Service Learning Course Designation Form
Use this form to request a Service Learning Course Designation for a new or existing course.
Proposed course title should end with the following designation: /Service Learning
I. Service Learning Course
Ecosystem and
Dept/Program
Course Number
Conservation Science,
(e.g. SW UG 423)
Subject
College of Forestry and
Conservation/Wildland
Restoration
Course Title (e.g.
Ecological Restoration Capstone
Addiction
Studies/SvcLrn)
Short Title (max. 26
Ecol. Rest. Capstone
characters incl. spaces)
5
Number of credits
Cara Nelson
Instructor name
NRSM 444
X6066; cara.nelson@umontana.edu
Instructor phone
and e-mail
II. Endorsement/Approvals
Complete this form and obtain signatures before submitting to Faculty Senate Office.
Requestor
Requestor phone
and e-mail
Program
Chair/Director
Other affected
programs
Dean
Please Type/Print Name
Cara Nelson
Signature
Date
9/20/11
X6066; cara.nelson@umontana.edu
Cara Nelson
9/20/11
None
Jim Burchfield
9/20/11
III. UM Service Learning Definition: Service Learning is a method of teaching and learning
in which students, faculty and community partners work together to enhance student
learning by applying academic knowledge in a community-based setting. Student work
addresses the needs of the community, as identified through collaboration with community
or tribal partners, while meeting instructional objectives through faculty-structured service
work and critical reflection meant to prepare students to be civically responsible members
of the community. At its best, service learning enhances and deepens students’
understanding of an academic discipline by facilitating the integration of theory and
practice, while providing them with experience that develops life skills and engages them
in critical reflection about individual, institutional, and social ethics.
NRSM 444_Service Learning Application_Page 2
IV.Service Learning Course Criteria The University of Montana-Missoula has established the
following criteria for Service Learning courses. In order to receive the Service Learning course
designation, a course must clearly exemplify all of the following criteria:
 Students in the course will provide a needed service to individuals, organizations, schools, or other
not-for-profit or tax-exempt entities in the community.
 The service experience is directly related to the subject matter of the course.
 Knowledge from the discipline informs the service experiences with which the students are to be
involved.
 Activities in the classroom will provide opportunities for students to actively reflect upon what they
have learned through the service experience and how these experiences relate to the subject matter of
the course. Reflection should be imbedded as course assignments and in-class time should be
scheduled to do reflection – both should be clear on the syllabus. Reflection should incorporate
discussion/assignments that help students understand the importance of meeting community needs
through service and civic engagement in a democratic society.
 The course offers a method to assess the learning derived from the service. Credit will be given for
the learning and its relation to the course, not for the service alone.
 Service interactions in the community will recognize the needs of service recipients and represent
reciprocal partnerships between the campus(class) and community partner organization(s).
Community partner(s) should have the opportunity to provide advice and feedback in class on the
nature and value of the service performed by the students.
 Training (by the service agency) and preparation (by the course instructor) ensure that students
perform service activities in a professional manner and that vulnerable populations are not harmed.
 Service options ensure that no student is required to participate in a service placement that creates a
religious, political, or moral conflict for the student.
 In a 3-credit service learning course, students should be required to perform a minimum of 15 hours
of community service per semester (i.e. 5 hours of service per academic credit.) Service hours may
include hours spent in training, preparation, and direct contact with clients.
V. Confirmation of Service Learning Course Criteria: Explain how this course meets each of
the following criteria.
NRSM 444_Service Learning Application_Page 3
Need for service: Describe the community-
identified need and the nature of the service
experience students will be involved in.
Students will work with locally community
partners to develop restoration and
monitoring plans and conduct a volunteer
restoration work day.
The public invests a substantially amount of
money in ecological restoration; however,
projects often fail because of lack of
adequate planning and monitoring. In order
for the outcomes of ecological restoration to
improve, it is critical that the next cadre of
restoration professionals 1) know the
essentials of best practices for restoration
and monitoring, 2) understand the need for
civic engagement, and 3) are prepared to
engage volunteers in restoration and
monitoring efforts.
In this course, students will not only learn
how to design and implement effective
restoration and monitoring plans, but also will
be performing service by assisting agencies,
NGOs, and other organizations by
developing plans to assess the efficacy and
ecological impacts of treatments that might
have gone un-monitored. They will also
learn how to engage citizens in restoration
and monitoring by leading a community
restoration volunteer event for the serviceproject sponsor.
Examples of previous projects include:
 Developing and implementing a
monitoring plan for Trout Unlimited in
western Montana.
 Assisting the Confederated Salish
and Kootenai Tribes with a wetland
restoration plan.
 Assisting the Lolo National Forest
with a restoration plan for Rattlesnake
Wilderness Area.
NRSM 444_Service Learning Application_Page 4
Relation to course content: Describe how the
The service experience provides hands-on
learning directly in the field of ecological
restoration – the subject of the course. The
course links students with professionals and
provides opportunities to help solve realworld issues. The service project requires
students to work in groups to develop a
restoration or monitoring plan for the
community partner. Each student is
expected to spend 75 hrs on this plan. The
plan development process requires students
to draw upon the full set of concepts learned
in the restoration curriculum and to apply
them to their project. In addition, the syllabus
is designed so that class lectures and labs
are directly related to the steps that the
students must follow to develop their servicelearning project (the project gets
implemented in the Ecological Restoration
Practicum NRSM 495). For instance, the
students are required to do a sample-size
analysis to determine how many monitoring
plots are needed. The week they do this, the
in-class lecture covers precision of data
collection and power analyses.
Reflection: What opportunities are provided in the There are four opportunities during the
classroom for students to reflect upon what they
semester for students to share what they
have learned through their service experience? How have learned through the service experience
is service placed within the broader context of civic with their classmates (see end of syllabus).
engagement and service to others?
In terms of the relation between service in
the field of restoration and civic engagement
in general, the class includes one lecture and
a reading about the benefits of volunteer
service.
Assessment: What method(s) are used to assess
Student learning is assessed by the quality of
the learning derived from the service experience?
the restoration or monitoring proposal
submitted by the student, the survey
submitted by participants at the volunteer
restoration event, and the final letter of
evaluation submitted by the community
partner.
Reciprocity: How do community partner(s)
The community partners serve as mentors
provide advice and feedback on the nature and
from the beginning to the end of the plan
value of the service performed?
development, providing advice and feedback
regularly. The partner formally evaluates the
students’ proposal and volunteer event.
service experience is related to the subject matter of
the course. How do students apply their classroom
learning in the service experience?
NRSM 444_Service Learning Application_Page 5
Training: What training and preparation will be
This course is the culmination of the
restoration curriculum at UM. During the first
weeks of class, instructors provide training
on how to communicate effectively with
professionals and the public, and how to
present themselves in a professional light
(including assisting students with developing
professional resumes and cover letters).
Service options: What service options exist to
Each semester that the course is run,
ensure that no student is required to participate in a students select among 3-4 service projects.
service placement that creates a religious, political, There is also the potential for students to
or moral conflict?
develop their own project; in the 3 years the
class has run, this has occurred twice. No
student is ever required to participate with an
organization that creates religious, political,
or moral conflict for the individual.
Number of service hours required: How many
Students spend 75 hours outside of class
hours of service per semester are students required
time on their restoration or monitoring plan.
to perform? Provide detailed description of the
In addition, they spend 22 hours working with
service activities to be performed.
their service organization to plan and lead a
volunteer restoration work day.
VI. Community Partner Information: Provide information on the organization(s) that will
provide service placements for students in this course.
Name of Agency/Organization(s)
Past organizations have included the US
Forest Service, Kootenai Springs Ranch, the
Confederated Salish and Kootenai Tribes,
Clark Fork Coalition, among others.
provided to assure that that students perform their
service activities in a professional manner and that
vulnerable populations are not harmed?
Contact person name(s)
For Spring 2012, community partners will be
the US Forest Service and Trout Unlimited (2
projects) and potentially one other group
(relationship still being developed).
Susan Rinehart
Native Plant Program Manager
U.S. Forest Service, Region 1
Renewable Resource Management Staff
Heather Whiteley
Project Manager
Trout Unlimited
Contact person(s) phone and e-mail
Susan Rinehart
(406) 329-3669
srinehart@fs.fed.us
Heather Whiteley
(406) 541-8614
hwhiteley@tu.org
NRSM 444_Service Learning Application_Page 6
VII. Syllabus: Paste syllabus below or attach and send digital copy with form. The syllabus should
clearly indicate that this is a service learning course and it should include the UM Service Learning
Definition as text within the syllabus. The syllabus should also demonstrate how the above criteria are
satisfied. For assistance in preparing a service learning course syllabus, see
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/ or contact Andrea Vernon, Director of the Office for Civic
Engagement: andrea.vernon@umontana.edu.
Attached at the end of this document
VIII. Copies and Electronic Submission: Submit approved original, a copy, and electronic
file to the Faculty Senate Office, UH 221, camie.foos@mso.umt.edu.
Revised 6/10
SYLLABUS: NRSM 444 ECOLOGICAL RESTORATION CAPSTONE
Introduction: This five-credit, service-learning course is the capstone experience for students in
the Wildland Restoration major, although it is open to juniors, seniors and graduate students
from other programs. It is designed to get students active in the field of restoration through the
application of ecological principles to restoration practice and through direct experience
developing a restoration or monitoring plan (expectation of 75 hrs of work outside of class time),
and hosting a volunteer restoration event (22 hrs of work outside of class time), with a
community organization partner. All students enrolled in this course must have the desire and
motivation to interact with local restoration professionals and to contribute in a meaningful way
to local community organizations and projects.
Prerequisites: Students must have completed at least one course in:
•
•
Ecology - Students who have not taken an ecology course are not eligible to take this class.
Restoration (FOR265 Elements of Ecological Restoration or equivalent) - Students who have
not taken a restoration course will be required to write a paper on Peter Friederici’s book,
Nature’s Restoration (2006, Island Press; copies available at the UM Bookstore by the
second week of classes). Guidelines and due dates for the paper are available from the
course instructors.
Time and place
•
•
Wednesdays, 3:10-5:00 PM, Room 452, Clapp Science Complex (CHCB).
Fridays, 2:10-5:00 PM, Room 452, Clapp Science Complex (CHCB).
Instructors:
• Dr. Cara Nelson, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, College of Forestry
and Conservation. Email: cara.nelson@cfc.umt.edu. Office: 463 Clapp. Office hours:
Mondays and Fridays 4:10-5:00 PM.
•
Dr. Laurie Marczak, Department of Ecosystem and Conservation Sciences, College of
Forestry and Conservation. Email: laurie.marczak@cfc.umt.edu. Office: 423A Clapp.
Office hours: Wednesdays 9:10-11:00.
Please make an appointment to meet Instructors during office hours, as timeslots generally fill up
in advance.
Definition of Service Learning: This course has the “Service Learning” designation. Service
Learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students, faculty and community partners
work together to enhance student learning by applying academic knowledge in a communitybased setting. Student work addresses the needs of the community, as identified through
collaboration with community or tribal partners, while meeting instructional objectives through
faculty-structured service work and critical reflection meant to prepare students to be civically
responsible members of the community. At its best, service learning enhances and deepens
students’ understanding of an academic discipline by facilitating the integration of theory and
practice, while providing them with experience that develops life skills and engages them in
critical reflection about individual, institutional, and social ethics.
NRSM444 Syllabus, 2013
Learning outcomes: By completing this course students should be able to:
1) Compile a high-quality application for a job in ecological restoration;
2) Design a restoration and monitoring plan;
3) Evaluate ecological restoration plans developed by others;
4) Organize a volunteer restoration work day for a community partner; and
5) Communicate effectively with community members about the importance of ecological
restoration.
Course format: A variety of learning tools will be used, including lectures, field trips and peerlearning activities.
Lectures ~ Lectures will be based on readings that will be made available to you ahead of class
and will form the basis of in-class discussion (see below for more information on reading
assignments). Because of the interdisciplinary nature of this course, lectures will be conducted
both by the course instructors and a variety of guest lecturers.
Field trips ~ All field trips will be during Friday class periods. Field trip vans will leave campus
promptly at 2:10 PM and will arrive back by 5:00 PM. Please make sure that you are on time for
field trips, as the short duration of the class period will not permit waiting for late comers.
Vehicles will leave from the parking lot south of Davidson Honors College, west of Forestry,
and east of Old Journalism.
In addition to trips scheduled during class periods, each student will be required to work with a
group to organize and participate in one out-of-class restoration work party on a weekend
(students will be involved in scheduling).
Peer-learning activities ~ Peer learning has been shown to be a highly effective teaching tool
and is an integral component of the course. Students will work in groups with a community
partner to develop a monitoring plan (see details below) and plan a volunteer restoration event
(see details below). Students will have three opportunities during the semester to share their
service learning experience and reflect on their learning.
Assignments: Instructions for all assignments will be posted on Blackboard, UM's Online
Course Supplement (http://umonline.umt.edu/blackboard/Default.aspx).
(1) Participation ~ Credit will be awarded throughout the semester for student participation in
class discussions, group exercises, field trips, and quizzes based on assigned readings.
(2) Evaluation of Restoration Plans ~ On February 2th, students will be given an assignment to
critique restoration plans (along with plans to critique). During class on February 18th, students
will turn in this assignment and participate in an in-class seminar evaluating the plans as a group.
(3) Restoration Work Party ~ Students will work in groups to organize a volunteer restoration
work party for their community partner, to be held on a Saturday of the group’s choice. Groups
in the class will compete to hold the most successful event (the competition will be sensu the TV
show, The Apprentice, hosted by Donald Trump); the winners will receive a prize at the end of
the semester. Success will be measured by volunteer attendance, beneficial ecological and social
impacts, knowledge acquired by volunteers and the amount of fun that the volunteers had.
Page 2
NRSM444 Syllabus, 2013
(4) Monitoring Proposal ~ Students will work in teams to develop a monitoring plan for a local
community partner. This assignment will involve independent research and incorporate
ecological theory, experimental design, land management practices, and budgeting. For students
required to enroll in Ecological Restoration Practicum (NRSM495; required for the Wildland
Restoration degree), this plan will form the basis of their practicum proposal. Students will be
given a choice of projects that are suitable for the course assignment. The process of interacting
with agency/non-profit professionals is an important educational component of this course;
therefore, students will be required to send a resume and cover letter to project sponsors. At the
end of the semester, students will give oral presentations on their plans to a review board
comprised of your instructors, peers, and collaborators.
This project counts for over half of the course grade. Individual group member grades will be
weighted by individual participation within the group.
(5) Reading Assignments ~ There is only one text for this course: Effective Ecological
Monitoring by Lindenmayer and Likens (CSRIO 2010); it is available from the bookstore.
Additional readings will be assigned from the contemporary scientific literature, chapters from
books, and popular sources. All reading materials either will be provided in class or will be
available through Blackboard UM’s Online Course Supplement. Students will be expected to
answer questions about the readings on written quizzes and during class discussion.
Students interested in delving more deeply into aspects of restoration can find reference
information within the following (optional):
•
•
•
•
•
The Science and Practice of Ecological Restoration book series, published by Island Press.
A list of books published within this series can be found at:
http://www.ser.org/reading_resources.asp.
Hill, H. and R. Simpson (ed). 2001. Stream Corridor Restoration: Principles, Processes, and
Practices. Federal Interagency Stream Restoration Working Group. Available for free
download at: www.nrcs.usda.gov/technical/stream_restoration/newtofc.htm
Roni, P. 2005. Monitoring Stream and Watershed Restoration. American Fisheries Society.
Bethesda, MD.
Whisenant, S. G. 1999. Repairing Damaged Wildlands: a Process-Oriented, LandscapeScale Approach. 1999. Cambridge University Press. New York.
Williams, J. E., C. A. Wood, and M. P. Dombeck (ed). 1997. Watershed Restoration:
Principles and Practices. American Fisheries Society. Bethesda, MD.
Evaluation:
Participation
Quizzes
Restoration plan evaluation
Restoration work party
Restoration proposal
Total
5%
5%
5%
22%
63%
100%
Graduate credit: Graduate students may elect to take this course as FOR595 Ecological
Restoration in Action. In order to receive graduate credit, students must complete an additional
Page 3
NRSM444 Syllabus, 2013
assignment. Contact the course instructors if you are a graduate student and are interested in
receiving graduate credit.
Communication: All course communications outside of class will be sent to students’
University of Montana email accounts. It is your responsibility to regularly check your
University account. Beware: If your email account is full, you will not be able to send messages
(but Griz mail will not tell you that the message has not been sent). In general, our policy is to
try to respond to email within 24 hours. We do check our email accounts regularly during the
week, but as a rule will not respond to email sent over the weekend.
Expectations for Written Assignments: This course is offered as an advanced exploration of
the practice of restoration. Accordingly, we have high expectations and standards for students’
written work and oral contributions. Our ability to evaluate the substantive merits of your work
is seriously impeded by typographical errors, excessively poor grammar and poorly organized or
constructed sentences; these errors will be interpreted as a lack of interest in your work and the
course. There are services available on campus to assist you in developing and improving your
writing (e.g., The Writing Center [http://www.umt.edu/writingcenter/welcom_about.htm]). If
you are unsure of the quality of your writing, please make use of these services in addition to
approaching us for additional commentary and feedback on your assignments.
Additional restoration opportunities:
• If you would like to join a listserve to get information about upcoming restoration activities
around Missoula, sign up at: http://groups.google.com/group/missoula-restoration.
• For information on University of Montana’s Society for Ecological Restoration Student
Guild, contact Trisha McIlvena at patricia.mcilvenna@umconnect.umt.edu.
Classroom environment: Students at University of Montana are diverse in many ways,
including race, gender, age, religion, preparedness, and mobility. Please help create a respectful
learning environment by honoring all student contributions and expressing your views in ways
that do not diminish other students’ perspectives.
Plagiarism: All students must practice academic honesty, including taking care not to plagiarize
the words or ideas of others (i.e. submitting a direct quotation from a source without using
quotation marks and citing the original document; or submitting text based on someone else’s
ideas without proper citation). Academic misconduct is subject to an academic penalty by the
course instructor and/or a disciplinary sanction by the University. All students need to be
familiar with the Student Conduct Code. The Code is available for review on line at:
http://www.umt.edu/SA/VPSA/index.cfm?page?1321.
Disability modification: Students with disabilities will receive reasonable modifications. It is
the student’s responsibilities to request modifications from the instructors with sufficient
advance notice, and to be prepared to provide verification of disability and its impact from
Disability Services. Please make an appointment to speak to one of the Instructors after class
during the first two weeks of the semester to discuss details. For more information, visit the
Disability Services for Students website at www.umt.edu/dss/.
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NRSM444 Syllabus, 2013
Example Course Schedule
Date
Day
Topic
Instructor
Assignment
Introduction
1/26
W
Course overview
Cara & Laurie
None
1/28
F
Austin (FS)/Birzell
(TWS)
Reading/website
review
1/31
M
Cara
None
2/2
W
1. Introduction to service projects 1 and 2: FS/TWS
CFLRP
2. Resume tips
Special class session: Experimental Design
(2:10-4:00 PM; Clapp 452)
The process of developing a restoration plan
Cara
Reading
2/4
F
Introduction to service project 3: TU
Whiteley
Reading
2/9
W
Brown (UM)
2/11
F
How to do a literature review (Mansfield Library rm
283)
1. How to effectively engage volunteers;
2. Resume workshop
2/16
W
Funding for restoration
Stanley (DNRC)
Resumes and Cover
letters (6 copies)
Reading; edits to
resumes and cover
letters (2 copies)
Reading
2/18
F
Peer-learning activity: restoration plan critique
Students
2/23
W
Assessing aquatic ecosystem health
Laurie
Restoration Plan
Critique
Reading
2/25
F
Assessing aquatic ecosystem health
Laurie
Reading
3/2
W
Assessing aquatic ecosystem health
Roberts (TU)
None
3/4
F
Service project reflection
Students
3/9
W
Assessing plant-growth limitations part 1
Cara
Informal
presentation
Reading
3/11
F
Field trip: assessing plant-soil bioregulation
Vandermeer
Reading
3/16
W
Assessing plant-growth limitations part 2
Cara
Reading
Students
Presentations
3/18
F
Service learning presentations and reflections
Monitoring and adaptive management
Roy (MRV)
3/23
W
Why monitoring fails
Cara
Reading
3/25
F
Whiteley (TU)
Reading
3/30
W
Field trip to Ninemile creek: case study of
monitoring issues
How to develop effective research questions
Cara
None
4/1
F
Service learning presentations and reflections
Students
Presentations and
written reports
SPRING BREAK
4/13
W
Understanding and controlling for variability
Cara
Reading
4/15
F
Fieldtrip to Greenough: monitoring activity
Students
4/20
W
Monitoring activity report backs
Students
4/22
F
Fieldtrip to Greenough: monitoring activity
Students
Monitoring activity
assignment
Monitoring activity
assignment
Monitoring activity
assignment
Native plant materials
4/27
W
Native plant materials
Jones (UM)
None
4/29
F
Field trip to Salish Kootenai Greenhouse
Matt (SK tribes)
None
Course wrap-up
5/4
W
Business of restoration
Parker (Geum)
None
5/6
F
Service learning final presentations and reflections
Students
Presentations
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NRSM444 Syllabus, 2013
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