preparing students for community entry · preparing students for community entry ucc conference...

PREPARING STUDENTS FOR COMMUNITY ENTRY

UCC Conference February 20, 2010

Presented By:

Alisha MassenWeber State University

“The most prepared are the most dedicated.”

- Raymond Berry

Agenda

Service-Learning

Preparing for Service-Learning

Preparing Students for Community Entry

WSU-Mentor/Tutor Training

Benefits of Preparation

Service-Learning

“Today’s college students are volunteering in record numbers…the number of 16 to 24 year-old college students who volunteered has increased by almost 600,000 from 2.7 million in 2002 to nearly 3.3 million in 2005.”

Corporation for National and Community Service

Service-Learning

28

4250

30

Number of Courses Offered Spring 2010

SLCCWSUU of U*Duke

What are universities and educators doing to prepare students for the actual service, or community entry? Is this enough?



What are educators preparing students for?

Awareness of self.

Awareness of the community in which students will be serving.

An understanding of the process for doing the assigned service-learning project.

An understanding of the relationship between course objectives and the service-learning project.


How are educators preparing students?

Reflection Exercises: 6 phasesSelf knowledge Community knowledge Identification of challenge or opportunity Decision to act Service-reflection-celebration Evaluation

Jerry Morris, Ph.D., University of Detroit


Community Knowledge Exercises:

Focuses on:perceptions of the communityhow to overcome biaseswhat the community looks like statistics about the community what issues exist within the community

Jerry Morris, Ph.D., University of Detroit

The majority of the service-learning preparation is focused on students’ understanding their community, not how to effectively go about entering their community or completing their service.



Students may not know what is expected of them as a volunteer.

Students may not receive any training from the organization they plan to do their service with.

Students may not feel confident in or recognize their own skills and/or abilities.

Little research could be found on the benefits of preparing students for community entry.

No real model or curriculum exists.

Service-learning literature offers reflection exercises to help prepare students for service.

Why it is important: Research:


Assessment by Community Agencies: How “The Other Side” Sees Service-Learning:

This research focused on how community-based organizations viewed service-learning students. The areas assessed were service skills and work skills.

Joseph Ferrari and Laurie Worrall - DePaul University 2000

Work relationshipRespectfulSite sensitivityAppearance

AttitudeAttendancePunctualityDependableWork quality

Service Skills: Work Skills:


The research concluded that service-learning students scored roughly a 4.5 in all areas on a 1 to 5 Likertscale. However the authors mentioned that the results, although positive, did not reflect an accurate assessment. One reason being the little amount of research done on the subject at that time, the other being that CBO’s possibly answered more agreeably because of their fear of losing service-learning students’ help if they responded truthfully.


What is Weber State University working on?


WSU Mentor/ Tutor Training

Created with the intention of better preparing Weber State University students who would be mentoring or tutoring youth throughout the Ogden City School District.

Purpose: Better prepared WSU mentors = more youth matriculating into some form of postsecondary education.


What is the process?1. Register with the Community Involvement Center2. Go through all seven training modules and take

corresponding review questions at the end of each, passing with at least an 85%

3. Take survey about modules (optional)4. Visit the CIC to pick up a certificate of

completion and a purple polo.

http://www.weber.edu/CommunityInvolvement/Mentoring_Tutoring.html

MODULE EXAMPLE:PROFESSIONALISM



What students get out of the training:

Representing WSU when doing service-learning hours.What constitutes inappropriate relationships and unethical behavior.How to act and dress professionally.Where to look for help.How to approach mentoring/ tutoring.


2007-Fall 2008• Discussions about

creating training modules

• Six topics decided on: mentoring, tutoring, ethics, pre-college, professionalism, and cultural sensitivity

April- October 2009• Content created and

revised• September: face-to-

face trainings• October: online

powerpoints piloted

Spring 2010• Content revised/

modules updated• Technology class

working on simplifying the delivery


Future Plans:The CIC would like to generalize professionalism, ethics, and cultural sensitivity so all service-learning classes and volunteers could use them.Changing the formatting to make it more presentable and eliminate the certificate step by making it printable at home.Copyrighting the modules so they can be shared beyond WSU.


Assessment: Master’s student is currently assessing the effectiveness of the training.Student survey results have been positive.


Who benefits? How?Students: know what is expected of them and how

to go about effectively performing their service-learning hours.

Faculty: have more confident students who are more likely to have a positive service-learning experience.

Community: has better trained volunteers = more effective volunteer work completed.

Agenda Checklist

Service-Learning



WSU-Mentor/Tutor Training


QUESTIONS…?“The most prepared are the

most dedicated.”- Raymond Berry

www.weber.edu/communityinvolvement

preparing students for community entry · preparing students for community entry ucc conference...

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