The Etownian >> Features
Service learning initiative pursued; PACC
Wednesday April 08 2009
“I believe that service-learning is a fundamental form of experiential learning at Elizabethtown College that is clearly mission-centered,” Dr. Michele Lee Kozimor-King, assistant professor of sociology, said. In the words of the keynote speaker Steve Jones, service-learning here is “mission critical.” What we are currently seeing at Elizabethtown is a move toward more integration of service-learning with the academic curriculum. Last Friday, Kozimor-King and Nancy Valkenburg traveled to the PACC Assessment Institute to talk about service learning here at Etown. “From my experience at the workshop, it appears that this movement is part of a national trend,” Kozimor-King said. “At the PACC, I learned tools and methodology to assess student learning and civic engagement.”
Some of the tools and skills that were acquired at the conference included the Furco Rubric, Holland Matrix and the Bringle and Hatcher CAPSL model. Most of the workshop focused on the value of assessment of civic engagement.
“After attending, I’d like to see more institutional assessment of civic engagement here at Etown,” Kozimor-King exclaimed. “I believe an important reason to assess civic engagement is to enhance student development through a holistic approach.” She also believes that our college community needs to develop more clarity about what we want our graduates to look like. We should also then show how civic engagement can contribute to that vision. "I liked how assessment was seen as a path to learning,” Kozimor-King said. “Assessment is valuable for its own sake since it improves the quality of student learning and faculty teaching.”
Recently the office of Service-Learning has changed its name to the Office of Civic Engagement. Kozimor-King believes that this “is one positive step.” Nancy Valkenburg has also proved to be a valuable resource in the office.
“She really understands the direction of the center and the mission of the College,” Kozimor-King said. “I think she is a valuable leader in this area and has great ideas on how to move the center forward. After attending the workshop, I’m proud of Elizabethtown’s foundation and believe that we have a good inventory of service-learning programs.” Kozimor-King, who said the next step is maturing the concept of civic engagement and assessing the readiness and willingness of the campus community.
“The conference was about ways to integrate civic engagement with the mission and curriculum of the College,” Kozimor-King said. She believes the living learning communities, such as Simple Living and Glaction, are an excellent model for the integration of civic engagement with academic curriculum.
“The College needs to be locally accountable,” Kozimor-King exclaimed. “Etown needs to consider what it can do to serve the local community while at the same time producing graduates who are not only skilled professionals, but civic minded in their profession. I think a good example of this type of service-learning is the current Winters Heritage House Museum Community Survey Project being completed by the Sociology 331 Social Statistics class this semester.”
This project being completed by Sociology 331 ties civic engagement not only to the curriculum of the class, but it also helps students develop specific skills. All of the workshop speakers came from schools that received the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification. Most of the speakers highlighted the importance of such a ranking.
“I would hope that Etown would aspire to become one of those schools in the near future, perhaps in 2010,” Kozimor-King stated. “In order to apply for the classification, more assessment of civic engagement would be necessary. This may be a stretch, but I loved learning about an academic service-learning faculty development program at Widener University where faculty develop a service-learning course in a semester long workshop.”
Many schools represented at the workshop are beginning to integrate civic engagement into the first-year program. That may be something to consider in the future for the first-year experience here at Etown. “I would like to see more collaboration between the Center for Civic Engagement and the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning here at Elizabethtown,” Kozimor-King said.
“Sometimes it seems too time-consuming to integrate service-learning into the curriculum on your own,” Kozimor-King said. “However, if there was a semester workshop to plan it out with a group of colleagues, it would be much more likely to happen.”
The Etownian >> Features