#service-learning

[asquirrelinspace]

YOINK!

Source: US fish and wildlife service on instagram (https://www.instagram.com/reel/C817Hl-qrm-/)

[gibbearish]

love when ppl defend the aggressive monetization of the internet with "what, do you just expect it to be free and them not make a profit???" like. yeah that would be really nice actually i would love that:)! thanks for asking

[facesofcsl]

Dr. Hassan Masoud - Associate Lecturer in Philosophy

Dr. Hassan Massoud (he/him) is an Associate Lecturer in the Department of Philosophy at the University of Alberta, where he teaches logic and philosophy of science. In this interview, he shares his experiences with Community Service-Learning (CSL) and how it has enriched his teaching and his students’ learning experiences.

Can you tell us about the courses you teach and your teaching journey?

I primarily teach logic courses and the philosophy of science. Within logic, I offer symbolic logic and practical logic, and occasionally, I teach decision theory and introduction to philosophy. I began teaching in 2012 during my third year as a PhD student, starting as a teaching assistant before transitioning into a lecturing role.

How did you get involved with CSL, and what motivated you to integrate it into your courses?

As a graduate student, I worked as a teaching assistant for two introductory philosophy courses that included a CSL component. That experience left a lasting impression on me. Last year, I decided to incorporate CSL into my practical logic course, PHIL 125, and applied for the CSL Engaged Scholars Program. I began teaching the course with this component in the fall and plan to continue in the Winter 2025 term.

What does it mean to be a CSL Engaged Scholar, and how did it help with your course design?

The CSL Engaged Scholars Program is an initiative that supports instructors in integrating CSL into their courses. It provides an opportunity to plan, design, or redesign a course with a CSL component. I used the program during the Winter 2024 term to prepare for my practical logic course, which I offered in Fall 2024. This time allowed me to carefully structure the course and align its academic content with community engagement.

Which community partners have your courses been paired with?

For my practical logic course, I collaborated with three remarkable community partners: Campus Food Bank, Volunteer Alberta, and The Aquatic Biosphere. Each organization has a strong vision and provides valuable services to the community. Working with them has been an incredibly rewarding experience for both my students and myself.

What do student placements with these community partners look like?

The placements focus on projects related to the partners’ strategic plans, community outreach, and fundraising policies. My students applied the concepts and techniques from the course—such as argument analysis, evaluating definitions, and identifying logical fallacies—to these real-world projects. This hands-on application made their learning more meaningful and impactful, benefiting both the students and the community partners.

How does CSL fit into your course beyond the community placements?

Practical logic explores reasoning and argumentation in everyday life, covering topics like cognitive biases, logical fallacies, and argument evaluation. Students applied these skills directly to real documents—such as strategic plans and policies—analyzing arguments, identifying weaknesses, and refining definitions. This process demonstrated how course concepts could be applied in practical settings, creating a more engaging and transformative learning experience.

Have you adjusted your teaching methods since incorporating CSL?

Yes, integrating CSL required significant adjustments. It felt like managing two courses simultaneously because I had to design separate assignments for CSL and non-CSL students. Non-CSL students participated in weekly online forum discussions, while CSL students completed two reflection assignments and a final presentation. Both pathways required approximately 20 hours of work to ensure fairness. Although it was challenging to implement, the adjustments have been worthwhile, and the structure is now running smoothly.

How many students typically choose the CSL component, and what has been your experience with their engagement?

Out of 40 students enrolled in my course, 15 chose the CSL component. This is a substantial proportion, especially considering the course is at the 100 level, often taken by first-year students who may be new to university. The class was also a night course, which adds an extra layer of complexity, as many students have daytime jobs. Despite these factors, the level of engagement was impressive and exceeded my expectations.

What impact has CSL had on your students’ learning experiences?

CSL offers students the opportunity to apply their knowledge in real-world settings. Instead of working with artificial exercises, they engage with real documents like strategic plans and fundraising policies. Analyzing these materials allows them to see the relevance of their learning. For many, this was their first experience with responsibility and engagement outside of school. It broadened their horizons, giving them practical skills and a sense of connection to their community.

What have you personally learned from incorporating CSL into your teaching?

I’ve learned a great deal from working with CSL. Interacting with community partners and hearing students’ reflections and presentations has been enlightening. The coordination between instructors and the CSL office has been excellent, making the process smooth and rewarding. I’m grateful to the CSL team, especially Dr. David Peacock, for their support and dedication. This positive experience has encouraged me to continue integrating CSL into my courses in the future.

Do you see yourself incorporating CSL into other courses, such as symbolic logic or philosophy of science?

While incorporating CSL into symbolic logic might be challenging due to its formal, mathematical nature, I see potential for integration in philosophy of science. This course explores the relationship between science and reality, as well as public misconceptions about science. With the right community partner, we could address issues like pseudoscience, misinformation, and science advocacy. For example, during the COVID-19 pandemic, we saw the need for greater public understanding of science. If I find a suitable partner, I would love to develop a CSL component for this course.

How would you summarize your experience with CSL in one sentence?

CSL is a transformative and rewarding experience, and I am deeply thankful for the opportunity to be part of this program at the University of Alberta.

[poorly-drawn-mdzs]

Who is this sassy lost child?

[First] Prev <–-> Next

[specialsaathi]

How Ananth and I Explore Digital Storytelling and Video Creation

Service learning 2 This is the second article in our series on service-learning. As noted in my previous article, service-learning is an approach for empowering neurodivergent learners by encouraging and guiding them in community engagement. One distinctive feature of service-learning is reciprocity. Reciprocity means an ongoing collaboration that is of value to learners and to the…

[zu-is-here]

During the post dark cream arc where Cross was pregnant with Aim, is it possible for Aim to mive and kick while in the soul…? And if so is it painful for Cross+

continuing @clownyclowns' comic's topic <3

[justshipsandstuff]

The people want to see Mithrun’s second life (me, I’m people)

Inspired by this post. Mithrun having service animals is just perfect! Can’t believe I never thought of that. He always has a big team caring for him but in Melini, he needs to manage on his own at times when he’s not working and Pattadol is busy

[stinkrat-aleks]

I meant to draw this as a nsfw pose but ended up making it soccer!Erik relaxing on the couch

[besavvy]

You know how in most fanfiction Peter Parker has like a ridiculously strong sense of smell? He usually is portrayed as having a nose pretty comparable to the average dog.

Medical alert service dogs are trained to look for certain scents to make their handlers aware that they are about to have a medical episode-usually well before it actually happens.

Peter could be a human service dog.

Just imagine spiderman being midfight with this gang or whatever and all of the sudden he's like trying to get this one dude to sit down or something because he's about to have a seizure.

Or he's helping some lost kid and gets him a snack because his blood sugar is tanking.

Or maybe while they're working in the lab one day he suddenly stops and tells Tony to take his migraine meds and Tony of course is like… why?? I feel fine??? And Peter is like no seriously. You about to be Miserable. Take your meds.

And he's right! And Tony is just like wtf?????

I thought of this while I when I was reading a fanfic and my service dog wouldn't leave me the heck alone because she knew twenty minutes before it happened that I was about to have a severe blood sugar crash.

[gaffney]

Robby Keene not knowing how to adapt? That's a first. No one has adapted more than you.

[gofrenchie]

having a coworker in recovery when you're in early sobriety is so beautiful and i really hope we get to see that kind of team-up between langdon and mckay in season 2. so much potential for some really great moments between two characters that didn't interact much in season 1.

[facesofcsl]

Svetlana & Luba - Community Partners

Svetlana (she/her) and Luba (she/her) are community partners with CSL. They work with the Jewish Senior Citizen Centre which provides health, wellness, recreational, nutritional, social and educational programs and services to seniors.

What have CSL, and CSL students added to your organization? 

The students bring with them fresh ideas and different perspectives. We all have been working in this organization for a long time so sometimes we don’t notice certain things which a new person will. And they bring suggestions to those things too which helps us manage things better.

We are all used to seeing each other every day so when such young people walk into the facility, it lights up the place and everyone gets interested in knowing the person and learning his or her perspectives so it just makes it livelier having young blood working with us.

Why do you choose to incorporate CSL students into your organization?

Students always have a great perspective to share along with knowledge. So we love inviting them to share their knowledge with us. For example, if a student holds knowledge about a particular culture or topic, they can do a presentation about it for our seniors and share that knowledge with us. They are also a huge help around the place, like helping us serve lunch, work in the kitchen, clean up, set up programs and so on. They also help us with our social media by creating posters, organizing different campaigns on social media etc. And it has been quite successful. We enjoy that help because none of us here are fans of social media so it is a big help when someone else does it.

We all have our stereotypes about different generations. However, since we started working with the university, we have gotten more keen on working with young people than we were before due to our assumptions and stereotypes against them. 

What was your personal experience with CSL?

After working with CSL, you can say it changed our ways of thinking. It has opened our horizons to younger people. We are now more open to collaborating with younger people and incorporating them. I think that was eye-opening for us in a certain way because some of the students that have worked with us are absolutely brilliant and they brought so many new ideas to the table. Of course, not all the ideas are implemented but they still provide stimulation and motivation for us when somebody outside the organization notices something or suggests something because then we start thinking differently and try things in ways we never thought of before. 

The only thing we would say was negative about this experience is the start and stop of volunteering. Because they work for the duration of their semester, they grow on the people here and they do wonderful work but that suddenly stops when they are done with their semester. Sometimes the seniors would ask “Oh where did that young fellow go? Haven’t seen him in a while” and the reason for that is because that person is no longer with us. His internship has ended so he won’t be coming back. And this process continues. We get a new person, everybody gets attached and they leave forever. 

How would you sum up your experience with CSL in one sentence?

CSL promotes intergenerational connection.

[introspectivememories]

thinking bout 14yr finnick winning the games and thinking about the victors+effie looking at this child and going "fuuuuck!!! guess we're co-parenting now"

[specialsaathi]

How Ananth and I Explore Service-Learning Together-1

Service-Learning series (part 1) by Dr.Dasaratha Rama and Ananth Raghunandan Over 25 years ago, I was the editor of a monograph on service-learning published by the American Association of Higher Education (AAHE). This monograph was a part of a series of monographs on service-learning published by AAHE. Service-learning integrated community engagement and academic learning. Integration of…

[fatedroses]

I offer the frankly hilarious scenario of zenos and estinien having to work together (probably because of tataru) and a little bit of headcanon-ing I have in regards to the one main issue they run in to when theyre a duo.

[l-art-stuff-l]

tbh i think everyone should learn how to handle food and clean dishes and take care of the kitchen and ingredients properly not just people with a food handlers license it is so important people know how to cool and heat food properly and the 5-step process to cleaning and sanitizing dishes so they don’t get a bunch of bacteria and get them sick. this needs to be a basic skill they teach you in school