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Meeting Minutes

December 6, 2005

Announcements:

Four small discussion groups have been scheduled for Jan/Feb. A sign-up sheet was circulated for volunteers to run these discussion groups. If more than one member wants to sign up for a group, that would be fine.

Keefe reviewed comments from the Provost in which he stated that he was pleased with the forums we’ve had and he thought attendance was good for Friday afternoons. He agreed that he could see this might be a three year process. We will be completing information gathering by the end of February. Our February speaker, Dr. Carol Geary Schneider, should help us in arriving at our general education goals.

Plans are being made for a retreat before Spring Break. Possible dates are February 24-25, March 3-4. This will be before the departmental statements are in. It will give the Task Force the opportunity for extended discussion of goals and models. We may also want to determine the appropriate process for approval of the final goals/model. Should we go through the Colleges and then to AP&P?

The Arts Programming proposal was submitted by e-mail to all Task Force members. If there is an interest we could pursue this with Denise Ringler.

The January 27 forum is scheduled for 1-3 pm in the Price Lake Room. Deans need to be encouraged to come and to encourage their faculty. A recent major went through AP&P with 77 required s.c.h. This limits the core. Deans need to realize this.

It was agreed that the Task Force will continue to meet on Tuesday mornings in Spring semester.

Sub-Committee Reports

Core Curriculum Critique Subcommittee is looking at a four-part summary including curriculum, instruction delivery, administration, and assessment.

Models Subcommittee has decided to consider goals/models/assessment for two universities at the Jan. 27 forum. These examples could also be discussed in the small discussion groups scheduled around that time. This information could be put on our website (goals and curriculum for ASU, AAC&U, several other universities). Goals must be included as well as general models.

Community Colleges/High School Subcommittee will meet Monday, December 12, from 3-5 at the Broyhill.

Alumni/Employer Subcommittee will be gathering information from alums in January and employers in March.

Presentation: Shari Galiardi, Coordinator of Service Learning:

Shari Galiardi was hired in 1999 to grow service learning out of the A.C.T. program.

Service learning broadens the student’s understanding of the world. It complicates their view of the world. It includes self-analysis, community analysis, and a focus on the future. Students are expected to grow leadership skills and communication skills. It gets students in touch with at risk people, those in poverty, the elderly, and environmental issues.

There are differences between service learning and community service. Community service is volunteer work often done through churches or other organizations. Service learning integrates community service with academic work. Real service must be provided to the community organization, can’t just study it. The emphasis is on reciprocal service, the students gain through receiving education and the organization gains through volunteer help. Instead of just giving charity, students are encouraged to examine things from a different point of view. This is an arrangement built on reciprocity.

The students are using service as a text. It is very important that the service component is done throughout the semester.

A.C.T. was formed 17 years ago. Service learning here has been around for 6 years. It began with 6 courses in 1999. The Website was created. We have over 110 partnerships with agencies now, up from only 60 or 70 a few years ago.

In 2001, we became a charter member of NC Campus Compact (an organization including NC universities and colleges). We are one of six charter members, and there are now 26 members. It provides great funding, conferences and resources.

We have a Service Learning Task Force with students included. In 2004, we added a Community Partner Coordinator and brought in Ashe and Avery County agencies. In 2005, we created the ACT Faculty Fellows. We also partner with Honors, International Programs, and Office of Student Research. There are 15 academic departments involved in service-learning. We do assessment every semester. 78% of students in s-l courses agree that this kind of course increased their education. It allows them to see the “real world” and social issues. They are building leadership and career types of skills. They like s-l courses even though they are more work.

Interdisciplinary work and cluster models can include service-learning. It can also be combined with study abroad education. We are participating in community-based research projects. These can put the focus on student research.

A video clip was shown on Clemson University’s mission of public service which includes service learning, focusing on their Habitat for Humanity houses, landscape architecture, conservation, and sustainability. This showed an array of remarkable learning experiences.

There are many was to connect s-l to other settings including clusters, capstone courses, and disciplinary courses. Students can really begin to see the connections between learning. Keystone projects are better than Capstone.

The Public Service Research Program is being developed. We don’t want to limit this to honors. Hopefully we can launch this officially in ’07. You can go on the website for discipline specific learning.

Shari teaches a s-l international study abroad program in Wales.

We have talked to many other universities and colleges. All agree that this has to have some sort of developmental approach. Students should learn in stages, beginning in their freshman year.

There can be an advocacy component in which students learn about an issue, become involved in an agency, and then write a persuasive letter to their congressman about the issue.

Portland State University has a good model with Freshman Inquiry and 200 Capstone courses offered in senior year.

Many students have been required to do service in high-school, and you can build a program on that pre-college experience with service. James Madison University does this.

Integration of service-learning in the curriculum is important. Do not establish a one hour service-learning requirement for general education! Integrate it into courses. Make it more a part of the process. Otherwise, we will overwhelm the agencies we serve.

We need more funding for service-learning approaches on campus.

We need service-learning people involved in the development of the general education model we select. I recommend that I be a part of any implementation of service learning.

Faculty need to be professionally trained in service-learning. We need funding for this. Students could be working on in-direct projects rather than putting warm bodies in the agencies and overwhelming them.

I would need a fulltime assistant director if this were implemented.

There is also the co-curricular component (community service). We sponsor a wide variety of service-learning trips. There will be 19 trips over spring break and 3 international trips (Dominican Republic, Costa Rica). There are leadership programs in which students are enrolled in leadership courses in the fall and then lead groups in the spring break courses.

Our office also sponsors collection of student trash in May and re-sale in the Big Sale in fall. We made $6000 for NPOs this year and saved trash from the landfill.

The A.C.T. office has over 600 opportunities for student volunteers.

The MLK Challenge is loved by our students. There is high attendance. These are large fundraising events. The Dance Marathon raised over $23,000 last year.

The Impact Team is a phenomenal group of students who plan talks and events. A.C.T. peer counselors are the frontline staff in our office. They help place students with agencies.

Unlike many universities where there is competition, at ASU the Service-Learning and Community Service programs work together.

We have worked with teacher education to create a 20 hour community service component in the teacher education curriculum. Service-learning has also been incorporated in the public school with elementary students doing service. We created a 20/20 program so before their junior year, students must do 20 hours of community service. Then in the junior year, there is a Learning Diversity class that is 10 hours. In their senior year, the students turn service learning around and use it in their internship.

The important point here is the process of development for the student. It can begin with Freshman Seminar experience and add a component each year. You have to get the faculty on board. The students increase in awareness each year.

This might require a process of changing the core curriculum over time, perhaps 10 years. Add new components each year. It should involve course development, not designators.