Browsing by Subject "Service learning"
Now showing 1 - 8 of 8
Results Per Page
Sort Options
Item Academic service learning pedagogy in social work : exploration of student and community lived experiences using an interdisciplinary course model of community-university engagement(2013-05) Gerstenblatt, Paula; Gilbert, Dorie J.; Walker, Juliet; Adejumo, Christopher; Lauderdale, Michael; Davis, KingAcademic service learning has grown in popularity at colleges and universities as a way to address social issues using study, reciprocity, and reflection. While the merits of service learning are well documented, gaps in the literature indicate a need for further development of pedagogical models, qualitative research about students' lived experiences, and research focused on community partners. This dissertation presents an interdisciplinary model for implementing academic service learning in social work education, in-depth understandings of student experiences in a service learning course, and insight into the experiences and perceived benefits of community partners. The first article presents a 3-component service learning model that capitalizes on the structure of a university-community partnership, mobilizes interdisciplinary teams of students for community-identified projects, and integrates student, community and faculty reflection on complex social structures. Article 2 offers a phenomenological analysis of 17 blogs written by service learning students working in a rural town through their blogs. The findings of this study suggest that the reflexive aspect of blogging fits well with the service learning principle of reflection, and reveals the students' emotive experience over the course of the semester. Additionally, blogging demonstrates the attributes of service learning pedagogy to support the acquisition of knowledge and understanding of complex problems in a real life setting not attainable solely in a classroom setting or through traditional classroom tools, such as exams and papers. Article 3 consists of a phenomenological analysis of interviews with 9 community partners, a combination of agency employees and active citizens that worked with a network of service learning classes in a rural Southern town. The findings support the contribution of service learning to communities, the importance of investing in reciprocal relationships, and the value added of including community partners who are members of informal networks and civically active residents. The research presented in this dissertation informs the growing popularity of service learning in social work with findings that demonstrate a useful implementation model, highly meaningful transformative impact on students, the resilience of the community to challenges of hosting service learning, and the invaluable fostering of inspiration and hope in the community-university relationship.Item From class to club : an exploration of high school civic-minded student organizations from 1996-2011 in Corpus Christi, Texas(2012-05) Noyola, Sonia Adriana; Field, Sherry L.; Davis, O. L. (Ozro Luke), 1928-Our educational system has long claimed that preparing students to be active citizens is one of its main goals. With high-stakes testing pressures, schools with high minority enrollment have been found to cut back social studies programs and/or implement a drill and practice fragmented teaching style. (Center on Education Policy, 2007; McNeil and Valenzuela, 2000). This research project seeks to understand how civic engagement opportunities were provided for, the impact of these opportunities on students and community members in Corpus Christi, Texas, during the last 15 years, and the ways in which these opportunities may serve to maximize civic engagement for today’s Latino/a student. Using oral histories and archival data as a means to uncover the history of civic-minded organizations in Corpus Christi, Texas, on high school youth and their community, this research project will investigate the founding of the organizations, the people involved in them, and the impact of these organizations as it is perceived by alumni and those with direct experience of the organizations. While a study of this type may not be highly generalizable, it will provide new insights into promising civic education and engagement for previously marginalized groups of students. The findings of this research should add to the educational and social science literature by providing a nuanced understanding of how civic engagement opportunities may be tailored to fit into the learning environment of the high school civics classroom and beyond.Item Relational reinvention : writing, engagement, and mapping as wicked response(2012-08) McCarthy, Seán Ronan; Syverson, Margaret A., 1948-; Davis, Diane; Ferreira-Buckley, Linda; Hodgson, Justin; Selfe, Cynthia LThis multimedia dissertation, situated in Rhetoric and Composition, Digital Media Studies, and Civic Engagement, articulates a sustainable, agile approach to “wicked problems.” These complex, definition-resistant, interlocking problems (such as racism or climate change) aren’t ultimately solvable; rather than wicked problems being “acted upon,” they can only be creatively and rigorously “responded to” by networks of committed individuals and institutions. This dissertation posits that a wicked problem necessitates a “wicked response”: a sustained, emergent, and fluid strategy that focuses on changing relationships – to people, to space, and to knowledge. In order, to make this argument, I present the case of Mart, a small, formerly prosperous town in East Texas that has been in decline over the last half of a century. Throughout this dissertation, I analyze the ongoing efforts of the Mart Community Project (MCP), a cohort of Mart residents, international artists, and students and instructors from a variety of departments at the University of Texas at Austin. Over the past two years, the MCP has engaged in over twenty-five discrete projects, all with the aim of helping the Mart Community reimagine itself in the face of its primary wicked problem: a lack of civic cohesion. In the first chapter I explore how language fails to define or describe a wicked problem, yet is still necessary in order to transform it. I illustrate this contradiction in part through the Chambless Field mural, a successful MCP community arts project that by “writing community” became a productive response. My second chapter examines service learning and demonstrates how university/community partnerships and “participatory engagement” can be part of a nuanced approach to a wicked problem. Using the work of UT students in design-oriented and civic engagement classes, I demonstrate in the third chapter how “mapping” can be both a savvy pedagogical tool and a key element in reinventing the relationships of people to space and to one another. This dissertation offers up these diverse strategies with the sincere hope that the particulars of the MCP’s wicked response might be productively generalized to aid others participating in similarly challenging civic engagement work on wicked problems.Item Students' reflections of service-learning in agricultural communications(2012-05) Hefley, Marie N.; Meyers, Courtney; Irlbeck, Erica; Akers, CindyResearch has found that many students in higher education are not being equipped in the classroom to handle future job responsibilities and competencies. In an effort to provide a more effective learning experience for students, service-learning has emerged as a successful teaching strategy across many educational disciplines. Both previous and current agricultural communications coursework has been designed to provide a theory of communication application; however, it is inhibiting students’ ability to understand issues relevant to the industry that are best found in hands-on, real-world experiences. Within agricultural communications, service-learning has been utilized as a pedagogy, but little research has been conducted to evaluate the use of service-learning in the agricultural communications curriculum. The purpose of this study was to examine the perceptions of students who completed service-learning projects in two agricultural communications courses during two separate semesters (Fall 2010 and Spring 2011) at a southwestern university. A qualitative case study design was used to collect data from 79 students related to their opinions of the service-learning experience, their interactions with their clients, and their evaluation of the course content. Students reported a positive attitude about the service-learning experience; students improved upon their communication skills and enjoyed the hands-on experience that is applicable to their future in communications. Students also said they learned how to respect other’s opinions and work in a group environment, and improved upon their leadership skills. Student’s also reported positive feelings about the course content, but recommended the instructor to place more emphasis on interviewing techniques, how to develop student-client relationships, and best practices for interacting with clients. Overall, the results of this study indicate students greatly benefited from working with a client on a service-learning project in an agricultural communications course and reflecting on the service; however, changes should be made to improve future integration of service in the course curriculum. This research concluded that there is a need for service-learning in other agricultural communications courses, but further research should be done to gain a deeper understanding of student perspectives.Item Successful movements in higher education : lessons learned and applied to developmental education(2009-12) D'Orazio, Dana M.; Treisman, Uri; Osborne, CynthiaDevelopmental education is a vital component to the transition from secondary to post-secondary education and has been the subject of much discussion related to current challenges faced in the changing academic environment. Through examination of three successful movements in higher education, the service-learning, Open Educational Resources (OER) and sustainability movements, attributes of effective reform will be discussed and analyzed. Levers for transformative change in post-secondary education will be discussed and applied to developmental education in an attempt to resituate developmental education and provide proactive suggestions for reform.Item The perceived impact of study abroad activities for graduate counseling studentsRodriguez, Kate MarieItem The phenomenon of combinning service learning and study abroad: A qualitative inquiry(2012-05) Klein, Charles H.; Lawver, David; Meyers, Courtney; Ulmer, Jonathan; Laverie, DebbieService-learning is a form of experiential learning that incorporates rigorous academic curricula, valuable community serve, and critical reflection in order to enhance the learning process and promote civic engagement among college students. Study abroad is also a form of experiential learning that, through immersion in a foreign country, can help students to grow personally and academically as well as develop greater cultural awareness in preparation for becoming global citizens. Incorporating service-learning with study abroad results in a phenomenon that enhances and intensifies the experience for students, especially in increasingly popular short-term study abroad programs. This qualitative inquiry looks at six landscape architecture summer study abroad programs to Yucatán, Mexico from 2005 through 2010. The course topic was Community-Based Ecotourism and included design studios where students worked with rural Maya communities who wanted to develop low impact tourism projects. Qualitative data analysis included two sets of data; the students’ journals with their responses to Pre- and Post-Flection essay prompts, and transcripts of interviews with individuals seven years after their participation in the first program in 2005. Results indicate that students’ journaling after the trip shifted toward the higher level of Krathwohl’s affective domain. Indications are that the service-learning component played an important role in the shift. There were also indications that students valued community engagement as an important aspect of the programItem Understanding the faculty experience in teaching social justice through service learning instruction(2011-08) Baumgart, Glen E.; Schallert, Diane L.; Svinicki, Marilla D.; Emmer, Edmund T.; Reddick, Richard J.; Chen, GeThis study explored the motivations of college faculty who teach social justice lessons through their service learning courses. In recent decades, universities have begun to respond to calls for a renewal in their civic missions, and educating students on civic responsibility and social justice issues (Boyer, 1994; Boyte & Hollander, 1999; Ehrlich, 2000). Faculty have been shown to be the critical facilitators in brining social justice topics to the curriculum through the use of service learning instruction (Buchanan, 1998; Ward, 2003). Given the emphasis in higher education today on social justice learning outcomes and the importance of the role of faculty, there is surprisingly no previous research on faculty motivation to teach social justice lessons through service learning. For this study, there were two guiding research questions: (1) what aspects of the faculty’s individual backgrounds influence their teaching of social justice topics? (2) What are faculty’s perceptions of the impact that service learning has on student learning? The setting of the study was a large research university in the southwest. Data were collected from 11 faculty through individual interviews and supplemented by course-related artifacts. Data were analyzed using coding procedures suggested by Strauss and Corbin (2008) from a grounded theory qualitative approach. Results indicated that faculty motivation to use service learning to teach social justice lessons was based on several core themes. These themes included: 1) the faculty’s personal background; 2) individual identity and role as faculty; 3) faculty’s perceived desired student outcomes; and 4) faculty reflection of observed student outcomes. In addition to the key themes, results showed that faculty did enjoy their teaching approach, an enjoyment that reinforced their motivation to continue to teach. Faculty in lecturer positions indicated that they believed they were adding special student experiences through social justice lessons that were void in other aspects of their education. Faculty with tenure indicated that although they were providing social experiences for students, they also tended to combine their social justice instruction with their research work. A model of faculty motivation for teaching social justice topics was presented. Implications for research and practice are discussed.