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From the Service-Learning Newsletter:
I fully support Keene State College’s Service-Learning initiative
because it touches every aspect of Keene State College’s mission. Service-Learning enriches our College and surrounding neighborhoods. By
encouraging engagement and reflection, it fosters the personal and
professional growth of our students and challenges them to integrate
forms of knowledge. Service-Learning also provides a vehicle
for developing strong and mutually beneficial community relationships,
which extend educational opportunities for our students and contribute
to the economic, social, and cultural well-being of the society
in which we and our students live.
- Dr. Helen Giles-Gee, President
From Faculty Member:
When a student has been given a chance to really contribute something useful
in a way that makes a real difference to someone, the learning becomes so
much more vibrant and relevant and exciting. I was amazed at how receptive
students were to the process, and how truly dedicated they became to not
only doing a good job on the project, but to doing the absolute best job
they could.
The Service-Learning project allowed me, as an instructor, to promote concepts
which went beyond programming: teamwork, communication, diplomacy, and compromise.
It allowed me to step back and allow the learning to occur not in the strict
confines of the classroom, but in the real world. It sometimes felt chaotic
and sometimes things were not as clean and clear as the students would have
liked, but this is part of what I wanted them to experience and learn. I
stressed many times that everything is not always neat and orderly, and
the world does not present its issues always in a cookie cutter way. They
were actually experiencing what it feels like to create a real solution
to a real problem. They were experiencing the process of bringing chaos
to order. And at the same time, they were doing this in a safe environment,
with faculty always present to act as resources and guides.
If I can give students the ability to not only apply what they
have learned, but apply what they learn in a way that makes the world a
better place to live, I have optimized what education is really all about.
- Mike Hanrahan, Computer Science |
