Hello!
And welcome back to another school year. I hope everyone has had a chance to relax and enjoy some of the great weather this summer. I hope to have more service-learning related blog posts up and running shortly. If you would like to share ideas or a post the door is always open!
I also want to let you know that I have changed the blog address to better reflect the content and hopefully make it easier for people to find. If you subscribe to the blog you may have to re-subscribe. This change will also allow me the opportunity to blog on other topics in the future as I was using my name originally.
New blog address: www.humberservicelearning.blogspot.ca
All the best for a fun and exciting new school year,
Melissa
A blog about community service learning for faculty, staff and students within the Canadian College context.
Tuesday, 25 August 2015
Wednesday, 24 June 2015
Faculty Attitudes Towards Service-Learning - A Survey
Our initiative to enhance and grow service-learning on our campus began with the question:
Do faculty want to engage in service-learning?
The answer to this question would legitimize our efforts to develop a campus wide framework, and would demonstrate a desire and willingness on the part of faculty to engage in learning about, and developing service-learning initiatives. It would also help us to uncover and celebrate the work already being done by our faculty.
First, we needed to find out what faculty already know about service-learning (how do faculty define service-learning?). Next, we needed to understand how faculty perceive service-learning (is service-learning worth the effort?), what barriers exist (my course has already been written), and finally what resources and supports are needed.
Our first approach was to construct and disseminate a faculty survey in May 2015. We are excited to share some of our initial results below:
What do you think?
Tuesday, 16 June 2015
Faculty Voices: Making a Difference in Nicaragua
This week I am excited to share a blog post from one of our faculty members, Sherri Branscombe, who attended the international service-learning trip to Nicaragua - I hope in reading her post you are as inspired as I was!
"Making a Difference in Nicaragua"
On May 2, 2015 seventeen students and two faculty members, Mary Lendway and
myself, travelled to Central America for the first two week Study Abroad
Service Learning Trip with the School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism. Our
mission of service learning was evident by our motto for the trip worn proudly
on our shirts, “Making a Difference in Nicaragua”. We were eager to give
something back, to serve the community, and to represent not only Humber
College, but Canada as proud global citizens. The students were enthusiastic about
contributing to our sustainable projects. When you build someone a home,
present them with the power of education through teaching English, or provide
over 600 hundred children a basic right to life, a meal, we knew that our efforts
were having a positive impact on the lives of many. Service learning provides
an opportunity for education where the students don’t even realize that
education is occurring because it is fun, rewarding and takes place outside of
a regular classroom setting.
Monty’s Beach Lodge welcomed us into their community in Jiquilillo,
Nicaragua, a remote fishing village along the beautiful sand beaches of the
Pacific Ocean. During this trip Monty’s became our home and the staff embraced
us like family. It was incredibly rewarding to see our students come upon their
own realizations, moments of humbleness, and grasp a sense that the whole is so
much more than the individual and that we live in such a big, but small and connected
world.
What we didn’t realize however, was that the impact on our lives through
our time in Nicaragua would be even greater than the impact we expected to make,
and for many of the students, this impact was life changing. From the shift in
consciousness of a simple choice of words, students were heard saying “I now say
hungry instead of starving, because I am more aware of the context of those
words and know that I am not starving.” To the students who have changed the
direction of their career path “I have been enhanced professionally by
realizing that what I wanted to do for the rest of my life is not as important
to the planet as I had expected. I am now thinking of going through the route
of volunteer coordination in developing countries.”
As
a professor, it was most rewarding for me to connect with students outside of
the classroom and to be a part of their growth during our two weeks. In that
short time students went from slight discomfort upon arrival as they were
immersed into a rustic and remote environment under conditions unlike their
own, to very quickly finding their own way through various service projects
while at the same time making life-long friends, to appreciating the simplicity
of life and the discovery that life is about so much more than just an
individual on an solitary path. Some things cannot be taught in a classroom;
they need to be experienced whereby the student can make their own realizations
and conclusions. The transformation witnessed within our students was vast and
powerful where they identified themselves beyond their individualism and as
part of a bigger community. I am truly proud of our students, each one a true
representation of global citizenship!
Sherri Branscombe
Professor of Recreation and Leisure Services & Sport Management
School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism
Humber College
Monty’s Beach Lodge welcomed us into their community in Jiquilillo,
Nicaragua, a remote fishing village along the beautiful sand beaches of the
Pacific Ocean. During this trip Monty’s became our home and the staff embraced
us like family. It was incredibly rewarding to see our students come upon their
own realizations, moments of humbleness, and grasp a sense that the whole is so
much more than the individual and that we live in such a big, but small and connected
world.
As
a professor, it was most rewarding for me to connect with students outside of
the classroom and to be a part of their growth during our two weeks. In that
short time students went from slight discomfort upon arrival as they were
immersed into a rustic and remote environment under conditions unlike their
own, to very quickly finding their own way through various service projects
while at the same time making life-long friends, to appreciating the simplicity
of life and the discovery that life is about so much more than just an
individual on an solitary path. Some things cannot be taught in a classroom;
they need to be experienced whereby the student can make their own realizations
and conclusions. The transformation witnessed within our students was vast and
powerful where they identified themselves beyond their individualism and as
part of a bigger community. I am truly proud of our students, each one a true
representation of global citizenship! 
Thursday, 11 June 2015
Humber HRT in Nicaragua
In conversation with faculty new to service-learning, two main topics have surfaced. First, how does one get started? and second, what are other faculty at Humber up to?
I am excited to introduce you to Mary Lendway, a faculty member with the School of Hospitality, Recreation and Tourism who has been engaging her students in experiential and service-learning for many years. Mary developed the Study @ Sea program, a 3 credit elective course in the Tourism Management program at Humber, which has seen 254 graduates. She is an advocate and supporter for international service-learning programs, and this past May, Mary planned a trip for students to travel to Nicaragua. While in Nicaragua, students engaged in service activities including: teaching English, building a house, visiting the local dump, and preparing meals.
Students' written reflections described their overall impressions, what they learned about sustainable tourism, and how their personal outlook on life has changed:
"It is an educational experience it made me think about others more rather than just myself. It had taught me to make better choices in life in terms of supporting the locals when I travel and spreading the words to family and friends about sustainable tourism" Ivy
"It was such a touching experience. Seeing the beautiful faces of the people living in that area and being able to be of service to them for the time we were there was inspiring. Made me reflect on what I take advantage of everyday. Just having enough is a blessing and anything extra are added blessings" Cimoan
Within these few sentences we can get a sense the profound effect service-learning has had on these students. They reflect on academic learning outcomes (such as sustainable tourism), professional attitudes, and personal growth. It is not always an easy journey for students, and it certainly requires a lot of work and planning, but it is easy to see how the final impact on students can provide the motivation to engage in this kind of work.
To visit the trip's blog click on the link below:
To find out more about this trip, or see video clips of past trips click on the links below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=umdXGNEKxdQ&feature=youtu.be
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=G8g_p7C34YU
http://www.marylendway.com/global-service-learning.html
To contact Mary directly you can reach her at:
Mary Lendway, MBA, Professor
School of Hospitality, Recreation & Tourism Humber College
mary.lendway@humber.ca
http://www.marylendway.com
Wednesday, 10 June 2015
Prezi - A quick introduction to Service-Learning
A while ago I had prepared a prezi presentation for an introductory workshop on community service-learning for faculty at my institution. I have since had a few requests to provide the link on my blog which you can find below:
I am also open to feedback and suggestions for the addition of items, theories or concepts to the presentation. Most of the slides are adapted from the sources which I provide in the presentation. As well, the "Six Step Guide" is a work in progress based on the themes I am picking up from the readings. Enjoy!
If the prezi will not load, you can try the link below:
http://prezi.com/nivpoilcyp35/present/?auth_key=tv3ow2m&follow=qik1nmq_-pto&kw=present-nivpoilcyp35&rc=ref-131690227
Melissa
I am also open to feedback and suggestions for the addition of items, theories or concepts to the presentation. Most of the slides are adapted from the sources which I provide in the presentation. As well, the "Six Step Guide" is a work in progress based on the themes I am picking up from the readings. Enjoy!
If the prezi will not load, you can try the link below:
http://prezi.com/nivpoilcyp35/present/?auth_key=tv3ow2m&follow=qik1nmq_-pto&kw=present-nivpoilcyp35&rc=ref-131690227
Melissa
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