Service Learning
Service Learning gives you real-world experience using the skills from your degree to help address issues in the community while you learn. It’s different from volunteer work or charity, because Service Learning benefits the campus and community reciprocally: community partners play a crucial role in educating students in Service Learning courses about how their programs and services work while cultivating student professional skills; and students contribute to the community by working on community-defined needs.
Service Learning can be direct (hands-on in the community) or indirect, where students work on community issues or projects from campus or their own computers. Reflection is an important part of your Service Learning experience -- service is one thing, but reflecting on your service experiences is what really gives students the tools to grow and succeed in new ways going forward. After participating in Service Learning, students often feel empowered to make change in their community, having gained valuable work experience that clarifies their career goals.
For more information on Service Learning pedagogy, see the Eight Key Elements, below.
Why should I get involved?
- STUDENTS have the opportunity to apply academic concepts to real life scenarios, address community needs, build professional and personal skills and experiences.
- COMMUNITY PARTNERS have the opportunity to bring in diverse perspectives and energy into their agencies, receive assistance on programs and projects, build future stakeholders.
- FACULTY have the opportunity to build depth and relevance into course student learning objectives, make course readings come alive, connect with community partners to addree needs.
Eight Key Elements of Service Learning
Service Learning can be incorporated into all disciplines. The following elements are what students should know and be able to do as a result of their participation in a Service Learning course. All eight elements should be built into every Service Learning course and should work in concert to create powerful teaching and learning experiences. For details, download the information sheet Eight Key Elements of Service Learning here. The Service Learning experience should:
- Meet a real community-identified need, integrating "community voice"
- Link to curriculum - be tied into and enhance the curriculum of the established "S" Designated Service Learning course
- Prepare and orient/train the student: to both the learning site/community partner organization and Service Learning pedagogy
- Reciprocity: partnerships must be reciprocal in practice, being worthwhile and valuable for all participants -- student, faculty, and community
- Provide systematic reflection activities that are embedded throughout the course
- Undergo constant development: Service Learning - both the student experience and the course evolution- occurs in different stages and on different levels, for all participants
- Foster civic responsibility and diversity
- Provide ongoing, embedded evaluation with all participants aware of what will be evaluated
Make learning come alive and experience real-life connections between your education and everyday issues in the community!
There are Service Learning courses set to enhance your understanding of course content, general knowledge, sense of civic responsibility, self-awareness and commitment to the community. Service Learning courses are designated with an "S".
List of Service Learning Courses for Fall 2023
Courses
AHSS | Art | Business | Child Development | Criminology | Economics | English | Environmental Studies | Film | Music | Physics | Sociology | Spanish | Special Topics | Wildlife
Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Arts, Humanities and Social Sciences 104S | Global Meets Local in Humboldt | 3 | Are we "global"? Study the politics, culture, and economics of Humboldt County and the difference individuals make in our communities and the world. Service learning component. College success skills developed. |
Art
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Art 497S | Service Learning and Art Education I | 4 | Integrates art education theory and practice with service learning concepts in concert with a practicum in the field---45 hours of participation assistant teaching in Community Partner visual arts program. Usually has pre-identified community partners arranged by faculty |
| Art 498S | Service Learning and Art Education II | 3 | Integrates art education theory and practice with service learning concepts in concert with a practicum in the field---45 hours of participation assistant teaching in Community Partner visual arts program. Usually has pre-identified community partners arranged by faculty. |
Business Administration
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Business Administration 496S | Strategic Management | 4 | This is a capstone experience course that integrates economic, financial, marketing, and management areas through the application of a strategic assessment of a local business. Tends to partner with one community group per semester. |
Child Development
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Child Development 211S | Perspectives, Professional Development | 3 | Investigation of employment alternatives, professional organizations and resources, and strategies for professional development and employment. 30 hours of service learning required over the course of the semester. |
| Child Development 467S | Working with Culturally Diverse Families | 3 | Family attitudes, goals, and practice impacted by gender, social class, ethnicity, racial membership. Sensitize self to personal perspectives on diversity. Seminar format. 20-30 hours of service learning required over the course of the semester. |
Criminology
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Criminology 225S | Inequalities/Criminalization | 4 | Examines the intersection of crime and inequality within families, communities, and nations. The course includes experiential education that connects students to local responses to social justice issues. 25-30 hours. |
Economics
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Economics 470S | Sustainable Rural Economic Development | 4 | Role of development practitioner. Analyze rural economic development theory and strategies required for sustained growth and job creation consistent with community values. Local speakers; cases; field trip; service-learning component. |
| Economics 570S | Sustainable Rural Economic Development | 4 | Role of development practitioner. Analyze rural economic development theory and strategies required for sustained growth and job creation consistent with community values. Local speakers; cases; field trip; service-learning component. |
English
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| English 104S | Accelerated Composition and Rhetoric---Service Writing | 3 | Honing academic writing and reading skills. Emphasis on research strategies, synthesis, critical reading, rhetorical distinctions. Workshop, lecture, and collaborative learning. Final assessment based on writing portfolio. Incorporates, Service Learning pedagogy. |
Environmental Studies
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Environmental Studies 490S | Environmental Studies Capstone Experience with Service Learning | 4 | Capstone experience for environmental studies majors. Students to apply knowledge of environmental systems to practical problems. Course will entail either group or individual projects. |
Film
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Film 455S | Grant Writing | 4 | Fundamental practices of proposal development and grant writing; applicable to all professions. Hands-on activities as grantee and grantor. Emphasis on post-graduation grant writing. Includes working with a fiscal agent. Under supervision of partnering organization staff, students may develop grant related writing for your agency, but students do not apply for any grants as part of their coursework. Course is offered depending on availability. |
International Studies
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| INTL 100S | Thinking Critically About Globalization | Development of critical thinking through an understanding of the principles of reasoning and tools of evaluation and argumentation with the application to questions of globalization concerning economics, politics, and culture, with Service Learning |
Music
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Music 107S | Chamber Music | 1 | Study/perform chamber music from all eras. Perform for community partners, and assess and reflect on the experience. |
| Music 407S | Chamber Music | 1 | Study/perform chamber music from all eras. Perform for community partners, and assess and reflect on the experience. |
Physics
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| PHYX 104S | Descriptive Astronomy | 4 | understand and appreciate astronomy/planet Earth. Methods of obtaining facts and formulating principles. Labs: naked-eye star/planet observation, movement of moon and celestial sphere, constellations, galaxies, star clusters, light and spectroscopy, telescopes. Lab will include service learning through providing workshops to students K-12 schools and programs requiring two visits to local schools. For non-majors. |
Sociology
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Sociology 225S | Social Actions and Issues | 4 | Why do some social issues become a focus of concern? How do inequalities shape definitions and responses? Course service learning experiences connect students to local organizations and actions. Minimum 25 hours per semester. |
Spanish
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Spanish 108S | Level III Heritage Speakers | 4 | Designed for Heritage Speakers to master formal/professional Spanish, serve local Latino communities, and deepen awareness of national and international Latino cultures. |
| Spanish 208S | Level IV Heritage Speakers | 4 | Designed for Heritage Speakers to master formal/professional Spanish, serve local Latino communities, and deepen awareness of national and international Latino cultures. |
| Spanish 308S | Introduction to Translation and Interpretation | 3 | Apply theoretical and practical principles of translation and interpretation of literature, real-world texts, and oral contexts. Analyze social/cultural implications of working in this field. Practical experience through service learning. |
| Spanish 315S | Field Experience teaching Spanish as a Second Language | 3 | Class discussions complement supervised academic internships in "approved" community partner K-12 schools, providing students direct application service opportunities of discipline-specific knowledge. Students will be exposed to the theories of language acquisition and learning. |
| Spanish 365S | Field Experience - Regional Studies | 1-4 | Students apply four language skills (oral, writing, reading, and comprehension) in a authentic social and cultural context while serving host country's local community needs. |
| Spanish 408S | Field Experience - Translation and Interpretation | 1-4 | Supervised application of translation and interpretation of literature, real-world texts, and oral contexts. Students experience and reflect on social/cultural/ethical implications of working in this field. Students and "approved" community partners collaborate through Service Learning. |
Special Topics
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| SP 121S | Issues in Community Volunteering (Youth Educational Services - Y.E.S.) | 1 | volunteer roles, particularly in direct relationships. Issues appropriate to specific programs (e.g. foster youth, homelessness, senior citizens). May involve an Humboldt program and/or committees or campus governance. |
Wildlife
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Wildlife 492S | Senior Project | 1 | Independent service learning with a professional partner engaged in wildlife management and conservation. Coursework includes pre- and post- service reflection, report writing, and professional presentation. |
Courses in Development (not yet -S designated or in progress)
Each semester, academic departments work with the Center for Community Based Learning to develop, pilot and S-Designate new Service Learning courses. For more information, please contact the Center for Community Based Learning.
| Course | Title | Units | Description |
|---|---|---|---|
| Geography 470 | Topics in Geography for Educators | 3 | Prospective teachers develop materials and resources that can be applied in classrooms. Use case studies developed by national and state geographic educational alliances. Prereq: teacher credential candidate or IA. |
| Psychology 437 | Sexual Diversity | 3 | Using biological and social constructionist explanations of sexual orientation, we will explore historical, psychological, and sociological foundations of gay, lesbian, bisexual, and transgender cultures, and examine contemporary political issues of discrimination, pride and social power |
| Psychology 480 | Community Psychology in Applied Setting | .5-3 | Topic/problem from theoretical, experimental, or applied psychology. |
| Religious Studies 301 | Religion in America | 3 | Surveys American religious diversity exploring the formative role played by religion in American identity, values, and experience, including critical topical issues from politics, sexuality, environment, education, terrorism, etc. |
| Religious Studies 361 | Environment and Religion | 3 | How religious practice questions/challenges consumerism. Underlying roots of consumerist mentality and its personal/environmental effects. Explore spiritual/religious foundations for sustainability and environmental health. |
| Spanish 492 | Capstone Service Learning Experience | 3 | Research paper treating a topic related to language, literature, or culture. Individual guidance by faculty. |