Service learning courses underway with help of mini-grants

LAWRENCE — Eight faculty members and their respective service learning community partners have received $500 mini-grants from the Center for Civic and Social Responsibility for the spring 2016 semester. Recipients represent five areas of study and two campuses.

Students in these service learning classes will be working with community partners on a variety of projects, such as: leading group music sessions at the Lawrence Public Library's Sound/Vison Lab; creating educational messages about the realities of living with chronic pain in Kansas City; and building a sensory pavilion for the public garden at Audio Reader. 

Mini-grants are given to support best practices in service learning and mutually beneficial campus-community partnerships. The funds help cover costs incurred by service learning classes due to their real-world efforts and effects, such as project materials, focus group incentives or transportation costs.

Applications for fall 2016 mini-grants will be announced late spring semester, and the online applications will be posted on the CCSR website: ccsr.ku.edu.

The spring 2016 Service Learning Mini Grant Award recipients:

	Joan Augustyn Clinical assistant professor Occupational Therapy Education	Service Learning Course OCTH 422/482 - Analysis and Adaptation of Occupations Community Partner The Coalition for Independence (CFI) Course Description Occupational therapy students work with CFI clients to help young adults with disabilities through transition periods and to help adults with disabilities who live at home. Students provide occupational therapy services with the guidance of a supervisor. These services may include interventions such as recommending adapted equipment, doing home safety assessments, analyzing client tasks for vocational skills and assisting client success with interest activities. Authentic environments give students the chance to understand contextual factors and to learn and practice professionalism.
	Evan Dean Clinical assistant professor Occupational Therapy Education	Service Learning Course OCTH 422/482 - Analysis and Adaptation of Occupations Community Partner Mosaic of NE Kansas Course Description Employment outcomes for people with intellectual disability (ID) are poor across the country. Mosaic, an organization dedicated to building meaningful lives for people with intellectual disabilities, has identified employment as a critical need for their clients. Occupational therapy students address this need by preparing adults with ID for employment. All activities and objectives that SL students experience at Mosaic have been identified or approved by staff at Mosaic and are designed to meet the needs of the students as well as address needs at Mosaic.
	Abbey Dvorak Assistant professor Music Education & Music Therapy	Service Learning Course MEMT 196 - Group Leadership Skills Community Partners Independence Inc.; the Lawrence Public Library Course Description Students in this class continue a yearlong service learning sequence that initially began with volunteering at a variety of community partners during their music therapy introductory course (MEMT 150). This semester they add music to their volunteer work in response to the identified needs of the community partners. The course allows students to develop music therapy group leadership skills (e.g., leading group singing, developing effective delivery skills) and become more skillful at working with people of a variety of ages, needs, cultures, diagnoses and backgrounds.
	Farhana Ferdous Lecturer Architecture	Service Learning Course ARCH 381 - Designing Sustainable Futures Community Partner KU Center for Sustainability Course Description Students will design bicycle parking solutions, including bike sheds and bike corrals, to serve KU Lawrence residence halls in collaboration with the KU Center for Sustainability. This project will enhance student understanding of supporting nonprofit and community-based initiatives as a designer, and will address "triple-bottom-line sustainability" in the design process.
	Mugur Geana Associate professor Journalism	Service Learning Course JOUR 640 - Strategic Campaigns Community Partner The Center for Practical Bioethics (CPB) Course Description This course works with a CPB project called Decreasing Chronic Pain in Kansas City and will partner with CPB to address attitudes and beliefs about living with chronic pain in Kansas City. Using a community-based research approach, students will design messages and strategies that are generic in nature but that can be tailored by any community organization that aims to address the problem of chronic pain. The students, under the instructor's guidance, will use evidence-based approaches for the development of messages and the associated communication strategy.
	Germaine Halegoua Assistant Professor Film & Media Studies	Service Learning Course FMS 302/702 - Digital Storytelling Community Partners The Willow Domestic Violence Center, the Lawrence Pedestrian Coalition, the Lawrence Public Library and the Center for Latin American & Caribbean Studies, and the KU Libraries Course Description Digital storytelling incorporates the study and production of interactive storytelling on multiple platforms with an emphasis on community and client-driven storytelling for the final project. Over the course of the semester, students are paired with a community, nonprofit or cultural organization that will serve as their client. Students meet regularly with a representative from the organization in order to listen to and assess the needs of their partner organizations and then create a digital storytelling project that directly addresses those needs and goals.
	Chad Kraus Assistant professor Architecture	Service Learning Course ARCH 509 - Architectural Design IV Community Partner Audio-Reader Course Description Students will be designing and building a new sensory pavilion for Audio-Reader, as the current structure is nearing the end of its useful lifespan. In addition to improving this feature of the Audio-Reader sensory garden for the public, the students will learn to design and detail modest works of architecture, to create and maintain schedules and budgets, to source materials and products, and to work with clients, consultants and city officials. The real-world nature of design-build projects requires that all of these learning goals be achieved to successfully bring the project to fruition.
	Jeff Radel Associate professor Occupational Therapy Education	Service Learning Course OCTH 422/482 - Analysis and Adaptation of Occupations Community Partner CHAMPS Achievers American Karate Course Description Occupational therapy students work with CHAMPS Achievers martial arts students with special needs. This collaboration supports KU student appreciation of the varied psychosocial factors affecting occupational performance and the variety of strategies available to adapt this environment for the needs of the dojo’s students. During two classes on Monday nights at CHAMPS Achievers, OT students support dojo students, guiding participation in self-defense and other physical activities, and supporting positive social experiences. More experienced dojo students engage in opportunities to teach the OT students along with the instructors. Both guiding and learning from students at CHAMPS helps OT students recognize and promote emergent occupational therapy practice in a unique setting.