Service Learning 293 - Learning Through Comm Engmnt

This course engages students in the practice of community engagement, including consideration of what constitutes appropriate and effective community service, and how to learn deeply from this experience. Each time it is offered, it is organized around a topic of public concern that draws on a variety of perspectives, and it places students with community organizations in service that relates directly to the course topic. Students therefore integrate academic learning with experiential learning. In preparing for community service, students will explore the course topic, and also explore what it may mean for them in their service to cross boundaries of race, ethnicity, class, or other strands of social identity. (Gen.Ed. SB, DU)

Bridging Engineering Theory to Practice in the Community. This course engages students in the practice of Service-Learning through hands-on community based engineering projects. Students will actively apply engineering principles to solving real-world problems and to gain a broader perspective of the social constructs that contribute to the needs of the community. The community partners are the Town of Amherst and Habitat for Humanity. Depending on the needs of the partners, the students will be involved in various types of engineering related projects that 1) apply their engineering knowledge in solving meaningful community problems, and 2) expand their perspective of what conditions are in place that contribute to the problems, and how these factors affect decision-making around issues such as housing, energy, and clean water. Contact the course instructor to request admission into this course. Restricted to Engineering majors.