COLLEGE OF PUBLIC AND COMMUNITY SERVICE — INNOVATIVE AND EXCITING WAYS TO LEARN

The College recognizes that there are many ways to learn and to develop and demonstrate competence. At CPCS students are encouraged to take advantage of a wide range of learning opportunities inside and outside of the classroom that suit their needs and interests.

Courses

CPCS offers a wide range of classroom based learning options through which students work on developing and demonstrating competencies. In their class work, students will learn experientially, in small groups with other students, and through classroom based projects, and through assignments. Courses may
address more than one competency and provide support for developing communication skills. Class sizes are small to allow students the opportunity to learn from each other and to work closely with the faculty.

Sample Course Descriptions

Historical Change in the US: American History through Popular Music — Reebee Garofalo

In this course we will explore twentieth century US history, using popular music and supplementary historical texts to tell the story. Popular music will be treated as commercial mass culture and discussed as a social indicator. We will analyze the economic imperatives, social forces, technological advances, aesthetic choices, multicultural influences and political tendencies that have contributed to the dynamic tension between popular music and significant moments in US history. Extensive use will be made of audio and video recordings.

Human Service Intervention (Practicum) — Carroy Ferguson

The purpose of the workshops is to assist and work with students as they create a practicum/internship at a human service agency and/or reframe prior experience at a human service agency in terms of a practicum/internship experience. The classroom component is organized around a series of six experiential Saturday workshops, whereby students will have an opportunity to sharpen their current intervention activities and enhance their current knowledge about appropriate intervention theories, models, and strategies. Emphasis, therefore, will be placed on experientially learning more about intervention with groups, intervention with individuals, crisis interventions, and work on a human service issue.

Additional Learning Options

In these exciting and intensive learning projects, student work with faculty and community members to identify issues and needs of communities and to develop strategies for addressing them. The combination of study and practice provide rich, hands-on learning experiences for the students, as well as service to the communities. Students are able to demonstrate competencies through projects that address a variety of issues, such as the language needs of immigrants, affordable housing, media bias against Latinos; community control of development, youth leadership development, training needs of health care workers, teen girls legal rights. Along with specific research, planning, advocacy, or organizing skills that students practice and develop, students and community members who are engaged together in these projects grapple with the frustrations and celebrate the achievements of working as a team and being part of shared/ collaborative process. Students experience the excitement of working at the base, where the compelling, conflicting and critical urban problem and solutions begin to emerge.

Sample Projects

Engaging Student Voices / Strategy and Proposal Development — Arches

This course is designed for students who want to work with an organization or community group on issues affecting their community. Students learn how to develop an action plan that addresses a problem, or set of problems, faced by the community group or organization. Specifically, students gain the following skills and knowledge: a) how to develop goals and objectives; b) how to analyze barriers and obstacles to changing communities; c) how to evaluate the impact of action strategies; and, d) how to develop proposals to implement specific aspects of the action plan.

Elder Action Research — Silverstein

This course is taught as an applied action-research project in partnership with a community organization about a particular health, social service or societal issue affecting the elderly. Students learn to clearly articulate significant questions, develop a research methodology, prepare instruments and gather data which inform debate on the issue. Students will demonstrate the required competencies by participating in the design and implementation of a group field project. This year’s community partner is the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly. We will conduct a follow-up study of the Seniors Count initiative—an outreach program begun in 1999. Over 5000 Boston elders were contacted by Seniors Count volunteers. We will survey a sample of those elders to learn how well needs identified through Seniors Count have been addressed; if new needs have arisen; and if the elders have additional concerns or recommendations to pass on to the Boston Commission on Affairs of the Elderly.