Learning Through Community Service
Learning through Community Service
Learning through Community Service (LCS) is a 20 credit point unit that involves a:
Compulsory intensive pre-semester symposium in 0 week of each semester (at Bankstown Campus for 1H session and Penrith Campus for 2H session).
It is compulsory that you attend the three-day symposium to work with your team and learn about the development of your project. During the semester students will be expected to do a total of 200 hours work on this unit. We advise you not to try to enrol in 60 credit points in the one semester. Apart from work with the agencies, teaching and learning will be conducted online through vUWS.
LCS is delivered through a number of cohorts which are described below. Of these cohorts, only a handful will be on offer each semester. If you are interested in doing this unit you need to do the following:
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Enrol online through MyStudentRecords in 101117 Learning through Community Service. (if you are not a Bankstown or Penrith student get your Head of Program to sign a rule waiver first to allow you to enrol)
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At the Symposium you will hear about the various cohorts on offer and be able to sign on to one.
Different cohorts run each semester. We cannot guarantee that the cohorts listed will definitely run in these semesters as a cohort running depends on student numbers.
The compulsory pre-semester symposium will run for three days. It consists of three full days of lectures.
After this there will be a mid-semester tutorial which will be organized by the cohort leader as well as a final celebration at the end of the semester. The rest of the teaching/learning will be conducted online through vUWS (discussion boards, chats, etc) and in your community agencies.
Assessment for the unit will take the form of four assessment tasks to be conducted over the unit. The first three are 1500 word or equivalent assessments on subjects such as your observations of the setting, what you are learning, maybe a lesson plan, reflective journal that kind of thing and then the final assessment is an essay of 5000 words which will incorporate the previous three assessments and comments on them from the cohort leader.
For more information about the unit, please contact Diana Whitton or Vanessa Lane.
Cohort descriptions of all possible cohorts
1. Australian Stories
2. Communication Projects in Sustainable Development
3. Each One Assist One: Newly Arrived Immigrant Support Group
4. International Service Learning
5. Languages in Educational and Community Settings
6. Reaching Out to the Spanish-speaking Community
7. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)
8. Video Production
Cohort leader: Danuta Chessor
This project seeks to develop opportunities for people to tell their stories. There is a richness in lives lived. The wealth of experience from older Australians, migrants and refugees from various eras, from asylum seekers, as well as from adolescents and children. The process of validating people by listening to their stories is an enriching process both for the person telling the story and for the listener. The stories will be written and acknowledged by the students. It is envisaged that people of varying ages, backgrounds and experiences will be invited to share their lives. This will mean reaching out to people in nursing homes, in hospitals, in schools and in refugee centres to name a few places. Perhaps some of the disenfranchised in the community can be given a voice.
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in child protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
2. Communication Projects in Sustainable Development
Cohort leader: Philip Stubbs
Are you interested in sustainability, and have strong written and verbal communication skills? Can you research, write and organise? Do you have initiative, are self-motivated and able to work in a team? This cohort brings together students interested in the environment and sustainable development to do communication projects. Projects include development of a website on best practice in sustainability, a portal of useful links on sustainability, promotion of sustainable practices on campus, development of a student group interested in sustainability, a major feature on sustainability for a student magazine or community radio, research into the environmental education needs of schools, or an internship/communication project for a green group (environmental NGO). This is a great cohort for students with design and production skills (in print, audio, video or the web). Students choose a project and enter a learning contract to develop the project over the semester. This cohort is available in Autumn and Spring depending on student numbers.
Prerequisites: None.
Additional Information, could you please include the following:
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any relevant subjects you have completed
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any relevant extra-curricula activities or part-time work you have done
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a couple of lines on why you want to do this strand (even just 30 words) – it could include which project interests you at this stage
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your email address.
3. Each One Assist One: Newly Arrived Immigrant Support Group
Cohort leader: Renu Narchal
Do you like to interact with people from diverse backgrounds? Do you believe in sharing and caring? Join the School of Psychology’s new cohort that intends to provide UWS students with the possibility to work in close association with newly arrived immigrants. In this cohort you have an opportunity to interact with newly arrived immigrants on a one-on-one basis supporting them in one of the most important aspects of good settlement in a new cultural context: job-seeking! You will assist them in improving their social, emotional wellbeing; job-seeking skills and competencies. This interaction process will help in overcoming previous biases and stereotypes thus promoting greater awareness of immigrant needs, their emotional experience and turmoil to make a new country their home. Reflections on these issues will also provide a better understanding of race, culture and ethnicity. This project will have no more than 20 students, so hurry!!!
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
4. International Service Learning
Cohort leader: Shona Whitton
International Service Learning will engage students to participate as volunteers 5-10 week community development projects in developing countries. Choose from a variety of locations and project descriptions including working in an orphanage in Mexico, construction and environmental projects in Costa Rica and Vanuatu, and health education in Guyana. You will support the work of Youth Challenge Australia- a not for profit organisation that supports community identified grassroots development projects. For more information, please see www.youthchallenge.org.au. (opens in a new window)
5. Languages in Educational and Community Settings
Cohort leader: Criss Jones Diaz
Are you from a bilingual family or are you bilingual? Do you have an interest in languages and linguistics or working with children? In this cohort you will assist in the retention and extension of community languages. This can be done through working alongside a small group of bilingual children in a prior-to-school settings or community language program in a primary school or community language school. It may also involve working with management committees of community language schools assisting them in the governance of their schools.
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
6. Reaching Out to the Spanish-speaking Community
Cohort leader: Isabel Pena
Do you have basic Spanish language skills and want to interact with local Spanish language native speakers? Do you want an opportunity to learn about the local Spanish-speaking community by being part of a Spanish-speaking organization setting for hands-on experience? In this cohort you’ll be able to work on a project, with your peers and the organisation, which will enable you to interact with children, youth, families and senior citizens using your particular skills and interests. You will choose and develop your own project that meets the needs of the local community and the organization drawing up on your own abilities and interests. Students will enter a learning contract to develop the project over the semester. If are considering teaching, interpreting and translating or welfare worker as a career option or you just want the chance to learn more about Spanish language and culture, diversity and the university local community then this is the cohort for you! This cohort is available in Autumn and Spring depending on student numbers.
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
7. Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE)
Cohort leader: Diana Whitton
Do you want to try your hand at being a UWS apprentice and support the local community? Be part of UWS SIFE where your imagination is your limitation. SIFE is a philanthropic initiative in which Australian companies provide money and training to support university students to carry out community projects in their local regions. Underpinning the SIFE principles are that the students will teach and learn through practical application of the knowledge and skills gained at university in the wider community by means of student-designed and implemented projects. In this cohort, students will draw together their own interests and abilities with specific skills along with the aims of SIFE to implement small group projects that meet the needs of local communities. Projects have included developing financial literacy, a community cookbook, assisting unemployed women and fundraising for Ethiopian orphans - you choose and develop your own project. For more information, please see SIFE Australia. This cohort is offered in autumn and spring semesters depending on enrolments.
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in child protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
Cohort leader: Maryella Hatfield
Fancy yourself a film director or producer? This year-long cohort may be what you are after. Over the year you will be attached to a community agency to produce a film for them. The film could take the form of a promotional video or a documentary on the agency or a particular project. You will work in a small group to produce the film.
Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.
