1. OBJECTIVES Definition of Service Learning How to use SL as a Pedagogy Benefits of Service Learning Resources at SCCC

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3. DEFINITON OF SERVICE LEARNING Service learning is an active teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with student learning.

4. 6/19/2012 ESSENTIAL ELEMENTS — Combines service with academic skills and content — Contains clear learning and service goals — Utilize the ideas of students, teachers, and community partners — Provides opportunities for critical thinking, creative problem solving and decision making — Includes collaboration and team work — Students are the initiators — Clarify the responsibilities of all involved — Focus on student involvement, initiative and active involvement — Address real community needs — Provides opportunities to learn about the larger community — Provide opportunities to reflect on service, and one’s role in serving

5. 6/19/2012 SERVICE LEARNING IS: Linked to student learning outcomes

6. 6/19/2012 FOUR CATEGORIES OF SERVICE LEARNING — Direct — Indirect — Advocacy — Research 6/19/2012

7. CATEGORIES OF SERVICE LEARNING Direct Service — Involves direct participation of students with community members — Interactions are face-to face — Examples include tutoring, planning and implementing activities for people in nursing homes, schools and agencies; work with neighborhood advisory boards to create and implement workshops for residents of low-income areas on budgeting, recycling, conserving and restoring public lands.

8. 6/19/2012 Students collect resources and conduct activities for an after-school program 6/19/2012

9. Students conducted arts and crafts activities with children at Albany Medical Center

10. 6/19/2012 INDIRECT SERVICE — Students channel resources to the community; however they do not interact with the recipients — EXAMPLES: stocking a food pantry, collecting goods for agencies, creating blogs, poetry walls, develop, and implement a fund raising event, design computer systems for agencies to manage volunteers, resources, finances and inventories, conducting an energy survey and make recommendations for energy saving in businesses and homes, and interview a person of color who is 10 years older for an oral local history research assignment, write a children’s book and donate it to a school.

11. 6/19/2012 Students coordinate with the Schenectady Library to collect Toys For Tots 6/19/2012

12. The students refurbished two foster care waiting rooms at the Schenectady County Department of Social Services, including painting murals and collecting toys and books.

13. 6/19/2012 ADVOCACY — Students create an awareness of and promote action on an issue to foster civic responsibility — Examples : educating others on an issue by writing letters to elected officials and other influential individuals ; blogs; creating public service announcements; public speaking; sponsor a community meeting or perform a play. In the following slides, SCCC students met with Senator Servino and Senator Thaczyk to advocate increased funding for children’s programs.

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16. SAMPLE ADVOCACY LETTER Congressman Paul Tonko 105 Jay Street Room 15 Schenectady, New York 12305 Re: Child care, early intervention and mental health funding Dear Congressman Tonko: As one of your constituents I urge you to consider the following funding priorities. Restore the $37 million funding for child care subsidies Restore the Early Intervention (EI) Program to the FY 2010-11 level of $230 million Increase the total of all child care funding by 10% Maintain the current commitment of $384.3 million to support Pre-K services Please insure that all of New York’s children receive access to safe, affordable, quality early intervention programs and child care by supporting the above funding. Research has shown that quality child care for infants and young children lays the groundwork for later success in school and life. I urge you to support NYS legislation that would enable families to acquire intensive mental health services for their children without relinquishing custody. Having improved mental health services will give children and parents more confidence to speak up,receive help earlier and keep families together. The current lack of funding for children and families diminishes their dignity. I am thanking you in advance for your kind attention and support to these matters. Together, let us guarantee the success of children, one of the most vulnerable populations and secure a better future for all. Sincerely,

17. Students in the Prevention of Child Maltreatment Course (HUS 133) displayed and distributed information on the prevention of child abuse at Zoller School. This was part of their advocacy service learning experience.

18. 6/19/2012 RESEARCH — Students are involved in locating, and reporting on information of interest to the public — EXAMPLES: systematically research issues; develop surveys; conduct formal studies, evaluations or interviews, write a paper analyzing the causes and consequences of a current national or international crisis and present a plan for a possible course of action in response to the crisis

19. 6/19/2012 BENEFITS OF SERVICE LEARNING STUDENTS — Reinforces academic skills, including higher level thinking — Encourages reflection on learning — Increases linkages with the community — Is a meaningful educational strategy — Develops teamwork skills — Experiences civic responsibility — Develops skills needed for professional careers FACULTY — Provides a proven educational strategy that is research based — Improves communication and understanding among students — Increases the relevancy of education for students — Increase knowledge of community organizations — Identifies resources to enhance educational opportunities for students 6/19/2012

20. FIVE STAGES OF SERVICE LEARNING — Investigation — Preparation and Planning — Action — Reflection — Demonstration and Celebration 6/19/2012

21. FIVE STAGES OF SERVICE LEARNING INVESTIGATION — Students investigate community needs — Students conduct research to validate the needs — Research is conducted through processes such as surveys, interviews, the internet and peer reviewed materials.

22. 6/19/2012 PREPARATION AND PLANNING — Develop goals — Create a project plan, a timeline, and budget — Students identify their own skills and resources — Students determine their roles and responsibilities — Fundraise if appropriate — Promote the project — Establish partnerships with others to gather resources

23. 6/19/2012 ACTION — Enact the project, which may be implemented over the course of an academic year, a semester, two weeks, or a single day — Publicize the project — Invite the media and local officials — Photo or video graph the project

24. 6/19/2012 REFLECTION — With reflection, students consider how the experience, knowledge and skills they are acquiring relate to their own lives and communities — Reflection provides students the opportunity to explore the impact of what they are learning and its effect on their thoughts and future actions. — Students compare their initial assumptions with what they have seen and experienced in the real world — Graded written and oral assignments are a means for students to reflect on their experiences. Sample assignments include a written essay, research paper, journal, case study, oral reports to the class, and a testimony to elected officials. 6/19/2012

25. DEMONSTRATION/CELEBRATION — Students demonstrate and celebrate their accomplishments and learning's. — Students further reflect on what they have learned, share insights with others and gain an opportunity for further insights. — Send thank you letters to contributors and volunteers — Some examples of demonstration are a class presentation, displays, performances, photo displays, power points, and web presentations. — Projects are saved electronically and shared with future classes 6/19/2012

26. ASSESSMENT Focus on the following questions Student Learning — Were the content and skills objectives accomplished? — Were there any unforeseen outcomes? — Did the students show initiative? — Were the students able to connect their experiences to the larger society? Impact of the service — Were the students able to state the need and purpose of their projects? — What contribution was made? — Was the partner satisfied with the results? The Process — How effective was the process? — Were there any areas that needed improvement? — How could students have had more ownership of their projects? 6/19/2012

27. SOC 127 INTERPERSONAL AND GROUP DYANAMICS The following slides are an example of a service learning course SOC 127 Interpersonal and Group Dynamics COURSE DESCRIPTION This course introduces students to interpersonal and group dynamics and the theories of leadership. It introduces students to conflict resolution theories. There is a particular emphasis on applying individual and group communication dynamics within a professional setting. The students design and implement a service learning project.

28. 6/19/2012 SOC 127 STUDENT LEARNING OBJECTIVES (REPRESENTATIVE) 1.Define and apply service learning concepts 2. Apply interpersonal and group dynamic theories 3. Describe the stages of group development 4. Identify and apply conflict-resolution techniques

29. 6/19/2012 SOC 127 SAMPLE PROJECTS Examples of service learning projects for SOC 127 are: — Collecting non-perishable food — Planning and implementing a day of respite for parents at a children's’ agency — Enacting activities for children in an after school program — Collecting sports equipment for an elementary school and organizing a fun hour for the children to use the equipment 6/19/2012

30. SOC 127 SRVCICE LEARNING PROJECT STEPS PREPARATION AND PLANNING — The main focus of this course is for the students to learn professional individual and group communication skills. Through their service-learning projects, they practice the communication skills learned in class. — Each student receives a service learning packet complete with a short service learning article, how to conduct group meetings, meeting minute forms and individual and group goal sheets — As a class, students brainstorm agencies and/or community needs — They self-select into working groups — The Professor leads students in ice breaker activities in their working groups and explains how to conduct meetings — A leader is chosen. The role of the secretary is rotated among the other group members. 6/19/2012

31. PREPARATION AND PLANNING — Students devise a plan for contacting the chosen community partner and researching and their needs — Students decide what resources are needed, and how to obtain the resources — Students decide their roles and responsibilities within the group — They devise a written individual and group plan — Students decide how and where to advertise their project 6/19/2012

32. ACTION — This step includes advertising and collecting resources. Students collect resources by contacting local businesses, friends, family and the SCCC community and/or raffles — The assigned chapters for the course assists students in utilizing the communication skills needed for the action stage. Periodically, the leader of each group reports the group progress aloud to the class. This enables the sharing of ideas. — Students implement their project 6/19/2012

34. REFLECTION — The students are reflecting on their learning throughout the course through graded journals and reflection papers. — Each group plans a presents a PowerPoint to the class as per a written assignment. Each member states what she/he has learned. — The class asks questions of the group — Each student completes a final exam which includes reflection on the their participation in the service learning experience 6/19/2012

35. FINAL EXAM Part 1 Describe your verbal communication style and what you learned about yourself during your service learning experience. Discuss the skills that you learned and/or improved. Include the skills that you need to improve. Describe your non-verbal communication style and what you learned about yourself during your service learning experience. Discuss the skills that you learned and/or improved. Include the skills that you need to improve. Describe and discuss your specific contributions to the group. Describe what you might have done differently in the group. (i.e. how could you have improved the functioning of the group? How could you have made this project more successful?) 6/19/2012

36. FINAL EXAM CONTINUED Part 2 Define Tuckman’s stages for a group and give an example of how your group followed each stage within the service learning experience. Discuss the challenges that your service learning group experienced in regards to conflict. Discuss what conflict resolution techniques were applied to these challenges.

37. 6/19/2012 FINAL EXAM CNTINUED 6/19/2012 Part 3 Describe and discuss the cultural factors in your group and how they impacted your group and service learning experience. Part 4 Define and describe how one of the National Association of Social Workers Code of Ethics principles was applied. Part 5 Define and explain the service learning steps. Describe how your group implemented each step. Provide examples of the implementation of each step and your participation in each step.

38. 6/19/2012 GROUP PRESENTATION OF THE SERVICE LEARNING EXPERIENCE Each group will deliver a 20-30 minute presentation. The presentation will include the information listed below and will be graded accordingly. Please incorporate into the power point, visuals such as pictures, and/or brochures or other ideas that will make the presentation INTERESTING. INTRODUCTION — Introduce the members of the group. — State the name of the experience. BODY OF THE PRESENTATION — Identify the need that the experience addressed. — Discuss how you discovered, analyzed and researched the causes of this need. — Discuss the findings of your research. — Explain how the lives of others improved because of this experience. — Each person will analyze and describe specifically what they learned from this experience. Include what communication skills you learned and how your communication skills improved. 6/19/2012

39. GROUP PRESENTATION CONTINUED GROUP PROCESS — Describe the composition of the members of the group in terms of ethnicities, communication styles and other topics from both books. — Describe the group process in terms of developing goals, interdependence, trust, communication, how conflict was managed, how decisions were made and other key processes of the group. — Discuss what the group might have done differently. — Each person will also state individually, what she/he learned and may have done differently. 6/19/2012

40. DEMONSTRTION AND CELEBRATION — Each student receives a certificate, highlighting their main accomplishment. The certificate is presented at the end of the group PowerPoint presentation. — The Instructor saves the Powerpoints to show to future classes 6/19/2012

41. SERVICE-LEARNING VIDEOS — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCQ0DGzqfdc&fe ature=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UCQ0DGzqfdc&fe ature=related — http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jb42yfidjE&featur e=related http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7jb42yfidjE&featur e=related http://www.highpoint.edu/servicelearning/video- service-learning-in-action/ http://www.highpoint.edu/servicelearning/video- service-learning-in-action/ 6/19/2012

42. INFORMATION PLEASE CONTACT RENEE ADAMANY AT 381-1298 or adamanrt@sunysccc.eduadamanrt@sunysccc.edu for more information on service learning 6/19/2012