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Service learning in association with Women Studies 357 or Psychology 357 provides a unique opportunity to connect your coursework with life experience through public service. Prof. Kenney has worked with the University's Carlson Leadership and Public Service Center to select a variety of sites where you will have opportunities to consider course concepts as they are experienced in the "real world." In order to get the most out of this experience, please select a site where you will be exposed to individuals of an age, socio-economic class, race/ethnicity or country of origin that you do not normally interact with on a regular basis.
Service Learning Sites and Sign-Up
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You can find a list of placement sites selected for Psychology or Women Studies 357 (Psychobiology of Women) as well as service-learning registration information on the Service-Learning section of the Carlson Center's web site:
http://depts.washington.edu/leader/servicelearning/PreviousServiceCourses/aut08/Autumn2008ServiceLearning.html
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On-line registration for Fall 2008 service learning opportunities will open at 8:00 AM on Monday, September 29, and close at 5:00 PM on Wednesday, October 1. You can access the registration information from above listed site. If you have questions about service learning, you can e-mail them to serve@u.washington.edu or stop by MGH 120 to make an appointment to talk with a Carlson Center staff member.
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You may be able to substitute another site for the sites listed for this course. An alternative site must be cleared through Prof. Kenney before registering for service learning.
To register for a site not listed on the Carlson Center list for this course,you must
1) already be volunteering at the site. It takes too long to get started if you just approaching the organization now.
2) contact Dr. Kenney (nkenney@u.washington.edu) and tell her about the site where you already volunteer asking whether the site is appropriate for this class
3) if she approves the site for 357 you can include her e-mail to you indicating approval when you contact the Carlson Center (serve@u.washington.edu) for a self-placement form
4) when the form is completed send it to Dr. Kenney (nkenney@u.washington.edu) and she will forward it to the Carlson Center.
Note: You cannot get service -learning credit for work you do in a paid position and you cannot apply any hours worked to service -learning requirements in more than one class. If you're paid to work at a site that would be allowed for service-learning, you can earn SL credit by working unpaid hours above your paid hours. If you are doing service-learning for more than one class at one site you must put in 20-40 during the quarter for each class, not 20-40 hours total.
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All students selecting the service-learning option are expected to complete an orientation with their organization between October 2 and October 10, 2008 (unless otherwise noted in the description). Please be proactive in contacting your organization by phone and e-mail to either 1) schedule an orientation or 2) confirm your attendance at an already scheduled orientation session.
- Following the service learning registration period, you will be assigned a course service-learning tutor. Your tutor will contact you - using your University e-mail address - before October 10. If you have not heard from your tutor by October 10, contact Prof. Kenney immediately (nkenney@u.washington.edu).
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Service Learning Tutors:
Ginna Anderson (Service Learning)
e-mail: vca@u.washington.edu
Meredith Dugoni (Service Learning)
e-mail: dugonim@u.washington.edu
Alina Polyak (Service Learning)
e-mail: apolyak@u.washington.edu
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Getting Started at Placement Sites
Choose your placement site carefully. Read over the description of the site mission and clientele to determine if it's the right place for you. Also look at the specific jobs the site is expecting to fill. Make sure you pay special attention to any specified work hours. Do they fit your schedule?? Also make sure you know where the site is located and know how to get there. many sites give travel directions including bus route info in their descriptions.
All students are expected to complete an orientation with their registered service-learning organization between October 2 and October 10, 2008 (unless otherwise noted in the description). Please be proactive in contacting your organization by phone and e-mail to either 1) schedule an orientation or 2) confirm your attendance at an already scheduled orientation session.
By choosing to participate in service learning, you are making a commitment to the organization, your peers and instructors, and to the University of Washington. Non-profit organizations often have unique staffing and funding challenges and heavily depend on volunteers to carry out their programs. These organizations enjoy working with UW students and appreciate students' involvement and help. If you choose to participate, you are expected to fulfill your responsibility and act professionally. If an emergency arises and you are unable to complete your placement requirements, please contact your service-learning tutor immediately.
Do not simply walk away from a placement for any reason. We will negotiate an appropriate modification to your course requirements when such emergencies arise. (Just not having time is not an emergency. No one has any time in mid- to late-quarter. Such is life.)
Once you have agreed to be involved in a service-learning placement you must continue in that placement through the end of the quarter. Failure to do so (except in the case of emergencies) will have severe negative consequences for your course grade.
If you are having difficulties with any aspect of service learning, contact your tutor immediately. Your service learning tutor will work with you, Prof. Kenney and the Carlson Center to rectify any problems you encounter.
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Duties associated with Service-Learning:
- Attendance at an orientation session set up by the placement site. (Orientation dates and times are generally listed with the site information on the List of Potential Sites so you can know whether you can make the orientation time before you sign up for the placement.)
- Completion, during the quarter, of 20 to 40 hours of activities specified by the site coordinator. (A course point will be awarded for a positive evaluation by the site coordinator. Negative evaluations will result, at minimum, in loss of all service-learning course points.)
- Weekly entries in your placement site journals that chronicle your experiences on site and relate those experiences to course lectures as much as possible. These journals will be submitted electronically to your service-learning tutor for evaluation 3 times during the quarter. (You will receive 2 course points for each on-time journal submission for a total of up to 6 course points.)
- Meet with your Service-Learning Tutor at least 3 times during the quarter to discuss placement experiences and relationship to course material (One course point will be awarded for each meeting with your assigned tutor for a total of 3 points).
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Journals
- You should write 2 pages (double spaced, 12 pt. font, 1-inch margins) in your Journal each week starting no later than the week of October 6. Note: This is not 2 pages each time your journal is due but 2 pages each week of the quarter. The journal can and should be started even before you begin actually working at your site. See the questions below to see how.
- Try to relate your volunteer experience to material covered in class. Not all topics will fit all sites. We have posted some general ideas and questions to think about in preparing your journal below.
- If you cannot see any relationship between your site and anything in class or on the issues lists, talk with your tutor as soon as possible.
- As short-term volunteers, your interactions with clients served by your agency might be minimal. Think about the clients your agency serves and how they might relate to the course information even if you have no direct contact with the clients.
- Journals must be E-MAILED AS AN ATTACHMENT TO YOUR ASSIGNED SERVICE LEARNING TUTOR NO LATER THAN NOON each of the following Thursdays: (It's OK to send it hours early or even a day or two ahead of schedule, but it's not OK to send it late.)
1. October 23
2. November 13
3. December 4
Journals will be read by the tutors and marked as credit or no credit. Tutors may offer suggestions on how you can more closely relate the class to your volunteer site in the future.
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Meetings with the Service Learning Tutors
- You are expected to meet with your service learning tutor at least 3 times during the quarter according to the following schedule. Your SL tutor will contact you directly with possible meeting times before the deadlines:
Meeting 1 - on or before October 17
Meeting 2 - on or before November 7
Meeting 3 - on or before November 26 (note this the Wednesday before Thanksgiving)
- Contact your service-learning tutor immediately if problems arise at your placement site. They will work with you, Prof. Kenney, the Carlson Center and the site to solve any problems.
- Remember the tutors are there to help you, not to make your lives more difficult. Let them work with you to improve your performance at the placement site or in the class as a whole.
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Ideas for the First Journal Entries
Due October 23
- Why did you decide to do service learning? Have you done service learning before? When? Where?
- With which organization are you volunteering? Why did you select this particular site?
- How is this organization funded?
- Does your site work in allegiance with any other group(s)? If yes, which one(s) and how are they related?
- How do you expect what you do or observe at your site to be related to this class?
- What are your first impressions of the placement site and your role there?
- Was the orientation useful?
- What are your duties and how do they relate to the course? (Think not only about what you do in particular, but how your work contributes to the goals of the organization.)
- What is the mission of the organization? Does it relate to the course?
- What segment of the population does the organization primarily serve? (Think about this in terms of gender, race, class, sex, age etc.).
- How much direct contact do you have with the clientele?
- Who works at this organization? Does the staff have particular areas of expertise like physiology, endocrinology, counseling, etc?
- How does the staff interact with the clients and with each other?
- When you are working at the site, do you primarily work alone or with others such as other volunteers, staff, clients? How does this affect your feelings about the site? Is this a good arrangement for you?
- How does your site help women learn about their bodies? Are they pro-active (going out into the community) or reactive (serve clients that come to them)?
- Do the clients have questions about or express interest in information about their bodies? Does the organization have adequate programs that help to communicate this information to the client?
- How does the staff and volunteers refer to the women they serve? Are sexist comments common or rare? Are women treated the same or differently from men in co-ed facilities or among staff?
- Does the staff have a positive image of women’s bodies? If yes, how is this translated into their work with the clientele? If no, are comments made about the relationship between women’s bodies and their behaviors?
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Ideas for the Second Set of Journal Entries
Due November 13
NOTE: This set of questions is intended to aid you in relating the course to your placement. They may or may not work for you. Please feel free to address issues other than those listed here. Let these questions serve as guidelines as you journal.
General Question
- How has your initial impression of your site changed?
- Have you found it harder or easier to relate your service learning site to course material? In what way(s)?
- Do you see the material any differently because of your site? Do you view the site at all differently than you would if you weren’t taking this course?
Puberty and Adolescence
The following questions are all categorized according to type of site, but feel free to answer any question that applies to your site. Be sure that when you are discussing terms in your journals, you are clear about whether you are referring to puberty or adolescence. (There is a difference; you’ll hear about it in lecture.)
For those working with teens and youth:
- Do teenage women talk about changes in their bodies?
- Can you observe differences in their behavior as they undergo puberty?
- How do teenage women respond to the onset of puberty?
- How does ethnicity/culture/race/class/sexual orientation/geographic location, etc. influence how girls and young women are prepared for and/or experience puberty and adolescence?
- How does your agency accommodate those differences?
For those working with the elderly:
- Do those you work with have memories of puberty and adolescence?
- Do the women you work with view puberty in the present day as the same or different from what they went through? How so? Better? Worse? Earlier? Later?
For those working within agencies that deal with reproductive rights:
- How do these agencies treat adolescents as compared to other clientele?
- Are there specific programs for adolescents at these agencies?
- What barriers, if any, exist in hindering use by adolescents?
For those working with agencies dealing with violence or sexual assault:
- How many of the people they work with are adolescents?
- If they work with adolescents, what issues are they dealing with?
- If they do not work with adolescents, why not?
- Are there programs set up specifically for adolescents?
For those working with eating disorder programs:
- Why do so many adolescents suffer from eating disorders?
- Why do more women than men suffer from eating disorders?
For those working in health care facilities or activity programs:
- Are health care facilities and programs friendly to adolescents?
- Can adolescents come in without their parents or theirs parents’ knowledge?
- What, if any, are barriers to use of health care facilities and programs by adolescents?
Always feel free to free-write about your experiences, observations, questions, or insights after answering the questions. Please contact your S-L tutor with questions.
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Due December 4
Please address at least some of the first 6 questions below that deal with course content and some of the more general questions related to service learning found below.
- Have any of your expectations about the organization changed since your last journal entry?
- Have any issues surrounding the topic of "PMS" come up in your organization? Has anyone referred to a woman as "PMSing"? If so, what were the attitudes/behaviors that she displayed that caused the "PMS" diagnosis?
- How is contraception approached by your organization? If the organization has relevance to this issue, what messages do you believe the organization wants to portray? Does the organization promote abstinence? Does it provide enough information for someone to make an informed decision? Does the organization provide resources for people to obtain contraception?
-For those working with physically ill clientele (e.g., Team Survivor): How does the organization approach contraception/sexuality for clients who are fighting illness? Are there any presumptions made by the organization as to the clients' sexual behaviors? How would a client of the organization obtain information on contraception?
- Does your organization provide information about sexuality? Do they promote certain behaviors or have certain rules for their clientele? Does the organization promote understanding of/for all sexualities? Do you believe the organization is heterosexist? Are there any assumptions made about sex drive/sexuality due to the age of the clientele? Are there any assumptions made about sexuality due to the sex of the clientele? Do you have any ideas how the organization can better promote healthy sex behaviors? Do you see any areas discussed above in which the organization seems to lack necessary information? Can you think of ways to address these issues in your organization?
- How does your site approach pregnancy and unwanted pregnancy? Are certain beliefs/ideas imposed on the clients concerning pregnancy/abortion? If the pregnant woman is homeless, is an abortion suggested? Is pre-natal care offered? Is the father's role/responsibility addressed?
- Are services/information available to women approaching or experiencing menopause? What kinds of services are available (health care, counseling...)? Are stereotypes or expectations about menopause and/or post-menopausal women expressed by the staff or clients? Are these positive or negative? What impact might such comments have on female clients or staff?
General issues about service learning
- What did you like most/least about your site? Would you recommend it to students taking this class in the future? Why or why not?
- What was your most memorable (valuable) experience at your site? Why? (This could be an actual interaction with a client or staff member or it could be an insight you gained when reflecting on the site.)
- Were the journals helpful? If so, in what way? How can the journal assignments be improved?
- Did you learn anything about yourself through service learning?
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