Service Learning Course Design

1. Service Learning Course Design ShealeenMeaney, Bobbi Gabrenya, Janel Leone, Stacey Maslowsky, Carol Dimambro& Eileen Brownell

2. “Tell me and I forget. Teach me and I remember. Involve me and I learn.” - Benjamin Franklin

3. Service Learning Definitions:

4. Some Key Principles of Service Learning Include:

5. Service Learning Can:

7. Continuum of Engagement:

8. Continuum of Service Learning:

9. Some Questions to Consider: • How does service learning help you meet the objectives you have in mind for the course? • What skills, knowledge, and experience do your students bring that will help meet the community partner’s self-identified needs? • What knowledge and experience do community partners bring to the table? • How much interaction will be required between students, partnering organizations, and the communities those organizations serve? • What course readings, assignments, and objectives will you need to modify to integrate service learning (if you are working with an existing course)? • What are the potential negative impacts and resource drains on the community partner? How can you mitigate these if possible? • How will you support students in engaging responsibly and thoughtfully with the community partners? How will you develop an ethic of reciprocal engagement?

10. Implementing a College-Based Sexual & Physical Violence Awareness Campaign Janel Leone, Dept. of Law & Society Stacey Maslowsky, Sage Colleges Wellness Center

11. Statement of Problem • Need for increased awareness and student engagement regarding the issue of sexual and physical violence on campus.

12. Project Goals • To assist The Wellness Center in raising awareness of the prevalence and impact of sexual and physical violence in our college and local communities • To build community engagement, involvement, and participation in the Take Back the Night march and rally at The Sage College of Albany on April 18, 2013.

18. Wellness Center Link

24. Was The Project Successful? • Impact on Wellness Center: • Increased student interest in programming • Large Sage turnout for Take Back the Night • Quality educational aids for future use • Impact on Students: • Significant decrease in victim blaming • Enthusiasm for peer education on campus • Comfort in sharing own stories of survival • Transformation regarding support and understanding of sexual violence and associated trauma

25. Crime & Justice Policy – Unplanned Changes

26. Problem: Formerly incarcerated persons are more likely to return to prison if unemployed

27. Job Fair for Formerly Incarcerated Persons 40 resumes produced 20 service providers Over 100 parolees attended

28. LESSONS LEARNEDCommunity Accountability Board HEALING THE HARM CAUSED BY CRIME: RESTORATIVE JUSTICE & CAB Always have a Plan B Get plenty of training/mentoring Reflection is key to student understand

29. The Course: Literature, Feminist Theory, and the Public Humanities: A Senior Seminar in English Studies.The Faculty Member:ShealeenMeaney The Project: Community Conversation Toolkits for Talking about Women, Gender, Sexuality, and Feminism The Partner: The mission of the New York Council for the Humanities is to help all New Yorkers become thoughtful participants in our communities by promoting critical inquiry, cultural understanding, and civic engagement. Founded in 1975, the New York Council for the Humanities is the sole statewide proponent of public access to the humanities. The Council is a private 501(c)3 that receives Federal, State, and private funding. (Provided by NYCH)

30. Community Conversations Project Overview A Community Conversation (CC) brings together members of a group, organization or neighborhood to join in a facilitated discussion of a short text. The facilitator introduces thought-provoking questions and encourages participants to reflect on the issues raised by the reading and discuss how they impact our lives and communities. The New York Council for the Humanities invites students enrolled in ShealeenMeaney’s senior seminar in English at Russell Sage College for Women to develop new Community Conversations toolkits around the themes of women, feminism, gender, and sexuality. This special partnership between the Council and Professor Meaney’s students will allow students to explore the theory and practice of public humanities by reading key texts that offer various definitions of the public humanities; by observing current public humanities programs sponsored by the Council; by researching and profiling audiences for public humanities programs; by selecting a humanities text and formulating discussion questions for a public setting; and, per the instructor and students’ agreement, by facilitating a Community Conversation in a public setting using the text and questions developed in the course. (From Course Materials developed by NYCH and S. Meaney)

31. Community Conversations Project Related Course Assignments Critical Readings: In addition course reading in Feminist Literary Theory, students did readings about Public Humanities, Civic Engagement, and Feminist Participatory Action Research. Sample Readings: • "Isn't Just Being Here Political Enough?“ (Coates, Dodds, and Jensen) • “The Engaged Humanities” (Jay) • “Skills for Community-based Projects in the Arts, Humanities, and Design” (Imagining America Institute) • “Community Conversations,” “Classroom Conversations,” and “Families” Toolkits (NYCH) Written Assignments: • NYCH Site-Visit Report (1-2 pages) • Audience Analysis Report (2-3 pages) • Preliminary Text Proposals for Community Conversations Project (2-3 pages) • Formal Community Conversations Proposal (Collaborative Writing Project 3-5 pages Co-evaluated by faculty and NYCH) • Reflective Essay (1-2 pages) Effective Participation in Community Conversation Planning (Co-evaluated by peers and faculty) Combined Value: 35% of Final Course Grade

32. Service-Learning Projects MGT340: Leadership & Diversity Project I: Working with the YWCA—Computer Skills Training Project Project II: Working with the YMCA--Resource Handbook Project Project III: Working with the YMCA—Racism Project

33. WLD420 Women Changing the World

34. MBA696 Competitive Advantage Shared effort capstone course to reach out to organizations—profit and nonprofit--to assist with their challenges National Women’s History Project FW Webb Theater Institute of Sage

35. Plans What do you think are the next steps for you and Sage? You Your Role Your Institution • How does/might service learning fit with your institutional mission?......in your teaching? • What kinds of institutional challenges/ personal hesitations might you know or suspect you will encounter?