Service-Learning Community Diary Project During COVID-19
Associate Professor Emily Acosta Lewis from Sonoma State University discusses the significance of service-learning projects during distance learning, focusing on the Community Diary Project to document experiences during the pandemic. The project collaborated with Sonoma County Libraries to overcome barriers and create a meaningful experience for students, community partners, and the university.
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High impact practices during distance learning: A service-learning community diary project to document experiences during COVID-19. EMILY ACOSTA LEWIS, PH.D. SONOMA STATE UNIVERSITY EMILY.ACOSTALEWIS@SONOMA.EDU
Background and Experience Associate Professor of Communication and Media Studies Faculty Fellow for the Sonoma State University Center for Community Engagement Extensive experience with service-learning courses (75% of all courses taught) Background in research related to service-learning learning, implementation, and barriers
What is Service-learning? Service-learning is a pedagogy in which students engage with a community partner on a project which benefits the community partner and also results in student learning. Essentially the service- learning project is used as a text in the course. Service-learning is a high-impact practice-meaning there has been extensive research on its ability to be beneficial to students from many different backgrounds (Kuh, 2008) Service-learning is the only high-impact practice that under- represented students are more likely to participate in (Kuh & Schneider, 2008)
Barriers to online-service-learning during a pandemic Lack of bandwidth to take on another project/task in top of the stress of the pandemic, moving courses to an online setting, and family obligations Inability to find community partners able and willing to work together during the pandemic while they are struggling so badly to keep their organizations afloat Many service-learning projects are unable to be completed in an online setting
Moving service-learning to an online setting Moving experiential learning online is inherently problematic given the nature of this type of work In order to overcome these barriers, Sonoma State University worked with the Sonoma County Libraries to create a project that would benefit students, the community partner, and the university This project could, called the Community Diary Project, could work in any discipline or course
What is the Community Diary Project? Sonoma County (California) Libraries project to document this unique time in history Collect materials (e.g. art, video, reflections, etc.) to document what life is like during COVID-19 pandemic In some cases, the students wrote their own experiences and in other, they interviewed other people about their experiences In doing so, collecting historical texts which will likely be studied by future generations
Student submission sample 1: In the early days of the shutdown I was struggling with some health issues. When I spoke with doctors the big question was, do I risk going to the ER and contracting COVID? We decided to wait it out. I collapsed that night, my frantic boyfriend called 911, and I ended up taking an ambulance ride to the ER after all. Two days, five units of blood, and an emergency hysterectomy later I was back home and watching Tiger King like everyone else.
Student submission sample 2: I feel that I have been changed quite a bit with all that I and many others have gone through since mid-March. My priorities and values have completely changed, I am more thankful for my health and the health of my loved ones than I ever have been before, and have learned to be as selfless as possible with taking all of the necessary precautions to fight against the virus by wearing a mask, staying home, and constant hand washing. At first all of these precautions and rules were overwhelming, but now it is just simply a way of life. I and many others I am sure miss being surrounded by other people, getting to greet others with a hug or a handshake, but have learned to smile with my eyes through a mask, and other ways of greeting others at a distance. I find it empowering that we are all in this together, and there has been so much togetherness even though we are all apart.
Student submission sample 3: I have so much to be thankful for, yet I think it is valid for me to feel sad sometimes because I did lose something, I ve worked really hard for. I also have to remind myself that this does not mean I will never go to college. Even though I may not have a freshman year on campus, I will still have more time in the future to have a real college experience. I try to keep these positive reminders at the forefront of my mind, but often I can t help but feel frustrated as I sit at my desk on zooms for hours starting at my high school, which is the view from my window.
Student submission sample 4: During this time, my family and I have been quarantining ourselves at home. My current living situation consists of living back at home in San Francisco with my two siblings, my parents, and my grandparents. The both of my parents are healthcare workers and have been extremely busy the past few months. My older sibling is currently a frontline worker and my younger sibling is still in elementary school. My grandparents are both senior citizens above the age of 75 which means that they are unable to go outside because of the health risks that can affect senior citizens. As a person with a mental illness, focusing on a lot of things has been extremely difficult and being home all day without anything to do has been straining my mental health as well. I struggle with ADHD which means that managing my time and focusing on a lot of the tasks that have to be done take longer for me to do than a normal person would.
Student submission sample 5: I felt trapped in my own head because of the pandemic restrictions. I would overthink a lot if I wasn t doing something to keep myself busy. I was thinking What if my job closes temporarily? What if I don t get unemployment? What am I going to do with all this free time? How long will this last? . These questions were roaming around my head everyday and I couldn t help it. I talked to my boyfriend and he really helped me get through this tough time. He made me realize I needed to look at the positive side of things and not focus on the negative. I was worrying about things that haven t happened yet or might not even happen. That s when I knew I needed to take a breath and not overwhelm myself.
Experiences from students Students felt that reflecting on their experience was cathartic in a way Writing about their experiences related to the course helped them to learn more about the course and themselves while also helping to process this unusual period in time
Benefits to Community Partner The ability to document this unique time in history from many different perspectives and through the lens of many disciplines Over 50 courses per semester participated in this project and were able to give their historical documents to this project They did not have to solicit and collect these documents on their own and had the help of the university to do so Working with the university allows them to have a more representative and diverse samples of historical documents
