Learning Through Community Service

Learning through Community Service
Cohorts running in Spring 2008 are:

• Australian Stories
• Each One Assist One (Newly arrived immigrant support group)
• Empowering Young Children to Read for Life 
• MADD about the Arts : Music, Media Arts, Dance & Drama in Primary Schools
• Mentoring for Positive Youth Outcomes
• Practically Primary
• Reaching Out to the Spanish-Speaking Community
• Sharing Ideas, Sharing Knowledge : Academic Literacy through on-line learning
• SIFE (Students in Free Enterprise)
• Strategic Communication .
• Video Production

Learning through Community Service (LCS) is a 20 credit point unit that involves acompulsory intensive pre-semester symposium. For Spring 2008, this will be held on Monday21 July, Tuesday 22 July and Thursday 24 July at Penrith campus.

It is imperative 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 100 hours work with clients or in service agencies. 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. If you are interested in doing this unit, you need to do the following:

1. Select which cohorts you are interested in doing
2. Enrol online through MyStudentRecords in 101117 Learning through Community Service. You can choose to enrol in Bankstown campus or Penrith campus. This doesn’t affect what cohort you are doing or where you do the Symposium. Autumn is Bankstown campus and Spring is Penrith campus.
3. You will receive a cohort preference form by email from Clare. Fill this out and submit it by close of business on Wednesday 21 November 2007.
4. You will be notified of your cohort shortly after this date.

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 with all students involved in the unit and then tutorials with your cohort members.

After this there will be a mid-semester tutorial which will be organised by the cohort leader as well as a final tutorial/meeting 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 small (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.

You may only enrol in one cohort and you cannot take the unit more than once. Due to cohort sizes and student interest, we cannot guarantee that you will be given your first preference. For more information about the cohorts, please contact Diana Whitton or Vanessa Lane.

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Cohort descriptions

1. Advocacy and Campaigns

Cohort leader: Roumen Dimitrov

Strategic Communication will engage UWS students with community groups or structures at UWS that have a need of developing communication strategies and tactics. You will assist community organisations, especially in the area of Western and South-western Sydney, to enhance their communication capacity. You will get to work with students from various communications interests such as public relations, advertising, journalism, media production, electronic design and professional writing and form small project groups to work on a specific communication issue/campaign.

This cohort is ideal for third-year communications students.

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2. Children and Technology

Cohort leader: Joanne Dwyer

Information and communications technology (ICT) savvy and interested in working with children? This brand new cohort is right up your alley. By working in this cohort you will work with teachers, children and primary school aged children in after school care settings on projects to build skills and understanding of using ICTs independently, productively, creatively and purposefully in educational contexts.

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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3. Circle Time

Cohort leader: Sue Roffey

Students in this cohort will be involved in an exciting new intervention in Primary School which combines creativity, great fun and serious learning. Circle Time provides a framework of interaction that helps children develop friendships, stop bullying, enhance resilience and learn to deal with challenging emotions and situations. Circle Time also promotes caring classroom communities. Students in this cohort will learn how to run Circle Time and then support teachers who are introducing this into their classrooms. It will also help students develop their own social and emotional learning and be tuned into the knowledge and skills that are the foundations for healthy relationships. Anyone planning to work in education will learn a new pedagogy and effective ways of engaging children. There is a maximum number of 15 students in this cohort for 2008 so ensure you sign up early.

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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4. 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:

• any relevant subjects you have completed
• any relevant extra-curricula activities or part-time work you have done
• 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
• your email address.

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5. Empowering Young Children to Read for Life

Cohort leader: Samantha Hornery

Are considering becoming an educational psychologist? Do you want to get first hand experience on childhood assessment and intervention in reading? Are you a parent who reads with their child? Are you thinking about becoming a teacher? Are you will become a Reading Buddy in a school-based program called Reading for Life, visiting a primary school each week to assist children in Years 1-4 with their reading skills and confidence. Initial training and ongoing support will be provided to administer standardised testing and the semi-structured reading program. You will gain valuable hands-on experience which will help you in your career or family life. 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.

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6. Equity Buddies

Cohort leader: Kerry Robinson

Equity Buddies focuses on developing awareness around the needs and equity concerns of different socio-cultural groups, particularly those living within the the Western Sydney region. It aims to build productive, collaborative, supportive relationships between UWS Equity Buddies students and members of these different socio-cultural groups, including individuals and families, and also with the various community groups that operate to support them. These dynamic relationships are built through a range of activities including mentoring and collaborative projects. E.g., Equity Buddies has an on-going focus that continues to refine and develop support networks and structures within UWS to mentor mature aged first year students. Other on-going support areas include working on collaborative projects with community groups, such as, early childhood organisations that aim to support families from minority groups; or working with a variety of community groups in developing educational resources to increase awareness around the equity issues facing children and/or youth from minority socio-cultural backgrounds. Equity Buddies also aims to increase awareness of the relevant services available within UWS and the Greater Western to meet the needs of the different individuals, families and community groups that we work with.

Prerequisites: None.

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7. 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? You should be a part of this new cohort for 2007. 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.

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8. Reaching Out to the Spanish-speaking Community

Cohort leader: Isabel Pena

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? Do you have basic Spanish language skills and want to interact with local Spanish language native speakers? Knowledge of Spanish language is not a requisite but it could be an advantage. 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.

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9. 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.

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10. Video Production

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: None.

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11. Australian Stories (This cohort is only available in Spring)

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, from migrant 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.

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12. Each One Assist One: Newly Arrived Immigrant Support Group (This cohort is only available in Spring)

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: None

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13. MMADD about the arts: Music, Media Arts, Dance and Drama in the Primary School (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Deirdre Russell-Bowie

Are you MMADD about the arts? Want to have a taste of what life is like in a primary school? Sign on to MADD about the Arts and have the chance to put your skills in music, media art, dance or drama into practice. You may be involved in working with children to produce a children’s art exhibition in the local community, interacting with teachers and children to develop and implement an integrated arts program using your artistic skills and experience and/or facilitating an after school arts program for primary aged children. Completing this cohort will provide you with a firm foundation for postgraduate teacher education courses and enhance your own artistic skills and knowledge.

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

Additional Information: Please indicate any relevant units you have taken as well as any relevant extracurricular activities you have done or currently do. Also a couple of lines (no more than 50 words) on why you want to do this cohort.

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14. Mentoring for Positive Youth Outcomes (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Alison Hine

Do you want to make a difference? Seize the opportunity to enrich the lives and enhance the potential of young people in secondary schools by engaging in a mentor role, providing guidance, support and practical help to increase the retention of youth in education. This is the focus of the cohort Mentoring for Positive Youth Outcomes. Through a series of workshops, using an action learning model, you will be introduced to the principles of mentoring secondary school students. You will develop competencies in the practice of mentoring skills and experience working as mentors with secondary students to provide positive role models and make a difference!

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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15. Practically Primary (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Judith Thistleton-Martin

Do you want an opportunity to learn about primary education by being part of a primary school setting for 100 hours of hands-on experience? In this cohort you’ll be able to work on a project, with your peers and the school, which will enable you to use your particular skills and interests. The focus will be on broader in-school experiences which will enable you to deepen your understanding of schools as learning communities where new and expansive patterns of thinking are nurtured and where people are continually learning how to learn together. If you are considering primary school teaching as a career option or you just want the chance to learn how a primary school works then this is the cohort for you!

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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16. Refugee Learning Support (RLS) (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Tania Ferfolja

Promoting a positive and supportive school environment is crucial for the effective settlement needs of refugee children. This new LCS cohort offers a limited number of UWS students (maximum eight) the opportunity to work closely in small groups or on a one-to-one basis mentoring/tutoring refugee students in an intensive English centre in the south-western Sydney region. This may involve providing academic support and/or assisting students in developing a personal plan in the transition to work or study. This is an exciting cohort for those interested in making their mark in the promotion of social justice and equity for young people.

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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17. Serving Children, Families and Professionals as Children Start School (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Diana Whitton

Are you passionate about transitional issues and easing pre-school children and their families into primary school? Are you thinking of being an early childhood or primary teacher? If so, this cohort may be of interest to you. In this cohort, you will assist communities in making their transition to school programs even more successful than they would otherwise have been. In a connected pair of a school and a prior-to-school service, pairs of UWS students will learn about the settings, act as volunteer assistants in the settings and assist in the implementation of the transition program within the community. Your role will depend on the educational settings in which you work but the aim of all projects is to assist in ensuring that the children starting school have as successful a start as they possibly can.

Prerequisites: Students will have to have already participated in Child Protection workshops or attend the workshop during symposium.

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18. Sharing Ideas, Sharing Knowledge: Academic literacy through online service learning (This cohort is only available in Spring)

Cohort leader: Katina Zammit

Do you have an interest in literacy or literacy teaching? Want to get to know UWS students outside your course? You should become a literacy mentor and join this cohort. In this cohort you will be involved in a close association with a student needing support and involved in peer mentoring of one first-year student who needs extra assistance in developing academic literacy skills - reading and/or writing. This cohort is ideal for third-year students as your experiences at university and knowledge of academic reading and writing tasks will assist you in being a mentor to the first-year students. Target group for mentors is third-year students.

Prerequisites: Well-developed academic writing skills.

Additional Information: Please provide a sample page of your academic writing.

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19. Strategic Communication

Cohort leader : Roumen Dimitrov

Strategic Communication will engage UWS students with community groups orstructures at UWS that have a need of developing communication strategies and tactics.You will assist community organisations, especially in the area of Western andSouth-western Sydney, to enhance their communication capacity. You will get to work withstudents from various Communications interests such as Public Relations, Advertising,Journalism, Media Production, Electronic Design and Professional Writing and form smallproject groups to work on a specific communication issue/campaign.

Prerequisites : This cohort is only open to 3^rd year Communications students.

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