Students Evaluate Community Learning

The EMU Community Learning Office is undergoing a self-evaluation to determine an appropriate course for the future. This evaluation will offer an opportunity for students to provide input and give them a chance to "own their education," commented Derrick Charles, the Community Learning agency liaison.

The Community Learning Office was started with money given to EMU by the Lily Foundation. The grant afforded EMU $2 million dollars to spend over the course of 5 years and has gone to other development ventures, including Common Grounds. The original vision for Community Learning was to change the way students interacted with the community from a perspective of community "service," to one of shared learning. "We're not just going into the community to provide them with a service," said Derrick Charles, "mutual learning is a mutually beneficial service."

Community Learning manifests itself to students in many ways. The methods most familiar to students are the Community Learning (CL) designated classes. Under the current Global Village Curriculum standards, each student must take three CL classes in order to graduate. The CL designation generally requires students to spend X hours volunteering during the semester.

Despite this general framework, each professor's method for CL implementation differs. For her Environmental Chemistry class, Tara Kishbaugh has her students test the water at Black's Run X for pollution. They then teach the middle school students at Thomas Harrison about the pollution and gain experience talking about science. Moira Rogers, Spanish professor, encourages her class to volunteer with a variety of Spanish-speaking organizations in the burg. She hopes that in class students

can raise questions they may have come across during their volunteering. In this way they have a safe space to address issues such as immigration and race discrimination. Another aspect of CL is providing contact between students and organizations. The CL office maintains connections with a large array of agencies that need volunteers, and matches students with them. Derrick Charles and Deanna Durham handle this work in the Community Learning office on the third floor of the Campus Center.

Volunteering with Community Learning not only helps the community members, it also benefits the students who volunteer. "Volunteering at the Patchwork Pantry exposed me to the need for food in the Harrisonburg community and helped equip me to help meet it," commented Seth Crissman, sophomore.

This semester marks the end of the Lily Grant. Consequently, Community Learning is undergoing a review process to determine if its methods are achieving its goals. Because the Lily funding is ending, EMU will need to cover the costs of all components and staff of the program it wants to keep.

The evaluation process involves receiving feedback from faculty, staff, and students. Because Seniors are the first class to experience four years of Community Learning, Senior Seminar groups have been formed to gather comments and criticism. There are also faculty focus groups, which teach CL courses as well as others who have expressed interest in the concept.

Because the outcome of this process will have the greatest impact on students, the Community Learning office is eager for any student feedback. The CL website (http://www.emu.edu/communitylearning/evaluation.html) provides an evaluation form students can fill out and email to either Derrick Charles or Beth Aracena. Alternatively, students are encouraged to simply write about their experiences and drop them by the Community Learning office.