In fall 2000, the College received funding from the Corporation for National
Service for a three-year, college wide Service-Learning project, which aimed
to "teach a significant number of the City of Portsmouth's homeless
and near-homeless individuals 'to fish' by assisting them in acquiring literacy
and job-readiness skills and attitudes as well as the specific job training
they need to become more self-sufficient citizens." Some Service-Learning
efforts also support the agencies that provide these services to the homeless.
In addition to prevention of hunger and homelessness, the grant focus has
expanded, in its second and third years, to address at-risk populations
such as the elderly and children in need of learning assistance, as well
as consideration for other social justice issues, including the environment.
It has also broadened its service area beyond Portsmouth to all cities in
South Hampton Roads. Called The Urban Experience, this project allows the
College, in a systematic and coordinated way, to alter the courses it teaches
so that service -- and therefore experiential learning -- becomes a significant
part of almost every student's education. There is an opportunity for a
few of our students, and their faculty, to have a Service-Learning experience
in a rural setting during the spring break-or to participate in hosting
students from our partner college, Virginia Highlands, when they are here
experiencing service in the urban environment.
A number of faculty had already used Service-Learning very effectively
in their courses, but the College had no structure to provide them the support
they needed and little ability to train its faculty to use Service-Learning
effectively. The Urban Experience project provides both the support and
the necessary training. The project director is Cynthia Horen, who may be
contacted at 822-2443 or choren@tcc.edu.
Faculty (full-time or adjunct) is selected by a sub-committee of the Faculty
Senate, to be a part of the project in its third year. The selected faculty
will be provided a stipend equivalent to three (or four, depending on the
course taught) hours of released time at the end of the first semester in
which they implement Service-Learning and, in addition, will commit to spending
an equivalent amount of their own time on the project. They receive training
on one or more of the TCC campuses from outside experts in the field through
a series of workshops. They are also sponsored through UESL funds to attend
one Service-Learning-related conference, with partial or full sponsorship
to any subsequent conferences at which they present or receive training,
as funds allow. Technical assistance by outside faculty and others who are
experienced in Service- Learning is available. After receiving training
and using the technical assistance, faculty integrate Service-learning into
at least one course they teach. The course plans of integrating Service-learning
must be approved by an expert selected by each faculty member, working with
the project director.
Faculty then recruit students into their Service-learning projects over
at least three semesters, and supervise and evaluate their work, as well
as provide related technical assistance to the community agencies involved
in the project. All students involved in Service-learning must have clear,
measurable learning objectives. All are expected to keep some sort of written
journal or record (to be determined by the faculty). Each instructor is
expected to work with about 10 students in the first semester of participation
and 10 more in the second and third. Many of the students in the subsequent
semesters are expected to be the same students who were involved in the
first year. Service-learning projects can be of the "group" variety,
involving an entire class at a single period in time or of the "individual"
variety where students work with agencies on an individual basis. Some instructors
may want to combine the two.
The selection committee considers the distribution of faculty among campuses
as well as transfer and occupational/technical curricula. It also attempts
a balance between faculty who envision individual students engaging in Service-learning
and those who contemplate group projects. The committee also looks for several
faculty interested in participating in the exchange experience in the spring
with Virginia Highlands. Faculty who has already used Service-learning will
be given special consideration by the selection committee.
Interested faculty should fill out the application form, secure the required
endorsements (a division chair or two faculty in the same discipline) and
return the form to the Service-learning Office (which will forward them
to the selection committee). Incomplete applications or applications without
the required endorsements will be returned. Signed applications can be faxed
to 822-2239. If you are selected, a hard copy will be requested.
