The Service-Learner
The Voice of Students, Faculty and Community
V O L U M E
Looking Back...Looking Ahead
I V ,
This August, Professor Jeffrey L.
Schwartz, a longtime service-learning
practitioner at QCC,
presented his experiences with servicelearning at the First
Year Engineering Experience conference
(read the conference paper at: http://
fyee.org/fyee2013/sessions/F4D.htm).
Each semester since Fall 2010, Prof.
Schwartz has taught his Introduction to
Computer Programming students how to
write computer programs by having them
create a product for the Academic Literacy
Learning Center (ALLC). The students,
most of whom have never written a computer program before, design “flash cards”
and games that can be used by Academic
Literacy students. By using timers, score
counters, different design schemes, and
other interesting variations, the students
S U M M E R
Eighteen classes and nine clubs participated in QCC’s annual Earth Day Celebration. Ten service-learning projects were
showcased at QCC’s spring Health Fair,
hosted by the Office of Health Services.
Read about these events on page 4.
In other news, the OASL’s Across the Disciplines survey results are now being analyzed by Dr. Ian Beckford, Academic Assessment Manager, Learning Outcomes, Academic Affairs. This Institutional Review
Board (IRB) approved research protocol
measures the impact of service-learning on
students’ workplace skills, civic engage-
Consistent Growth
Professor Jeffrey L. Schwartz
Engineering Technology
I
Henrietta Lacks.
Service-learning at QCC was showcased
at four main events during the spring 2013
semester. On April 11, 25 faculty members
came together with 19 community partners
for our annual partnership building breakfast, hosted by the Office of Academic Service-Learning (OASL) and the Office of Academic Affairs. Participants explored common needs and the potential for future
service-learning projects; several new partnerships are being developed.
The campus-wide Common Read, hosted
by the Office of Academic Affairs, engaged
14 service-learning classes in
research and activities related to sociocultural and
Service-Learning Students
health themes from the
Faculty
Teaching SL Courses
book, The Immortal Life of
Number of Partner Agencies
Faculty Spotlight:
I S S U E
2 0 1 3
ment, volunteerism and academic gain.
Dr. Ian Beckford and the Center for Excellence in Teaching & Learning (CETL) have
begun a new faculty workshop to help the
faculty utilize their results for publication
and/or presentation. The workshop is
expected to be offered each semester.
Additionally, the Office of Institutional
Research and Assessment is conducting a
comparison of the retention rates of service-learning and non-service-learning
students. Results will be reported in future
newsletters and on our webpage.
As always, faculty who are interested in
service-learning are invited to contact us.
2006-07
2007-08
2008-09
2009-10
2010-11
2011-12
2012-13
42
3
6
195
9
7
462
21
28
750
35
10
1013
45
26
1,629
72
38
1,584
77
38
find creative ways to make computer programs that engage their audience.
Prof. Schwartz credits service-learning with
motivating his students to be creative and to
meet their deadlines. The students receive an
overview of service-learning from staff of the
Office of Academic Service-Learning (OASL)
and a detailed outline of the project from the
professor. But student perception shifts when
they meet their community partner for the
first time. That’s when, “the real world came
into it,” Prof. Schwartz describes. “It wasn’t
the grade; it was having to provide a product
to a client.”
The students are given opportunities during the project to reflect on their learning. To
begin the project, students write a reflective
piece on what they expect from the experience. Then, once they have designed the
basic framework of their programs, they receive feedback from their “client” — students
and staff test the programs and fill out short
evaluation forms. For the inexperienced students, constructive criticism can feel simply
like negative criticism. One student in the
spring 2013 semester moaned that the feedback event was “the worst day of my life.”
And many students are surprised to hear com-
mentary from clients about confusing or
missing instructions, clashing colors, toosmall font, or to discover bugs in their programs. The students “usually” return to their
lab with ideas and focus; final projects are
often greatly improved.
In 2010, Prof. Schwartz attended professional development workshops held by the
OASL on the basics of service-learning and
student reflections before attempting service-learning with his students. At first, he
was skeptical that anything would work
out, which he admits is his nature. Now, he
can’t imagine teaching his course without
service-learning.
Since the spring 2012 semester, Prof.
Schwartz has participated in the OASL IRB
approved research protocol. The OASL
administers a pre- and post-project survey to
students that evaluates the impact of service-learning on students’ development of
workplace skills, attitude toward civic engagement, and attainment of learning outcomes. Results from the surveys administered during the past three semesters are
providing quantitative evidence of the benefits of service-learning and supporting the
anecdotal evidence that Prof. Schwartz has
observed.
PAGE
2
VOLUME
IV,
ISSUE
I
Reflection: An Essential Component of Service-Learning
Faculty Experiences and Research
Academic Service-Learning Offers Unique
Opportunities for QCC’s Pre-Service Teachers
By Anita Ferdenzi, Ed. D, Department of Social Sciences
Over the years, I have observed that academic service-learning
has offered my Education students powerful contexts for engaging in deep and meaningful learning. Focusing on QCC’s cornerstone course for pre-service teachers, the service-learning pedagogy has provided my students with the opportunity to engage
in active learning experiences and exchange interdisciplinary
knowledge with peers in Academic Literacy, Nursing, and Physics courses. Education students thrive as they build experiences
and integrate new knowledge in complex real world settings.
The Education students engage in rigorous reflection activities
designed to promote deep
learning and professional
identity development. Students are assigned a written
pre- and post-academic service-learning activity reflection. In the pre-activity reflection, students are prompted
to ponder how the project
may enhance their understanding of course concepts
Academic Literacy and Education
and common themes bestudents explore learning styles
tween disciplines and afford
opportunities for personal
growth. At the end of the semester, students are required to
write a reflection essay and create a multimedia presentation
using prompts to revisit previous perceptions and promote metacognitive awareness. Review of both formal and informal stu-
Principles of Good Practice in Effective Reflection
By Andrea Salis, Ph.D, Department of Health, Physical
Education and Dance
Effective reflection is an important part of academic servicelearning. There are principles of good practice that can be put in
place to enhance the experience.
First, students need to have learning
goals at the outset of the service-learning
project. Learning goals that are moderately challenging, short-term and specific
to the desired outcomes will help focus
students on what they will reflect on at
the end of the semester. Learning goals
can be set by the instructor and the student.
Health students
Second, students need to develop
measure heart rate
methods and strategies to self-monitor
their learning, including documenting their experience at the
time, or soon after they have performed a learning task. Selfmonitoring is tied to the learning goals and increases students’
awareness of their learning which will enhance their reflections.
Performance feedback is the third principle of good practice in
effective reflections because it helps give students timely information about their progress and can enhance motivation for
further learning. Performance feedback can come from the instructor, individuals involved in the service-learning project,
dent feedback has overwhelmingly revealed the critical and pivotal role academic service-learning has played in their learning.
In a collaboration with Professor Arlene Kemmerer’s Academic
Literacy students, pre-service
teachers create custom study
guides for the ACT (college
entrance exam) for their partners and share theoretical
insights to their partners’ reflections on their learning
experiences. In return, Academic Literacy students give
their future teacher partners
tips on effective teaching,
inspirational multimedia gifts
Nursing students deliver a lesson on
and feedback on their personhealth and safety issues to elemenalized learning materials. Etary school students
portfolio is used throughout
this project.
Using a different project
design, Education students
coach QCC peers who are
studying Physics or Nursing
and who are charged with
teaching a lesson to children
at the Queensborough Community College After-School
Academy. Students learn to
apply pedagogies across difPhysics students teach a physics
lesson to elementary school students ferent disciplines and help
their peers improve the quality of their teaching.
peers and the students themselves. Taken together, setting learning goals, selecting methods of self-monitoring and getting performance feedback on their progress will enhance effective reflections of meaningful academic service-learning experiences.
I have incorporated service-learning into three different health
courses at QCC. Students in my HE-108 course, Health and Physical Fitness, perform physical fitness assessments for different
populations.
Students in my HE-107 course,
Mental Health, Understanding
Your Behavior, have visited the
Bayside Senior Center to interview and write a narrative of the
seniors’ perspectives of mental
Health students perform physical
health.
fitness assessments and explain
Most recently, I taught HE-102,
their purpose and results
Health, Behavior and Society, as a
learning community with Dr. Tony Monahan’s PE-540, Introduction to Physical Fitness. This learning community, which we
called, “Get Active, Be Healthy,” provides students with the opportunity to learn key concepts in health, including exercise and
nutrition, and to engage in a variety of fitness activities. Students
used various techniques to measure distance and caloric expenditure of physical activity and map out fitness walking routes on
campus.
VOLUME
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ISSUE
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I
3
Service-Learning Practitioners Study Effective
Techniques for Student Reflection
Five faculty received a QCCCUNY Pedagogical Research
Challenge Award to develop a
service-learning reflection rubric
to be used across the disciplines.
As part of this work, they implemented service-learning projects
in the spring 2013 semester with
Hour Children.
Health students prepare smoothies
Located in Long Island City,
Hour Children has been helping incarcerated and formerly incarcerated women successfully rejoin the community, reunify their
families, and build healthy, independent, and secure lives since
1992. The organization provides housing, childcare, advocacy,
job training, education and family reunification counseling. The
service-learning students interacted with and provided service to
the women and their children in a number of ways, all while reflecting on their experience and reinforcing their course material.
Professor Rose Marie Äikäs’ Criminal Justice students paid several visits to the organization throughout the semester to learn
about the women’s experiences before and after prison, to reflect
on the stories, and to incorporate what they learned into their
own academic pursuit of justice. “It is important for these students, who are interested in the field of Criminal Justice, to be
taken out into the world outside of the university, since that is
Academic Literacy Students Meet and
Interview Holocaust Survivors
This past spring, a service-learning collaboration of the Department of Academic Literacy and the Kupferberg Holocaust Resource Center and Archives (KHRCA) resulted in two publications
which will be used to promote the work of the KHRCA. Students
in Professors Julia Carroll, Susan Hock, and Jennifer Maloy’s Academic Literacy courses had the opportunity to expand their critical thinking and writing skills through this project, which included
reading Parallel Journeys, by Eleanor H. Ayer, Helen Waterford
and Alfons Heck, interviewing Holocaust survivors, and reading
articles on contemporary hate crimes.
QCC students meet with Holocaust survivors
where most of them will do their work,” said
Professor Äikäs.
Professor Liz DiGiorgio’s Drawing students
were paired with children residing at Hour Children. During
their meetings, the QCC students drew the children in poses
that promoted a positive selfimage. These images were affixed to keepsake boxes and
given to each child at an end-ofsemester celebration.
Massage Therapy students provide
Three of the faculty and
a welcoming environment
their students organized a
“Health and Wellness Day” held at QCC on April 26, for twelve
women from Hour Children. Professor Lana Zinger’s Health students presented on healthy eating—discussing the dangers of fast
food and providing some healthy alternatives. The students prepared delicious, healthy snacks for the women to sample. Professor Ben Murolo’s Accounting students presented on financial literacy. Topics included the difference between cash books and bank
statements, how to open and manage a bank account, budgeting, and job search resources. The women received a tour of the
Holocaust Center, and concluded their day with an hour-long
healing massage provided by Professor Isabella Lizzul’s Massage
Therapy students.
The faculty are currently studying their students’ reflections
and analyzing their research data; results will be reported in
spring 2014.
At a culminating event on May 14, the students thanked the
survivors for participating in the project and reflected on its
profound impact. According to student Shubhadeep Boral,
“Hearing about the Holocaust firsthand from the survivors was
different from reading about it in a book.”
Both faculty and community partner deemed the project a
success. Dr. Maloy remarked, “Interviewing a Holocaust survivor
and then writing about the experience demonstrated the importance of thinking carefully and thoroughly about information before writing about it.” Dr. Carroll commented, “Our
project helped our students connect what they were learning
about hatred and tolerance from our classroom reading, writing, and discussion activities to the real world by engaging in
thought-provoking and heart-rending discussions with actual
Holocaust survivors.” Prof. Hock noted both the academic and
personal impact of the project: “Students were very successful
on the ACT (college entrance exam) and CATW (exit test for
students completing remediation in reading and writing) but at
the same time we provided a meaningful experience that the
students will remember for the rest of their lives.”
Marisa Berman, Assistant Director, KHRCA, summed up the
experience: “Our main goal for participating in service-learning
is to serve as a resource for faculty and students to help them
reach their curriculum goals. This particular project brought
over 100 new students into our facility, engaged nine Holocaust survivors, and resulted in a publication that we will use in
the future to help promote the work of the Center. Most importantly, based on the review of written reactions of the students, the project had a significant impact on all those who
participated and changed the way they view the world.“
PAGE
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VOLUME
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Service-Learning Students Focus
on Community Education
At QCC, service-learning students can research a
topic related to their course and make a presentation to their peers at a campus-wide event such as
the QCC Health Fair or Earth Day Celebration.
At the QCC Health Fair this past April, servicelearning students from 10 classes brought a variety
Physical Fitness students showcase research on
of topics to the attention of their peers. Speech
campus fitness trails
Speech students discuss proper
Communication students practiced their speaking
hand washing techniques
and presentation skills while demonstrating
proper hand-washing techniques. When introducing themselves to visitors with a handshake,
they surreptitiously applied some glitter to the
hand, which served to introduce topics of
germs, hand washing, and hand sanitizers. A
Health class provided information about nutrition and fitness to visitors from Hour Children, a
community partner of the Office of Academic
Service-Learning. Accounting students demon- Yoga students promote stress reduction
Academic Literacy students raise awareness
strated how to open a bank account and balabout human trafficking
ance a checkbook – on the premise that financial literacy can alleviate stress and therefore
by presenting posters and demonstrations on
improve health – and Academic Literacy stutopics such as sleep deprivation, tattoos and
dents raised awareness of a difficult topic in our
sun screen, the relationship between infeccommunity and our city, human trafficking.
tions and stress, and why students should
Massage Therapy students practiced their techdrink water instead of energy drinks. Businiques by giving free 10-minute chair massages
ness students conducted a food drive for
to Health Fair attendees, and Yoga students
Hour Children, a Speech class showed off
demonstrated their knowledge and reinforced
public speaking materials that the students
their learning by teaching yoga to visiting high Nursing students invite conversation
created for the Otisville Correctional Facility
school students.
reentry
program, Anthropology students exabout communicable diseases
Later in the month, the QCC Earth Day Celeplained why it is important to purchase chocbration showcased 18 service-learning projects by classes in sevolate that is labeled “fair trade,” Biology students demonstrated
en different departments. Held in partnership with Student Acthe ubiquity of microorganisms in the environment, and Physitivities and Student Government, the two-hour event was attendcal Education students gave visitors a preview of Tiger Trails, a
ed by over 200 students, faculty, and staff.
system of fitness trails that the students are developing for the
Nursing students tied health issues to students’ real, daily lives
QCC campus.
At QCC’s Earth Day celebration, Advertising Design
and Layout students were
fortunate to have their recycling posters arrayed on easels
behind the table manned by
QCC’s recycling team. Their
varied and colorful designs
caught the eye of QCC President Diane B. Call, who suggested a contest for an official
QCC recycling poster. Congratulations to student Monica
Leon for winning with her
innovative “scrabble-tree” design. Look for her poster
around campus this fall.
QCC Office of
Academic Service-Learning
222-05 56th Avenue
Humanities Building, Room 246
Bayside, NY 11364
718.281.5612
servicelearning@qcc.cuny.edu
www.qcc.cuny.edu/servicelearning
Support for the development
and production of this
material was provided by a
grant under the Carl D.
Perkins Career and Technical
Education Act of 2006
administered by the
New York State Education
Department.
Project Director
Josephine Pantaleo
Project Associate Director
Sharon Ellerton
Center for Excellence in
Teaching & Learning (CETL)
Jane Hindman
Meg Tarafdar
Perkins Project Coordinators
Arlene Kemmerer
Mary Bandziukas
Cristina DiMeo
Multimedia Coordinators
Albert Cardinale
Joseph Sedita
Francis Magaldi