ACADEMICS

At Tusculum College, service learning is an integral part of the curriculum.

SERVICE LEARNING

Many courses include service components. In addition, as part of the Commons Core Curriculum, all students have the opportunity for practical experience outside the classroom and a chance to serve the community.

Students acquire valuable skills in areas such as leadership, collective decision making, communication, working in groups, and public problem solving. Most important, students gain knowledge of their ability to work together in order to make a difference.

For more information about Service Learning at Tusculum College, visit the
Center for Civic Advancement.

SERVICE LEARNING REQUIREMENT (2 to 4 HOURS)

This requirement may be met through an existing course (below), an approved internship, or an approved course with a significant Service-Learning component. *All Service-Learning courses have as prerequisite sophomore standing and successful completion of CMNS/SOCI 251. Contact Joyce Doughty for more information.

SVLN 351 - Summer Session Only
Service Learning Practicum
2 semester hours.
This option is available during the summer and may be carried out in the student’s home community or elsewhere. Students will get experience putting the civic arts into practice by working at least 50 hours in service roles with non-profit community organizations. Academic class sessions held on three afternoons in Block 8, writing assignments and regular contact with the instructor prepare students to gain the most benefit from their service placements. Offered every summer.

SVLN 352 - Independent Study
Advanced Service Learning Practicum
2 semester hours.
Independently, students will build on their service-learning experience by completing at least 50 additional hours of service–either continuing a service placement or undertaking a new placement. Service placements may be on campus, in the surrounding region, in the student’s home communities, or in other national or international areas. In addition, students will keep a journal of their service experience, attend sessions scheduled through the CCA for reflection on that experience, and conduct research into the issues addressed by their service placement. Enrollment in the course occurs after a service-learning agreement is signed by the site supervisor for the placement. Credit is granted upon satisfactory completion of the service hours, the final evaluation, the final essay, and the objectives mutually established at the beginning of the placement. SVLN 352 may be completed within a block or over the semester. The Self-Knowledge outcome and issues of social justing will be examined. Offered as needed. Prerequisite SVLN/CMNS 351, 354, or 356.

SVLN 354 - Offered in Blocks 2,4,6,7 & 8
Service Learning Local Concentration
4 semester hours.
Students may engage in a variety of service activities in Greeneville/Greene County, involving issues of social justice, economic opportunity, environmental protection or restoration, education, or health and wellness. They may use community-based research techniques to identify community needs and help accomplish community goals. Readings, class sessions, journals and writing assignments will help the students learn from their service experiences. GIS mapping may be incorporated in conjunction with Community-based Research. This is a one block course. The Self-Knowledge outcome and issues of social justice will be examined. Offered every year.

SVLN 356 - Offered in Blocks 3 (New Orleans) & 7 (Belize)
Service Learning Immersion
4 semester hours.
This course centers on travel to a setting outside Greene County, where students will be immersed in a service experience. Travel may be to sites involving another culture either within or outside the U.S. Working through a host organization, students will put in 70-100 hours of service. The service needed may involve issues of social justice, economic opportunity, environmental protection or restoration, education, or health and wellness. Readings and research before and after the trip will help students understand the issue they confront and the setting where they are offering service. Discussion and writing assignments will help students reflect on and learn from their service experiences. The process of living and working together and making collective decisions will be a laboratory for the practice of civility. Students should register fro this course, but final participation is determined through an application process. The Self-Knowledge outcome and issues of social justice will be examinied. This is a one block course. Offered at one or two sites every year. Some examples of the trips taken include:

Gulfport, MS - Hurricane Katrina relief, “mucking out” people’s homes
Washington, D.C. - worked with homeless and homebound
Navajo reservation in Arizona - helped with therapeutic riding program
New Orleans - students rehabbed a house for volunteers in the Lower 9th Ward.
Belize - students worked at a school tutoring and mentoring students.

SVLN 450 - Independent Study
Indpendent Study in Service Learning
4 semester hours.
This course provides additional in-depth experience in service-learning and/or the opportunity to research issues raised by the previous service-learning course. Advance arrangements should be made with the instructor. The Self-Knowledge outcome and issues of social justice will be examinied. Offered as needed. Prerequisites: SVLN/CMNS 354 or 356.

SVLN 451 - Independent Study
Practicum in Civic Engagement
4 semester hours.
This course is designed to allow students to engage in intensive study and action in a community organization. Students wil explore theories and concepts of civic involvement and methodologies of Community-Based Research, Participatory Action Research, and community mapping using GIS and GPS technology. Students will develop and implement a Community-Based Research or mapping project around a social issue and/or with a public policy focus with a public or private non-profit organiation pertaining to their major to address a community need. Prerequisite: SVLN 351, 354, or 356 (or satisfaction of the Service-Learning Commons requirement).

SVLN 455 - Independent Study
Civic Arts Project - Capstone Internship
4 semester hours.
This capstone course is desined to prepare students to develop and implement a Community-Based Research and/or a Civic Engagement project, when possible, with a public policy focus. Drawing on the student’s learning and experience from previous communtiy work, the student will have identified a communtiy need. Through practical deliberation, problem-solving and discussion with community members, the student will design the project. Projects may be undertaken by groups or by individuals. Students apply for approval through the CCA. Students must develop a proposal for their projects, establish a Project Committee, engage in systematic reflection during the Project, and document their activity and learning. Approval by their Civic Arts Project Committee is required. Prerequisite SVLN 451. The grade of IP can be issued for this course.