scholarly journals ePortfolio and Service-Learning: A Tale of Two Cities Connected by Two High-Impact Practices

2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (05) ◽  
pp. 119
Author(s):  
Monika Ciesielkiewicz ◽  
Clarence Chan ◽  
Guiomar Nocito
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Real World ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Local Community ◽  
High Impact ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
High Impact Practices ◽  
Complementary Role

Two different post-secondary professional education programs from two different cities (New York and Madrid) took a similar approach in using ePortfolio to facilitate high-impact behaviors (HIBs) among their students while showing how the ePortfolio enhances and supports other high impact practices (HIPs). In Madrid, ePortfolio was utilized to support a Matumaini Project as it integrated the academic work carried out in the classrooms to help a community in Kenya. On the other side of the Atlantic, the ePortfolio was implemented in order to connect didactic learning from the classroom to the clinical practice in the local community. Both case studies suggested that the ePortfolio combined with other high-impact practices plays a complementary role with other High-Impact Practices (HIPs) in higher education. Our statistical analysis sheds light on the relationship between seven high-impact behaviors present when two high-impact practices, such as the ePortfolio and Service-Learning, are combined. The correlations, both combined and by city, demonstrate the importance of promoting two high-impact behaviors in particular, which are: 1) quality interaction between the students and the professors and 2) providing opportunities to relate academic learning to real world experiences. When these two high-impact behaviors were maximized, our data suggest that the use of other high-impact behaviors examined in this study expanded as well. This research also confirms the importance of providing students a way to relate their classroom learning with real-world experiences.

Retaining social and cultural sustainability in the Hudson river watershed of New York, USA, a place-based participatory action research study

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Carlos J.L. Balsas
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Environmental Sustainability ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Hudson River ◽  
Natural Environments ◽  
Full Time ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Cultural Sustainability ◽  
River Watershed

Purpose Societal problems have impacted the northeast of the USA for various generations. This paper aims to analyse various sustainability aspects in the Hudson River watershed of New York by highlighting a temporal progression from environmental sustainability at the watershed level in the 1970s to growing concerns with more localized cross-border social and cultural sustainability in recent decades. We discuss an engagement with the Rapp Road Historic District and a documentary screening series as potential ways to eliminate racism and embrace diversity. Design/methodology/approach The research was based on fieldwork and classroom teaching conducted mostly since summer 2014. It included mixed methods combining document analysis and reviews with the examination of case studies, and the assessment of public policy priorities. Findings Formal training has to be combined with a substantial dose of realism, humility and motivation to recognize that what the authors teach and research in the community matters. Future learning experiences within a place-based education paradigm could include: Having students help devise urban rehabilitation strategies whilst suggesting integrative measures with the surrounding built and natural environments; students could also help improve public spaces in the neighbourhood; and finally, they could also help to strengthen the cultural identity of the district by augmenting urban design features endogenous to the African American community. Practical implications Opportunities could be further augmented with service-learning projects and programmes, internships and even full-time jobs for recent graduates in local community development organizations. Social implications The study served to raise the community’s awareness of its own natural, ecological and human assets, and to create place-based real-world opportunities for students and faculty in environmental and cultural sustainability studies. Originality/value Environmental sustainability is discussed with the creation of the Hudson River Valley National Heritage Area, whilst the public engagement with the Rapp Road Historic Association in the Capital Region of upstate New York, the identification of an emerging creative cluster in the Berkshires-Hudson region, and a documentary and discussion series on striving for diverse cities serve to demonstrate current concerns with social and cultural sustainability.

scholarly journals Understanding the University and Faculty Investment in Implementing High-Impact Educational Practices

2018 ◽  
Vol 18 (2) ◽  
pp. 118-135 ◽  
Author(s):  
Allison White
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Learning Outcomes ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
High Impact ◽  
First Year ◽  
Educational Practices ◽  
High Impact Practices ◽  
Completion Agenda ◽  
Cumulative Learning ◽  
The University

A variety of assessment options utilizing high-impact educational practices have emerged to assist faculty in higher education with college student learning outcomes. High-impact practices are defined as teaching and learning designs which have been demonstrated to increase student engagement and persistence. Practices such as first-year seminars, tech-rich learning communities, collaborative projects, undergrad research, global/diversity learning, service learning, practicums, and internships are educational tools making it possible to assess the practices’ contribution to students’ cumulative learning. However, utilization of these practices is unsystematic due in part to the required investment of time, training, and money. This paper describes high-impact practices that support course and program level learning outcomes in conjunction with the investments for implementation. Exploration into why these types of practices are effective and which students have access to them emphasizes the need for this investment to meet accreditation standards and the mandates of our government’s “completion agenda” geared towards preparing America’s future workforce.

scholarly journals Reflections of a CSL Groupie

2018 ◽  
Vol 4 (1) ◽  
pp. 235-239
Author(s):  
Jane Hennig
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Engaged Scholarship ◽  
Community Partner ◽  
Community Service Learning ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Waterloo Region ◽  
Community Engaged Scholarship ◽  
Personal Reflections ◽  
High Level

The Volunteer Action Centre has been an active supporter of community service-learning and other forms or community-engaged scholarship in partnership with three large post-secondary institutions in Waterloo Region. Over the years, staff have connected with local and national projects to enhance our understanding of engaged scholarship and try to translate that knowledge to benefit our community. This article explores the personal reflections of a community partner/broker. The author has a high level of respect for the institutions that connect their students, faculty, and staff with the community of which they are a part, but also has experienced some of the challenges of bureaucracy. This reflection attempts to share some of the ground-breaking work of local community-post-secondary partnerships while acknowledging some of the very real challenges of this kind of shared work.

scholarly journals Students as Community Vaccinators: Implementation of a Service-Learning COVID-19 Vaccination Program

2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Andrew R. Griswold ◽  
Julia Klein ◽  
Neville Dusaj ◽  
Jeff Zhu ◽  
Allegra Keeler ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
New York ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Clinical Skills ◽  
Learning Experience ◽  
New York State ◽  
Vaccination Program ◽  
Community Partner ◽  
Vaccination Programs ◽  
Academic Medical

Background: Service-learning is an integral component of medical education. While the COVID-19 pandemic has caused massive educational disruptions, it has also catalyzed innovation in service-learning as real-time responses to pandemic-related problems. For example, the limited number of qualified providers was a potential barrier to local and national SARS-CoV-2 vaccination efforts. Foreseeing this hurdle, New York State temporarily allowed healthcare professional trainees to vaccinate, enabling medical students to support an overwhelmed healthcare system and contribute to the community. Yet, it was the responsibility of medical schools to interpret these rules and implement the vaccination programs. Here the authors describe a service-learning vaccination program directed towards underserved communities. Methods: Weill Cornell Medicine (WCM) rapidly developed a faculty-led curriculum to prepare students to communicate with patients about the COVID-19 vaccines and to administer intramuscular injections. Qualified students were deployed to public vaccination clinics located in underserved neighborhoods across New York City in collaboration with an established community partner. The educational value of the program was evaluated with retrospective survey. Results: Throughout the program, which lasted from February to June 2021, 128 WCM students worked at 103 local events, helping to administer 26,889 vaccine doses. Analysis of student evaluations revealed this program taught fundamental clinical skills, increasing comfort giving intramuscular injection from 2% to 100% and increasing comfort talking to patients about the COVID-19 vaccine from 30% to 100%. Qualitatively participants described the program as a transformative service-learning experience. Conclusion: As new virus variants emerge, nations battle recurrent waves of infection, and vaccine eligibility expands to include children and boosters, the need for effective vaccination plans continues to grow. The program described here offers a novel framework that academic medical centers could adapt to increase vaccine access in their local community and provide students with a uniquely meaningful educational experience.

Reciprocal Empowerment Through Remote Service Learning

2021 ◽  
pp. 65-85
Author(s):  
Birgit Phillips
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Transformative Learning ◽  
Local Community ◽  
Practical Experience ◽  
Academic Learning ◽  
Self Awareness ◽  
Social Commitment ◽  
Course Content ◽  
Educational Processes ◽  
Tools And Methods

This chapter presents a novel pedagogical approach of “remote service learning” (RSL), which was applied in an undergraduate health degree program at an Austrian university. Remote service learning is a form of active blended learning that combines academic learning with practical experience and social commitment, using a range of tools and methods from online didactics. Drawing on emancipatory pedagogies such as transformative learning, an RSL-focused course pursues the ambitious goal of promoting reciprocal empowerment, that is, the promotion of mutual educational processes. “Reciprocal” refers to all stakeholders involved in the course, directly or indirectly: university students, the local community, the Austrian NGO, and the educator. Survey and qualitative data results have shown that the fundamental triad of learning, acting, and reflecting in remote service learning not only leads to a deeper understanding of the course content and discipline but also increased self-awareness, empathy, and a heightened sense of the highly complex social realities in different parts of the world.

scholarly journals Clinical legal education and disability: accommodation, implementation and assessment in service-learning programs

2016 ◽  
Vol 23 (4) ◽  
pp. 7
Author(s):  
Martha E. Simmons ◽  
Marian MacGregor
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Experiential Education ◽  
Professional Education ◽  
Social Model ◽  
Social Model Of Disability ◽  
Post Secondary ◽  
Program Selection ◽  
Challenges And Opportunities ◽  
Learning Programs ◽  
Disability Accommodation

Experiential education is becoming an increasingly relevant pedagogy in post-secondary and professional education. This paper situates service-learning within the larger context of experiential education. It provides an examination of the social model of disability and its relevance for service-learning programs. Most importantly, it then narrows in on implications of disability on program selection, implementation and assessment. The aim of the paper is to offer practical suggestions to create and maintain universally accessible programs as well as a theoretical framework from which to view these challenges and opportunities.

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