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At UGA, education professor Richard Kiely is teaching his
students the theory behind service-learning while they also
make the world a better place.
Among other things, his students have designed a dog park,
worked with Georgia’s growing Hispanic population, and
created a partnership with the American Cancer Society and
Georgia Cancer Coalition for developing an educational device.
The aim is to make individual and social contributions to
the community while simultaneously studying about service-learning
and how it works.
“Students constantly develop an understanding of how
theory connects to practice and how practice informs theory,”
explains Kiely, an assistant professor of adult education
in UGA’s College of Education. “With service-learning,
you don’t have to speculate on the application of what
you are learning because you are actually doing it.”
As Kiely illustrated in his Adult Education for Community
Development course last fall and his Program Development course
this semester, service-learning involves the application of
academic skills to address or solve real-life needs or problems
in the community. “Organized service-learning experiences
build on both student and community interests and are assets
in developing partnerships that are collaborative, reciprocal
and sustainable,” says the UGA faculty member, considered
a national expert in the field.
UGA’s service-learning initiative coincides with UGA’s
mission of excellence in public service and is the subject
for this year’s Public Service and Outreach Conference
on January 27. The conference will focus on existing and developing
service-learning opportunities at UGA. At the conference,
several service-learning projects that Kiely advised will
be on display, including a service-learning project created
by UGA students who developed a community center in Tanzania
last May.
“Service-learning has a dual purpose. First, there is
the individual contribution in terms of student learning and
development. There is also the social contribution in that
service-learning addresses community needs or problems,”
says Kiely. “We look at ourselves and the courses as
resources and knowledge that can be applied in a useful way.”
Kiely says it is important to look at service-learning on
a number of different levels. “Service-learning is not
just a pedagogy, it is a philosophy. You have to look not
only at your own coursework, but also how it relates to larger
social structures and institutions,” he says.
Competing
in a Global Economy
The University of Georgia is at the forefront of the globalization
movement in higher education with a wealth of opportunities
for international experiences. Our students are flocking to
study-abroad programs, thriving on the challenges inherent
in confronting a new cultural environment. More and more,
students on campus are also making choices that reflect an
understanding of the importance of global awareness—from
living in a residence hall-based language community to starting
a radio program in another language to minoring in a foreign
language. These experiences, whether at home or abroad, influence
how our students perceive the world and their place in it.
We’re producing graduates prepared to be world citizens—well
informed, culturally sensitive and technologically sophisticated.
They’re ready to take on the challenges of our global
society, and they’ll be equally at home whether in the
Peach State or the Republic of Georgia.
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“With
service-learning, you don’t have to speculate on the application
of what you are learning because you are actually doing it,”
says adult education professor Richard Kiely, whose students have
developed community-based projects from Athens, Georgia, to Tanzania.
