Service-Learning Courses

Planned Service-Learning Courses

EDUC 262/EDUC 263 (Jamaican LC)

Rich Jaeschke and I developed the Augustana Jamaica Program during the 2010-2011 year. The program will occur in the winter term of 2012-2013 . Participating students will enroll in the service-learning Learning Community comprised of EDUC 262 and EDUC 263. EDUC 262 (titled Songs of Freedom: Music, Education, and Politics in Jamaica) is 3-credit course taught on the Augustana campus during the winter term, while EDUC 263 is a 1-credit service-learning experience being served in inner city Kingston schools during the Christmas break. The first 5 weeks of the academic course focus on the history of Jamaica, the development of its political and educational systems, and artistic commentary on the political and educational system expressed through music. These 5 weeks are intended to provide students helpful context about the island before we travel. On the island, Augie students will teach and serve Jamaican school children on three separate campuses contained within the Convent of Mercy “Alpha” compound. The campuses include an elementary school, an all-girls high school, and an orphanage for boys that provides extensive trade training (including musicianship) for its wards. Thus Augustana students will be able to serve in a setting that is best suited to their academic major and/or age group interest (elementary education majors will work at the elementary school, secondary education and non-education majors with a strong content background will teach at the girls school, and music majors will teach in the boys school band). When we return to Augustana we will spend the remaining five weeks of the term reflecting on the experience, drawing parallels between international disparities in education (developed world vs. developing world) and intra-national disparities in the U.S. (affluent communities vs. poor communities), and processing how our experiences and reflections will affect our lives as citizens and educators moving forward.

The Jamaican experience carries several Augustana course designations. The original arguments used when applying for these designations are available in the following hyperlinks: Learning Community, Perspective on Human Values and Existence, Global Diversity Suffix, Service-Learning Designation.

Alpha Boys School band director Sparrow Martin leads rehearsal at the orphanage.

Mike Egan

Assistant Professor of Education

Course Documents

Syllabi

EDUC 262

EDUC 263

Course Designation Application Materials

Learning Community

PH Learning Perspective

G Suffix

Service-Learning Designation

2nd Form (8th Grade) students at the Alpha Girls School.

LSFY 103: Urban (School) Legends? Examining Conditions in Urban Schools

The LSFY 103 course I have designed for spring 2012 promises to be just as impactful as the Jamaican LC described above. It will offer many Augustana students a “border crossing” experience of a different kind as the (often affluent) Augustana undergraduates will engage directly with urban schools and (usually poor and minority) urban school students right here in the United States.

Like other LSFY 103 courses, students will be required to produce and publicly present a research paper related to some urban school issue. What sets this section apart, however, is that my students will go far beyond library research. They will be required to gather qualitative data from their extensive work in two separate urban schools, and integrate the original evidence they have gathered along with findings from the literature when constructing arguments in their papers.

The course will be held in west Rock Island’s Frances Willard Elementary school every Tuesday. When class lets out, my students will be required to devote 2 hours of service to after-school programming at Frances Willard. My students will also exchange weekly pen pal letters with teenagers from EPIC Academy charter high school in south Chicago. EPIC students are expected to learn about college life and the college application process from Augie students, while Augie students will turn to their EPIC pen pals for their informed perspectives about life in the inner city and in inner city schools. My class will take a day-long field trip to the south side in order to shadow our pen pals for a day in their school, and we will also host our pen pals at Augustana so they can experience a day of college life. Required Frances Willard journals, pen pal letters, and field notes taken while at EPIC academy will all serve as sources of qualitative data for the LSFY 103 students.

Given the extensive service-learning that will occur in this course, I am in the process of obtaining the General Education committee’s approval for seeking Augie’s S-L designation for this LSFY 103 course. As this is new curricular ground for the LSFY 103 program, the approval process must begin with them. I have already written the formal S-L application and will send it along to Darrin Good and EPC for their vetting once I have Gen Ed’s approval. If Gen Ed does not approve, I will still conduct the course as planned.

EPIC Academy students pose for the camera.