San Diego City College Students Engage!

Transcription

1 San Diego City College Students Engage! Susan Dyer Fontana, Susan Martin, and Erin Rempala, San Diego City College Introduction and Background San Diego City College is centrally located in the downtown area of San Diego, a thriving coastal city of 1.2 million. The campus is recognized as the third oldest community college in all of California, dating back to 1920 when it started as a teaching college. City College is one of three for credit campuses in the San Diego Community College District, which also has an Educational Cultural Complex and an Adult Learning Center. Collectively, the District enrolls 40,000 students annually. The City College campus now hosts about 18,000 students, many of whom are part time night students who work in downtown San Diego and find the campus very convenient. San Diego City College students enjoy the luxury of living close to Tijuana, the busiest border crossing in the United States of America. While a large portion of San Diego County is Spanishspeaking, of Hispanic descent, City College is comprised of the most diverse population of its seven neighboring community colleges. There are large populations of North African, Middle Eastern and Pacific Rim immigrants as well. The campus is also an outreach area for the many thousands of military members who are stationed and/or retire in San Diego both Navy and Marines. With the ASSETS grant funding, City College awarded four faculty stipends in order to assist them with redesigning their curricula to include the service learning pedagogy. This paper will highlight some of these new service learning classes and discuss some of the successes and challenges the campus faced during this year. Part of what makes San Diego City College so alluring for many is the geographical location and the contact with admirable values to the Mexican culture. San Diego City College is located approximately four miles from Tijuana Students at City College serve in both San Diego and Tijuana public organizations. Mexico. The service learning program at City College plays a pivotal role in the serving and learning that takes place both in San Diego and Tijuana. City College is the perfect location for students to practice what they have learned in the classroom. Students at City College serve in many public organizations impacting the lives of both cultures. Students at City College continue to serve in both San Diego and Tijuana public organizations. City College is forming an excellent track record in developing, implementing and supporting public organizations on both sides of the border. Ultimately, the service learning goals include changing and improving the lives of people in both communities with the students having a memorable learning experience either in San Diego or in Tijuana Mexico. 94

2 Child Development 101 Students in Susi Fontana s introductory human development courses (Child Development 101) were required to participate in one Shout It Out group project during the semester. The Shout It Out projects were designed to meet multiple student learning objectives within the course which included the following: Facilitating students using basic to complex higher level learning strategies including knowledge, evaluation, synthesis, and practical application of class topics. Engaging students in an introductory civic engagement activity (with a relatively minimal time commitment) with the potential for significant positive feedback and reinforcement of the service learning model for the student. Facilitating students sharing of their expertise in the areas of developmental health and safety information to the larger campus community with the goal of supporting the growth of key health and safety practices. The Shout It Out projects were basically small student group public service announcements of information the class identified as essential developmental health and safety knowledge. These essential pieces of knowledge were ones that students determined everyone would benefit from knowing about, even those not taking child development classes. Topics that the students identified from within the course material included: Prevention of Birth Defects Hand Washing and Illness Prevention Family Emergency Preparedness Bullying Prevention Family Violence Prevention After each Shout It Out topic was identified by the class, interested students were encouraged to sign up for the group. Each student was required to sign up for one Shout It Out group during the semester. Groups met outside of class, sometimes with the instructor, to evaluate and synthesize the information and to design, organize, and create a method of ultimately sharing their expertise on their Shout It Out topic with the larger campus community. The student learning outcomes were significant and profound. Some groups designed posters and flyers that they displayed and handed out all over campus on a designated day. Other groups set up an informational display in the campus Learning Resource Center/Library. Another group put together a bulletin board and handouts for parents in the campus Lab Child Development Center. Another group set up an informational display table for a day on the campus cafeteria patio. 95

3 The student learning outcomes were varied, as expected, but for the most part significant and profound. The student reflections of the service learning component illustrated the richness of the experience. Child Development 277C Disaster Preparedness This past semester Susan Martin taught a Child Development 277C service learning class with a focus on disaster preparedness as both a semester class and a second 8 week course. Students in this course developed and implemented a disaster preparedness plan for a childcare/child development center or other community agency. One student did her service learning project at ARC, an agency serving people with developmental disabilities. For this class, students first watched two videos produced by the Child Development Division of the California Department of Education Students. These videos included information on preparing and planning for disasters. Through this course students gained hands on experience in project planning, development, implementation and evaluation. Susan Martin met with students on a regular basis throughout the semester, providing feedback and support as they worked on their projects. Students were required to keep a record of their hours and to complete two reflection papers; one at the midway point in the semester and one at the end of the semester. These papers included descriptions of the work they were doing and what they were learning from the experience. Students learned how to plan for a disaster, how to create a plan for dealing with the aftermath of a disaster. Students also learned the value of sharing their time while serving others in the community. This was a very rewarding experience for students. In addition to this course, Susan Martin also had a service learning component as a choice in her Child, Family, and Community classes. In these classes, students could choose to either visit two agencies and find out about all of their services and then share that information with the class, or they could do 12 hours of service learning at one community agency and write two short field notes. Students selecting to do service learning are often hesitant going into this experience. From their field notes, however, the most frequent comment was how much they gained from the experience. The gains for students included the ability to relate real life experiences to course material, increased empathy for people who need community services, and a feeling of competence in their abilities to help The gains for students included the ability to relate real life experiences to course material, increased empathy for people who need community services, and a feeling of competence in their abilities to help others. others. One student wrote, at the end of my first day volunteering in this classroom I felt very good about myself because I had never thought of becoming a high school tutor and sharing my knowledge with other students who really needed to learn in order to pass their exam and receive their diplomas. We talked, laughed and learned. 96

4 Students from other cultures were able to view social problems that are not discussed in their own culture in a more open manner. Students who worked with people with disabilities and/or people from other countries became more understanding of the obstacles these people faced in our society. This increased sensitivity and understanding is reflected in the following comments from three students: This helps me to be more tolerant and patient with others, and learn how to listen. Now I try to be more patient and concerned about other people s feelings and their opinions. After finishing with all my community service, I feel very good, knowing I can help other people. it has been a pleasure, and a blessing helping and learning from my community. I feel that helping others is the best thing you can do because you make yourself happy and you re making other people happy too. I personally think that everyone out there should get involved with the community or just helping out in their own neighborhood I think community service is like voting, one person can make a huge difference There s always someone out there who needs your help. Issues in Environmental Biology Biology 101 Students in Erin Rempala s Environmental Biology (BIO 101) class worked with the San Diego Coastkeeper to monitor the water quality in the Tijuana River Watershed. The BIO 101 students measured physical parameters as well as tested nutrient levels and collected samples for Coastkeeper to measure the bacterial count and presence of heavy metals in the water. The Tijuana River Watershed is especially important because it is bi national the water quality affects the health of those in both Mexico and the United States who use the river and the ocean that it feeds. Students in these courses have been partnering with San Diego Coastkeeper for the past two years. San Diego Coastkeeper relies solely on citizen volunteers to complete the monitoring San Diego Coastkeeper relies solely on of eleven watersheds in San Diego County. The citizen volunteers to complete the goals of the Watershed Monitoring Program monitoring of eleven watersheds in include: supplementing the limited water San Diego County. quality data resources available, protecting sensitive ecosystems, identifying and abating pollution sources, tracking the effectiveness of pollution prevention plans, and preventing further degradation of San Diego s water resources ( Students were trained in a one and a half hour training session and each group of four students volunteered during a monthly watershed monitoring event in March, April, and May They spent approximately three hours in the field measuring water parameters at three separate sites along the Tijuana River Watershed. 97

5 Erin Rempala changed her syllabus to reflect the service learning project as one component of their lab grade which is 25 percent of the total course grade. Students received credit for completing the water monitoring training and volunteer event as well as writing a 400 word reflection paper. The purpose of the paper was to relate their service learning experience to what they were currently learning in class. The value for the student involvement in the project was worth the same amount of points as half an exam. Summary and Conclusion Significant barriers to a sustainable service learning program include funding and administrative buy in. City College is lucky to have received seed money for its introductory efforts. However, funding beyond the life of the ASSETS grant is tenuous. The state of the educational budgets in California is adding more competition for educational programs. Additionally, the City College campus is in the midst of hiring two new vice presidents and two new deans. The hope is that once this new administration is in place, service learning will find a home under a willing administrator which will in turn help with funding efforts. The service learning program is also competing for space and does not currently have a formalized office. The release time faculty coordinator runs much of the program out of his office, a small faculty office where he serves Sociology students as well. A suggestion for other community colleges starting service learning programs would be to have administrative buy in and a clearly defined goals for the growth, staffing, and housing of the program. Despite the lack of clear administrative support, the program has grown tremendously. Nineteen new faculty were identified as using service learning by the end of the school year, reaching 456 students who gave more than 7,000 hours to 140 agencies. Excitement and enthusiasm continues to grow among students, faculty and community partners. Excitement and enthusiasm continues to grow among students, faculty and community partners. City College successfully hosted its first service learning agency workshop in the spring, where 15 local agencies visited the campus and learned about how faculty and students could interact with their organizations. The team created a new service learning advisory board which is meeting two or three times each semester, addressing goals and objectives of the program and successfully working on marketing products, faculty trainings, student outreach, and administrative matters. City College s Engage! Program hopes to grow an additional 10 faculty members by the end of the ASSETS grant funding. The coordinator, faculty and agencies hope to continue gaining visibility among the campus leaders, hopefully securing permanent funding for a coordinator and service learning Center. Service learning is a win win opportunity for both teachers and students. Service learning projects provide a real world experience for students, enabling them to relate academic subject 98

6 matter to their own lives, thus gaining a deeper understanding of course material. In addition, student self esteem and self confidence increase as a result of serving others. About the Authors: Susan Dyer Fontana is an Associate Professor of Child Development at San Diego City College. She has a B.A. in Child Development and Psychology from Cal State University Northridge and a M.S. in Education and Curriculum Design from National University. She has been a faculty member at City College for 25 years. For all of that time she has experimented with integrating civic engagement and service learning into her courses, because she credits her personal success as a student to her lifelong involvement in volunteer activities with the Red Cross, Boys & Girls Clubs, The Share Tutoring Program, Rolling Readers, Girl Scouts, Share Food Cooperative, San Diego Registrar of Voters Polls Worker, and many other organizations. Susan Martin is the Director of the Child Development Center and a professor in Child Development at San Diego City. She has a B.A. Art/Elementary Education from California Lutheran University and an M.S. in Family Studies & Consumer Sciences with a specialization in Early Childhood Education from San Diego State University. Erin Rempala is an Associate Professor of Biology. She has an M.A. in Biology: Ecology and Systematic Biology from San Francisco State University and a B.S. in Marine Science: Biology from Southampton College of Long Island University. At City College she is currently teaching General Biology, Introduction to Oceanography, Marine Biology, and Issues in Environmental Biology. As a former Peace Corps Volunteer, Erin is a supporter of community engagement and learning through volunteering. She has been incorporating service learning projects into all of her courses for the past three years. 99

7 Ellen Turkel's Health 101 Health and HIV Awareness Fair at San Diego City College 100