Applied and Service Learning at IRSC: Building Student Responsibility through A Culture of Empowerment
At Indian River State College, over the past several years, there has been a shift in the manner in which student responsibility has been understood. The old model has been for instructors and administrators to blame students for their poor performance. In contrast, the new model engenders the idea that students have the inherent capacity to make constructive changes and that it is the role of instructors and the academic support team to foster a climate for releasing this positive growth potential. This new perspective forms the basis of a “culture of empowerment” where student responsibility is understood in terms of helping students to “take responsibility,” that is, make changes that improve their academic performance—and their lives.
There is now a preponderance of empirical data that shows that applied and service learning projects, including ones that engage civically, have the potential to release this positive growth potential in diverse student populations, primarily because such practicable learning tends to engage students, which, in turn, promotes student retention and success. Indeed, when students perceive that what they are learning in their courses has import for their everyday lives, both professionally and socially, they are more likely to come to class, read their assignments, participate in class, study for exams, and, consequently, do better. Here, the perception and the reality coalesce. That is, what seems interesting to students is interesting. Thus, faculty need to take heed of the perception by students that a subject, as presented, is “boring,” “useless,” or “unnecessary.” If the student does not feel empowered, he or she will not be empowered. Applied and service learning are significant ways of creating conditions under which students will feel empowered.
Further, if students think that they are just memorizing things without being afforded the opportunity to do something constructive with the information, it is unlikely that they will feel or be empowered. Simply telling students that they will someday find the information of value is not a demonstration of its value, whereas giving them the opportunity to do something useful with it is such a demonstration. Applied and service learning can fulfill this demonstrative goal.
Memorization without an applied component also misses the opportunity to engage students’ critical and creative thinking capabilities. Yet, it is precisely such capacities that enable students to rationally confront problems that may be blocking their pathways to student success. Real world problems require the ability to prudentially deliberate well about means to ends, make moral choices, overcome behavioral and emotional impediments, avoid pitfalls in logical reasoning, and communicate and work cooperatively with others. Applied and service learning components of the course package can provide such valuable opportunities for students to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally.
Accordingly, IRSC’s burgeoning new culture of empowerment is seeking to promote the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional antecedents necessary for releasing the capacity of our students (and reciprocally, our faculty) to succeed. This is the new understanding of student responsibility, not the archaic one that condemns students, but instead one that facilitates the student’s ability to think, feel, and act in more constructive ways in relating to the problems of living. Implementing applied and service learning components into their courses are constructive ways faculty can help to advance such a culture of empowerment at IRSC. This website is devoted to the endeavor.
There is now a preponderance of empirical data that shows that applied and service learning projects, including ones that engage civically, have the potential to release this positive growth potential in diverse student populations, primarily because such practicable learning tends to engage students, which, in turn, promotes student retention and success. Indeed, when students perceive that what they are learning in their courses has import for their everyday lives, both professionally and socially, they are more likely to come to class, read their assignments, participate in class, study for exams, and, consequently, do better. Here, the perception and the reality coalesce. That is, what seems interesting to students is interesting. Thus, faculty need to take heed of the perception by students that a subject, as presented, is “boring,” “useless,” or “unnecessary.” If the student does not feel empowered, he or she will not be empowered. Applied and service learning are significant ways of creating conditions under which students will feel empowered.
Further, if students think that they are just memorizing things without being afforded the opportunity to do something constructive with the information, it is unlikely that they will feel or be empowered. Simply telling students that they will someday find the information of value is not a demonstration of its value, whereas giving them the opportunity to do something useful with it is such a demonstration. Applied and service learning can fulfill this demonstrative goal.
Memorization without an applied component also misses the opportunity to engage students’ critical and creative thinking capabilities. Yet, it is precisely such capacities that enable students to rationally confront problems that may be blocking their pathways to student success. Real world problems require the ability to prudentially deliberate well about means to ends, make moral choices, overcome behavioral and emotional impediments, avoid pitfalls in logical reasoning, and communicate and work cooperatively with others. Applied and service learning components of the course package can provide such valuable opportunities for students to grow intellectually, socially, and emotionally.
Accordingly, IRSC’s burgeoning new culture of empowerment is seeking to promote the cognitive, behavioral, and emotional antecedents necessary for releasing the capacity of our students (and reciprocally, our faculty) to succeed. This is the new understanding of student responsibility, not the archaic one that condemns students, but instead one that facilitates the student’s ability to think, feel, and act in more constructive ways in relating to the problems of living. Implementing applied and service learning components into their courses are constructive ways faculty can help to advance such a culture of empowerment at IRSC. This website is devoted to the endeavor.
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For more information contact:
Dr. Elliot Cohen Department Chair and Professor of Philosophy 772-462-7680 |