College Prep and Family Learning: A Service Learning Highlight

The UNO Service Learning Academy (SLA) is working with UNO faculty, preschool through 12th grade (P-12) teachers, and community partners to creatively adapt service learning projects to remote learning. Service learning projects will be highlighted throughout the remote learning phase.

Building Relationships Remotely

College Prep and Family Learning is a service learning partnership between the Learning Community Center (LCC) of South Omaha and the two sections of Intro to Teaching ESL course taught by UNO faculty members Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo and Mariana Cruz.

Through this project, UNO students partner with LCC families for 6 weeks to discuss and prepare families for college readiness. Students apply classroom knowledge by curating lesson plans and building meaningful relationships, while the LCC families benefit by obtaining helpful resources for college and practicing English in conjunction with their LCC ESL classes.

In response to UNO's remote learning mode, this partnership has adapted by utilizing innovative, online tools to continue family and student relationships. Instead of meeting face-to-face with the families to lead a campus tour and participate in the final reflection and celebration, UNO students will develop videos in which students will deliver a 10-minute portion of their activity plan as if they were delivering it to their assigned family. The students will incorporate various ESL strategies and best practices to engage and teach their families about the opportunities and resources available at UNO, which they would have seen and learned about in-person during the project.

Watch one example of a student-created video below.

• Learning Community Center (LCC) of South Omaha
• UNO College of Education
• UNO Service Learning Academy