Service Learning

Service learning, whats that?  Some might say it's the same as community service.  It's not too far off, however there is an extra cool little spin on things when it comes to service learning.

First off, service learning may not be as simple as helping out an organization who asked for time or money.  Service learning involves not only one's helping hands and understanding mind, but it stretches a bit further to ensure that individual's begin see to a bigger picture.  Not only might someone be volunteering a Friday afternoon to sort canned foods for a local food pantry, but they might begin to consider the dilemmas of extreme poverty within our very own communities that lead to hunger and often malnutrition.  This connects to overall health and wellness, and perhaps even an interest in food activism.

In my opinion, service learning seeks to understand root causes of an issue while seeking ways to provide both short and long term solutions.  

Favorite Homework Assignment: Professional Folder

I recently completed a M.Ed program with a focus on Humane Education.  It wasn't a month later before I was asked to teach a few of the freshmen seminar courses at the college I work for.

During the first term, so much of the course was focused on helping students transition into a potentially new country, state, city, campus, shared dorm room, field of study etc.  The curriculum included a lot of logistical support, for example how to change your meal plan, registering for courses and knowing who your Academic Advisor is.  In addition to meeting one on one with each student to ensure they have made at least one meaningful connection with someone within the first few weeks, there was also a lot of focus on instilling some of the basic necessities of any successful student or person in general, i.e. time management, organization, motivation and the like.

My favorite assignment to the class was to have each student create a "Professional Folder," something I was not required to do until my senior year of college.  Within the folder students were required to include a minimum of 15 items.  Such items might include a resume, employment postings, research opportunities, articles relevant to their field etc.  Some students even included a sample cover letter or even papers they have written.

This was such a worthwhile project when I was in college, however I wish had started building something like this sooner. Perhaps I would have been more intentional about the choices I made regarding my "next steps" early on, as opposed to just beginning the whole thought process as graduation put a bit of an urgent spin on things.

If you were to ask most of the students in this first class, I believe they might agree that the Professional Folder was a helpful assignment.  In fact, one of the students received an opportunity to conduct undergraduate research during the the following academic term.  Certainly her genuine personality and true work ethic is the main reason she landed this opportunity.  I do wonder though, if this little nudge to sift through employment opportunities and to tighten up a resume in within her first ten weeks of college might have encouraged her to reach for such opportunities a bit sooner...