scholarly journals The International Engineering Service Program at the University of Iowa

2014 ◽  
pp. 300-333
Author(s):  
Flora E Duff ◽  
Lindsay J Marshall ◽  
Lee W Hauser ◽  
Hayden W Ausland ◽  
Timothy J Houser ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Staff Member ◽  
Developing World ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Service Program ◽  
Research Staff ◽  
University Of Iowa ◽  
International Scope ◽  
The University

The International Engineering Service Program at the University of Iowa (UI-IESP) has evolved immensely since 2003. The UI-IESP changed significantly in response to increases in financial resources from grants and gifts and through the creation of the Design With the Developing World (DWDW) service-learning course. Taught since 2006, the DWDW course has provided 185 students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to propose solutions to problems faced by people in the “developing world”. Since 2013, improvements to the DWDW course include a change in instructional format, the utilization of the Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers, the integration of experiential workshops, and the UI-IESP partnership with Kobriti, Ghana. The Kobriti Partnership recently culminated in the construction of a solar-powered groundwater pumping system by the people of Kobriti with the assistance of a UI-IESP team that included three former DWDW students, a university shop staff member and a university research staff member. Using reflections written by students, the research staff member and the corresponding author, the UI-IESP was determined to be effective overall. Critiques of the UI-IESP highlighted the lack of a national affiliation, the use of a single advisor, the small international scope, the perception that the DWDW course was unable to fully prepare students, and the need for redundancy in communication planning. Lessons learned include “knowing by going”, being resilient, embracing unknowns, respecting indigenous knowledge, and always seeking partners. Best practices include diverse training for students, partnering for the long-term, identifying responsible parties, partnership reciprocity, and utilizing resources from the university, EWB-USA and/or ESW.

A Spirit of Reciprocity: Service-Learning Opportunities at Iowa

2017 ◽  
Vol 2 (7) ◽  
pp. 24-29
Author(s):  
Ruth Bentler ◽  
Ann Fennell
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Graduate Student ◽  
International Collaboration ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Personal Resources ◽  
University Of Iowa ◽  
Spare Time ◽  
The University

For a number of years, faculty and students from the University of Iowa have been providing services to orphans in China. To improve sustainability, the effort was increased to also include training to hospital and orphanage staff as well. It became clear that the scope of our tasks and the amount of preparation for the students involved was exceeding what we could fit into the spare time of the typical graduate student and the mentor-of the-year. With the onset of a second humanitarian project—demanding similar training preparation and planning—a course was developed to better prepare the students for both the upcoming trips, as well as a lifetime of international collaboration and reciprocity. Funded entirely by student/faculty fundraising efforts (and personal resources), our commitment to global teaching and service is a strong one.

scholarly journals Formal Service Learning Opportunities: Engineering Internships in Social Entrepreneurship Organizations

2012 ◽  
Vol 7 (1) ◽  
pp. 40-52
Author(s):  
Camilla M. Saviz ◽  
Abel A. Fernandez ◽  
Elizabeth A. Basha
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Social Entrepreneurship ◽  
The United States ◽  
Learning Opportunities ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Strategic Partnerships ◽  
Problem Solving Skills ◽  
Formal Service ◽  
Entrepreneurial Organization ◽  
The University

Over the past three years, a collaboration between the School of Engineering  and the ABC Center for DEF at the University of the XYZ has provided students with internship opportunities at five different social entrepreneurship organizations distributed among six countries.  The summer internship program administered by the ABC Center seeks to provide an enriching experience for participants, to raise awareness of the broad application of social entrepreneurship across different disciplines, and provide qualified student assistance to organizations seeking specific help.  Working with the socially entrepreneurial organization, students were required to apply problem-solving skills in environments where language, culture, technical support, and supervision were very different from levels experienced during their more ‘traditional’ internships in the United States. These internships in social entrepreneurship allowed students to learn first-hand that successfully implementing projects in other countries requires strong technical skills and a fundamental understanding of local cultural, political, and contextual factors.  At the institutional level, lessons learned included the importance of forming strategic partnerships to increase opportunities and capitalize on limited resources, and the need to use existing frameworks to facilitate student involvement in such service-learning opportunities.

scholarly journals Multi-University Partnership for Global Service Learning in Sub-Saharan Africa

2014 ◽  
pp. 367-380
Author(s):  
Jeffrey Seay ◽  
John Lumkes
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Low Cost ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Biodiesel Production ◽  
Sub Saharan Africa ◽  
Small Scale ◽  
Production Plant ◽  
University Of Kentucky ◽  
Purdue University ◽  
The University

The African Center for Renewable Energy and Sustainable Technology (ACREST) is an NGO located in Bangang, Cameroon. ACREST has partnered with the University of Kentucky and Purdue University in a joint service learning and engineering program to design and build a low cost, diesel powered Multi-Purpose Utility Vehicle (MPV) and a small-scale biodiesel production plant to generate the fuel needed to operate the vehicle. Students from the University of Kentucky and Purdue University have worked alongside technicians from ACREST to implement these two integrated projects. Lessons learned as well as best practices from the development of service learning in engineering programs for undergraduates will also be presented.

Nurturing STEM talent in rural setting

2021 ◽  
Vol 103 (4) ◽  
pp. 24-30
Author(s):  
Joni M. Lakin ◽  
Tamra Stambaugh ◽  
Lori M. Ihrig ◽  
Duhita Mahatmya ◽  
Susan G. Assouline
Keyword(s):  
Rural Schools ◽  
Rural Areas ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Rural Setting ◽  
University Of Iowa ◽  
Rural Teachers ◽  
Science Technology ◽  
And Mathematics ◽  
The University

Rural schools, especially smaller ones, offer enormous opportunities for teachers to get to know their students and to cultivate their academic talents. However, students with potential in science, technology, engineering, and mathematics (STEM) face specific obstacles to having their talents fully realized in rural schools. Joni Lakin, Tamra Stambaugh, Lori Ihrig, Duhita Mahatmya, and Susan G. Assouline describe the STEM Excellence and Leadership project from the University of Iowa, which seeks to equip rural teachers in grades 5-8 with the skills and knowledge to recognize and grow STEM talent in rural areas. Examples of success and lessons learned are shared.

scholarly journals A Hong Kong University first: Establishing service-learning as an academic credit-bearing subject

2013 ◽  
Vol 6 ◽  
Author(s):  
Carol Ma ◽  
Alfred Chan
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Hong Kong ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Effective Means ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Asia Pacific ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Voluntary Work ◽  
The University

Service-learning, where university students are trained to serve or educate the less able for a defined number of voluntary work hours and where the service experience is relevant to the course into which the service is integrated, can be an effective means of community engagement. Many universities in the US have factored in a term for credit-bearing service-learning courses, so that students are oriented to developing a service mentality and nurturing a ‘giving culture’ on campus. In the Asia Pacific region, Lingnan University, with its liberal arts ethos, is the first university in Hong Kong to use service-learning as a vehicle for knowledge transfer between university and community. The first service-learning program was offered by the Faculty of Social Sciences in 2004 as an optional learning experience, and the university is now moving towards making service-learning a graduation requirement that bears academic credits. Service-learning is currently integrated in the majority of disciplines of the university, as part of the undergraduate program. In addition to detailing the history, development and operation of the service-learning program, this article discusses the lessons learned in the institutionalisation of service-learning, as well as the way forward for service-learning in higher education in Hong Kong. Keywords: service-learning, knowledge transfer, whole-person education, experiential education, higher education, campus-community partnerships

scholarly journals Global TIES: Ten Years of Engineering for Humanity

2014 ◽  
pp. 205-221 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mandy Bratton
Keyword(s):  
Best Practices ◽  
Nonprofit Organizations ◽  
Undergraduate Students ◽  
Social Innovation ◽  
Positive Impact ◽  
Interdisciplinary Teams ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Engineering And Technology ◽  
Humanitarian Engineering ◽  
The University

Founded in 2004, Global TIES – Teams in Engineering Service at the University of California, San Diego is a nationally recognized humanitarian engineering and social innovation program. In Global TIES, student-led, faculty-advised, interdisciplinary teams of undergraduate students earn academic credit for designing engineering and technology solutions in partnership with local and global nonprofit organizations. Data suggest that participation in Global TIES has a positive impact on students on a number of academic and developmental variables, including many of the professional and technical skills recommended by the Accreditation Board for Engineering and Technology. These findings, as well as the program’s history, mission, and curriculum, are described. Best practices developed and lessons learned over the program’s first decade are also discussed.

scholarly journals Encountering Selves and Others: Finding Meaning in Life Through Action and Reflection on a Social Service Learning Program

2014 ◽  
Vol 8 (2) ◽  
pp. 43-52 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuling Su ◽  
Rong-Ji Pan ◽  
Kun-Hu Chen
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Elementary School Teachers ◽  
Social Service ◽  
Meaning In Life ◽  
Chinese Culture ◽  
Lessons Learned ◽  
Learning Program ◽  
Service Program ◽  
Time Activity ◽  
Catholic University

This article describes how a college social service learning centre at a Catholic university created an opportunity for researchers, college students and elementary school teachers to learn about meaning in life together, through a social service learning program in Taiwan. The participants’ involvement benefitted their learning, indicating that the meaning in life perceived by the younger generation has changed in response to the context of an evolving Chinese culture, and that participants constrained their callings by developing realistic plans consisting of goals emphasised in traditional Chinese culture. Challenges were identified: specifically, the participants’ callings did not directly reflect the lessons that they learned through involvement in the program, and implementing the service program as a one-time activity limited its effect on the participants’ ability to find meaning in life. Future development of the service program was discussed, based on the lessons learned through this action research.

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