Education and Student Learning recognized the increasing importance of community and civic engagement to student learning and to UGA’s mission as a land grant institution:

UGA undergraduate student Carlos Rivera works with a Fowler Drive Elementary student on math assignments.

Students should recognize their responsibilities as citizens of their communities. Precisely because the state supports higher education, the university will always be engaged in solving the problems of the local community, the state, and the nation. The university can help the community, but engagement within the community can also help the university attain a myriad of educational goals. (p. 4) Increased student engagement and understanding of personal, academic, and community/civic dimensions of learning are important outcomes of service-learning experiences. Engagement with community and civic issues has demonstrated benefits for student learning, promoting students’ abilities to see the “big picture” within and across disciplines, to develop and apply problem-solving, moral reasoning, and critical-thinking skills, and to communicate effectively with broader constituencies—all important aspects of UGA’s Page 7

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

“Service, combined with learning, adds value to each and transforms both.” Kendall, J. & Associates (Ed.). Combining Service and Learning: A Resource Book for Community and Public Serivce: Vol. 1, 1990.

Common Characteristics of Authentic Service-Learning—

• positive, meaningful and real to the participants • cooperative rather than competitive experiences; promotes teamwork and citizenship • addresses complex problems in complex settings rather than simplified problems in isolation • engages problem-solving in the specific context of service activities and community challenges, rather than generalized or abstract concepts from a textbook • students are able to identify the most important issues within a real-world situation through critical thinking • integrates ongoing critical reflection throughout the course to connect service action to course objectives • promotes deeper learning; there are no “right answers” in the back of the book • generates emotional consequences, which challenge values and ideas • supports social, emotional and cognitive learning and development

Necessary Criteria for Academic Service-Learning The diagram illustrates the three criteria necessary for academic service-learning in a course: Relevant and meaningful service with the community: There must be service provided in the community that is both relevant and meaningful to all stakeholder parties involved. Service should Relevant and Enhanced be developed in conjunction with and Meaningful Academic not for community partners. Service with the Learning Community

Academic Service Learning

Purposeful Civic Learning

Enhanced academic learning: The addition of relevant and meaningful service with the community must not only service the community but also enhance student academic learning in the course. Learning is never secondary to service. The service activity is a form of teaching and learning or a “text” for enhancing academic learning.

Purposeful civic learning: The addition of relevant and meaningful service with the community must not only service the community and enhance student academic learning in the course, but also directly and intentionally prepare students for active civic participation in an diverse democratic society. Service-learning includes reflection that assists students in realizing their role and place in the world as engaged citizens.

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How does service-learning differ from volunteerism, community service, and internships? Terms and Definitions

Example

Volunteerism The engagement of students in activities where some service or good work is performed

Volunteer Day at the River Students spend a day cleaning up litter and trash along the river.

Community Service The engagement of students in activities where some service or good work is performed and where students learn how their service makes a difference in the lives of the service recipients. Sometimes used as a term for mandatory service in response to punishment, which creates negative connotations.

River Rendezvous Students spend time learning how to monitor water quality and the importance of this activity. They spend the day engaging in monitoring activities along the river.

Academic Service-Learning Engagement of students in activities designed to address or meet a need, where students learning how their service makes a difference in themselves and in the lives of the service recipients, and where learning is intentionally linked to academics.

Internships Engagement of students in service activities primarily for providing students with hands-on experiences for professional development, certification or licensure. Students are often â&#x20AC;&#x153;placedâ&#x20AC;? in a setting to observe and assimilate skills and are the primary beneficiaries of the learning experience.

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Community Service

Enhanced Academic Learning

Purposeful Civic Learning

YES

A Walk Through the Watershed Students spend time learning about the environment and watersheds. Students identify issues and needs related to watersheds. Students work collaboratively with community members on projects designed to educate the general public about watershed issues and needs and what can be done to protect the watersheds. Students reflect periodically on what they are learning in the content areas, about themselves, and their role in society.

YES

A student spends a semester interning for a non-profit focused on water conservation, education, and fundraising. The student works with staff to develop educational materials that will be used by volunteers.

YES/NO*

YES

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

S Designation for Service-Learning Courses Academic courses with a service-learning component can now be designated with an S suffix through CAPA, UGA’s online course approval system (e.g., AESC 2990S). The course approval process can be used to revise existing courses or propose new courses by designating the “S” suffix, entering the degree of service-learning in the Non-Traditional Format field of the CAPA system, and by providing evidence of service-learning in the Course Objectives and/or Topical Outline section of the course approval form.

S Suffix Frequently Asked Questions

What are the benefits of applying for the S designation? The “S” suffix was developed by the ServiceLearning Curriculum Committee in 2007-08 and approved in Spring 2008 by the University Curriculum Committee. This course designation has many benefits for students, faculty, and the university community: • It will appear on student transcripts to document academic service-learning and community-based experiences, and will provide standardized language for service-learning course expectations in the UGA Bulletin. • It will help the Office of Service-Learning track the prevalence of such courses and provide specialized support to instructors, such as access to service-learning assessment tools and faculty development opportunities. • It will allow faculty to document their time spent teaching service-learning courses. • There can be both a service-learning and non-service-learning section of the same course (e.g. HORT 2000 and HORT 2000S), and the individual department and instructor would decide which version(s) to offer in a given semester. How does the approval process work? S designated courses go through the standard course approval process, however, the Office

of Service-Learning is available for consultation or support during any stage of the process: 1. The faculty member or Department Course Initiator enters a New Course Proposal or a Course Change Proposal. 2. Proposals are reviewed and approved by departments and sent on for college/ school approval. 3. Proposals with an S designation are sent to the Office of Service-Learning for comments and feedback by members of the Service-Learning Curriculum Committee. 4. After suggested changes are made, proposals are sent to the University Curriculum Committee for approval. Are there deadlines for submitting courses for approval in CAPA? Please note that this process can take some time and that there are course application deadlines you must meet in order to have courses approved by certain academic semesters. CAPA deadlines can be found online at: https://www.capa.uga.edu/Capa/CapaDeadlines.html

Can there be an S version and a non-S version of the same course? Yes. There can be both an S and non-S version of the same course (e.g. HORT 2000 and HORT 2000S). This gives departments and instructors the choice of which version(s) of the course to offer in a given semester depending on departmental needs. This is similar to offering an Honors and non-Honors section of

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a course. S designated courses must include a statement on the degree of service-learning in the Non-Traditional Format field of the CAPA system, and must providing evidence of service-learning implementation in the Course Objectives and/or Topical Outline section of the course approval form. What are the 4 degrees of service-learning that must be entered in the Non-Traditional Format field in CAPA? When creating a new course proposal or a course change, you will select the ServiceLearning S designation radio button on the first screen. Clicking on the Service-Learning Course (S) link will bring up a pop-up window with instructions and text that can be cut and pasted into the Non-Traditional Format field on the “level” or “degree” of service-learning. You will be asked to determine the “degree” of service-learning in the course based on a four-degree scale listed below. Please paste the appropriate text into the Non-Traditional Format field. Other information customized to the course should also be included. Four Degrees of Service-Learning Cut and paste one of these degrees into the Non-Traditional Format field in the CAPA process. 1. Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. Student engagement in the service-learning component will be up to 25% of overall instruction time. 2. Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. Students will be Page 11

involved in the planning and implementation of the project(s) and may spend time outside of the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 25-50% of overall instructional time. 3. Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. Students will be involved in the planning and implementation of the project(s) and may spend time outside of the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 50-75% of overall instructional time. 4. Course includes a service-learning project during the semester that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course objectives. The course uses service-learning as the primary pedagogical tool for teaching course objectives. Students will work on a comprehensive project(s) and may be required to send considerable time outside the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning component for approximately 75-100% of overall instructional time. Where can I find step-by-step instructions for CAPA administrators? Detailed, step-by-step instructions can be found on the OSL website at www.servicelearning.uga.edu/blog/?page_id=323

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

Service-Learning Fellows Program Program Overview The Service-Learning Fellows Program is a yearlong faculty development program that provides an opportunity for selected faculty members to investigate, develop, implement, and integrate service-learning into their teaching, research, and public service work while becoming recognized campus leaders in service-learning pedagogy and community engagement. The Fellowship includes a funding grant for project development. Up to 7 Fellows are selected each year during a competitive review process. Fellowship applications are available during the Spring semester. The Service-Learning Fellows Program is supported by the Office of Service-Learning and is open to all permanent, full-time UGA faculty members including academic tenure track, academic professionals, public service faculty, instructors/lecturers, and clinical faculty members with an interest in service-learning. Previous experience in service-learning pedagogy or familiarity with service-learning or community engagement is not required.

Program Goals Established in 2006, the Service-Learning Fellows program is a year-long, faculty development program committed to supporting participants in the following endeavors: • Becoming part of a core group of campus leaders knowledgeable about and engaged in service-learning pedagogy; • Increasing familiarity and exposure to service-learning theory and current research;

• Improving student learning through service-learning and engaged teaching; • Developing skills associated with effective teaching and learning strategies utilizing service-learning research and pedagogy; • Exploring evaluation and assessment strategies for measuring service-learning’s impact on students, faculty, and community members; • Developing and strengthening relationships with campus, community, and global partners; • Developing and implementing a servicelearning related project (see below); • Sharing ideas with colleagues from other disciplines and potentially developing collaborative, interdisciplinary servicelearning projects; and • Undertaking faculty research on servicelearning benefits, teaching strategies, and impact on students, community members, and faculty development.

Eligibility Applicants must be permanent, full-time UGA faculty members with an interest in servicelearning, including academic tenure track, instructors/lecturers, academic professionals, public service faculty, and clinical faculty members. It is not necessary to have previous service-learning experience in order to apply. Applicants must agree to attend all monthly meetings, retreats, and additional activities during the fellowship period, and will be expected to develop a service-learning project during the fellowship year.

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Service-Learning Fellows Projects The Service-Learning Fellows program is first and foremost a faculty development program, not a grant or project funding source. Each Fellow undertakes, with support from the OSL, each other, and other resources as appropriate, a service-learning related project during the year. The Service-Learning Fellowship grant may be used to help implement this project or provide additional professional development support for participants. Possible project ideas include the following: • Development of a service-learning course or a component that may be integrated into a new or existing course • Development or implementation of assessment tools or strategies for measuring the impact of service-learning on students, faculty, or community • Community-based research projects or other projects that contribute to service-learning, civic engagement, and scholarship of engagement literature, or expand understanding of service-learning within a discipline • Faculty and professional development projects related to service-learning • Global service-learning projects linked to study abroad or international education • Projects that link to existing community/ university initiatives such as One Athens or the Archway Partnership Project • Development of interdisciplinary collaborations as well as connections between Public Service and Outreach, Instruction, and Extension units The following pages include examples of Service-Learning Fellows’ projects from previous classes of Fellows. Page 13

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

A third grade student at Whitehead Elementary watched an earthworm in the newly planted vegetable garden.

Contact the OSL Dr. Shannon O. Wilder, Director

Phone: 706-542-0535 Email: swilder@uga.edu

Susan Parish

Administrative Associate II Phone: 706-542-8924 Email: osl@uga.edu

The 2008-2009 Service-Learning Fellows are (top row, from left): Chris Morgan, agricultural leadership, education and communication; Stacey Kolomer, social work; Leigh Askew, Fanning Institute; (bottom row, from left): Jennifer Williams, agricultural leadership, education and communication – Griffin Campus; Brad E. Davis, environment and design; Daniel Forrister, pharmacy; and Hilda Kurtz, geography.

2008-2009 Service-Learning Fellows Leigh Askew

Public Service Assistant, Fanning Institute

The Fanning Institute’s Project Riverway is a multidiscipline service-learning course offered each summer during which students from Journalism, Environmental Design, and Ecology collaborate with communities along the Chattahoochee River corridor on community and economic development projects. This service-learning fellows project focused on taking Project Riverway to Costa Rica and employing Riverway’s asset-based community development model in an international context. Throughout the fellowship year, Askew designed a service-learning component into the existing School of Environmental Design’s study abroad program in Costa Rica for summer 2009. Students then collaborated with the Finca la Bella community near the UGA Ecolodge San Luis on signage, mapping, and web site design projects to develop and market ecotourism opportunities with local farms and coffee growers.

Brad E. Davis

Davis’s service-learning project, in collaboration with Chris Morgan, focused on the creation and longterm utilization of a learning garden at Whitehead Elementary School in Athens-Clarke County. Landscape Architecture students enrolled in LAND 3440 collaborated with Agricultural Leadership, Education and

Communication students on designing and installing the garden and examining ways to integrate the garden into the elementary school’s curricula, and learned to apply leadership skills during the project development. A major goal of this ongoing project is to create a reproducible and sustainable model of the school garden as a service-learning project in order to replicate other such meaningful and educational places for young people at other schools.

Daniel Forrister

Clinical Assistant Professor, Clinical and Administrative Pharmacy

PHRM 5500: Community-Based Pharmacy Outreach was originally created and taught in 2006 by Chris Cook (2006-07 Service-Learning Fellow) with 9 students. The goal the course was to introduce pharmacy students to their role in community outreach and health advocacy in pharmacy practice. During his fellowship, Forrister redesigned and implemented PHRM 5500 by further integrating community service and patient contact into a clinical education model through a number of student-led service-learning projects. In Fall 2008 under Forrister’s leadership, this course enrolled 33 Pharmacy students who completed 7 educational outreach projects reaching nearly 500 community members on health topics as diverse as cough and cold treatment,

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cont’d 2008-2009

bone health, wellness, medication management in the elderly, diabetes management, asthma in children, and seasonal nonprescription medication use. This course will continue to be offered each fall as an elective for third and fourth year Pharmacy students.

Stacey Kolomer

Associate Professor, School of Social Work

In collaboration with the School of Nursing in Athens (SONAT) and Mary Ellen Quinn from the Medical College of Georgia, this service-learning project paired social work and nursing students in the design and implementation of health and wellness fairs promoting successful aging for older adults in Athens and Oconee Counties. Throughout the fall and spring semesters of the 2008-2009 academic year, students conducted four Health Fairs in Oconee and Clarke Counties. Informational booths addressed physical, mental, emotional and spiritual health and topics such as advanced directives. Nursing and social work students were partnered at each booth were also responsible for publicity, recruitment, and development of materials and the organization of fairs. A primary learning outcome of this service-learning experience was to increase communication and collaboration between social work and other future health care workers providing care for older adults.

Hilda Kurtz Associate Professor, Department of Geography

The Athens Urban Food Collective (AUFC) is an ongoing service-learning resource center in the Geography Department founded in early 2007 by Kurtz and assistant professor Nik Heynen (2007-2008 Service-Learning Fellow). The AUFC is an umbrella organization that engages students in direct action around urban hunger in Athens and is working to give UGA students and community residents new ways of actively learning about and working to ameliorate hunger in the local community. A series of Geography service-learning courses that are linked by the work of the AUFC and provide opportunities for students to research urban agriculture, anti-hunger activism, and write critical essays and reflections on conventional and alternative food systems, hunger, anti-hunger politics, emergency food and related topics while also growing vegetables on the roof of the Geography building and distributing Page 15

the food to people who are hungry through a local food program. Students have collaborated with local organization such as P.L.A.C.E. (Promoting Local Agriculture and Cultural Experience), the Food Policy Council, Food Not Bombs, and the Athens Area Homeless Shelter with roof garden tours, planting days, roof garden harvests, and by developing educational presentations for shelter residents with topics such as “Growing Your Own Food Is a Good Deal.”

Chris Morgan

Assistant Professor, Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (ALEC)

Morgan’s service-learning project, in collaboration with Brad Davis, focused on the creation and long-term utilization of a learning garden at Whitehead Elementary School in Athens-Clarke County. Students from ALDR 3900 Leadership and Service course worked with Landscape Architecture students to practice individual leadership skills and observe the different stages of team development as they collaborated on designing and installing the teaching garden. ALDR 3900 students also procured materials for the garden and participated in a leadership evaluation with LAND 3440 students. Morgan and Davis’s students will continue to collaborate on the development of the teaching garden and work with Whitehead Elementary students in future semesters of ALDR 3900 and LAND 3440 on curricular connections as well as future projects such as a mural.

Jennifer Williams

Assistant Professor, Agricultural Leadership, Education and Communication (ALEC) – Griffin Campus

Williams is the first Service-Learning Fellow from the UGA Griffin Campus and used her fellowship to integrate service-learning into her ALDR 3900 Leadership and Service course and to provide leadership for creating more service-learning opportunities on the Griffin campus. Students in ALDR 3900 led a variety of servicelearning projects such as the creation of a Leadership Development Workshop for Clarke Central High School in Athens, Georgia, Relay for Life Fundraiser, Human Society Project, Greek Service Clearinghouse, and a Pizza Farm project. In addition, her students have created the Griffin Ambassadors providing service to the Griffin campus as hosts, campus leaders, and goodwill ambassadors.

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

2007-08 Service-Learning Fellows are (back row, from left) Robert Nielsen, Housing and Consumer Economics; Nik Heynen, Geography; Peter Smagorinsky, Language and Literacy; Kathy Thompson, Elementary and Social Studies Education; ( front row, from left) Uttiyo Raychaudhuri, Forestry; Jessica Muilenburg, Health Promotion and Behavior; Deborah Gonzalez, International Public Service and Outreach; Leara Rhodes, Journalism; Paul Matthews, co-director of the Service-Learning Fellows Program.

2007-2008 Service-Learning Fellows Deborah Gonzalez

Public Service Assistant and Assistant Director International Public Service and Outreach

The purpose of the Multicultural Leadership Encounter was to take service-learning concepts, such as reflection, and integrate them into a new model of leadership development for co-curricular and non-traditional student or adult audiences. The core of the project was a 270-page MLE Participant journal structured to follow the itinerary of the program in step with reflective readings and exercises to ensure the maximum impact of the experience. One of the most difficult components to any service learning program is doing effective reflection â&#x20AC;&#x201C; the MLE was created to structure the process of learning through visceral experience for transformative development.

Nik Heynen

Assistant Professor, Department of Geography

The Athens Urban Food Collective (AUFC) is a University of Georgia and Athens-Clarke County (ACC) community effort to learn about, and engage in direct action around urban hunger in Athens. The initiative, which began in February of 2007, is a collaborative endeavor between the UGA Department of Geography, Athens Food Not

Bombs, the Athens Common Ground Resource Center and ACCâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Department of Human and Economic Development. A series of Geography service-learning courses are linked by the work of the AUFC giving UGA students and community residents new ways of actively learning about urban hunger. The key focus of work through the AUFC is to spur critical thinking about and active engagement with the problem of food insecurity among people living in poverty in our communities.

Jessica L. Muilenburg

Assistant Professor, College of Public Health, Department of Health Promotion and Behavior

The total number of teens who work either part or full-time is surprisingly large. Moreover, this subpopulation typically includes a disproportionate number of high risk kids (for drug and alcohol use, risky driving, teen pregnancy, violent behavior, workplace injuries, etc.). Traditionally, these kids have been difficult to reach through conventional health education/health promotion programs. Workplace programming may be the last and best chance to reach these individuals before they enter adulthood. The Healthy Adolescent Workers program (HAWK) is a theory-based innovative curriculum aimed at the adolescent workforce. This health prevention and health promotion intervention for working youth is to be delivered through their

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cont’d 2007-2008

employers, alternative schools, and coop/vocational education programs. This program will be developed by students at the University of Georgia in collaboration with community partners.

Robert B. Nielsen

Assistant Professor, Department of Housing and Consumer Economics

HACE 4000/6000 Research Methods in Housing and Consumer Economics is a research methods course developed by Nielsen partners students with a nonprofit organization to apply survey research skills in a real world setting. The service-learning project In Fall 2008, students enrolled this course collaborated with Georgia Watch, a non-profit consumer advocacy organization. Together, several consumer-relevant questions of interest were identified, then students designed a portion of a survey administered by the University of Georgia’s Survey Research Center. The process provided Georgia Watch the opportunity to have research questions answered using state-representative data, while simultaneously providing students with the experience of working with a non-profit client to meet a pressing research need. The information gathered through this collaboration will be used in Georgia Watch’s consumer education programs on short-term lending, debt levels, and mortgage lending practices in Georgia.

Uttiyo Raychaudhuri

Academic Professional Associate, Warnell School of Forestry and Natural Resources

Reefs to Rainforests: Service Learning through Resource Management in Fiji is a service-learning based Maymester study abroad offered through the UGA South Pacific Program. This global service-learning program provides student the opportunity to learn about sustaining human societies and the natural environment through educational eco-tourism. The growth of Fiji’s tourism is attributed to its renowned white sandy beaches, crystal-clear water, and brilliant living reefs. These have in-turn influenced over-development and the resultant impact on Fiji’s traditional societies. It is paramount that efforts are made to counter these effects and conserve both the natural resources as well as the traditional societies. Students collaborate Page 17

with agencies like the Fiji Locally-Managed Marine Area network (FLMMA) that is actively promoting and supporting community-based conservation initiatives managed according to traditional institutions. During the summer of 2008, UGA students visited the villages of Waitabu (6 students staying for 3 nights) and Soso (84 students staying for 1 night) and did homestays with the village families while participating in ecotourism related service-learning projects.

Leara Rhodes

Associate Professor, Journalism Department

Goal was to bring awareness to the Chattahoochee River region through a magazine focusing on eco-tourism. Fourteen undergraduate students toured the river and lake around Eufaula, Alabama and created a 32-page color magazine on eco-tourism for an impoverished area of Georgia. A 32-page color magazine designed on eco-tourism along the Chattahoochee River from Fort Gaines, Georgia to the Florida state line was produced in a Fall 2007 JOUR 5360 Magazine Publishing as a servicelearning project. Fourteen undergraduate students toured the river and lake around Eufaula, Alabama and created a 32-page color magazine on eco- The project began by taking 14 students in a van to Eufaula, Alabama during the second week of class. The trip included a pontoon boat ride down the Chattahoochee River with two riverboat captains, a well-known historian and an ecologist. Stops along the way included a national park ranger tour of Native American Mounds, experts on the river wars, local business people in the area, and time to experience the food and mansions in the area with a docent familiar with ghosts’ legends of the Shorter Mansion in Eufaula. The students spent three days learning about the area, the river, the eco-system and the economy. They returned to the classroom to write stories using their photos of the area to complete a 32-page color magazine named Wander to promote eco-tourism within the region. Students were able to identify the issues of the area and write stories that would pull the targeted reader of an urban 20-35 year old for weekend get-a-ways to the region. The goal was to have people visit the region, bring in much needed dollars, and then leave without a lot of damage to the eco-system.tourism for an impoverished area of Georgia.

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

Photo by Chris Morgan

cont’d 2007-2008

Peter Smagorinsky

Professor of English Education

This project involved the development of a new course for prospective English Education majors LLED 3461S Service-Learning in Secondary English Education offered for the first time in Spring 2008 in collaboration with Classic City High School, a non-traditional high school for at-risk students in Clarke County. Students spend a minimum of 20 hours during the semester in contact time with this person in a tutoring relationship that requires learning about the learner as well as helping with academic work. Each student writes a case study of the learner’s learning that involves reflection on the learner’s experiences and needs. During whole-class meetings, students participate in book club groups where they discuss issues relevant to their tutoring situation. They select their readings from a large menu of choices that have been assembled to reflect issues of race, culture, socioeconomic class, gender, and other issues that contribute to the diversity of public school classrooms.

Kathy Thompson

Public Service Associate, Department of Elementary and Social Studies Education

Nearly 20% of America’s youth live in poverty, yet teachers often struggle to make connections between required curriculum standards in math, science, language arts, and social studies and larger societal concerns, such as poverty. To assist Georgia teachers in making the connection between curriculum and issues related to poverty, Middle School Education Initial Certification Program preservice teachers in EDMS 5020 developed curriculum units focused on teaching young adolescents about poverty in the context of required curriculum in math, science, language arts, and social studies. These units will be made available to Georgia teachers, Hands-On Northeast Georgia, and future Middle School Education Program preservice teachers. Some third grade students at Whitehead Elementary School watch intently as UGA student ?? shows them how to plant herbs.

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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2006-2007 Service-Learning Fellows are ( from left): Alfie Vick, environment and design; Denise Lewis, child and family development; Danny Bivins, Fanning Institute; Diane Bales, child and family Development; and Chris Cook, pharmacy

2006-2007 Service-Learning Fellows Diane Bales

Associate Professor of Child and Family Development and Human Development Specialist with UGA Family and Consumer Sciences Extension

As chair of the Service-Learning Task Force for the College of Family and Consumer Sciences, Bales led a group of faculty from each department, student representatives, a representative from Cooperative Extension, and a representative of the Institute on Human Development and Disability in developing a “FACS Guide to Service-Learning” website for college faculty with ideas and guidelines for faculty who are just beginning to develop a service-learning course. The site also includes a listing of FACS faculty with experience teaching service-learning courses, as well as links to other information on service-learning.

Danny Bivins

Public Service Assistant, The Fanning Institute

When Georgians think of the Chattahoochee River, images of mountain towns, fishing and rafting opportunities, and Atlanta’s thriving economy come to mind. However, below Atlanta, the river currently tells a different story. As it flows through Georgia, Alabama and Florida and through an area of the state where countywide poverty rates soar as high as 31 percent, the river’s economic potential has yet to be tapped. Page 19

Created and led by Bivins and Leigh Askew (20082009 Service-Learning Fellow), the Fanning Institute’s Project Riverway is a multi-discipline service-learning course offered each summer during which students from Journalism, Environmental Design, and Ecology collaborate with communities along the Chattahoochee River corridor on community and economic development projects. Students participate in service-learning projects aimed at strengthening the economic health of participating communities by developing heritage, cultural, educational, and ecological tourism—a key industry in Georgia—in the area using an asset-based community development model.

Christopher L. Cook

Clinical Assistant Professor, Department of Clinical and Adminstrative Pharmacy

Cook created the elective course PHRM 5500: Community-Based Pharmacy Outreach in 2006 with 9 students in order to introduce pharmacy students to their role in community outreach and health advocacy in pharmacy practice. Students led educational interventions on a number of health topics such as pediatric care; women’s health and birth control; healthy eating and weight management; selecting “over the counter” drug products; conducting medication therapy management reviews for senior citizens and understanding Medicare

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

Setting up the hives at Classic City High School

cont’d 2006-2007

Part D. Distribution and public education classes on these topics were featured in two community health fairs in the Rock Springs and Pinewood Estate community, local communities with underserved health needs.

Denise C. Lewis

Assistant Professor, Department of Child and Family Development

The Pre K students at Whitehead Elementary School watch as UGA College of Environment and Design Assistant Professor Brad Davis open the worms for release into the new vegetable garden.

For her service-learning project, Lewis created the Friendly Visitors Program, an intergenerational servicelearning program that occurs in conjunction with CHFD 3710 Mid-life and Later Years, a course taught each fall and spring semester. Lewis’s students are matched each semester with elders in retirement communities, assisted living and personal care facilities, and private homes. Each student-elder partner visits for 1-4 hours each week over an 8-week period. The program has 100 students each semester visiting approximately 225 elders in 10 different facilities ranging from an adult day center to a small, rural assisted living facility. Administrators and staff report an overall improvement in elders’ moods throughout the residential facilities, even among elders who are not matched with a student. Elders themselves and family members offer similar accounts of improved social engagement and wellbeing. The benefits of the program go beyond simple “friendly visits” and allow elders and students to strengthen intergenerational bonds, join forces in identification of aging-related problems, and create sustainable solutions.

Alfred Vick

Assistant Professor, Environmental Design

A raingarden is a landscaped stormwater management area that provides multiple aesthetic, environmental and educational benefits. In Fall 2007, Vick’s LAND 4360 Applied Landscape Ecology course designed and installed a demonstration raingarden project at Barnett Shoals Elementary School in the Clarke County School District.

Health Fair Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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The 2006 Inaugural Fellows are ( from left): David Berle, horticulture; Donna Bliss, social work; Katherine Kipp, psychology; Paul Matthews, Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE); Keely Jones, public administration and policy

2006 Inaugural Fellows David Berle

Associate Professor, Horticulture

In response to concerns over development in the Hog Hammock community on Sapelo Island, Georgia, 12 students in Berleâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s ???? course undertook a servicelearning project to document and map over 1200 trees in the 434-acre community. Using the latest GPS equipment, students learned to map trees and collect data related to overall tree health and spent 8 days mapping trees and roads on Sapelo Island. This information will be used by SICARS, a nonprofit corporation whose mission is to preserve and revitalize the Hog Hammock Community, as a means to protect the natural beauty of the live oak forest that surrounds the community.

Donna Bliss

Assistant Professor, Social Work

This academic year-long service-learning project involved getting social work students engaged in social problems in Athens-Clarke County on a grassroots level. Social work students enrolled in a Communities and Organizations class during the fall semester and conducted comprehensive analyses of Athens-Clarke County. After interviewing numerous community members, students then developed intervention proposals to address issues such as poverty, homelessness, school drop out, or criminal justice recidivism. Social Page 21

work students enrolled in an Organizing Community Groups class during the spring semester helped organize community groups to implement these grassroots interventions in the hope this will lead to a sustained effort in addressing the social problem.

Keely Jones

Assistant Professor, Department of Public Administration and Policy

During her fellowship, Jones designed servicelearning components connecting Masters of Public Administration students with the nonprofit community in Athens and Atlanta through the creation of the Non-Profit Resource Center that links public administration courses to needs of the non-profit community. Jones also integrates this service-learning work into her research focusing on civic engagement and philanthropy as well as nonprofit sector ecology and organizational development.

Katherine Kipp

Associate Professor, Psychology

Kipp developed and implemented a service-learning project PSYC 4220 Developmental Psychology taught during the Fall 2006 semester. Students mentored and tutored pre-K students at Oasis Catolico and connected

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

CLASE graduate assistant Cori Jakubiak (above) provides literacy support for a student at Fowler Drive Elementary.

cont’d 2006 Inaugural Fellows

this service-learning experience through reaction papers relating their experiences back to developmental psychology concepts, thinking critically about the impact of their service on the community, and presenting final thoughts and reflections at the end of the semester.

Paul Matthews

Academic Professional Associate, College of Education and Co-Director of the Center for Latino Achievement and Success in Education (CLASE)

CLASE’s service-learning initiatives involve UGA students in working with the K-12 Latino community in Athens, especially with after-school tutoring and mentoring programs. Currently, students can receive support, training and course credit via ELAN 4620/6620 ESOL Service-Learning. Community venues for the tutoring include the Garnett Ridge Boys & Girls Club, the Pinewoods branch library, Oasis Catolico Santa Rafaela, and local schools such as Oglethorpe Avenue Elementary. Beginning Spring 2007, these service-learning venues are also provided as an option for undergraduate students taking the College of Education’s “Area F” coursework as a field placement opportunity.

The 5th grade students at Whitehead Elementary School celebrate their newly planted vegetable garden. Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

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2009-2010 Service-Learning Fellows Elizabeth Davis

Coordinator of Writing Certificate Program Department of English Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

Joseph Goetz

Assistant Professor Family Financial Planning Program Department of Housing & Consumer Economics College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Tina Harris

Professor Speech Communications Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

Roger Harrison

Archway Professional â&#x20AC;&#x201C; Washington County Archway Partnership Project

Cecilia Herles

Assistant Director Institute for Womenâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s Studies Franklin College of Arts and Sciences

Megan Lee

Assistant Professor Department of Textiles, Merchandising, and Interiors College of Family and Consumer Sciences

Hyangoon Yi

Associate Professor Comparative Literature Franklin College of Arts and Sciences Page 23

Academic Service-Learning Opportunities at the University of Georgia

Office of Service-Learning Instructional Plaza North University of Georgia Athens, GA 30602