Bringing+the+global+local

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** Bringing the global local: Engaging community partners in academic service learning ** Sarah Stanlick, doctoral candidate, Lehigh University [ses409@lehigh.edu]

Gisella Gisolo, Director, International and Off-Campus Education, Lafayette University [gig207@lehigh.edu]


 * Keywords:** Global citizenship, identity development, community satisfaction, community needs, critical reflection, partnerships


 * Conference track:** Community partnerships and outcomes


 * Format:** Poster presentation

The Global Citizenship Program at Lehigh University is an inter-disciplinary curriculum for undergraduate students to provide a global focus to their field of study. Through a partnership with Catholic Charities’ Refugee Resettlement Program, over the course of 16 weeks, students had the opportunity to work with refugees in small group settings to teach ESL, computer, and cultural lessons.
 * Summary**

Using the applied approach of Community Based Participatory Research (CBPR), the program was designed with significant input from the partner organization as suggested by Minkler & Wallerstein, (2002). The purpose of this model was to ensure that the program was not prescribed from an entity outside of the community and was a partnership that was culturally competent and equal.

Through this service learning project, there were ample opportunities for the students to dialogue across cultures, examine their own beliefs, and develop identities as leaders and teachers. Frequent reflection by the students, by the community partner leader, and by the educator/observer was key to understanding the effect of the program on the students, and was a successful measure of program satisfaction for our community partner.

The purpose of the research on this project was twofold: 1) to explore the role of community partners in designing a service learning opportunity; and 2) to study and understand the conceptual change around global citizenship of first-year, undergraduate students. Through pre- and post-surveys, written reflections, and observer reports, data was collected to assess the value of the learning experience and how it can be continually improved.

Our findings indicate that success from a programmatic standpoint can be traced back to the partnership that was created to address needs in the community. According to Kolb (1984), from an individual learner standpoint, the frequent reflection and experiential nature of the project allowed them to apply knowledge learned in the classroom (Kolb, 1984). Recommendations for future curricular goals for the implementation of service learning in the Global Citizenship Program at Lehigh will be presented.

There were no references provided with this proposal.
 * References**


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