CSL News April 2020

MESSAGE FROM THE DIRECTOR

With this newsletter CSL signs off on the Winter term that was COVID-19!

Although this has been a difficult time for all of us - students, instructors, community partners and CSL staff - we wanted to leave you with some encouraging words for how CSL will continue to act as a socially responsive, community engaged unit on campus. All CSL staff have been working from home to communicate with our partners, instructors and students, and Humanities 101 learners about how we can most responsibly wind down placements and learning activities for the term. You will see some of the art work from our children featured too!

Although we won't be able to meet at our annual CSLebration to congratulate him in the flesh, we want to recognize Associate Professor Sathya Rao, who has been awarded the 2019/2020 CSL Instructor award for faculty. Congratulations Sathya! Sathya teaches in the department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies in Arts, and has creatively worked with partners and students on translation projects (English to French) and on issues around (post) colonialism. He has been particularly successful in sustaining longer term community partnerships (e.g. CANAVUA, Little Warriors, Learning Disabilities Association), a crucial factor in achieving quality within CSL pedagogy.

CSL looks forward to a new term of community engaged learning in the Fall, and is carefully planning for how we can best adapt to new teaching circumstances if they arise. We will take our cues, as always, from the needs, aspirations and capacities of our community partners.

CSL also thanks departing Dean of the Faculty of Arts, Lesley Cormack, whose academic administration set the conditions for CSL's growth. Now we welcome Professor Steve Patten as the new Interim Dean, and look forward to working to make CSL and experiential learning as accessible as possible for all involved.

Many thanks to all who have so generously, and with such care and compassion, made this another fruitful term for CSL, despite our common plight.

- David Peacock, CSL Director

UPCOMING DATES

APR 14: Non-Profit Board Internship Application for Students

APR 18: CSL Student Internship Application

MAY 1: Lynn Morgan Scholarship Application

MAY 11: Non-Profit Board Internship Application for Community Organizations

MAY 29: Fall 2020 Intentions

JUNE 15: Small Grant Fund Application (for both Instructors & Community Partners)

AUG 27: FALL 2020 Orientation Workshop

SEPT 1: Fall 2020 Term Begins

PEOPLE

Ravia Dhaliwal, Winter 2020 CSL Student Intern

With my internship with CSL, I have had the opportunity to meet so many new people through the Faces of CSL blog interviews! I have so gained invaluable experiences through working with Jill and the rest of the CSL team. Even in these unprecedented times, CSL and working with communities (even in isolation) has reaffirmed how important community and the work CSL does is!

Sathya Rao, 2020 CSL Teaching Award Recipient

Sathya Rao is an Associate professor in the Department of Modern Languages and Cultural Studies. He has been implementing Community Service-Learning for the past 10 years in a wide range of courses, including translation courses. He has published extensively in the areas of Translation studies, and Francophone literatures. His latest project is the Francopass, a web application developed in collaboration with Drs E. Stroulia (Computing Science), M. Cavanagh (Campus Saint-Jean), and L. Cammarata (Campus Saint-Jean). He is the recipient of the GSA supervisor award (2015) and the SALUTE award (2019), and now the CSL Teaching Award (2020) - Congratulations, Sathya!

HUMANITIES 101

The family and I are hunkered down in the Rocky Mountains. Thankfully for large data plans I am able continue working despite Humanities 101 classes being cancelled. We are taking this time to stay in touch with the larger learning community and to re-evaluate how we support outgoing Humanities 101 learners. We are also working to redevelop our application process. Lastly, we are reading a lot about similar programs and other alternative adult education projects around the globe.

Classes came to an end quickly two weeks ago; the same week we were to celebrate the term at WINGS of Providence and begin working on making our own geocaches in our on-campus course. It was a sudden end and because many of the Humanities 101 learners don’t have stable internet or computers, and there are not on-line learning solutions to the need for accessible learning. For those who are able to learn on-line, we are posting FREE learning opportunities on our Facebook page, check it out!

We need to remember that there are lots of Edmontonians who don’t have access to the internet these days with libraries and campuses shut down; “we are all in this together”, but our experiences in this are very different. We will do our best to keep in touch and see if there are ways we can support the learning community we are grateful to be a part of. Take care out there and we look forward to getting inside the classroom again!

- Lisa

PARTNERSHIP COORDINATOR UPDATE

As the semester winds down, many of us are grappling with the big changes that have come to our work and personal lives over the last two weeks. We appreciate the flexibility and understanding from community partners, instructors and students as we continue to navigate these changes in the context of CSL. For us, the transition to working remotely from home has presented unique challenges and opportunities; so much of our work is rooted in collaborative relationships with each other, our community partners, instructors, and students. We are learning new ways of staying connected, and have been amazed to hear about the creative planning and innovative approaches that our community partners are taking to continue delivering their vital programming virtually. We look forward to receiving students’ final projects and presentations online over the next couple of weeks, despite their placements being cut short.

We also continue to look ahead to planning for Fall 2020; project intentions can be submitted online via the CSL Portal until May 29th. We don’t yet know what the Fall term will look like, nor do our community partners likely know how their needs and priorities will shift as a result of COVID-19, but we are committed to thinking through creative ways to continue our work together, as we move forward through this uncertain time.

Wishing you all good mental and physical health,

Your CSL Partnership Coordinators: Erin, Jay & Mishma

CO-CURRICULAR PROGRAMMING UPDATE

Like everyone everywhere, we have had to make difficult decisions to cancel or postpone many of our events including the Non-Profit Board Internship graduation, the annual CSLebration, and the summer internship portion of our Pathways program. Each of these events customarily are opportunities to celebrate our students, community partners, and instructors. While we are currently unable to honour all of the many people who make CSL possible in person, we want everyone to know that we so are appreciative of your continued collaborative relationships.

Be well, be kind, and be creative!

- Jill (and Veda)

EVALUATION NEWS

Due to COVID-19, CSL on-site placements have been cancelled for the rest of the term. Given the considerable disruption of classes and other pressing matters to which we all must attend, CSL has decided to cancel the administration of all of our evaluation surveys for students, instructors and community partners for this term.

We will resume the evaluations in courses in the Fall 2020 term.