Annual Report FY15

Annual Report FY15 Service-Learning Program Boise State University

Mission The Service-Learning Program connects the campus with the community through capacity-building partnerships in order to enhance student learning, address critical community issues, and encourage students to be active citizens in their local, national and global communities.

Vision We envision all Boise State students graduating with the skills, knowledge, and disposition to be locally responsive and globally aware citizens. We envision a campus culture that supports teaching and learning environments in which civic engagement is highly valued, practiced, assessed, and recognized.

Program Goals 1. Expand opportunities for service-learning and civic engagement across disciplines and colleges 2. Cultivate student civic leaders through community-focused coursework, jobs, and mentoring 3. Engage/support faculty as reflective teachers and researchers in service-learning and community- engaged scholarship 4. Advocate for the institutionalization of service-learning and culture of civic engagement across campus 5. Respond to critical community issues as expressed by the community

Location in the scheme of things Service-Learning is a unit of the CENTER FOR TEACHING AND LEARNING in Academic Affairs.

Highlights of 2014-2015

1. “Service-Learning strengthens learning”

“All around positive outcomes. Looking forward to doing this again next year” -- wrote Anthropology professor/chair John Ziker, who taught with SL for the first time this year (ANTH 306 "Kinship and Social Organization"). John had great success teaching SL, thanks in part to comprehensive support of SL staff. John found teaching with SL noticeably strengthened students' learning. John wrote, “36 of 50 students opted in and completed the Service Learning path in Anthropology 306...The quality of the final Service Learning papers (mini- ethnography) was in most cases higher (and more interesting to read) than that of the non- Service Learning students. The average score on the final paper was 6% higher for Service Learning students. John added, “The difference in the means for the final project in ANTHR 306 (SL mini-ethnography vs Research paper) was statistically significant at the 0.05 level (equal variances assumed in independent samples t-test). Even more importantly for university and ANTH major retention, the DFW rate in this course year to year declined from 21% to 14%, mainly through a reduction of F's and W/CW's.” SL staff were pleased with this final feedback: "I'm really happy with how this turned out and appreciate the fantastic support from you, Anna, and Mike!" (SL staff helped John identify community partners, took him on site visits, consulted on SL course design, and facilitated reflection activities in his class. John also participated in the nine-hour SL Best Practices Institute.)

2. Service-Learning students improve Nampa K-12 college aspirations During mid-semester check-ins with community partners, Anna Bailey spoke with Linda Dixon, the school counselor at Birch Elementary in Nampa, to assess SL students’ participation in Birch’s after school tutoring program for at-risk students. Linda said she was very pleased with the SL students, and that now all her students "want to go to Boise State." This is especially impressive because, according to Linda, these students often do not consider college to be part of their future plans. This is one demonstration of how SL students can positively influence underrepresented students to seek college.

Note: The order of this document follows the Annual Report of the Center for Teaching and Learning, instead of the usual order following the list of SL Program Goals.

1. Services in Support of Faculty and Departments

Individual Faculty Consultations

Faculty consultations are the cornerstone of the Service-Learning Program (SLP). Through consultations, the SLP increases the number of SL classes available to students, while promoting effective teaching. This year the SL staff skyrocketed the number of faculty consultations from 76 to 172. This is a reflection of SLP’s commitment to supporting faculty, a renewed focus on faculty recruitment, and increased level of support for new faculty (to increase faculty retention). It also reflects consultations with faculty who teach UF (University Foundations) courses. This jump was possible because all three SL staff members consulted with faculty in their separate roles.

SL staff consulted with 83 unique faculty; 24 of which were new to SL. The SL Director, Kara Brascia, consulted with these 24 faculty about SL course design; these consultations resulted in 21 new SL courses, reaching into four new departments (Art History, Computer Science, Music, and Ed-Literacy). During consultations with new faculty, SL staff helped faculty with all the steps for integrating best practices: identifying how community experiences can enhance learning, connecting faculty with community organizations related to their course, optimizing students success throughout the semester, and assessing learning for research and publications.

After consulting with new faculty to plan their SL class, the SL Coordinator of Student Support, Mike Stefancic, also consulted in person with 31 faculty during the semester to offer assistance with reflection, evaluating student progress, community partnership troubleshooting, and assessment. As part of this support, Mike sent “just in time” newsletters which showed a 70% open rate. Also, the SL Coordinator of Faculty and Community Partnerships, Anna Bailey, consulted with 25 returning faculty who contacted her for assistance in recruiting and strengthening community partnerships. After the semester, SL staff met with all new SL faculty to debrief and plan for future semesters.

Service-Learning in STEM SL staff continued to target STEM disciplines as a focus for new SL classes, while strengthening and supporting current STEM SL classes. Staff employed several strategies to generate faculty interest in SL, including collaborating with STEM Station, tying into the WIDER PERSIST, tapping current STEM SL faculty for referrals, and leveraging desirable partnerships with Discovery Center and K-12 STEM teachers. Staff also directly contacted 15 new STEM faculty, and half were open to discussing how SL might fit within their courses. Faculty who declined offered several reasons: time, tenure pressure, research demands, SL planning deadlines in conjunction with grant deadlines, and uncertainty of teaching schedules. SL staff will adjust future recruitment efforts based on this feedback. We are also eager to explore new recruitment opportunities by collaborating with Donna Llewellyn, the new Director of the Institute for STEM and Diversity, as well as with new STEM faculty in ED-CIFS and I Do Teach.

New designation process This year, SLP piloted a new intake process in order to accommodate the increase in new courses that could not be peer reviewed and approved before the Registrar’s early deadline (October 10th for spring; March 10th for fall). Classes can now earn preliminary SL designation after consulting with SL staff and completing SL designation application. Official SL designation will occur after the following: instructor teaches the course, debriefs with SL staff, revises the SL application, and faculty peer reviewers approve the class before it’s offered again. This adjustment in faculty protocol is more faculty focused because it responds to their timeline for course planning.

Assessment and Future Plans There are several ways to assess the effectiveness of faculty consultations. One strategy is to look at how many faculty decided to do service-learning after initial consultations. The results this year were excellent: of 24 new faculty consulted, 20 plan to offer SL classes. Another way to assess faculty consultations is how well the faculty implemented SL in their courses. Starting this year, this was measured by the four SL-related questions included in the campus-wide online Course Assessment. The aggregate response rate was 60%. Data averaged from fall and spring semester indicated: ● 81% of students reported that their instructor integrated SL in a way that enhanced their understanding of course content (increase of 6% from past years); ● 84% of students reported that instructor integrated SL in a way that increased their awareness of community needs (change in 1%) ● 65% of students reported that the instructor integrated SL in a way that helped clarify their career plans. (New question) ● 78% of students reported they would recommend that the instructor continue to use SL in this course. (Newly worded question)

SL staff will continue employing several strategies to recruit faculty and expand SL to reach more students. These include: cultivating “engaged departments,” reaching new faculty at the New Faculty Orientation (NFO), presenting SL to chair and department meetings, and inviting faculty who are “on the verge of SL” to the SL Exhibition. The most fruitful approach has been reaching out to faculty at NFO, coupled with extending personal invitations to the SL Orientation and individual follow-up.

SL Engaged Departments

This year, the SLP explored new strategies for expanding SL opportunities and increasing the number of SL class offerings. One strategy is to cultivate “engaged departments.” The concept is to work with a critical mass of faculty in one department to promote the institutionalization of SL by cultivating a departmental and campus climate which supports SL. This year the SLP strengthened and/or expanded SL in three departments: Foundational Studies Program (FSP), Environmental Studies (ENVSTD), and Social Work (SOCWRK).

To cultivate the engaged departments of FSP, ENVSTD, and SOCWRK, the SL Director and staff focused on five strategies: 1) Strengthen current SL offerings (provide significant and frequent consultations and classroom support to instructors and their courses). Specifically, strengthened SL in 4 ENVSTD sections, 4 UF , and 8 SOCWRK sections. 2) Cultivate and troubleshoot long term community partnerships that fit multiple courses within that department/program. Specifically, we managed partnerships and project postings with 12 ENVSTD community partners (CP)s, 13 FSP CPs, and 24 SOCWRK CPs, including 7 new partnerships. 3) Cultivate/recruit/consult with new faculty in the department (2 for ENVST, 3 for SOCWRK, 6 for FSP) 4) Train and support a SL student leader (or VISTA) to support SL in core courses within the department, and 5) Consult with the Program Directors about refining and expanding SL in the curriculum.

See also section on “Partnership to Support CE in UF200/300” for detailed discussion about additional ways SL staff supported FSP, a particular type of Engaged Department.

Assessment and Future Plans The SLP recognizes the potential of this new strategy, and will continue integrating it into faculty outreach plans. A long term way to assess the Engaged Department strategy is to measure the extent to which SL expands through the curriculum. This expansion will likely follow a culture shift among the faculty which may take a few years to cultivate. In this first year, the SL staff promoted the culture shift by reaching out to new faculty in these departments and strengthening relationships with current SL faculty. SL staff also created efficiencies by promoting common community partnerships within departments, e.g. all SOCWRK 201 faculty work with the same twelve community partners. This increased efficiency also deepens and streamlines the partnerships; this benefits everyone involved. As the SL staff continues to build Engaged Departments, they will investigate models from other campuses, review literature, and schedule strategy meetings with Department Chairs.

Funded Projects Supported by SLP This year 10 faculty received mini-grants from the SLP, totaling $3580. Half of these grants were used to purchase supplies for innovative SL projects, and half were used to send faculty to conferences to present about the SL achievements.

2. Workshops, Institutes, and Faculty Learning Communities

Workshops

This year SLP offered nine workshops, brown bags, and institutes to generate interest in teaching with SL, to deepen understanding of best practices, and to promote SL scholarship. Special topics included workshops focused on SL STEM, SL in online classes, CE in UF200/300, and SL SoTL. This year all three SL staff facilitated workshops, several in collaboration with other programs. SL staff also convened interdisciplinary faculty around community themes, e.g. refugees and autism, to discuss ways they could collaborate.

Workshops offered this year include: ● Introduction to SL in the Curriculum ● Streamlined Community Engagement: The One-Partner Model ● Integrating Experiential Learning in the Classroom ● Service-Learning Faculty Fellows ● "Strive For College" model of Community Engagement ● Integrating Community Engagement in Online Classes ● Community Outreach in STEM classes ● SL Best Practices Institute - seven sessions ● SL Faculty Fellows - SL Scholarship (Casey Keck facilitating) ● Interdisciplinary Collaborations: Education, Community Health and Technology

Assessment and Future Plans: Next year SLP will offer three workshops on best practices, as well as several workshops aimed at UF200/300 instructors as part of CTL’s priority to support FSP. We will also offer at least one workshop or brownbag for advanced SL faculty and one in collaboration with COBE for “live case” SL classes.

SL Best Practices Institute

Building faculty community is an effective strategy for retaining faculty involvement with SL. This year six faculty (3 tenure/tenure-track; 3 lecturer) met weekly for seven weeks to discuss key components of SL and share strategies for applying them to their courses. The SL Director facilitated, along with topic specialists. Outcomes, Assessment, and Future Plans: Faculty surveys and debriefings suggested that faculty valued the discussion/sharing format; they learned from each other's challenges and insights, and gained from hearing about the variety of SL approaches, models, and courses. Faculty currently teaching (as opposed to those yet to teach with SL) gained the most. Next year SL staff will offer it again with the same format, but with more application activities. In coming years, SL staff may offer a separate planning institute for faculty with no SL experience.

Faculty Learning Community Programs

The Service-Learning Faculty Fellows Program brings together an interdisciplinary group of faculty for a year-long collaboration to develop, plan, and carry out a research project which examines service-learning in the context of their own class or discipline. An experienced SL faculty, Casey Keck, facilitated the group. Three faculty participated (2 tenure/tenure track, 1 lecturer). Participants read and discussed published service-learning research and participated in two workshops (one on data collection and analysis techniques and one session on presenting findings to a larger audience). The participants completed service-learning research projects and presented their findings at the Service Learning Poster Exhibition on April 23, 2015.

Assessment and future plans Participants highlighted several benefits of the Faculty Fellows program in their final reflections at the end of the semester:

● Opportunity to familiarize oneself with service-learning publications and recent scholarship ● Opportunity to reflect on one's own service learning practices and to learn more about service learning across disciplines ● Opportunity to receive feedback and support from peers

(Participants noted that they would not have been able to carry out their research projects were it not for the structure and support of the Faculty Fellows program.) Next year the SLP will offer a similar faculty learning community focused on SL scholarship. This responds to needs of advanced SL faculty who are looking for the next step. SL staff will explore new avenues to market the opportunity to experienced SL faculty.

3. Service-Learning Poster Exhibition and Faculty/Community Partner Mixer

The biannual SL Exhibition is a signature project and shining star for the SL Program. The Faculty & Community Partner Mixer aspect of this biannual SL Exhibition provides an opportunity for faculty to meet community partners to discuss SL projects and build relationships. The networking and recognition also helps retain faculty and facilitate their deeper engagement with SL. In addition, faculty and campus leaders see the variety of SL models and observe SL’s added value. Students benefit through the process of poster creation, reflection, presentation and an opportunity to network with community partners and faculty members. Stakeholder participation promotes the institutionalization of SL which cultivates a campus climate that supports community engaged teaching and learning.

A quote from Stacy Pearson, the VP for Finance and Administration, demonstrates the value of this event: “I attended the poster presentations briefly last week and was really impressed with the students and with what they had accomplished. This is exactly the type of impact that Boise State students should be having on our community. Beneficial to the community, broadening students perspectives and great for the University's reputation.”

The two SL exhibitions this year connected 68 faculty members with 51 community partners. For many faculty and community partners, this is the only event that they have a chance to meet, build rapport, and discuss mutual goals. Many faculty have a great sense of pride in having their students’ work showcased at such an event. In FY15, poster submissions increased by 30%, totaling 167 posters submitted, with all colleges represented. In years past, documenting student attendance was a challenge. With the integration of OrgSync as a event management tool, the SLP marked participation for 146 students who were engaged and committed to their learning. Following the exhibition, the best- in-show posters, representing all of the campus colleges, were displayed in the Center for Teaching and Learning to highlight the diversity of work service-learning accomplished in one semester.

Assessment and Future Plans The increased interest in the SL exhibition caused the SL staff to revisit the poster criteria designed to promote reflection and demonstrate learning. Revising poster content has also served as a catalyst to build collaborations with the Student Research Program and the campus-wide badge initiative. The adjustment in poster content will allow students to take their accomplishments further and lead to other opportunities in experiential learning. Increased participation has required more resources for printing posters, as well as more reliable access to a plotter. The CTL’s plan to purchased a plotter printer will allow the SLP to highlight and honor even more student work.

4. Community Partnership Development

An important goal of SLP is to address and strengthen our responsiveness to community- identified needs. To achieve this goal, the new Coordinator for Faculty and Community Partnerships, Anna Bailey, assessed current community partners (hereinafter CP), restructured CP support programs, and re-integrated best practices into SL workflow.

Assessment is critical to the development and maintenance of strong, mutually beneficial relationships between community organizations and SL. To insure that SL partnerships are meeting community needs, Anna Bailey conducted 40 site visits, provided ongoing consultations, and administered mid-semester check-ins with 75 active community partners. In the SLP’s year- end assessment, 94% of community partners noted that SL has become critical to their ability to meet community needs. As Emily Kovarik of Boise Parks and Rec noted, “We could not run our programs in adaptive recreation - from Wheelchair basketball to cooking classes - without Service-Learning students.”

In addition to assessing SL community partnerships, the SL staff revisited the entire CP support program to insure it aligned with national best practices for campus/community partnerships. Once best practices for campus/community partnerships were identified through research and consultations with other SL programs, SL staff integrated these practices into SL workflow with the help of the SL VISTA. The VISTA, Jessica Gordon, herself a former CP, incorporated best practices into CP support processes, using assessment data to improve CP resources, from designing new reference guides to completing a comprehensive update of the community partner resources on the SL webpage. Jessica then streamlined workflow, including the implementation of a new system for soliciting and posting service projects.

Future Plans: Moving forward, the SL program will align CP outreach with high priority community needs, as identified by the City of Boise and the United Way’s Community Needs Assessment. The SLP will focus its outreach on Boise State’s priorities of Nampa/Caldwell K-12 outreach, and the City of Boise’s Energize our Neighborhood Vista project.

5. Faculty and Community Partner Support

Faculty consistently report that one of the most critical services SLP provides is identifying/developing SL experiences and managing community partnerships. Community partners (CPs) need SL staff support to navigate faculty culture, student needs, and semester timelines. To meet faculty needs, SL staff listen to faculty learning goals, recruit CPs, screen proposed projects, and facilitate faculty and community partner conversations, often coordinating faculty visits to community partners and bringing community organizations to campus.

SL staff pay special attention to issues of sustainability and reciprocity, and to developing partnerships beyond one-time, transactional arrangements. To promote the development of long- term, sustainable partnerships between faculty and community organizations, Anna Bailey piloted five SWOT analyses for faculty and community partners. These meetings allowed both faculty and community partners to express challenges and successes in their current partnerships; it is also proved to be an effective tool for strengthening and maintaining partnerships.

Outcomes, Assessment, and Future Plans To assess SLP’s support of CPs, Anna conducted two focus groups with select CPs and sent out a program assessment survey to all CPs. Assessment data suggests that faculty are struggling to maintain relationships with CPs, and therefore the SL role as facilitator remains essential to maintaining faculty and community partner connections. Future feedback from CPs will be used to set program priorities and adjust workflow. 6. Student Support The SLP wants every SL student to succeed. Students learn best in environments where they feel supported, safe, connected to the material, and connected to each other. For many students, SL is an unfamiliar way of learning, and many benefit from extra support, especially when the instructor or community partner is trying SL for the first time. The SLP uses six strategies to support students and help them succeed with their SL experience:

1. In-classroom support, 2. Community embedded support, 3. Student consultation (via email and drop in), 4. Early outreach, 5. Digital communication, and 6. Online project registration and tracking (OrgSync).

This year SL staff streamlined the project registration process and time submittal process via OrgSync, and increased the reflective practice in and outside of the classroom. In addition to these specific actions, SL continued to collaborate with advisors and student affairs to create a positive view of service-learning.

Support In classroom support SL staff support students in their classrooms in two specific ways: in-class presentations and reflection facilitation. Presentations This year SL staff conducted 44 classroom presentations to orient students to service-learning logistics and benefits. These presentations help students connect with a staff member, address any immediate concerns, and clarify next steps. This has been a practice since our inception and continues to allow us to build rapport with students and help to meet them where they are. Reflection Demand for in-class reflections increased this past year by ten-fold. In total, Mike consulted with 20 faculty members on integrating activity-based reflections in their classroom. These consultations resulted in SL staff modeling reflection techniques for faculty. Surveys found that 78% of student who participated reported that they would recommend these activities to future students; 62% students reported that the reflections helped them make connections to course content. Reflections allow SLP to model an active learning strategy and provide an additional pedagogical tool for SL faculty.

Community embedded support Another cornerstone of student support is the SLP’s “service-learning student leaders” (SL2) program. For the past four years, SL staff placed four student leaders at high-need community partner locations to provide on-site support and coordinate SL students. This year, SL2s focused on reflective practices for themselves as well as with their students. For example, the Boys and Girls Club of Ada County SL2 facilitated daily reflection for each of her SL students. SL2s also participated in reflection discussion on a quarterly basis which culminated in the creation of posters for the end of the spring semester SL Exhibition. SL staff also expanded the SL2 program to the Boise Urban Garden School (BUGS), which doubled the amount of SL students this agency could support. In addition, SLP supported multiple UF200/300 sections serving refugees at the Agency for New Americans through our SL2 employees. In total our four sites supported 190 SL students. At the sites that there are not SL2s, SL student staff attended 16 community partner’s orientations to answer specific questions. Consultation SLP supports individual SL students who drop in at the office or contact us via email or phone. The front desk student staff (aka Service-Learning Ambassadors or SLAs) supported 153 separate student consultations (down 48% from the previous years). This decrease can be attributed to the improved OrgSync functionality and intuitive project registration, our SL2s on-site support, and the training of departmental T.A.s to preemptively address SL questions.

Early Outreach and Collaboration Our continued focus on student success includes creating a positive image of service-learning in students’ minds before they encounter an SL class. Our outreach involved collaboration with the Academic Advising and Enhancement and New Student and Family Programs. SL staff presented at Advising Matters Day in the Fall of 2014, served on a panel of experiential learning opportunities in January of 2015 for Major Madness, and staffed marketing booth at 17 resources fairs during summer 2014 and winter 2015. In addition, Mike partnered with SILC to reach out to students via the Volunteer Expo, Service Summit, and Student Leadership Symposium.

Digital Communication In addition to in-person methods to support students, SL staff provided access to digital resources at timely points of the semester through email newsletters to students and faculty. In both newsletters, SL observed above a 76% open rate that leads SL staff to believe the resources provided are beneficial to students and faculty at key points in the process of their service- learning experiences. We will continue to use this method and track its use with the goal of providing just-in-time support at their fingertips.

Online project registration. See Section on OrgSync below.

Future Plans SLP’s student support programs are thriving because of high capacity, dedicated staff and strong infrastructure. In the future SL staff will be identifying and assessing which student support practices have the most impact on student success and how to measure them. Next year we will assess the impact of our support systems on a small sample of SL classes which tap multiple student support resources.

7. Community Work Study (CWS) Program

Community work study (CWS) program connects work-study students and community partners through capacity building jobs that reciprocally move each other towards their goals. This year the program provided 46 students with meaningful employment at 21 nonprofit organizations, where they develop workplace skills relevant to their major and to future CE.

Coordinating one of the campus’ largest student employment program is challenging yet important. This year Mike Stefancic and Eric Fieldstad focused on building a sustainable program by developing a mission, diversifying employment opportunities, launching student development measures, benchmarks for student development, and adjusting to a new hiring system to make the program a more reciprocal with community partners.. Eric Fieldstad, the new Graduate Assistant (GA), brought great organization skills to help the SLP meet the goal of making the program more sustainable. Mike and Eric successfully overcame four big challenges this year: high turnover rates in student workers, small applicant pools, adjusting to Human Resources’ new and complex hiring system, and managing CWS large allocation. They also launched new student development measures that asked more of students and community partners.

SLP’s successful budget management of CWS lead to additional work study funds for Boise State. Last year’s success resulted in an additional $10,000 for CWS this year. Eric and Mike met that goal spending 93% of our $97,100 allocation for this fiscal year, 100% of which goes to student paychecks, not administrative costs. This large allocation makes CWS one of the largest student employment programs on campus and the only work-study community based employment program.

Due to additional funding, CWS partnerships needed to be restructured. Mike and Eric opened the program to new partnerships through a community needs application. Through this application process and assessment they brought on 5 new community partners which represented new community focus areas in health and employment skills development. These new partners brought a more diversified portfolio of employers; the portfolio now includes agencies which address all SLP focus areas: Health, Youth Asset Building, Education, Intercultural Connections and Environmental Stewardship. The increase in opportunities allowed the program to employ 46 students this year at 21 community agencies compared to last year with 33 students at 16 agencies.

Student development and ULOs During Fiscal year 2013-2014 Mike assessed the skills developed by students that align with our University Learning Objectives and National Survey of Student Engagement high impact practices which confirmed that students were developing all of the ULOs through their work. Based on our survey he focused on students being able to articulate these skills in their resume. The program partnered with the Career Center to offer a workshop and used a goal sheet to document student development. Students completed this goal sheet in conjunction with their supervisor to facilitate personal growth that aligns with the community need.

Ten students completed the completed goal sheets. For those students and community partners that adopted the goal sheet we gained stronger relationships with the students and specific feedback from the agency. In April the program partnered with the Career Center to host a workshop to help students articulate their skills gained from CWS, framed with the Career Center’s research and Make College Count. The workshop was only attended by 8 students but all of them anecdotally reported benefiting from attending this session and looked forward to more. Next year Mike will be working towards increasing the adoption of these student development measures through additional workshops scaffolded over the course of the year to increase adoption and value for students.

Future plans For the next fiscal year Mike and the new GA Melinda Gauthier-Baderman will be focusing on strengthening our applicant pool with more direct marketing to specific majors, using social media (twitter, facebook, and linkedIn) and Arbiter articles. Next year they plan to provide more opportunities through goal development, skill articulation, and resume building workshops for CWS students in conjunction with community partners. These steps will further the sustainability of the community work-study program in its mission to build capacity and reciprocal relationships between students and community partners.

. 8. Infrastructure in Support of Effective Teaching & Learning

OrgSync

OrgSync allows the SLP to effectively support, track, match, and assess over 2,400 students, 85 CPs, 80 faculty, and 136 classes through a robust and reliable database. Mike successfully developed OrgSync as tool for community engagement on the Boise State campus through testing and focus group recommendations. Through his collaborations, Mike increased departmental adoption of the OrgSync platform with Student Involvement and Leadership Center (SILC) and other programs to manage and engage students on campus. Specifically, Mike guided the onboarding of the Academic Affairs umbrella with CTL and IDEA shop making OrgSync a more sustainable database option for the campus. Mike also coordinated a multi-university SL OrgSync user-group that effectively advocated for system improvements that will better serve SL students, faculty, and CPs. The group continues to grow, and has gained respect by OrgSync as a focus group for new feature development.

Assessment During Fall 2014, Mike conducted focus groups and a survey to gain SL feedback from students using OrgSync. The focus groups were conducted in three different classes at three different times during the sixth week of school (Sept 29th – Oct. 3rd). Fifty-two students participated in total. Mike sent the electronic survey to all SL students in fall semester (1,200) during the month of October. He received 107 responses from students. They reported overwhelmingly (>90%) that logging into OrgSync, submitting time, and registering for an SL project was a positive experience. Results can be found in the appendix.

Future Plans The Service-Learning Program responded to student feedback by making some immediate changes. Those changes include: increasing the visibility of the “submit time” link; providing a map of Community Partners; encouraging faculty to post links to OrgSync (portal and time submittal) on BlackBoard; providing a guide on how to view and what you should do if you need to edit time; moved orientations up on the description page for quick viewing. Some of the changes that were recommended are outside of SL staff immediate control and will require close collaboration with OrgSync to make changes to the whole system. Currently Mike is working with other Universities to address these challenges. Those topics include: registering for orientations and shifts, sorting projects, simplifying the timesheet page, and adding more iPhone App features.

9. Other Partnerships, Programs & Initiatives

Experiential Learning Hub

This year the SL staff were eager to collaborate with other experiential learning programs around a new initiative: the Experiential Learning Hub, which provides multiple on-ramps to high impact practices. During the summer of 2014 the Coordinators of Student Support from SLP and ILO met to identify programmatic synergies. The collaboration was solidified during the fall semester with the leadership of Corrine Henke, and with full participation from ILO and SLP staff. Through this partnership the programs developed cross-department marketing materials (handouts, banner, tabling resources) highlighting the common mission of experience learning opportunities and promoting a unified resource to help students build on their experiences. Assessment and Future Plans Next year the experiential learning hub will collaborate in new ways to provide resources and pathways for students in high impact experiential education. Specifically, in the summer SL staff will collaborate with ILO and SRI to co-present to incoming students about programmatic support for students in developing skills for future employers. In the spring SL staff will take the lead on coordinating a faculty development event with an experiential learning keynote and breakout sessions.

Partnerships to support CE in UF200/300

As part of SLP’s efforts to expand opportunities for Service-Learning across disciplines and to cultivate a campus climate which supports community-engaged teaching and learning environments, the SLP eagerly contributed significant staff time to support the Civic Engagement (CE) requirement for all sections of UF200 and UF300. The SLP’s approach has been to proactively plan for the potential impact that 2,000 UF students could have on the community. A large volume of students can add value; however they could also strain community partners, as when too many students contacted a refugee resettlement organization asking for interviews. Treasure Valley Volunteer Coalition members did express concerns that they might receive requests from unmanageable numbers of students seeking opportunities. To build capacity for large volumes of student CE, SL Director filled the open Coordinator position with a candidate with UF200 teaching experience (Anna Bailey). Anna bridged the needs of community partners with needs of UF faculty and students.

Specifically, to support CE in UF200/300 while considering community impact, the SL staff: - provided faculty development through individual consultations, workshops, and resource guides, including: - Consultations with (17) UF faculty about CE options - Presented CE options at two UF faculty meetings - Facilitated two CE workshops designed for UF200/300 instructors - Created a handout for UF 200/300 on CE options - Collaborated to create a guide for completing CE for online classes - provided student support, including: - conducted classroom presentations to 20 UF classes about CE options and how to get started (600 students) - adapted SLP software (OrgSync) to support large volumes of UF200/300 students seeking CE projects; designed and managed special portal for UF students - recruited and coordinated community partnerships and projects for UF classes: - developed and managed 13 “Costco-model” CE service projects with 13 community partners - helped CPs develop orientations specific for UF200/300 students (short-term CE) - facilitated students signing up for projects, yielding rosters for CPs - followed up with CPs to assess how short term CE model impacted CPs - secured funding for a full-time VISTA to support CE in UF200/300 (to work collaboratively with FSP and SLP, focused on UF200/300)

In addition, SL staff (Anna Bailey) collaborated with Riley Caldwell-O’Keefe and new CE VISTA to plan focus groups of UF faculty and students to assess how various CE models fit the needs of students and instructors. Anna conducted informal focus groups with community partners.

The accomplishments of the CE VISTA included: ● (24) faculty interviews ● (2) focus groups ● A summary of the findings from the CE interviews and student focus groups and a presentation to UF faculty in the CE workshop ● Tri-folds explaining CE to UF faculty and students ● UF course design workshop as a CE consultant

Future Plans:

Through consistent collaboration between the SLP and FSP staff, FSP developed and clarified a new strategy and vision. This lead to a new role for SL staff. In the new arrangement:

- SL staff will act as consultants for UF faculty who would like to work with community partners, as well as offer workshops about community partnership models and tips. FSP requested the SLP no longer recruit/coordinate CE projects nor facilitate students signing up; there are two reasons for discontinuing these initiatives: 1) they are very time intensive for SLP, and 2) they are not aligned with FSP’s CE strategy.

- The Foundational Studies Program will provide faculty CE consultation, new on-line resources, and in-class presentations about CE. They will also direct students to a new platform to connect students with CE opportunities.

The SLP looks forward to continued collaboration with FSP and the CTL to support CE in this important new core curriculum.

10. Campus Initiatives and Service to the Campus Community

Campus Committee and Departmental Service SLP collaborates with other programs to cultivate a campus climate which supports community engaged teaching and learning environments. Specifically, this year SL staff contribute their civic engagement networks and expertise to several other campus programs. These include: - Experiential Learning Hub (International Learning, SRI, and Internships) (All staff are collaborators; see specifics under Exp learning Hub) - Badge implementation team (Kara Brascia with Mike Stefancic) - Family Studies Advisory Board (Kara Brascia) - Nonprofit Minor Advisory Board (Kara Brascia) - Academic Advising and Enhancement (Mike Stefancic, frequent consultant and presenter) - Arts and Humanities Institute’s Idea of Nature Series (Jessica Gordan, VISTA) - Student Involvement and Leadership (Mike Stefancic collaborated with SILC on several events) - Shared Leadership (Mike Stefancic) - STEM Station (Kara Brascia consulted with external evaluator) - Transportation & Parking Services (Kara Brascia negotiated 6 free shuttles) - Refugee Resettlement Team (Kara Brascia, chairs the interdisciplinary campus/community group) - Office of Risk Management (RM) (Kara convened SLP, FSP, and RM to clarify risk management for CE) - Boise State Writing Project (Kara secured $60,000 donation for SL mentoring institute for teachers) Campus Advocacy The SLP looks for opportunities to advance and celebrate CE on campus. Results from last year’s campus advocacy came in: Boise State was granted two national awards for community engagement: the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll and the Carnegie Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement. Service-Learning was a central feature of both awards. These national distinctions resulted in high visibility for the Service-Learning Program, including recognition from two vice presidents. This increased visibility is a product of last year’s efforts to create a climate supportive for community engagement, e.g. co-writing the campus’ application for the Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement, and helping launch the Community Engagement Network.

In FY15 the SL Director supported the onboarding of Boise States new Community Relations Director, Roger Brown, in helping him understand the campus climate and culture supporting community engagement. With Roger in place, the Director re-focused on SL faculty recruitment and development while continuing to support cross-campus collaboration to design a scaffold of student civic engagement activities based on student development continuum.

Campus Presentations and Training SL staff eagerly shared their expertise in volunteerism, social change, reflection, and other community engagement specialties via campus committees. See also sections on “Workshops” and “Supporting UF200/300” “Student Support” and “Professional Service”for other trainings and presentations.

Baty, A., Baugher, A., Mahn, E., and Stefancic, M., (August 2014) Service Summit at Boise State University. Boise, ID.

Babinkostova, L., Evans, A., Henke, C., Stefancic, M., and Varland, C. (January 2015). Experiential learning panel for Major Madness at Boise State University. Boise, ID. Stefancic, M. (January 2015). To Be of Service. Student Leadership Symposium Boise State University. Boise, ID.

Caldwell-Okeefe, R., Chen, K. Z., and Stefancic, M. (January 2015) Online Community Engagement Toolkit. Poster Presented at Great Idea Symposium. Boise, ID

Stefancic, M. and K. Brascia (2015). Toolkits for Facilitating Group Volunteer Projects. Presented at Dusty Bodie’s MGMT 410 class.

11. SL Beyond the Blue

Publications and Conference Presentations

Stefancic, M. (2015, February). Mirror Mirror on the Wall, Why Reflect at all? Presented at Serve Idaho Conference 2015, Boise, ID.

Brascia, K. and Stefancic, M. (2015, February). Toolkits for Facilitating Group Volunteer Projects. Presented at Serve Idaho Conference 2015, Boise, ID

Stefancic, M. (2015, April) Coming Full Circle with Feedback as an Assessment Tool. Webinar for OrgSync Learn Forward Series. Kaupins, G., Spear, C, and K. Brascia (2015, February). Tapping Higher Education Resources to Expand Nonprofit Capacity. Presented at Serve Idaho Conference 2015, Boise, ID

Professional Service

SL staff are in a unique position to bridge the campus and community. SL staff often contribute their campus knowledge and networks to help advance community initiatives. This year SL staff represented Boise State on various Treasure Valley community boards, including: - City of Boise’s Vista Neighborhood “Energize Vista” initiative - SWIDOVS (Southwest Idaho Directors of Volunteers) - Treasure Valley Volunteer Coalition - Governor’s Commission for Service and Volunteerism

The SL Director accepted a two year term as a Commissioner on the Governor’s Commission for Community Service and Volunteerism (aka “Serve Idaho) to represent Idaho’s higher education institutions. In this role Kara recruited a senior level Marketing class to work with the Governor’s Commission to design three statewide campaigns to promote “volunteerism as pathway to employment.”

Kara Brascia continued to serve as chairperson of the campus/community Refugee Resettlement Team. In this role Kara collaborated with four refugee agencies to plan how Boise State can assist with Boise City’s refugee resettlement plan. This year Kara convened 10 refugee community agency representatives to meet with faculty and staff to advance collaborative projects.

SL staff presented twice to the professional association of Southwest Idaho’s Directors of Volunteers (SWIDOVS). Kara presented, “How to recruit college clubs for group volunteer projects” and Anna presented, “Best Practices for Implementing Service-Learning Projects”

SL staff bolstered Strive for College programming by providing ½ time support staff (the VISTA), and by actively troubleshooting, supporting, and promoting the Strive program.

Mike presented at two community organizations: Stefancic, M. (May 2015). Leadership Compass. Staff meeting at Peer Wellness Center . Boise, ID Stefancic, M. (April 2015). Mirror Mirror on the Wall Why Reflect at all. Serve Idaho Monthly Staff meeting. Boise, ID Comprehensive Summary of Service-Learning Programming 2014-15

a. Course Data 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Total SL Courses 126 134 136 Number of courses taught for the first time (new 21 14 21 prep) Departments offering SL courses 33 24 39 New Departments offering SL courses 6 1 4 Colleges offering SL courses 7 7 7 b. Service-Learning Faculty & Support 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Faculty teaching SL courses 63 69 80 Faculty new to teaching SL courses 18 11 14 SL Faculty consultations (conducted by SL staff); 46 46 51

Unique faculty 46 46 51 Total consultations(includes 17 with UF) 107 76 172 Site visits (SL staff take faculty to CPs) 23 30 10

Faculty attendances at SL workshops/roundtables 49 83 94 Average workshop evaluation by participants 6.2 N.A. 5.71 (scale 1-7) c. Community Partners 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Total number of community partners 132 86 83 SL projects – Summer 45 18 ? SL projects – Fall 169 120 95 SL projects – Spring 161 131 125 Site visits to CPs 91 68 40 d. SL Students 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Number of SL students 2466 2391 2,485 Total hours of service 49,120 53,710 59,227 Number (and percent) of SL students receiving in- 1366 X- data not X- data not person, classroom-based support collected collected Number of classroom visits for orientation or 45 54 56 reflection e. Community Work-Study 2012-2013 2013-2014 2014-2015 Total Community Work-Study funded students 53 33* 46 Students placed in Family Literacy Program 24 14* 16 Students placed in Community Work Study 22 11* 15 fieldwork

Students placed as SL2 to coordinate SLers at 4 5 4 CPs Number of agencies and schools partnered with 16 16 21 FLP and CWS f. Grant funds and Donations Secured $10,000 (20,000) ($60,000) +$40K VISTA +$80K VISTAx2

OrgSync Focus Group Responses Fall 2014

Question Logging in to Submitting Time via Registering for SL Projects OrgSync OrgSync via OrgSync Responses’ Positive Negative Positive Negative Positive Negative group Count of 35 4 14 20 27 25 Responses Common It was No Easy to find; Sometimes Easy to find I can’t sort all Responses easy; no connecte ability to have to enter what you’re of the trouble; d to record hours twice; looking for; opportunities it was blackboa reflections; not sure if Lots of by time, the same rd; I let’s you my hours are options; I location or as my have to know they in the right can see how topic; limited Boise put my received it; place; link many spots choices and State passwor Quick and was too far are left; I open spots; I Account; d in Easy; linked down the like the couldn’t tell straight every on my class class page; email which forward; time; page; the app confirming organization quick have to doesn’t that I’ve was which; I scroll allow you complete couldn’t through submit time; the process; register a list of I can’t edit doesn’t ask because I schools; time if I’ve a ton of needed to be made a questions; added; It mistake; too quick and didn’t work- many blank simple; the agency spots to fill intuitive; didn’t have in; don’t Student record of me; know if time initiated shows rounds down project projects that or up; link in walked me already Black Board through booked; each Student questions initiated project questions were redundant; too many things to pick through;