Christine Catney, M.A., Pharm.D., clinical assistant professor of pharmacy
Hazel Hilton Seaba, Pharm.M.S., associate dean of pharmacy
Jim Peterson, M.A., Rotary Club of Iowa City A.M. - District 6000 (Iowa, USA)
Use service-learning to help students synthesize and apply academic knowledge.
Christine Catney and Hazel Hilton Seaba describe how they broaden students’ learning through participation in a long-standing international interdisciplinary service-learning course, International Perspectives: Xicotepec. Service-learning is premised upon an equal partnership that benefits both students and the community. Through service-learning, students apply and synthesize knowledge and make meaningful connections between academic content and professional experience. The international aspect of the course helps students to appreciate global diversity, to experience being an outsider, and to better understand their own communities.
International Perspectives: Xicotepec is a three semester-hour service-learning course. All enrolled students meet together with faculty from several participating disciplines to explore the history and culture of Mexico and the complexities of doing service-learning that is genuinely beneficial to both the students and to the community. Students are required to work in teams to plan and carry out community-based service-learning projects in the city of Xicotepec, Puebla, Mexico during Spring Break.
Faculty have found that service-learning experiences benefit their students in a variety of ways:
For this course, University of Iowa faculty members partner with members of the service organization Rotary International. The Xicotepec Project began in 2001 when members of the Rotary Club of Xicotepec and Rotary District 6000 of Iowa began planning a long-term, collaborative partnership to carry out community projects in Xicotepec. In 2007 service-learning students from the University of Iowa joined the project. Rotary’s global membership makes it possible for UI students to work with both local Rotarians in Iowa City and with Mexican Rotarians from Xicotepec (see this link via Google Translate). In addition to collaborating with a community partner who can direct them to projects that will expand students’ learning, students also get valuable experience working with a large, international nonprofit.
Each group of students from a particular discipline coordinates a project that has a meaningful relationship to the discipline. During the week in Xicotepec, the students are required to engage in rigorous self-reflection and nightly debriefings with the faculty about the ways they are putting their learning into practice and how they are working with local community partners. For example:
The original course was developed by Craig Just (Engineering), Hazel Hilton Seaba (Pharmacy), Jim Peterson (Rotary), and Jean Florman (Center for Teaching). Chris Catney (Pharmacy) observed the class, traveled with the team, worked in the deworming project in 2007, and has had a course planning role since. Other instructors have included:
Many students were encouraged by Karmen Berger to apply to join the course.
The Rotary Xicotepec Project began more than a dozen years ago, and the partnership with the University of Iowa began a few years later in 2006. As of 2015, there have been a total of 850 visits by U.S. participants. Partnered with local Xicotepec Rotarians and other community members, the project has helped with the installation of 18 water purification systems, more than a 1,000 screenings for diabetes and cervical cancer, and more than 20,000 deworming treatments. In addition, the project has helped to initiate dental prevention programs in the schools and the community and provided thousands of fluoride varnish applications.
In service-learning, students not only learn to serve but also serve to learn. Service-learning courses respond to real community needs and incorporate community engagement into rigorous academic coursework. Service-learning is a deliberate, adaptable, interdisciplinary pedagogy. As Associate Dean Ken Brown has noted, service-learning courses require the three “Rs”: Reciprocity, Reflection, and academic Rigor.
A number of excellent guides exist for designing and facilitating a service-learning course, including these "Ten Principles of Good Practice in Service Learning Curriculum and Pedagogy" from the Center for Teaching. Please contact the Center for Teaching for recommendations specific to your course. The following represent some broad suggestions gleaned from the Xicotepec course:
Ash, S. L., & Clayton, P. H. (2004) The Articulated Learning: An Approach to Guided Reflection and Assessment. Innovative Higher Education, 29(2), 137-54.
Florman, J. C., Just, C., Naka, T., Peterson, J. Seaba, H. H. (2009) Bridging the Distance: Service-learning in International Perspective. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 118, 71-84.
Seider, S. C., Hillman, A. (2011) Challenging Privileged College Students’ Othering Language in Community Service-learning. Journal of College and Character, 12(3).
The University of Iowa Office of the Provost. (2015?) Report: Task Force on Public Outreach and Civic Engagement. The University of Iowa. Retrieved from http://provost.iowa.uiowa.edu/work/strategic-initiatives/docs/tfreports/... [old link]
https://provost.uiowa.edu/files/provost.uiowa.edu/files/Engagement_forum... [new link, still outdated]
The Xicotepec Project. (2016) The Xicotepec Project. Retrieved from http://www.xicoproject.org/
The Xicotepec Project Facebook Page. (2016) The Xicotepec Project. Retrieved from https://www.facebook.com/xicoproj
Designing and Facilitating Group Work -- Explore the pedagogical benefits of collaborative learning and get advice on setting up groups, designing effective assignments, grading, promoting student buy-in for group work, and more.
Motivating Student Learning -- Help students tap their intrinsic desire to learn.
Service-Learning & Community Engagement -- Help students achieve learning goals by helping them learn to serve and serve to learn.