Service Learning

Service-learning is an experiential education approach that links academic learning with meaningful community service activities, personal growth, and social awareness and responsibility. Here's a glimpse of a few service learning courses at Cornell relating to Latina/o Studies, Immigration, Education and Migrant/Farmworkers.

Here's a comprehensive list of Community-Engaged Learning Courses

Latino Theatre Production – LSP 3010 (also COML/LATA 3010). Students develop a specific dramatic text for full-scale production. The course involves selection of an appropriate text, close analysis of the literary aspects of the play, and group evaluation of its representational value and effectiveness. All students in the course are involved in some aspects of production of the play, and write a final paper as a course requirement. Credit is variable depending upon the student’s role in play production: a minimum of 50 hours of work is required for 1 credit; a maximum of 3 credits are awarded for 100 hours or more of work.

Cultures and Communities – LSP 2300/4300. Conceived as a service-learning course, the centerpiece here is targeted, engaged research and arts work with Latino/a culture-related organizations in Tompkins County like Cultura!,  No más lágrimas, and the Latino Civic Association.  The core idea is that students will learn while participating in meaningful activities that will enhance arts and culture partnerships.  Faculty will provide guidelines and resources for students to work within existing projects or to develop their own ideas; community partners will provide networks and planning assistance.  All students will be asked to develop  a comprehensive learning portfolio on their semester’s work. Variable 1-3 credit hours depending on level of commitment.

Migration in the Américas: Engaged Research Methods and Practice – LSP 4312/6312 (also ILR 4312/6312). This innovative course will introduce students to basic concepts and developments related to migration in Central America, Mexico, and the United States via engaged learning and research. The course will be organized around core themes such as the challenges and ethics of working with vulnerable populations, workplaces and working conditions, oral histories/testimonios, and immigration policy and enforcement practices. Students will learn qualitative methodologies for field research, which they will apply in short projects. This can be taken as a stand-alone course, but it is also a prerequisite for an optional winter intersession practicum. 4 credits. Open to juniors, seniors, and graduate students.

Immigrant Ithaca – LSP 2252 (also HIST 2252, AMST 2252). This engaged learning course allows students to combine community service with academic learning. Students will learn about the post-1965 immigration to the United States, and especially to Ithaca and upstate New York. We will examine the reasons for migration, the policies that facilitated entry, and the particular needs of immigrant populations in the local setting. Because this course is a seminar there is a strong emphasis on the discussion of the weekly readings, and class participation weighs heavily in the assessment of the final grade. A key component of this course is the community service project. In consultation with the professor, students will identify and work on individual service projects in the local community and must agree to commit a minimum of 3-4 hours per week to their project. In the past, students have worked with a number of local organizations including the Immigrant Services Program at Catholic Charities; the Tompkins County Living Wage Coalition & Workers’ Rights Center; the BOCES ESL Program; the Translator Program; and the Cornell Friends of the Farmworkers. 4.00 credits.

"Because Ithaca is home to a large population of refugees and immigrants, it offers students a wonderful opportunity to examine in a very personal way the challenges that immigrants and refugees face when accommodating to a new society," says Garcia.
Read the full story here.

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