Bruce M Saulnier Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Bruce.saulnier@quinnipiac

1. Creating Significant Learning Experiences in Systems Analysis & Design: Towards a Service Learning Paradigm Bruce M Saulnier Computer Information Systems Quinnipiac University Bruce.saulnier@quinnipiac.edu http://mywebspace.quinnipiac.edu/saulnier

2. Educational Reform “The biggest and most long-lasting reforms of undergraduate education will come when individual faculty or small groups of instructors adopt the view of themselves as reformers within their immediate sphere of influence, the classes they teach every day” - K. Patricia Cross

3. Personal View of Education • I do not teach Computer Information Systems; rather, I use Computer Information Systems to teach Students • It’s not about teaching; rather, it’s about the students’ learning.

4. The Learning Pyramid National Training Laoratory -- Bethel, Maine

5. Bloom’s Taxonomy (Bloom, 1956) • Recall • Comprehension • Application • Analysis • Synthesis • Evaluation

6. Fink’s Taxonomy of Significant Learning (Fink, 2003) • Foundation Knowledge – understanding and remembering facts and ideas; • Application – acquiring skills, creative and critical thinking, managing projects; • Integration – connecting ideas, people, and realms of life; • Human Dimension – learning about oneself and others; • Caring – developing new feelings, interests, and values; and • Learning How to Learn – becoming a better student, inquiring about a subject, self-directed learners

7. Learning in Terms of Change • For learning to occur, there must be some kind of change in the learner – no change means no learning has occurred • Significant learning requires that there be some kind of lasting change that is important in the learner’s life

8. Service Learning (SL) An educational process/paradigm which integrates community service with active guided reflection in ways that both enhance and enrich student learning of course materials while simultaneously providing real benefits to the community

9. Elements of a SL Course • The SL course component is designed jointly by the course instructor and the community partner – both are engaged in ongoing dialogue and supervision of the students • Significant student participation in service projects that meet real community needs, as identified by the community partner, and which provide lasting benefits to the community

10. Elements of a SL Course (cont) • The service project requires a serious and ongoing time commitment predominantly spent working directly with the community group or nonprofit agency – achieve some level of completion in one semester • Experiential SLintegrated with texts, reading, writing, as part of course learning objectives

11. Elements of SL Course (cont) • Student written and/or oral reflection on relationship of service experience to both academic course material as well as their personal growth; and • Grading for the SL component constitutes a significant portion of the final course grade.

12. CIS 370 – Systems Analysis & Design • Goal = Systems Analysis in the context of Significant Learning via Service Learning • Students do analysis and design on a “live” system rather than study about analysis and design • Course Web Site http://mywebspace.quinnipiac.edu/saulnier/CIS%20370%20Home%20Page.htm

13. SL in Systems Analysis & Design via the Albert Schweitzer Institute at Quinnipiac University • http://faculty.quinnipiac.edu/Schweitzer/ • “Flash” intro w/ several Schweitzer quotes • Schweitzer’s artwork from Gabon and Haiti • Calendar of Events • Vehicles for Financial Support and Institutional Contact • Link to PPT presentation for Director

14. Significant Learning – Foundation Knowledge • Employs traditional text (Dennis & Wixom) with exams over content • Provides the basic understanding necessary for the other kinds of learning to evolve

15. Significant Learning - Application • Work on real projects in real time • Practice skills necessary to be successful analysts, engage in critical/creative problem solving, and manage projects in real time environment • Allows other, higher ordered types of learning to become useful

16. Significant Learning - Integration • Moves beyond realm of text into the realm of providing real systems for real people • Students make connections between specific ideas, between whole realms of ideas, between people, and between different realms of life (e.g.; school and work, school and social life) • The act of making connections gives learners new kinds of power – intellectual power

17. Significant Learning – Human Dimension • Working for SL projects and reflecting on those experiences provide students with (1) a new definition of what it means to be human and; (2) a new sense of responsibility for the human condition • Acquire an appreciation for the human significance of what they are learning

18. Significant Learning -- Caring • SL experience sometimes changes the degree to which students care about something • May be reflected in the form of new feelings, values, or interests • Acquire the energy to learn more about the issue (e.g.; homelessness, health care, world peace, etc.) and make it a part of their lives

19. Significant Learning – Learning How to Learn • Reflective nature of SL experience teaches students something about the process of learning itself • May learn how to be a better student, how to engage in a particular type of inquiry (observation, interview skills, etc.), or how to become self-directed learners • Enables students to continue learning in the future and to do so with greater effectiveness

20. Conclusions • We should be focusing at least as much on how we deliver the course content to students as we do on what should be taught • Our concern should be to maximize student learning while simultaneously addressing larger societal and educational issues • We need to be providing our students with the desire to become educated corporate and community citizens