Making it Real - Service, Learning, and Internships

Teaching Environmental Communications Through Service Learning

Marc J. Stern — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 13:30:00 PDT

The presentation will reflect on the results of evaluations of a service learning course in environmental education in which students developed and delivered afterschool environmental education programs at local elementary schools. One strategy for a service‐learning course is basically to push the students off of a cliff, dangle a rope, and hope they can not only find the rope, but also climb back up. This generally means getting students out there as quickly as possible, equipping them with some basic tools and knowledge to make sense of their experience along the way, and seeing if they can put it all together. A different strategy at the other end of the spectrum involves holding the students’ hands throughout the process – that is, being present when their out in the real world, providing a safety net for their mistakes, and guiding them directly on each step of the way throughout the process. A middle‐of‐the‐road (and perhaps ideal) approach involves a different sequence: carefully equipping students with extensive knowledge, tools, and theory, then sending them out into the real world to employ those tools and reflect on the experience. This middle way, however, is difficult to condense into a single semester if students are expected to be providing service to the community in the same time period. This service learning class has moved from the dangle‐the‐rope strategy toward a modified version of the middle‐of‐the road strategy over its four years of existence. This presentation will focus on the benefits and disadvantages of these approaches to service learning from three perspectives: (1) impacts on the students; (2) impacts on the recipients of students’ service; and (3) the time and effort required by the instructor. Evaluations reflect that while the shift increased students’ comfort levels in the course, both strategies were largely successful at meeting course goals and other outcomes commonly sought in service learning courses (self‐confidence, self‐reflection, and thinking about the future). The shift, however, also increased the efficiency of the course and the quality of the experience for participating schools.

Graduate Students as Evaluation Consultants for Natural Resource Programs: A Service Learning Success Story

Nick Fuhrman — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:00:00 PDT

Providing graduate students with authentic, field‐based service‐learning experiences can be challenging. Promoting these experiences can be particularly difficult with graduate students enrolled in Extension‐related degree programs at a distance. Recent studies have found that employers desire new hires with Master’s degrees to have skills in educational program development and evaluation. In an effort to provide evaluation resources to statewide Extension programs, enhance the relevance of program evaluation skills for graduate students, and address the above‐listed challenges, twenty‐four Master’s level graduate students participating in a distance‐technology delivered (synchronous) program evaluation course served as evaluation consultants during the last four weeks of an eleven week long semester. In this presentation, participants will: (1) identify the similarities between program evaluation and photography via an interactive demonstration and video‐clip, (2) acquire step‐by‐step recommendations for planning, implementing, and evaluating a service‐learning component where students serve as information consultants, and (3) become aware of the impact of this consulting project on graduate students and their participating natural resource organization/program through success stories. During the weeks prior to their consulting, students were trained in participatory evaluation principles, including continuous stakeholder involvement while planning an evaluation, gathering, analyzing, and interpreting data, and sharing evaluation findings with stakeholders using practical and “fun” methods. Working in teams of three (based on programming interests and location of residence), students were assigned a local natural resource Extension program or environmental organization to assist. Extension programs included the Georgia Master Gardener, Master Naturalist, and Master Equine Programs. Environmental organizations included a local nature center, a 4‐H center, and the Georgia Sea Turtle Center. These programs and organizations had previously contacted the instructor and were excited to allow trained graduate students to provide evaluation leadership. Students were required to keep a consultant’s accountability journal, provide their clients/stakeholders with self‐developed helpful evaluation handouts (based on organizational needs), create an evaluation plan for their program/organization, and present their recommendations to clients in an evening clientele reception. Preliminary findings from the student consulting project indicated a higher level of competency in program evaluation stemming primarily from the need to teach others and a more positive attitude toward program evaluation as a discipline.

Internships in Natural Resources: 15 Years of Positive Results

Rich Etchberger — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 14:30:00 PDT

Since 1995, I have administered the internship program in Natural Resources at the Uintah Basin Regional Campus of Utah State University. During that time, nearly 100 students have participated in the program. To date, 100% of program participants have been successful in seeking jobs in natural resources. My objectives are to outline the model I have used for this internship program, to describe a few examples of partnerships that have contributed to the program’s success, and to review student projects. I believe that one of the keys to the success of this program has been the partnerships forged with natural resource management agencies. These partnerships have led to funding that supports students as they work in real‐world management situations with agency personnel. All interns have been paid realistic wages as part of their experience. This is critical in an area where students can earn over $20.00/hour by working in the energy extraction industry. It is also important that the program have positive contributions for the funding agenies and Utah State University. Recently, I began to evaluate the long‐term impacts of this program on students, participating natural resource management agencies, and Utah State University. I will provide examples of how this program has had positive impacts on everyone involved. Finally, I will present information on the future of this program.

Evolution of a Client Based Capstone Course

Jay Sullivan — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:00:00 PDT

Project‐based senior capstone courses are a common part of natural resources curricula around the US, often providing undergraduate students with a “real‐world” experience prior to graduation, and provided educational programs with a means of conducting outcome assessments. At Virginia Tech, we have conducted a client‐focused forestry capstone course since 1999, and completed nearly 120 projects for actual clients from in and around Virginia. The evolution of the course and lessons (successes and flops) learned from our experience with student groups, clients, projects, and faculty involvement will be discussed. Future opportunities and directions in an evolving curriculum will also be addressed.

The WakeNature Preserves Partnership as an Example of Community Engagement

George Hess et al. — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 10:30:00 PDT

The WakeNature Preserves Partnership (WakeNature) arose through a combination of citizen activism, recognition among government and other agencies of the need to appropriately manage ecologically valuable natural areas, and faculty and student interest in conserving natural resources in suburban Wake County, NC. WakeNature comprises individuals from government, non‐profit, and academic organizations. Since its inception WakeNature has been committed to positioning all partners as co‐educators, co‐learners, and co‐generators of knowledge, and has served as a platform for teaching, research, and engagement. During its two‐plus year history, WakeNature members have organized several service‐learning workdays at the Marks Creek pilot site involving professional staff from community partners, NC State University faculty and students, and unaffiliated local citizens. Students in various courses have inventoried the forest resources, used geographic information systems to develop maps of potential WakeNature sites, and collected a variety of other data; a communications plan is currently under development by students in a communications capstone course. Two graduate students have performed research related to WakeNature’s efforts, and faculty, graduate students, and community partners have co‐authored a book chapter describing WakeNature as an example of community engagement (the chapter can be made available in manuscript form to attendees). In this presentation, we will provide a brief overview of the context from which WakeNature emerged and the evolution of the organization. We will explore characteristics of the Partnership that we believe make it work well as a platform for scholarship and learning, including shared vision, a co‐created mission, open and transparent communication, equitable distribution of power, and the local nature of our work. We will also share some of the struggles we have had, including political sensitivities, perspectives about power, language issues (the term “preserve” proved a hot‐ button issue) and other “institutional baggage,” and turf‐related conflicts. By the end of the session, attendees should have a better understanding of the potential for community partnerships to serve as a platform for teaching, research, and engagement, as well as the challenges of making it all work. The session will be formatted as a combination of presentation and discussion around the themes of partnership formation, teaching, learning, and engagement

Student Reported Individual and Team Effectiveness in a Service Learning Capstone Course: Lessons from Five Cohorts

Brian Lee — Sat, 27 Mar 2010 11:30:00 PDT

Many students who enter a university setting have not necessarily been formally educated in how to engage learning as a functional team member. One of the skills employers continually say they highly value is the ability of an individual to contribute productively to teams. A requirement for an undergraduate degree in landscape architecture is completing a six‐credit hour capstone service‐ learning course. The course involves individual work that contributes to a team effort resulting in several products for a community sponsor. Typically, team members have attended classes and worked on class projects together prior to this course and are not working together for the first time. This semester‐long course at the end of a five‐year professional degree uses multiple team building interventions, including student participation in an off‐campus challenge course. Team members evaluate themselves and the team using an assessment of perceived individual effectiveness, team effectiveness, and team cohesion. The repeated assessment was a 35 item Likert‐scaled questionnaire. A baseline assessment was performed on the first day of class and students are subsequently administered the questionnaire periodically throughout the semester as well as at the end of the semester to document student perceptions. This study has involved 75 students in five cohorts over four years. The results have implications for how, when, and what the expected benefits are of incorporating team‐based productivity/learning at the end of a course of study.