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. Students are required to spend 2-3 hours per week in a community setting in addition to class time. This engagement time varies and is typically during after-school hours. 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. 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.

Restricted to Engineering majors. Contact the course instructor to request admission into this course. This is an introductory course to community engagement and service-learning, open to all students (no prerequisites). This course also fulfills key requirements for a UMass interdisciplinary Certificate in Civic Engagement & Public Service.