|
Risa, My survey: List-Serve Survey Questions My dissertation focuses on the relationship of community in service-learning writing courses. If you teach these courses or if you are a community partner involved in such courses, I would really like to hear your definitions of "community." I would be grateful if you would take the time to answer the following questions and return them to me via e-mail: risa@louisiana.edu. Please use WordPerfect 8, Word 97, or cut/paste your responses into an e-mail message. Participants will be assigned code names for confidentiality. If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me via e-mail as well. Thank you for your time.Risa Gorelick, PhD Candidate, University of Louisiana-Lafayette Name: Tom Deans Title: Assistant Professor College/University: Kansas State U. Agency (if applicable): Office Telephone: 785-532-2717 e-mail: tdeans@ksu.edu __XX Yes, you may contact me for follow up questions _____ No, I do not wish to be contacted. 1. How do you define the term "community"? I think in terms of overlapping communities, not one community. Weıve got the campus community, the local (town) community, the statewide community, the national community, the international/human community. In my courses, I generally use community to refer to the local/town. I havenıt devoted time to problematizing the notion of community with my students. One scholar who does so in print is Lorie Goodman in her review of Writing the Community in Composition Studies last year. 2. What types of service-learning activities/assignments do you incorporate into your writing classes? Youıve got a detailed description of my advanced comp course in the book ms, chapter 6. Iım also now using SL in technical writing. 3. How do you define studentsı roles at their service sites? ___outsider? __X_observer? ___X_participant? ____[please list:__________] Explain: Students first observe by writing a report on the agency; they then participate by collaborating on writing projects. 4. Do you think students consider themselves as members of the community in which they do their service? If so, when do you think they joined the community? How did they join it? If not, is it important for them to "belong" to the community in which they are serving? Those who have done service on campus feel part of that communityfor example, this semester 2 students did publicity for a speaker on domestic violence for the campus program council. They felt like they were doing something significant for a community in which they are clearly members. When students work with local organizations, this gets trickier. Most students on our campus are not from this town; but because they live here during the year, they do still care about this town. For example, 3 students working to help the local dept of public health pass an anti-smoking policy for restaurants feel invested in the project. It could affect the quality of local community life, and they feel a part of that. Some students also work with statewide agencies, and because nearly all our students are from Kansas (and itıs a public university) they feel very much part of this statewide community. 5. Do you perceive the people/clients who benefit from the agency as part of the community? How so? Explain. Yes. I simply think of them as members of the local community, 6. How does the term "community" relate to your service-learning writing course? Explain. We use it loosely to refer to the local community. 7. Did you students change as writers? If so, how? Do you think the change(s) had anything to do with the service-learning component? See book ms. 8. Do you think studentsı writing improved? If so, how much of the improvement do you think directly correlated with students connecting to a community service organization? Explain. See book ms. I think that the genuine rhetorical situation students face often leads to better writing. Just as important, I think it has motivational effects that then feed into learning outcomes. 9. What type(s) of writing did students do for your service-learning course(s): ___X_ writing about service (reflective writing; free-writing; journals, observation pieces, etc.) ___X_ writing for service (producing literature for the service agencygrants, brochures, newsletters, PR materials, etc.) ____ writing with service(writing with members of the agency that supports inquiry and dialoguetenantıs rights; literacy issues, etc.) 10. Which level (first-year, sophomore, advanced) do you think works best for service-learning related writing courses? Why? My sense is that it works better in advanced writing courses, on the whole. |