How do Learning Community students get involved in service learning?

What is Service Learning?

• Connects you to the community, meeting community needs.
• Is completed as part of your academic work.
• Helps you meet defined learning objectives by providing ways for you to reflect on your service experience.
• Helps you develop civic responsibility and citizenship skills
  
  

Service Learning

Students participate in "The One Campaign" in 2008.

What is service learning?

Service learning at Wright State University is a teaching and learning method that engages faculty, students, and community members in a partnership to:

• Achieve academic learning objectives
• Meet community needs
• Promote civic responsibility

How do Learning Community students get involved in service learning?

During fall quarter many Learning Community students participate in short, group service learning projects with their classmates.  The service projects often relate to WSU’s Common Reading, the Learning Community curriculum, and/or a specific Learning Community theme.

In Fall 2008 the Common Reading was Freakonomics by Stephen Dubner and Steven Levitt.  Service learning projects were related to a range of topics addressed in the book, including those around poverty, education and voting such as:

• Participating in ONE Campus Challenge related projects that aim to raise awareness about global poverty and disease
• Reading with local elementary school students
• Talking with international students about voting and study abroad
• Registering voters on campus

In Fall 2007 the Common Reading was An Inconvenient Truth by Al Gore.  Service learning projects addressed climate change and/or the environment such as:

• Facilitating a Campus Light Bulb Exchange
• Cleaning up litter in Downtown Dayton
• Talking with international students about recycling and the environment
• Teaching children at an elementary school and shelter about the environment
• Performing service in New Orleans during fall-intersession

What is UVC 103: Campus-Community Connections in the First Year?

UVC 103 is an elective open to any first year student.  Want to make a difference in our community, build your resume, and get credit for it?  Each section has a specific focus, is 2 credits and is graded P/U.

UVC 103 students:

• Address social issues impacting our community
• Gain a better understanding of the agencies providing services in our community
• Complete approximately 4-5 weeks of service - generally 1 ½ to 2 hours a week

Past UVC 103 Offerings:

• Service Learning in Dayton’s Hispanic Community (Winter ’08)
• Lending a Helping Hand for Health (Winter ’09)
• Who Put the ‘Give’ in Giving? (Winter ’09)
• Sustainable Attitudes: Recycling and Conservation (Spring ’09)
• Becoming a Leader in your Freshman Year (Spring ’09)

Need more information?

For more information about service learning for first-year students, contact Yasmeen Khan, Coordinator for Service Learning and Civic Engagement: yasmeen.khan@wright.edu or (937) 775-4267.