Prof. Kerrissa Heffernan
Swearer Center for Public Service, Brown University
A CELT Faculty Workshop, Tulane University
Tuesday, November 8, 2011
Engaged Scholarship
• Engaged Scholarship is an initiative that
recognizes the experiences of faculty and
students who seek a purposeful integration of
teaching, research and practice with a goal of
advancing scholarship and producing a public
benefit. This is achieved by a unique alignment of
research, teaching and practice in an effort to
address an identifiable need in a significant and
sustainable way, and demonstrates rigorous
scholarship and innovation in the discipline.
VOLUNTEERISM/COMMUNITY SERVICE
are generally used to denote service
work that occurs outside the curriculum.
SERVICE-LEARNING and
COMMUNITY-BASED-LEARNING
are terms many universities use to
designate service or public work as a
pedagogical initiative that facilitates the
learning goals of a particular course.
COMMUNITY-BASED-RESEARCH
implies research that is based in the community or that
utilizes communities as sites of investigation.
Community Engagement: CE (IA)
Community Based Participatory Action Research: CBPR
(Campus Community Partnerships for Health)
Faculty should integrate public or
community-based work into a course because such
integration will facilitate specific course goals.
The experience will facilitate the development of specific
cognitive skills (problem solving, synthesis, interpretation,
analysis)
The experience will facilitate the development of reflective skills
(recognizing context as critical to content).
The community experience offers an opportunity for the public
to enter into dialogue with the students.
Students will experience the public use of disciplinary
knowledge
Models for Engagement
PURE:- These are courses that send students out into the community to serve and
have as their intellectual core the idea of service to communities by students. They
are not typically lodged in any one discipline.
DISCIPLINE-BASED:– Students are expected to have a presence in the
community throughout the semester and reflect on their experiences on a regular
basis using course content as a basis for synthesis, interpretation, analysis and
understanding (articulation).
PROBLEM-BASED SERVICE-LEARNING (PBSL)
- Students (or
teams of students) work with community members to understand a particular
community problem or need. This model presumes that the students will have some
knowledge they can draw upon to make recommendations to the community or
develop solutions to the problem; architecture students might design a park; business
students might develop a web site.
CAPSTONE COURSES - These courses are generally designed for majors and
minors in a given discipline and are offered almost exclusively to students in their final year.
Capstone courses ask students to draw upon the knowledge they have obtained throughout
their course work and combine it with relevant service work in the community. The goal of
capstone courses is usually either exploring a new topic or synthesizing students understanding
of a body of knowledge.
SERVICE INTERNSHIPS - Like traditional internships, these experiences are
more intense than typical service-learning courses, with students working as many as 10
to 20 hours a week in a community setting. Students are generally charged with producing
a body of work that is of value to the community or site. Unlike traditional internships,
service internship have regular and on-going reflective opportunities that help students
analyze their new experiences using discipline-based theories. Service internships are
further distinguished from traditional internships by their focus on reciprocity.
UNDERGRADUATE COMMUNITY-BASED ACTION
RESEARCH– Students work closely with faculty members to learn research
methodology while serving as advocates for communities (context).
SOCIAL ENTREPRENEURSHIP-A pedagogical model and field of
study SE applies a business or management model to social concerns and impresses
upon students the importance of valuing social impact above profit concerns.
Discipline-Based
Northwestern University: Investigative Journalism and Special
Topics in Journalism: The News Media and Capital Punishment
SERVICE COMPONENT AND RELATED ASSIGNMENTS:
Students create a historical profile of someone who appears
to be wrongly convicted and condemned to die. Students
create a case analysis of a prisoner, assessing his guilt or
innocence and describing the reporting necessary to publish
or broadcast a story about the case.
UPenn: Linguistics 470/English 260 Advanced Topics in Narrative
SERVICE COMPONENT AND RELATED ASSIGNMENTS: After
examining literary narratives, including Scandinavian, Greek and Hebrew
epics, medieval romances, and modern novels, with attention to
differences between vernacular, literary and academic style, students will
write a narrative for the teaching of reading to African American children
in 2nd to 4th grades. The narratives should motivate children to read, and
are to be developed in four cultural frameworks: hip-hop, traditional
Southern, African-centered and Inspirational Gospel.
Linguistics 160/African American 160:
Students investigate the use and structure of African American Vernacular
English and apply this linguistic knowledge to the task of teaching African
American children to read at the Wilson School.
SERVICE COMPONENT: Students develop methods for teaching
reading building on home language and interests of African-American
children. Students gather information by either observing children on the
playground or tutoring small groups of children in the classroom.
RELATED ASSIGNMENTS: The class will also produce a “Dictionary of
Every-Day Words,” which will define words found in daily speech and in
hip-hop lyrics that the children believe the teacher does not know.
Brown University: Education 0081: Poetry in
Service to Schools and the Community
This course is a creative writing course that
utilizes community-based poetry. Students will
receive intensive workshop and teacher training,
and spend 6-8 weeks visiting local elementary,
middle and secondary schools as 'poets-in-the
schools.'
Undergraduate Community-Based
Action Research
Lehigh University: Economics 295 Regional Economic Development
Practicum
PURPOSE: This course will involve teams of students in community-oriented
research projects. Students will participate in the design and execution of a specific
research project identified by a Lehigh Valley development agency. The results of this
research will be communicated both orally and in a written report to the agency.
COMMUNITY-BASED COMPONENT: Students may choose one of seven research
projects identified by development agencies. For example:
»Transportation Barriers to Successful Welfare to Work Transitions: Community
partner = Council of Hispanic Organizations
Students will assist the council by researching and documenting the extent to which
women living in the inner city of Allentown are limited in their search for employment
by the current configuration of bus routes. Student teams will meet with LANTA
planners to identify ways in which routes could be changed or new services developed
to enhance the possibility of successful transitions from welfare to work.
»RELATED ASSIGNMENTS: Large research paper and presentation.
University of Michigan UC 312: Community
Projects in the Arts and Humanities
Students will chose to participate in one of eight projects organized
and supported by the UM Arts of Citizenship Program. Examples of
projects include:
1. The Underground Railroad in Washtenaw County: This project
explores the history of the Underground, anti-slavery, activism and
African-American community life in Ann Arbor-Ypsilanti area:
Students will join a university-community research team, work in
designated research archives and help to create a traveling exhibit.
2. Emerging Voices: Life Stories and Youth Theatre: This partnership
with Detroit’s Mosaic Youth Theatre, the Charles Write Museum of
African- American History and UM residential College explores what
it has been like to come of age in Detroit over the past several
generations. Students will do interviews and research to provide
supporting materials, and write an accompanying curriculum guide.
Mount Holyoke College: Politics 348 Colloquium
on Community Development
The purpose of the course is to engage students in the various ideas, debates and strategies regarding
the development of inner city communities.
SERVICE COMPONENT: Students may chose one of four community development projects:
Mobility Study: Using site visits and interviews, students will evaluate the housing satisfaction of
low-income residents of Springfield for the Hampden-Hampshire Housing Project (HAPS). Creating a
database of households who have received section 8 certificates from the Hampden-Hampshire
Housing Partnership, students will evaluate how often residents move and the housing type and
neighborhood conditions of their residences.
Credit Union Feasibility Study: Students will research the feasibility of a community-based credit
union for South Holyoke. Students study regulations for creating a credit union. Once the research is
complete, students will write a planning grant for implementation and identify potential funding
sources. Students will organize educational workshops co-led by Holyoke residents and Mt Holyoke
students on the benefits of a community-based union in South Holyoke.
Community Garden Output Study: Students will research the agricultural production of community
gardeners in Holyoke and produce a report on the benefits of community gardens to be presented to
the Mayor of Holyoke, the City Council and the Department of Community Development and
Planning. Students will also survey supermarkets and bodegas that serve inner-city neighborhoods in
order to assign a price value to the goods produced by the community gardens, as well as the
cultural and social benefits derived by the residents from community gardens.
Mortgage Lending Discrimination Project: This project is not fully described on the syllabus because
of the sensitive nature of the data and consequences of the research.
Problem-Based
University of Utah: Civil Engineering 571: Traffic Flow Theory
PURPOSE: Transportation studies encompass a wide range of disciplines. The Traffic
Engineering Course has been designed to provide you with an insight into traffic
control and management techniques.
COMMUNITY-BASED COMPONENT: Students in this class provide a needed
service: The Millcreek Lions' Club and the county of Salt Lake have approached me
requesting that I work with them to address traffic control problems in the
Millcreek neighborhood. Traffic routed improperly has become a safety issue and
has greatly contributed to the deterioration in the neighborhood especially for
seniors and children. Too much traffic on neighborhood streets has cut off access
by foot and isolated parts of the neighborhood from what used to be a more
cohesive unit. Students will work with the community residents to understand the
problems, then to design traffic solutions. Students will present their findings and
solutions to the community and the county in public meetings and will get
feedback from both as to how to continuously improve the project.
RELATED ASSIGNMENTS: In addition to collecting research and designing
solutions (presented in a series of reports), students will write about how their
designs have been influenced by community concerns.
Brown University: BC0032: Introduction to Public Health
INTERVENTION PROJECT (30%): the purpose of this assignment is to give
students an opportunity to experience being a member of a coalition, to write a
proposal to develop and evaluate an intervention for members of the MET High
School community in South Providence, Rhode Island. As part of this project,
leaders of the MET High School have identified seven topics for which they would
like to have proposals developed. Each student will choose to be a member of one
of seven coalitions. Each coalition will address only one of the seven topics and
consist of up to 12 to 14 students. In addition, the coalition will include a student
from the MET community and a Workgroup TA. The topics are:
1. Decreasing the use of marijuana among MET students.
2. Reducing stigma associated with mental health services among students at the
MET and their families.
3. Sexual health education for adolescent males at the MET.
4. Sexual health education for adolescent females at the MET.
5. Reducing community violence in South Providence.
6. Reducing childhood obesity in the MET community (students and families).
7. Improving access to healthy foods in South Providence.
Brown University: BC 32
Within each coalition, students will have one of four roles that will be
determined based on their experience and expertise. Students with
similar roles will work together in subcommittees of the coalition. The
four roles are:
1. Background research using available published data.
2. Background research within the context of the MET community.
3. Intervention development within the context of the MET community.
4. Evaluation development using available published data and data within
the context of the MET community.
Alignment
–Student’s disciplinary
socialization (course level)
–Cognitive demands of the
course
–Reflective capacity of students
Reflection
Reading: Sara Mosle, The Vanity of Volunteerism:Acknowledging
conflicting perspectives
1. According to the author, why is it that volunteerism doesn’t work?
2. In what ways is the authors experience as a volunteer similar to or
different from your own.
3. If we accept the authors argument. What would have to change to make
volunteerism work?
Reading: Nina Eliasoph, Avoiding Politics: Challenging first personal
experience as authority
Based on your experience in community service, in your home community
and your educational training, address the following:
1. What is the author’s perspective?
2. In what ways is it consistent or inconsistent with your experience?
Teaching centered prompts
…are often overly specific and resemble ‘checklists’. These are
prompts that map out the required elements rather
thoroughly – often so exhaustively that students are apt to
attend to the requirements sequentially rather than coming
up with an organizational framework for themselves.
• Example: Describe the children, adults, or families (not
necessarily each one, but collectively) with whom you are
working in your service learning? With how many children,
adults or families do you come in contact? What are their
age ranges and school grade levels? What do you know
about their lives and backgrounds (their Microsystems,
mesosystems, exosystems and macrosystems)? How might
the participants be similar to one another? How might they
be different from one another? Are there any you might
define as underserved or at risk for some reason? Why so?
Why not?
Exhaustive
• Example: What meant the most to you? How have you
changed? What challenged you, stretched your mind?
What aspect touched you emotionally? What elements
will have a lasting impact? If we visit five or more years
from now what will you still have as part of the class
experience? Will your relationship with others be
different? How? Is your feeling about yourself
different? How? Are you different as a person 'in some
way? How? Notice your gratitude for your own life and
others who've been part of this learning experience,
those who have made the journey with you. Express
this thankfulness and other emotions which are
present as we conclude the class.
Leading
The most important part of this assignment is that
you think critically about the research that you’re
reading. Provide your own criticism about how this
research was conducted. For instance if you are
doing a study on AIDS in Africa, if the researcher
doesn’t pay attention to the socio-economic factors
that confound this epidemic, then you can criticize
him about that.
OVERWHELMING
What is a Good Society?
Modes of Rhetoric
DESCRIPTION – Word painting through the use of significant details. Intended to
convey sensory perception (sight, sound, smell, taste, touch). Faculty in art
history might ask students to describe two paintings before analyzing or
comparing them to one another.
–Example: Describe your classroom in detail. How are desks arranged?
Where is the teacher in proximity to the children? How do the children act
upon arriving?
NARRATION – Storytelling; reviewing a sequence of events. More intent on
representing what happened than explaining why it happened. Many service
learning papers include an element of narration to “set the stage.”
–Example: How did Sojourner House come to be and how did its constituency
evolve over time?
EXAMPLE – Pointing to instances; using particulars to get at principles. In
argumentative papers in any discipline, examples are used to support a thesis
or main idea.
–Example: Using current and projected neighborhood demographics,
convince state lawmakers to increase ESL services.
MODES OF RHETORIC
COMPARE/CONTRAST– The juxtaposition of two or more ideas/events/objects in hopes
that by seeing one through the lens of the other, each may be explained and clarified, or
alternatively one may prove better than the rest. Compare/contrast could be used with
description in a service setting to discusses two separate events.
–Example: After considering the position of parental rights groups sketch out and defend
your own conception of parental rights. In other words, what do you think should be
recognized as parent rights and why?
PROCESS ANALYSIS– The separation of an action or series of actions into progressive parts.
Process Analysis may be directive (tell the reader how to do something) or informative
(explain how something works). The classic process analysis is a lab report or “how to”
article.
–Example: Create educational materials for the agency describing the steps of immigrating
to the US post 9/11.
ANALYSIS (DIVISION and CLASSIFICATION)– Unlike process analysis, this type of
analysis can be applied to ideas, not just actions. Analysis occurs in two steps: 1. Dividing the
subject into parts and 2. Classifying each part into an already existing category or into
categories of the writer’s invention. Analysis is common to the social sciences and is often
used to break up a social phenomenon, homelessness, into parts and to assign social
meaning to each of these parts.
–Example: Summarize what you have learned about the boundaries of the field of mental
health from the point of view of parents. What suggestions can you make for modifying
mental health services?
MODES OF RHETORIC
ANALOGY – Drawing a parallel. Analogy is illustrative, not argumentative, in that
its purpose is to help the reader understand one thing by likening it to another
more familiar thing.
–Example: Explain how the human eye works by likening it to the lens of a
camera.
CAUSE and EFFECT– Asking why; to analyze by dividing into reasons and
results. Might be used in a history paper, for example, to deepen
understanding of a certain event by discussing its precipitating factors.
–Example: What led President Bush to champion the No Child Left Behind
Act? Considering these factors, was this decision justified?
EXTENDED DEFINITION– To establish a boundary; to determine what
something is and what it is not. One paper can include definitions of many
terms or ideas, but extended definition occurs when the goal of the paper is to
define a larger concept. Example: Discuss how “romanticism” plays out in the
two poems. I suggest you cogently define “romanticism” and which of its
features are most important.
MODES OF RHETORIC
ARGUMENT – To persuade by appealing to reason, emotion, or both.
Many other modes are useful tools in accomplishing the overall
goal of argument. Argumentative papers are common to nearly
every discipline.
–Example: Should family court in Rhode Island be open to the
public? If possible draw on experiences with family court. Consider
the pros and cons while deciding the appropriate policy.
EXPOSITION – To explain or set forth. Answers the 5 W’s: who,
what, where, when and why. An objective news story is a good
example of exposition.
–Example: Without presenting one argument as correct, explain
which scholars make which arguments in the debate surrounding
evolution and what these arguments are.