SUNDAY 3RD APRIL, 2016 – UWI TODAY
15
Benefits &
Definitions
These are December 2015
remarks from
Michael
Cuyjet
, Ed.D. Visiting
Fulbright Senior Fellow;
currently supporting the
Service Learning and
Community Engagement
programme at The UWI.
An important goal of the initiative is to
educate students on the benefits of community
engagement. To many students, the most obvious
is for resume building and gaining experience
for jobs after graduation. Secondary is a sense
of social responsibility through service learning
activities that provide (1) voluntary service and
(2) practice-based use of academic knowledge. A
third benefit is the development of a personal and
communal sense of social justice.
The community engagement activities may be
classified in three groupings:
1. Service learning
Practice learning
Community-based learning
Practice-based service
Institutional outreach
2. Community Service
3. Active Research in the Community
Community engagement scholarship
Community-based research
Practice-led research
UWI ETC
(Engaging The Community)
The Service Learning and Community
Engagement programme is the “go to” place
for students looking for service learning or
community engagement.
Every year, the UWI invites NGOs, CBOs and
service learning partners to appeal to students for
volunteers.
The next Open Day is in October 2016.
Here are some of the current partner organizations:
Animal Welfare Network
Nature Seekers: turtle conservation
Habitat for Humanity T&T
Rotaract St Augustine
ALTA
Down Syndrome Family Network
Caribbean Youth Environmental Network
Cyril Ross Tutors for Tots
Goodstart Mentors
SUMMON mentors
Raffa House
COMMUNITY
On March 17, the Division of Student Services and Development (SLDD)
presented a Roundtable
Discussion on Service Learning and Community Engagement with staff and students from the University
of Louisville, Kentucky as well as other southern state universities in the US.
UWI staff and students were broken up into groups facilitated by Louisville University staff to discuss
ways that community engagement could be implemented at the St. Augustine Campus. Practical applications
of volunteerism on the campus were brought up, such as tutoring children affected by HIV at the Cyril Ross
Home, Habitat for Humanity and outreach to animal welfare groups such as the El Socorro Wildlife Centre.
It was alsomentioned that students from the Faculty of Medical Sciences and Engineering already do projects
to help provide solutions for community projects, however there was a greater need to streamline service-
learning across the curriculum.
WeWant toGive Back
Students eager to go out into communities
Shaquille Baird, a final
year International
Relations student, at the
roundtable discussion,
part of the International
Service Learning
Programme 2016.
The differences between the US and
Caribbean curricula were also discussed
as a possible deterrent for service-
learning since in the Caribbean system,
undergraduate students traditionally
take three years as compared with four
years in US-based schools and there are
no semester breaks, so “Spring Break”
service-learning options would not be
feasible.
Faculty and SLDD representatives
stressed that they were excited for
service-learning to be integrated into
the curriculum and they would work
hard to provide resources for educators
such as a database of related non-profit
organisations to help them create syllabi
with service-learning components.
Overall, the desire to give back to the
community was seen as the driving force
behind service-learning for everyone
in attendance and in the words of a
Louisville student who gave her time to
her local firefighting department and now
works there full-time, “once students try
it, they will love it.”
(Jeanette Awai)
Laura Mc Curdy and
Ashleigh Hazley, MSc
students from the College
Students Professionals
Programme, at the
roundtable discussion
part of the International
Service Learning
Programme 2016.
