First, we want to acknowledge the time, effort, and collaborative planning you have done to create an outstanding service learning course with your partners. In some cases, these changes require a significant change. The Service Learning Academy team is available to support you to navigate this new reality.
The SLA has been communicating with faculty members about these changes and encourages everyone to first connect with their partners to strategize for the rest of the semester. Please invite a Service Learning Academy team member to your online meetings so we can stay connected and support your transitional plans. Below are a few ideas from the Iowa Campus Compact on how to move forward with service learning and community engagement projects online:
conducting background research or gathering best practices or other information requested by the partner(s);
- taping, recording, or streaming performances or workshops to benefit community partner(s);
- creating digital and other social media content, print program materials, or other methods for information-sharing;
- undertaking assessment, evaluation, or feedback via phone or web-based services;
- offering (or compiling, researching, or brainstorming) strategies that provide indirect support from volunteers as a result of coronavirus;
- conducting virtual or phone-based educational supports for youth and adults.
We know there are solutions to the rest of the semester and for future online service learning work. Our colleagues on campus and across the nation have excellent examples from which we can build. Thank you in advance for collaborating with us in this new chapter. Please contact the Service Learning Academy or Kirsten Case to develop your service learning course.
Successful examples of service learning in online environments:
Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo and Mariana Cruz; Intro to ESL
UNO students in the two sections of Intro to Teaching ESL taught by Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo and Mariana Cruz will continue their service learning goals by individually creating activity plans instead of in their groups, which is comprised of families from the Learning Community Center of South Omaha. Instead of meeting face-to-face with the families to do a campus tour and participate in the final reflection and celebration, the students will develop a video component in which they 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 at UNO, which they would have seen and learned about on a campus tour. Watch one example of a student-created video:
Sandra Rodriguez-Arroyo; TED 2050
The Office of Latino/Latin American Studies (OLLAS) created a series of videos called Quarantining with OLLAS where they highlight how faculty continue to engage in teaching, research, and community engagement during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Check out the video below with our Service Learning Academy partner and OLLAS Faculty member, Associate Professor of Teacher Education, Dr. Sandra Rodríguez-Arroyo. Dr. Rodriguez-Arroyo shares her experience teaching her service learning course, TED 2050: Intro to ESL, which has partnered with the Learning Community Center of South Omaha since 2014. Kudos Dr. Rodriguez-Arroyo!
Jeff Knapp, Social Work 1500
Our original project was that of a podcast to discuss the SNAP program and some of the recent policy implications as it relates to SNAP. We were hoping to raise awareness of the SNAP program and its impact on our community. Once it became necessary to practice social distancing due to COVID-19 things changed dramatically for my class in general. I had several service learning projects that had to stop altogether as they required in-person meetings. However, there was a strong desire for this project to continue! We were able to meet digitally with Together, the Service Learning Academy, the students on the project, and myself. Through this meeting, we decided to use the technology at our disposal and to move forward with the podcast. We hope to complete the remaining interviews and create the podcast to raise awareness of SNAP. We will be adjusting the focus a bit in light of COVID-19. UNO has truly passionate students and community partners. The students were no longer required to continue the project but CHOSE to continue! Despite the setbacks, the Social Work and Civic Engagement students, Together Omaha, the Service Learning Academy and myself will continue the work!
Ramazan Kilinc, PSCI 3700 / 8705: Government and Politics in the Middle East
For Ramazan Kilinc’s service learning project, his students interviewed refugees to learn about their personal experiences. The goal was for students to understand the refugees’ experiences from a social, political, and cultural aspect. Students were to present their experiences with the interviews with application to the content of the course, Government, and Politics in the Middle East. In lieu of a meeting in person, students will now read each other’s interviews and present online final presentations on what they learned from each other in context of the class content. These reflections will be shared with the Refugee Empowerment Network to support the organization’s advocacy and awareness-raising efforts.
Stuart Bernstein, ENGR 2000: Professionalism & Perspective
Due to these cautionary procedures, universities, including UNO, have been asked to restructure their in-person classes to online delivery methods. Toward this end, professors had to scramble to develop ways to make this possible, while still delivering quality education to the students. Training was provided across the campus to teach professors how to use these online tools.
This was all very helpful for typical classroom delivery, but it did not do much good for those experiential, service learning classes, which I was teaching. The UNO SLA reached out to me immediately asking how they could help. During the two weeks leading up to the reopening of school, on March 30th, I communicated with Julie Dierberger, Kirsten Case, Angie Cuevas, Katie Pankonin, and Amairany Fuentes, via Zoom, and email, to develop ways to continue the vital projects my students were depending on. Together we migrated a tour of redlining in Omaha, with an emphasis on education and housing, into an online tour. By using vid grid and a virtual map of the city, I linked resources to locations on the map so students can visit them to create their final report. This research will contribute to the Undesign the Redline exhibit at The Union for Contemporary Art. I am extremely excited to put these new ideas into practice and know my students will be, as well.
Mitzi Ritzman, CDIS 4420: Early Language Development “From Babbling to Books”
Original Project, in collaboration with One World Omaha’s Learning Community Center –South Omaha:
Each student will develop an individualized home visit interaction plan focused on early language development, specifically considering the role of the speech-language pathologist in prevention. LCC-SO’s Educational Navigators provide specific information about each family e.g., age of the target child, family structure, etc. Students will consider best practices when working with an interpreter, as each family’s primary language is Spanish. During the visits, students will provide information to parents/caregivers to support language and pre-literacy skills. These plans will include a demonstration of activities and parent/caregiver involvement using materials found in the home environment and used during typical daily routines. A copy of Partners in Speech, Language and Hearing: A Guide for Parents and Caregivers of Babies and Young Children(guidebook in both Spanish and English) will be given to caregivers at the end of the visit to allow follow through on the suggestions that were introduced; this will facilitate generalization of the targeted language content.
Modified project:
Students will develop an individualized interaction plan including all elements described above (home visits have been scheduled but not completed at the time of the shift to remote instruction). Instead of the face-to-face visits, students will create an individualized list of strategies/handout for each Educational Navigator to share with the previously assigned family, based on elements described above. The guidebook will also be given to the families as outlined above.
More information about how UNO supports remote teaching and learning is available at keeplearning.unomaha.edu.