CSL News May 2020

GREETINGS

A warm greeting to you from CSL. Like many of you, the CSL team has been working from home and balancing caring commitments, for what seems like an eternity! We have tidied up CSL projects and courses from the Winter and now preparing for Fall 2020 courses and projects. Like you, we are not exactly sure where we are headed, but we are carefully monitoring directives from our University, AHS, and the needs of our community partners.

As President Turpin communicated yesterday in The Quad, '[i]n September 2020, the majority of our classes will be delivered remotely and online. However, where possible, we are committed to providing small group in-person learning and experiential learning such as labs and clinical instruction, especially in those programs where in-person instruction is essential.' While there could possibly be some exceptions, CSL is prudently planning for both online instructor-student interactions AND what we call virtual, project-based CSL, where students will be working together in teams on projects derived from the needs of our partners, without being present in person at the organizational site.

Fortunately, CSL already has a number of CSL instructors, courses and projects with community partners that have previously been designed as ‘project-based’ CSL. We want to showcase to other faculty/instructors, graduate students and community partners how this works. We invite you all to a CSL hosted webinar on June 4th, 2020 (details below).

All the best, and we will keep in touch with you in the months ahead.

David Peacock, CSL Director

UPCOMING DATES

VARIOUS DATES: Grants for Students

There are various grants available for students affected by and creating projects for the COVID-19 pandemic - check them out!

MAY 29: Deadline to submit project/course intentions for Fall 2020

Community Partners and Instructors who are planning to work with CSL in the Fall 2020 are encouraged to submit their project/course intentions by the end of this month. Our Partnership Coordinators are happy to work with you. Please contact Erin with any questions.

JUNE 1: Application deadline for Community Organizations to participate in the Non-Profit Board Internship Program

Are you interested in having a UAlberta student gain experience on your non-profit board?

The Non-Profit Board Internship (NPBI) program provides University of Alberta undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to learn the variety of practices and skills involved in serving on the boards of community-based non-profit organizations.

Students bring new ideas/perspectives/skills and boards share experiences/expertise/ knowledge. Students who apply to the program are keenly and passionately interested in the non-profit sector, and social issues within the Edmonton community.

APPLY NOW!

JUNE 4: Webinar - “Project-Based Community Service-Learning: How to design your online courses for CSL projects this Fall”

9:30 a.m. - 11:00 a.m. (registration link below)

Featuring: Drs. Nancy Bray (Human Ecology, ALES), Sathya Rao (MLCS, Arts), Shalene Jobin (Native Studies) and Deanna Williamson (Human Ecology, ALES).

CSL doesn’t always require students volunteering onsite in community. In this open webinar we want to highlight some innovative project-based CSL models that have not required students being face-to-face with community partner staff or their clients. That’s right – CSL is possible this Fall, and we want to show you how that can happen. We invite all interested UAlberta faculty, instructors, grad students and staff to attend.

REGISTER HERE in advance for this webinar. After registering, you will receive a confirmation email containing information about joining the webinar.

JUNE 15: Application deadline for the CSL Small Grant Fund

We encourage both Community Partners and Instructors to think about designing your applications for courses that involve project-based CSL opportunities. To give you some inspiration, take a look at the kinds of projects you could engage CSL students in, as found on the Volunteer Canada website.

•   social media strategy development
•   technology assessments
•   employee handbook development
•   photography
•   business or marketing plan creation
•   project proposal writing
•   financial analysis
•   graphic design
•   translation, editing or proofreading of documents
•   social media posting and blogs
•   project management plan for new program or service
•   mentoring or tutoring
•   telephone assurance for seniors

Or, you might like to see this infographic from our friends at UBC’s Centre for Community Engaged Learning for more ideas.

Of course, all these activities, and many more, will also need to be aligned with course learning outcomes as well as community partner goals for the most impact. Our Partnership Coordinators are ready to assist.

Please consider applying this for this Fall!

Infographic citation: Centre for Community Engaged Learning, University of British Columbia

Please feel welcome to get in touch with CSL at any time!