Service-Learning Workshop # 5

1. Service-Learning Workshop # 5 Working Effectively with Community Partners

2. Tennessee State UniversityService Learningand Civic Engagement

3. LEARNING in ACTION

4. Review of the Seven Elements of High Quality Service 1.Integrated Learning- clearly articulated learning outcomes 2. High Quality Service- meet actual community need 3. Collaboration- all partners benefit and contribute 4. Student Voice- students actively plan & participate 5. Civic Responsibility- contributes to the community 6. Reflection- connect service & academic learning 7. Evaluation- measure learning & service goals

5. Workshop Topics • Finding appropriate community partners • What’s important in a partner? • How do I find a partner? • Making first contact • Organizing a project • Building partnerships • Faculty and community partnership • Student and community partnership • Sustaining partnerships • Review of Syllabus Development, Reflection, Grading • Your questions, concerns, and successes

6. Campus Community Partnerships for Health(a good guide) Principles of Good Community-Campus PartnershipsAdopted by the CCPH Board of Directors, October 2006 http://www.ccph.info/

7. How can we formally integrate the principles of partnershipinto our work?

8. Pre-flection • What are some of the key components you are looking for in a community partner? • How have you identified community partners?

9. The Service-Learning Quadrant The Service-Learning Quadrant, developed at the Service-Learning 2000 Center, Stanford University, California, provides an effective method for recognizing the differences between high service and low service, unrelated learning and integrated service-learning projects.

10. Questions to Consider when Designing a Service Learning Project • What are my course objectives? • What to I hope to achieve through this partnership? • What course concepts to I desire my students to learn through a hands-on experience? How can I reinforce this goal in the classroom? • How can the students and I contribute to our local community? • What type of service learning is the best fit for these students? • Direct Service, Capacity Building, Policy Development, Education, etc.?

11. What’s Important in a Community Partner? • Provides support for learning • Has needs that directly relate to your course objectives and students can address. • Willing collaborator & communicator. • Able to mentor students. • Provides safe learning environment. • Has enough infrastructure to support the students’ work

12. What’s Important in a Community Partner? • Logistically works for students • Open during hours that work with students’ schedules. • Willing to work with students’ schedules. • Location accessible to students. • Can accommodate the number of students in your course.

13. How to Find Community Partners: • Service-learning website • Center for Service-Learning Staff • Prior knowledge and interest in the organization • On site visit • Community Partner Activities • Partners in Service Learning Events • Colleagues’ recommendations • Students’ Proposals • Miscellaneous Resources • Community foundation • Internet

14. S-L Staff as Matchmakers • Pros • Staff have knowledge of wide range of organizations • Staff can “weed out” the least relevant options • Staff can facilitate first contact between faculty and partner • Faculty have to identify the course objectives they hope to address via service-learning. • If you are new to service-learning, this can be very helpful. • Cons • You are relying on a matchmaker who may not completely understand your course objectives.

15. Web Site Approach • Pros • Wide range of organizations at your finger tips. • You do the “weeding out” with your specific course objectives in mind. • You make first contact with partners. • A seasoned practitioner might enjoy this level of control. • Cons • Can be overwhelming, especially for a novice to service-learning. • “Weeding out” process rests with you which can be time consuming.

16. Faculty Interest Drives Partnership • Pros • Creating a partnership based on interest and passion. • May already have a rapport with staff at the organization. • Don’t need an introduction. • Established lines of communication. • Can focus on building a partnership rather than simply finding one. • Familiarity with needs and structure of organization. • Better sense of what your students’ experiences will be. • Better sense of how your course objectives will be met through service-learning at this particular organization. • Cons • If involved with the organization in another capacity prior to service-learning partnership, may need to re-negotiate or re-define roles.

17. Students Choose • Pros • Students may be more likely to have a genuine interest in the project if they self-select. • Students less resistant to service-learning because they can find a service site that fits into their schedules. • Easier on the faculty member in terms of finding service-learning placements. • Cons • Run the risk of service sites that are not consistent with teaching course objectives. • Faculty are not creating partnerships; they are creating placements. • Faculty may have as many community partners as they have students in their class. • Faculty members have a lot less control over quality of the learning. • Have to build in quality control mechanisms (e.g. site approval process). • Run the risk that the focus becomes more about service, less about learning.

18. Miscellaneous Resources • Pros • Faculty may find new resources not previously considered • Faculty can find partners that meet course topics and personal research interest • There is the opportunity for creativity in establishing new relationships. • Cons • Some apprehension may exist in calling an unfamiliar agency and explaining a new collaboration effort • Information may not be conveyed clearly enough • An agency may be exhausted by other classes

19. First Contact: The Initial Conversation • If the partner is unfamiliar with the concept provide a brief summation of service-learning. What is it? • Examples: • A teaching style where students work in the community to learn classroom concepts • Students gain insight into civic responsibility • Mutually beneficial • Give examples of potential projects • Summarize your course syllabus and highlight why you think your class and their organization might be a great partnership. • What assets do they offer as co-facilitators of student learning? • What needs do they have that might integrate with the course’s objectives? • Ask about their “to do” list.

20. Organizing a Project: It Takes Two • Suggested things to discuss/clarify • Contact Information • Preferred method of contact • Hours of project (time and amount) • Number of students needed • Mission Statement/Agency Objectives • Project information- details • Course objective relevance • Additional information not previously listed • Roles to Play: Coordination & Expectations • Faculty member is the classroom teacher • Community Partner is the lab instructor

21. A Follow-up to the Conversation • Send Course Materials • Syllabi is the minimum • Consider other items that might help partners • Faculty contact information • SL assignments • SL readings • Links to SL sites • Student Contact Information (voluntary) • Seek a second contact for clarification • Welcome materials from community partners • Organizational Handouts • Announcement, flyers, etc. on project details

22. Planning for the Orientation • How will your students get oriented to the site(s)? • In class presentation or on-site??? • Community Partner Website or brochures? • Share your success stories

23. Building Partnerships • Level the playing field • Help the community partners to feel like a part of the teaching/learning team • Help them to understand about academic timelines Include them in planning and evaluation activities • Open lines of communication • Provide partners with syllabus & assignments • Open dialogue about expectations

24. Building Partnerships • Keep in Contact • Follow up phone calls • “Check-In” emails throughout the semester • Organize community partners’ emails in a group list • Invite partners to class activities • Oral Presentations • Reading Discussions • Introduction of Projects • Guest Speakers

25. Building Partnerships • Faculty make site visits • To observe students in action • To serve along side of students • To hold a class or reflection session on site • Community Partner Orientation • Community Partner Handbook • Institution Sponsored Activities

26. Building Partnerships:Community Partner Handbook (see website) • Introduction • Expectations and responsibilities • Faculty hopes and objectives • Materials • Syllabus • Assignments • Readings • Faculty Contact Information

27. ChallengesPlease share the challenges you have overcome and how…. • Transportation • Time • Supervision • Evaluation • Others

28. Sharing Experiences What methods have you employed • to build partnerships? • To solve problems? • To incorporate meaningful reflections? • To evaluate your students’ learning?

29. Student and Community Partner: A Working Relationship • Student and Partner Contact • Encourage partners to provide an orientation meeting for students • Request students go as a group the first time to meet a partner and learn more about the project. • Suggest a tour, if applicable • Reminder: students are service-learning students, not volunteers. They’ve come to learn from you. • When a problem arises, reassure students in approaching partners for clarification or help. • Incorporate partner information as part of a refection exercise. • Example: What have you learned about your agency/organization thus far and its role in the community? • Student Partner Contract (see samples)

30. Sustaining Partnerships:Communication & Collaboration • Get feedback from partners • throughout the semester (on the partnership, student performance, etc.) • At the end of each semester to assess what needs to occur next time • Review the community partner contact and project information form • Inquire about their current needs and objectives. • Ask the community partner to complete the evaluation form • Provide recognition of their contribution to teaching your students • Certificate • Invite them to a campus sponsored recognition event

31. Sustaining Partnerships:Communication & Collaboration • Follow through on their requests for assistance • Letters of support on grants • Helping them to identify staff members • Open Dialogue about needs • Needs of the organization may change over time. • Your needs may change over time. • Dialogue to make sure both needs are still being met through the partnership. • Consider a community partner evaluation form • Plan Ahead • Discuss changes and continuances for the next term • Review the community partner contact and project information form • Inquire about their current needs and objectives.

32. Expect the Unexpected: When problems arise, how will you deal with them? • Faculty as Mediator • Student and Community Partner issues • Behavior issues • Change in partners’ requirements and expectations • Investigating the Miscommunication • Faculty and Community Partner differences • What is the concern? • Course objectives not clearly explained? • Mission or expectation of the partner not understood? • Break down in communication between faculty and student or community partner and their staff?

33. Other Issues/Challenges Staff Changes at the site • Reestablish contact • Send basic materials again if necessary • Review project agreements and make new arrangements if needed. • Inform students of any changes • Be prepared with a back up plan Other challenges????

34. Reflection • List three things you will do to either find, build, or sustain a community partnership. • How will you use information from this workshop to improve your practice?

35. Conclusion • A good relationship with a community partner begins with open communication and continues to develop through the same means. • Course content, logistics of location and time, and cooperation drive much of your efforts in finding the appropriate community partner. • There are a number of ways to find partners, all have advantages and disadvantages. • Employ the methods that produce partnerships that are best suited to teaching your course objectives. • Partnerships, like any relationship, need to be nurtured. • Much of this is accomplished through contact, communication and collaboration.