Creating a portfolio of assignments to meet your learning goals using reflection & service

1. Creating a portfolio of assignments to meet your learning goalsusing reflection & service Sarah Ash :: Food, Bioprocessing & Nutrition Sciences George Hess:: Forestry &Environmental Resources) Jessica Jameson::Communication Annette Moore:: Parks, Recreation, &Tourism Management

2. Today’s Objectives • Describe the need for critical reflection • Identify reflection-related learning outcomes • Describe examples of critical reflection assignments & rubrics • Identify how critical reflection can be incorporated into your courses, based on learning outcomes

3. Role of Critical Reflection in Service-Based Courses Criticalreflection Academicmaterial Relevantservice Learning outcomes

4. Challenges of working in a service setting with students • Making sure that students are “getting” the learning outcomes that you want • Especially if you have little control over the experience itself {NOTE: You need to make sure that the experience can deliver the desired outcomes} • Helping to guide their learning in your absence • Especially when you don’t know what they are learning because you are not there

5. Challenges, continued Making sure that the students are not learning the “wrong” thing • Especially when they are in situations conducive to reinforcing stereotypes • E.g., when they are in “unfamiliar” territory with respect ethnicity, socio-economic status. • Or to seeing inappropriately simple solutions to complex problems. • E.g., when they get “warm fuzzies” from working with kids or heartfelt thanks from community agencies.

6. Challenges, continued Assessing and documenting student learning • Especially in the absence of traditional objective measures (e.g., fact-based exams) • For assigning grades • For internal or external review committees or accrediting organizations. • For scholarly work • Quantitative • Qualitative

7. More generally, consider that… Learning from experience can be “counter-normative” to most students’ educational backgrounds. • You are asking them to develop their own unique learningsbased on their specific experiences. • You may even be asking them to question the accuracy or relevance of what they have learned in their classes, textbooks or from other resources. • This is NOT the same as asking them to simply reproducewhat someone else has taught them.

8. Critical reflection is the key to learning from experience Reflection is.... “active, persistent and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it tends.” John Dewey, 1910. How We Think

9. Before you can develop an assignment, you need to decide... • What is its purpose? • How does it help you meet your desired learning outcomes? • As a result of completing this assignment, students will have shown their ability to....

10. This means that you need to... • Identify your learning outcomes • What do you want your students to learn from their experiences? • What role(s) is/are these experiences playing? • It can be helpful to write them out and then see if there are ways to categorize them

11. Activity Break • What are your goals and/or outcomes/objectives for using service in your course(s)? • Goal = Broad and not easily assessable • “As a result of participating in this experience, students should have an understanding of....” • Outcome/Objective=Specific and assessable • “As a result of participating in this experience, students should be able to...” USE ACTION VERBS!

12. Examples of “action verbs” for writing specific objectives using Bloom’s Taxonomy

13. SOME EXAMPLES of CATEGORIES of LEARNING

14. Academic Enhancement • To improve academic learning • Seeing classroom content in the service environment • What’s the same, what’s different? • Why? • Civic Learning • To improve students’ understanding of issues related to civic engagement • People coming together to meet collective objectives • From students within their groups    National/International programs, interventions, etc. • Personal Growth • To improve students’ understanding of themselves • Their assumptions, biases, strengths, weaknesses, etc. • Relative to their personal and/or professional lives

15. Assignment Examples

16. George

17. Natural Resources Measurements

20. Annette PRT 358 Recreation Program Planning

21. Guiding reflection: One approachThe DEAL Model for Critical Reflection [Ash and Clayton]

22. Describe an experience objectively Examine it using prompts associated with learning goals Articulate aLearning about it

23. Jessica

24. COM 466Nonprofit Leadership & Development Core course in Minor in Nonprofit Studies: Learning objectives focus on five leadership challenges facing the nonprofit sector: • Aligning mission, methods, and resources • Balancing individual interests and the common good • Earning the public trust • Capitalizing on opportunities associated with diversity • Moving beyond charity to systemic change

27. Sample Reflection Prompts Use Diagram A to discuss the various populations that your non profit may need to take into account when capitalizing on opportunities associated with diversity. • Identify the populations included in each context (internally, those served, and in the broader community). • On a scale of 1-10 characterize the amount of overlap between the following contexts. In other words, to what extent does the organization’s diversity embody of the diversity of the a) local community and b) populations served? a) Internal and Local Community b) Internal and Those Served Provide evidence that supports your characterization of the degree of overlap between the diversity of the organization and that of the local community and the populations served.

28. Reflection Tools: Diagram A

29. Reflection Tools: Diagram B

30. Sample Rubric: Capitalizing on Opportunities Associated with Diversity

31. Sample 4-Sentence AL on Diversity Articulated Learning Worksheet I learned that… capitalizing on opportunities associated with diversity is vital to organizational capacity building I learned this when… I learned this in my first experience with [NPO], outside of classroom introductions This learning matters because… diversity is vital to the growth and progress of non profits.   In light of this learning I will… I plan to continually look for strengths in others.

32. Sample Reflections on Diversity This learning matters because the [NPO] must find ways to overcome diversity in order to accomplish their mission. Diversity is naturally resisted by almost all people. People are naturally attracted to what is familiar and change is usually resisted. It is most likely that people at [NPO] enjoy going to the [NPO] and would resist anything that felt like a forced change. If the [NPO] set goals to increase the number of low-income families at its facilities it may make some members uncomfortable and compel them to leave. The problem seems to be, can you create an atmosphere that organically produces diversity? I think you can but it requires first creating a culture that realizes the importance of diversity within the organization. This requires leaders and volunteers who are focused on accomplishing the mission and who understand the critical role that diversity plays in accomplishing that mission.

33. Sample Reflections on Diversity In light of this learning I will use the leadership positions I have in the future to first identify and then find how to capitalize on diversity. Making others aware that diversity is a vital part of the success an organization can assist in the implementation of diversification. I will also do my best to be open to diverse environments even if I am uncomfortable. An easy way to do this now is to expand what I do at the [NPO] . Some [people] are very easy to get along with and play with while others are not. The [people]I tend to spend less time with are those who I have trouble identifying with. This rarely has to do with their race or the income level…but may be because they have a special need or disability. Understanding the importance of not only accepting, but appreciating diversity will drive me in making my relationships within the [NPO] reflect that.

34. Activity Break • Review your course learning goals • Draft learning outcomes for a reflection experience • Outline reflection exercises and assignments

35. Share Ideas

36. Wrap Up