Practices in Pedagogy Workshops

Preparing Students for More Effective Participation in Community Partnerships
Kate Collins - Theatre & Film and Chapman Learning Community
Tuesday February 12, 11:00-12:30
Wooster Street Community Center
When entering culturally diverse communities, often highly different from what they are accustomed to, rural and suburban college students frequently place unnecessary focus on the perceived “needs” of the community, discounting the community’s assets and focusing mainly on the deficits of their new partners.  Despite good intentions, a lack of purposeful choices in how the students initiate new service-learning partnerships, can often lead to an outdated, colonialist “outreach” model where students view themselves as arriving to help “them” be more like “us”.  This workshop will explore practical strategies for teaching and mentoring community engagement processes at the undergraduate and graduate levels. Using guided imagery and personal storytelling, this workshop will focus on an activity one might use when initiating new partnerships to establish a democratic learning space where both college students and community partners become co-learners and all are experts of their own knowledge.
 
While Kate Collins will focus on her use of this technique in an urban setting, workshop time will also be spent discussing how this technique (and others focused on the same goal) can be applied with a variety of populations such as in Native American communities, with migrant farm workers, with senior citizens, with people who are disabled, and more.

An Introduction to Service-Learning Pedagogy
Dr. Jane Rosser - Director of Service-Learning
Thursday March 20, 1:45 - 3:00 pm
201 University Hall, Center for Teaching and Learning, and Technology
Heard about service-learning but not quite sure where to start?
Have an idea for a project or course that works with the community?
Interested in finding out more about service-learning course design?
Then this introductory session is for you. We will review the BGSU definition of service-learning, review SL course development models, and talk about best practice. Participants will leave with a clear understanding of service-learning pedagogy and a set of resources to support further exploration.

To register contact CTLT at ctlt@bgsu.edu or call them directly at 419.372.6898.
For further details contact the Office of Service-Learning at 419 372 9288 or slbgsu@bgsu.edu.