Instructors teaching Spring 2011 classes with a community engagement component are invited to include, in the early weeks of the course, a set of learning experiences created and run by community leaders and experienced IC faculty. These course modules are part of a pilot project, funded by the Partnerships for Sustainability Education, to help students work respectfully and effectively with community organizations serving low-income residents and communities of color.
These trainings could also work for courses built around a number of internships or a team of students doing community-based research.
This offering is designed to introduce students to the community landscape they are entering into as well as to deal with race and class issues that a multiracial group of trainers and residents will be facilitating. We are also working closely with a group of community organizations who will participate in the trainings and who are thinking ahead to useful project priorities and field placements for the spring that will hopefully match up with your course themes and your students’ interests.
The sessions will be offered in two 3-hour modules on consecutive Saturdays or Sundays in the early part of Spring 2011, and could replace class time for that week. Instructors are expected to participate in the modules along with the students, build some follow-up mechanism into the class, such as a journal or occasional group reflections, and participate in a brief evaluation process. Effective community involvement, linked to academic objectives, is not an easy matter, and we are prepared to help instructors find ways to match their course goals and structure with the opportunity we are offering.
Please contact us soon if you have questions about participating, as including the modules in your course may affect your upcoming course description.
Interested faculty please contact Elan Shapiro at eshapiro@ithaca.edu or call him at 275-0249 or 592-8402.
https://www.ithaca.edu/intercom/article.php/20101004164943991