Course Description
Through programs developed for local community outreach centers
(such as the Boys and Girls Club of Athens), students explore
the process of becoming self in a community context by using
reading, writing, and performance exercises, plus the crafting
of a community performance.
Additional Requirements for Graduate Students:
In addition to the assignments listed on the course outline,
graduate students in the course will:
• Lead student teams in program development and execution;
• Develop measurement instruments to determine
satisfaction with the program;
• Develop measurement instruments to follow up on student
participants in the program and assess outcomes.
Athena Title
AFAM Service Learning
Non-Traditional Format
Course includes a service-learning project during the semester
that either employs skills or knowledge learned in the course
or teaches new skills or knowledge related to course
objectives. Students will be involved in the planning and
implementation of the project(s) and may spend time outside of
the classroom. Students will be engaged in the service-learning
component for approximately 50-75% of overall instructional
time. A ten-week portion of the course is dedicated primarily
to an outreach program that would be conducted off-campus two
out of three class sessions per week.
Prerequisite
AFAM 2000
Undergraduate Pre or Corequisite
Interest in the cultural, social, and historical movements among Americans of African descent
Grading System
A - F (Traditional)
Student Learning Outcomes
- Students will learn to explore and help to strengthen the relationship of primary and middle school students’ sense of relationship of self to community in a variety of contexts.
- Students will learn to collect useful information on how students of elementary and middle school age perceive and value their relationships with the community of school, of neighborhood, and of city.
- Students will learn to develop and execute engaging activities, creative play, and exercises that encourage constructive engagement with peers, school, local community, and city.
- Students will learn to enhance the communication and leadership skills of UGA students.
Topical Outline
- 1) preparation for a ten-week program
- 2) the execution of the program itself
- 3) information collating and evaluation
- I. Preparation.
For the first three weeks, the instructor and students will obtain background on the community center, on the schools served by that center, and on the general demographics of the students they will be serving. At least one site visit to see the facilities and meet the staff working with the targeted students would be conducted. Prior to the site visit, the instructor will have secured a memorandum of agreement between the center and the Institute. The instructor and students will research, develop, and collect material from which to construct lesson plans. Students will divide into teams for planning and lesson plan development. Schedules will be developed. Some thematic questions for lesson plan development might include:
- • What is a community? What are my communities? Where do I fit in?
• How can a community make room for differences among people and cultures?
• How can I help make my community the best that it can be?
- II. The ten-week program.
The first meeting of each week would be between the instructor and the teams of UGA students leading the workshops; discussion of the previous week’s activities and planning for the current week’s activities would take place. At the beginning of each week’s meeting, the students would submit a journal/log for the previous week. The next two meetings of the week would be between the teams and their students. The culminating event would be a public performance to exhibit the students’ work.
- III. Assessment and evaluation.
During the meetings held during the execution of the program, the students will have developed and constructed instruments for measuring student learning outcomes for the program, as well as for audience assessment of the public performance. They will prepare the exercises and student work collected, as well as any research material they may have found useful, for archiving at the Institute. Collected material will serve as a database and be made available to the next instructor and group of students conducting the program. This phase of the course will take up the final two weeks of the semester. An evaluation and analysis paper will be submitted.
