Hi Folks,
At the California Community College at which I teach we have free internet
access, including email, for any student who signs up. The classes only cost
$13/unit, and we have several computer labs on campus (including open labs
and labs which are used primarily by certain departments -- one for the
English department, a Math Lab, a foreign languages lab, a social and
behavioral sciences lab, etc.). In the library there is a terminal (with
chair) which allows access to the internet to anyone who wishes to use it.
There are free computers for word processing, although students are charged
for printing. In my own classes I allow students the option of taking an
extra hour per week on internet research skills, with the research librarian,
for which they can earn either 1 unit of credit or honors credit in my
course.
So, if your college <much better funded than mine, I'm sure> is not providing
the same, then the priorities for access for students must not be as high.
Don't blame government funding for that -- blame your administration,
perhaps. We run entirely on local property taxes, but most Community
Colleges in California get state funds. We also have lots of students on
financial aid and/or in special programs like EOPS (a program for at-risk
students which provides services which range from tutoring and counseling to
money for bus fare).
All of that said, I do not yet require students to do their work on computers
(although I request it, and hand out my email address). They do need access
from home before they can do that. Besides, although my campus is convinced
that computers are more ecologically sound than paper, I'm not so sure
they're right. My computer is hooked up to an electrical outlet which leads
to the local nuclear power plant. It is a big plastic piece of work, whose
innards were probably built by people with little in the way of education,
pay or benefits (people who probably can't afford to have a computer of their
own). Your thoughts?
Louisa
>From [EMAIL PROTECTED] Sat Mar 16 20:06:12 1996
Date: Sat, 16 Mar 1996 20:34:28 -0700
To: [EMAIL PROTECTED]
From: [EMAIL PROTECTED] (Kimberly Hart)
Subject: Re: required community service projects
i want to respond as a student and teacher (i'm finishing my MS and teach as
an adjunct at a local college) on the issue of community service. it's a
little long, but hopefully provide some ideas.
> I was also thinking about asking them to do relevant community
>service, with the "thinking" part of the activity some kind of production about
>the relevancy of their project. The community service project would be the
>equivalent of a term paper. But can I ethically require students to do eco
>community service? Can I ethically dispense with papers and still get folks to
>read and learn what I assign?
>
last year i took a class that required some form of community/ecological
service. students were divided into groups and we picked the issues that
were most significant to us--for example some worked on wilderness issues
(big debate here in utah), some on education, mining, poverty, air
pollution, grazing/rangeland use, recycling, etc. as a group we decided how
to go about doing our "activism." some students actually went to washington
dc to lobby. it was the best experience i've had in education. not all
students liked it, but for me it was the motivation i needed to become
involved in local and national issues. i am still an activist, because of
this class requirement.
now that i am teaching an ecology class (basic ecology for non-majors) i
require a similar activity. i have a list of about 10-12 different things
students can do on a personal level to get involved. some are as simple as
starting a home-recycling project, riding their bikes to school,
participating in trail clean-up, writing elected officials concerning
environmental issues, participating in city councils, or landscaping their
yards with native plants. i also include activities such as volunteering at
the local homeless shelter etc. at the end of the semester they write a one
page report on their experience and how (if at all) it changed their
lives/perspective, etc. i think acting on what we learn is the most
important part of education. if we merely learn the facts but it doesn't
change our actions, what good is education? some students really like the
activism part of the class and others hate it, but at least for one semester
everyone in the class is "active" in some way and realizes that there are
many things they can do on a personal basis that can improve the world we
live in.
finally, concerning the term paper issue, this semester i'm trying a new
thing. i have ten differnt topics and let the students sign up in groups of
3-4 under each topic (ie--the esa, air pollution, mining, women's issues,
grazing, wilderness, world hunger, over-population, alternative energy,
water pollution). instead of doing a term paper they are doing a group
research project and look at the scientific, social and personal sides of
the particular topic. at the end of the semester i'm having the students
teach each other what they have learned about their specific topic in an
oral presentation. i have the groups hand in a page outline of their work
and a bibliography. they get to grade each other (along with my grade).
since this is my first time doing it i'm not sure how it will work, but a
friend of mine did a similar project in her general bio classes and liked
the results.
if you'd like the name and e-mail of the prof i mentioned at first, i'd be
happy to send it to you. he requires a lot of activism in all of his
classes. students now take his classes for that reason alone. its becoming
very popular and the result has been individuals who maintain activism as a
part of their lives long after the class is over.
good luck, sorry this is so long. hope it helps.
kim hart
[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Kimberly Hamblin Hart
47 S. Eastwood
Orem, UT 84058
