Teaching Service Learning in the Geosciences

Virtual Workshop

So, now that you've graduated from this online workshop experience, what's next?

Working to accomplish phase one of my multi-year project.

I will approach the college administration with the idea of being our partner for this on-campus phase of the project. We were unable to offer salary increases last year and have been trying to think of "services" the college could offer employees to enhance the quality of their lives. A "free" water quality analysis could be one of the things the college offers. I might ask the President to come into class to express his appreciation for the work the stdents seem enthusiastic about undertaking.
Then on to planning the BIG Kahunna!

I plan on going live with this project (after some tweaking) on another website - so thank you so much for the guidance. I really learned a lot from this workshop!

I'm going to continue working on my Sustainable SW Japanese Garden project, realizing that it is an anchor for Earth Systems science class that has both a community service and learning service components. I'm going to enjoy the fact that the students and adults are hooked with the idea of creating something beautiful and sustainable to honor the Japanese Americans that gave so much to our nation. However, our Sustainability Coordinator, Community Service Coordinator and the director of the Community Academy are all anxious to transform our ideas to true Service Learning. I think I have an understanding of Service Learning and the resources to help guide them...Thanks to the workshop. Everyone was excited about the workshop and the presentation of the Japanese Garden so they are anxious to hear about what we can do. My students who have the Education Outside of the Classroom website are anxious to look at how they can incorporate service learning too. They are having a summit (all their work) and the Mayor will attend. They are excited that I told the workshop participants about their work. Thanks to everyone.

I will take MORE time to work on project design for all my service learning projects. I will learn more about cognition and assessment. I will spend more time and effort looking for community partners that will allow me to develop projects involving "real science" as service learning. I will use the SERC site as a resource to achieve my goals. I will share what I have learned with the campus service learning community and with my division members. I feel like I can be a better mentor for others on my campus who are interested in adding service learning to their classes.

My project is going on so I will be adding in more of the assessment tools and addressing some of the comments about community connections - finding ways for my students to present back to the community.
I will look into on-campus coordinators for service projects - everyone seems to know the names of the 3 big programs but no one seems to know where they live or who is in charge...
And I have a lot of good ideas to try in the future if I do this sort of project again (which is the plan right now).
I also will update my page here in SERC as I find out what works and what didn't so you all can visit after the semester is over if you are curious.

I entered this course with a hope to refine two SL projects for a high school web-based curriculum on water resources. Now I realize that I should broaden the audience/partnerships to the post-secondary level.

The next step is to finish the activity designs and to promote and monitor actual SL projects that may result from dessiminating this information to educators and water supply partners across the state.

Hi Folks, The Service Learning workshop is not an end in itself--it's only the beginning. Let me encourage everyone to continue to work on SL projects in their own teaching environments. The current projects that you developed should be viewed as organic--ever changing, ever growing. Feel free to come back and edit and revise as you have the opportunity. And please, continue to develop new SL projects as you are so inspired.

Stay in touch with the group via our listserv, which will remain open for future use. Let us know how you're doing. Let us know if you need help implementing your SL project. Ask for advice, share your thoughts, let us know how the projects went.

On the Cutting Edge alumni are our best ambassadors to the world of science education. Please share your experience with colleagues, and encourage them to use any of the resources that reside at SERC (Cutting Edge, Starting Point, and many other projects).

Consider convening a theme session at a GSA or AGU meeting--can anyone step up and volunteer to submit a session?

Don't forget to fill out the final Workshop Evaluation and Action Plan.

And, write "home" once in awhile, stay in touch, and let us know how you're doing! Thanks again to everyone for a great workshop!
Dave Mogk

Retirement...