Education in Action:
Mobilizing the next generation for social reform
An Experiential Learning Conference

sponsored by Sixth College, University of California, San Diego
In collaboration with Warren College

DATE: January 26, 2012
Cross-Cultural Center, UC San Diego

Organizers: Diane Forbes Berthoud, Practicum Director, Sixth College, Jim Lin, Acting Provost, Sixth College, and Liz Losh, Director of Academic Programs, Sixth College.

Today's college students, a decade into the millennium, have come of age in a post-9/11 world, characterized by multiple wars and divisions, a dismal economic climate, high unemployment, and significant political, social, technological, and cultural shifts in our global society. Read more...

The portrait of this college generation is promising. Social scientific research contends that they possess the distinctive and admirable attributes to be effective leaders who are trail blazers of social reform. Among these attributes are creativity and entrepreneurship, more positive attitudes and engagement in community service and volunteerism, appreciation of diversity, and openness to new and challenging ideological forms. Students are often looking for career choices where they can make a significant contribution to society, but are often discouraged by the dismal economic climate.

Recent reports by the American Association of Colleges and Universities (AAC&U), the Pew Research Center, and other research institutions recognize that colleges and universities are uniquely positioned to prepare the next generation to be effective citizens who are equipped to function and thrive in an increasingly complex and diverse world. At a recent policy summit on the economy, Secretary of State Clinton articulated important steps in a path toward the Participation Age -- where every individual has the opportunity to be a contributing and valued member of the global marketplace.

Higher education leaders have turned their attention to experiential learning as a pedagogical tool and resource in the last few decades, contributing to the academic, intellectual, and social growth of young people. Through experiential pedagogies, students can become contributing and valued members of society, as they develop leadership skills, social responsibility, and commitment to public/human service. The University of California, San Diego has had investment in connecting the academy to the community to give our students that cutting edge in the marketplace, to enhance teaching and research, and to contribute to the making of a new generation that is more interconnected and aware.

Researchers and practitioners continue to struggle with many questions concerning experiential learning such as: Why does experiential learning remain on the periphery of higher education? And how might educators address the challenge to shift its location to be a more central component of academic life? Other questions concern the institutionalization of experiential learning, the complex dynamics of university-community partnerships and collaborations, and the impact of the current economic climate on service-learning efforts in higher education. Of particular interest are the intersections and tensions among interests, organizational cultures, conflict, and power. How do institutions and communities negotiate competing interests for mutual benefit? How can communities and universities work effectively towards a balance of power and a mutual exchange of knowledge and resources? How do we mobilize more students to become involved in experiential learning on their campuses? How are universities managing assessment initiatives?

The purpose of this conference is to bring together the many groups on campus that create experiential learning opportunities for UCSD students. We seek to engage participants interested in the development of experiential learning pedagogies to join us for a day of dialogue about best practices and strategies that enhance research and teaching.

Panel submissions may be organized around the following themes related to Experiential Learning in Higher Education: Civic engagement, Technology/Digital Literacy, the Arts, Leadership development, Higher Education challenges, Public Health, Economic climate, Student Development, STEM discipline engagement and many more.

The goals of the conference are to:

Develop strategies for building experiential learning initiatives in higher education
Provide a global picture of the experiential learning resources and benefits at UCSD and other higher education institutions
Increase opportunities for collaboration and networking among those engaged in experiential learning in its various forms
Foster more institutional dialogue about how 'service' might count as 'research'
Learn more about the impact of experiential learning on students, higher education, and the community
Collaborate with students who have been both campus or community partners in experiential learning initiatives
Explain how experiential learning can help students to clarify their career goals
Help faculty to create new experiential learning environments
To create a framework where undergraduate education includes experiential learning as an essential element

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The Deadline for proposal submission has passed.

To register for the conference, click here.

UCSD's Sixth College invited submissions of individual and panel proposals from university and community college instructors, employers, practitioners, students, community organizations, activists, and others who are interested in Experiential Learning. Read more...

We are particularly interested in proposals that focus on the transformative elements of experiential learning for students, alumni, faculty, employers, and the community. We are also particularly interested in best practices in experiential learning.

Possible Presentations from Students:

When you began your practicum experience, what did you know? After your practicum experience, what did you learn?
Describe an internship or practicum experience that helped you
1. develop critical thinking skills and problem solving skills
2. raise your awareness and understanding of how to contribute to a culturally diverse world
3. use your disciplinary knowledge and experiences to be effective in addressing societal problems
4. identify your core personal values
Describe a practicum or internship experience that touched, moved and inspired you to take action.

Discussion: Psychosocial well being is a term used by the American Association of Colleges and Universities to refer to such characteristics as purpose in life, supportive social relationships, positive mental health, and optimism about the future. The AACU notes that although many students are academically successful, they can be somewhat disengaged and passive learners in the classroom. A practicum or internship often requires students to become active learners in a community setting who are more motivated and inspired about their learning experience.

Presentations from Faculty, Staff, Community, Employers and Alumni:

The organizers would like descriptions of experiential learning projects by faculty, staff, community, employers and alumni to include a number of students who would talk about the impact of their having participated.

Possible topics might include:

Describe a project or internship opportunity and its transformative impact on students, community and yourself.
Describe how your project assists in retention of underrepresented students.
Describe how your project encourages people to work cooperatively in groups and increases students abilities to think about complex real world issues.
Describe how your project encourages faculty members or staff from diverse disciplines to integrate their skills to find solutions.
Describe how your project promotes better relations with underserved communities.
Describe the benefits of engaging in a project that sends students abroad.
Describe methods you have used to assess the value of your experiential learning project.

Individual and Panel Proposals accepted.

Individual Proposals: Provide a 250- to 300-word abstract of the proposed paper and include a one sentence description of the paper for the conference program.

Panels: Provide a 250- to 300-word abstract of the panel, the panel title, and the paper titles. Also include a one sentence description of your panel and of each paper for the conference program. Provide a chair/respondent, if possible.

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SCHEDULE
8:00-8:30	Registration at the Cross Cultural Center, Price Center
8:30-8:50	Opening Remarks – Comunidad Room • Jim Lin, Former Acting Provost, Sixth College, UCSD • Diane Forbes, Practicum Director, Sixth College, UCSD
9:00-10:15	Session A A1 :: Comunidad Room Experiential Learning in the Arts Learning cognitive ethnography by studying choreography, David Kirsh, UCSD Professor David Kirsh, Cognitive Science, UCSD A class was created to recruit students' help in capturing and then coding the process of a noted choreographer creating a major new dance. Abstract: In a special hands on class originally created to study the dance making process of the noted choreographer, Wayne McGregor in 2009, 25 students sat raptly in Mandeville auditorium taking notes on their appointed subject. After we collected the video from 7 videocameras after three weeks of taping, the students began the thoughtful task of coding the video, looking for cognitive phenomena that reveal how cognition is distributed across a team of ten dancers, one associate choreographer and the choreographer himself. The process of coding video and analyzing the dance company’s behavior has become an annual task, as the PI freshly collects new creations each year. The students love it and they learn research in the trenches. The science has been excellent and reported internationally. We will discuss how the class is organized, the support students require to learn to code, the diversity of their projects, and the sort of alliance that has sprung up between a project that is now NSF funded and students from subjects across the UCSD campus. CLOSE section Criss Crossing Interdisciplinary Learning in and out of Institutional Space, Kate Clark, UCSD Kate Clark, Master of Fine Arts, UCSD A presentation of city-wide cross disciplinary learning initiatives inside and outside of institutional settings. Abstract: I would like to share a 15-minute PowerPoint presentation that illustrates my process of programming educational projects that bridge the gap between informal, public settings and institutional academic environments. As part of my discussion, I would like to also example similar learning initiatives in the US. As a resident artist through Honfleur Gallery and the National Endowment for the Arts in Washington DC, I worked with university professors, librarians, community organizers, museum education developers and artists organizing a free, cross disciplinary school called Knowledge Commons DC (KCDC). As a floating school hosted throughout public spaces, universities, and community centers, KCDC is dedicated to forging unusual intersections and conversations by providing a platform for free and hospitable knowledge sharing, organized through a website platform and community outreach. Knowledge Commons DC repurposes existing resources by using spaces as diverse as public parks and Metro cars as classrooms, where anyone can serve as student or teacher. We connect strangers through their common curiosities and passions in order to encourage lively, interdisciplinary and cross-generational learning, where teachers as wide ranging from university professors, dancers, evolutionary biologists, economists, and human rights activists have facilitated courses. KCDC is now a project of George Mason University’s Provisions Library for Arts and Social Change. Since I have moved to San Diego to pursue my Masters of Fine Arts degree, I have continued to collaborate with this education project by synthesizing it with my academic work at UCSD. Thus far, I have organized two international lectures that have taken place on live internet video forums projected in the UCSD Visual Arts Facility Performance Space, giving UCSD undergraduate and graduate students the opportunity to engage in conversations with scholars from all corners of the globe. CLOSE section Social Action Theatre: An infusion of the performing arts with social justice education, Brett Robertson, UCSD Brett Robertson The Social Action Theatre program at UC San Diego is an experiential learning opportunity for students to practice theatre skills in conjunction with social justice education. Abstract: Social Action Theatre is a yearlong leadership program offered by the Center for Student Involvement (CSI) Communication and Leadership. The program provides students the opportunity to engage in social change through theatre and facilitation. This community outreach program serves to educate the UC San Diego and surrounding community on social issues such as bias and inequality, multicultural awareness, and social justice. Students gain experience in theatre via acting, script writing, community outreach, marketing, and teamwork, thereby deepening their communication and leadership skills. Students also demonstrate increased self-awareness and knowledge of diversity and contemporary social justice issues and learn how to be effective facilitators of dialogue. Lastly, participants increase their sense of belonging in the UC San Diego community and make lasting connections with their peers. The annual program cycle begins with the hiring of a Student Director in the fall, which provides a leadership development opportunity for a theatre student to learn and practice theatre direction skills. The troupe is assembled and rehearsals run weekly until spring. The program culminates with a performance during spring quarter in conjunction with the annual Hate Free Campus Campaign. The troupe performs a series of satirical skits that dramatize the impact of stereotypes and bias on individuals and on campus climate. Student actors also share their personal testimonials and experiences of facing discrimination and prejudice. Lastly, the troupe engages the audience in reflective dialogue following the performance. Social Action Theatre has learning outcomes for both the troupe members and the audience goers and assessment to date has largely focused on the collection of qualitative data. Before departing for the evening, audience members complete a personal reflection and commit to taking action in order to make UC San Diego a more welcoming and inclusive community. CLOSE section Production studio as Experiential Learning Lab, Michael Trigilio, UCSD Professor Michael Trigilio, Visual Arts Department, UCSD My classroom often behaves less like a "class," than a ribald production & discussion laboratory where students learning is continuous inside and outside of “class time.” Abstract: In my media-producton classrooms, my first guideline for students is to be active as artists; they must make many works or continually revise works as needed. Making without ceasing! However, this "making" process is only fully realized when it meets the experiential component of student/faculty critique and discussion. Spirituality, sexuality, identity, and death are but a few of the wild and rich topics my students explore in their art practice. As an artist and educator, I do not merely accept works of these kinds and simply assign them a numerical grade. Instead, we evaluate and understand works through the process of discussion, questioning, and critique; I hold the class to a high-standard of intellectual honesty and mutual respect and they respond by encouraging and criticizing the works of their peers. The vulnerability required to expose oneself to this process is very real, and I see my job as educator to author a comfortable and intellectually honest "zone" for open-dialogue and discussion of works. When this "zone" is established, whether it be through examples I bring in, or jokes we make together, students inhabit a peer-to-peer collaborative space where give-and-take is possible. My classroom often behaves less like a "class," than a ribald production & discussion laboratory where students learning is continuous inside and outside of “class time.” Thoughts I address in my presentation include: 1. Generating a safe “commons” for debate and discussion. 2. Teaching both as an “artist” and a “professor.” 3. Hands-on learning as experimental practice CLOSE section BE IT. LEAD IT. LIVE IT. Experiencing the Change We Want to See, Jess Johnson, Jeans for Justice Jess Johnson, Founder and CEO, Jeans 4 Justice This paper demonstrates how Jeans 4 Justice Campus programs employ experiential learning to position personal transformation at the center of our model for social change in the movement to end sexual violence. Abstract: No college campus is immune to the pervasive nature of sexual and relationship violence. Statistics demonstrate that 1:3 women and 1:6 men experience sexual violence by age 18, and that 1:4 women are assaulted during their college career. Jeans 4 Justice (J4J) is a non-profit organization dedicated to ending such violence. We combat stigmas and facilitate change by providing a safe space to begin the conversation, offering platforms like art, fashion, fitness, film, and performance to engage students in non-threatening ways that allow them to express their stories, values and voice. We know that awareness alone is not enough to combat this deep-rooted social issue. Individual members of a community must undergo an internal shift that empowers them to interrupt the social norms and interpersonal dynamics that create a breeding ground for violence to take place. We believe that experiential learning helps facilitate transformation within an individual that influences their intimate circles and ripples into their community. Our experiential modalities weave throughout our programming and are seen distinctly in the J4J Campus LEAD IT program. The experiential curriculum supports students in making tiny changes i n their lives, which enable them to move through the J4J Theory of Social Change: Awareness, Engagement, Transformation, Leadership, Action. Material is delivered in a playful, intentional environment where students learn to listen actively, live mindfully and lead consciously. Students are provided with tools that deepen understanding of their core values and activate their intrinsic leadership abilities. In addition to facilitated meetings, students create a customized service-learning project to engage their campus community by raising awareness, delivering key concepts previously learned, and telling stories to enroll their peers to get involved and create a sustainable movement. Through J4J Campus students experience personal transformation, group collaboration, and leadership development as by-products of direct experience. CLOSE section A2 :: Art Space Room Public Dialogue Jewish-Muslim Dialogue: From Separate Corners to Partners for Understanding and Action, Gary Anderson, Emily Marx, students, UCSD Gary Anderson, Director, Intergroup Relations Program (CSI), Emily Marx + 2 students A presentation of pedagogy, student learning, and lessons learned from eight years of Jewish-Muslim Dialogue at UCSD. Panel Abstract: Increasingly conflicts on college campuses reflecting social divisions and inequalities call for collaborative approaches to student learning across differences. This is particularly true of Muslim and Jewish communities, which have been greatly affected by the volatile political situations across the globe. Jewish and Muslim students find themselves not only as perceived adversaries but also as possible partners with a common religious and historical base and shared experiences of discrimination. Fostering dialogue and understanding between both communities is essential not only for the well being of Jewish and Muslim students, but also for the health of entire campus community. Intergroup Dialogue has evolved over the past decade as a promising practice in higher education for fostering learning and bridging differences among students from different social and cultural backgrounds. This distinctive approach addresses issues of social identity and social conflict in the context of systems of power and privilege. Intergroup Dialogues promote sustained, intimate interactions and intellectual risk-taking between members of two or more social identity groups. As partners in the Multi-University Intergroup Dialogue Research (MIGR) project, the Intergroup Relations Program and its UCSD collaborators have played an important role in the development of Intergroup Dialogue pedagogy and its application to various educational settings. Over the past eight years, the Intergroup Relations Program and the Center for Student Involvement have applied Intergroup Dialogue techniques as an effective intervention for addressing deep divisions and creating positive change among the Jewish and Muslim student populations. This presentation will highlight the value and the challenges of implementing the Jewish-Muslim Dialogue by: a) reviewing foundational concepts and design features of Intergroup Dialogue and its application to a co-curricular Jewish Muslim Dialogue; c) Understanding specific programmatic details, logistics, challenges, and collaborative strategies in working with these two communities; d) highlighting student learning and community building outcomes. CLOSE section Conducting Public Dialogue, Zachary Gabriel Green, Meenakshi Chakraverti, University of San Diego Zachary Gabriel Green, Visiting Professor , Meenakshi Chakraverti, PCW Director, University of San Diego, Leadership Studies/Public Conversations West Explores and offers an experience in the conditions needed to create public dialogue on complex and contentious public issues. Panel Abstract: Public Conversations West and Leadership Studies at the University of San Diego have partnered to create an approach to public dialogue that helps individuals and groups explore complex and contentious issues. This panel, which will include presentation and experiential elements, blends inquiry into the often hidden elements of how groups in conflict function with an internationally tested method for fostering constructive conversations. We will consider and identify the conditions that promote dialogue, especially on issues that often divide public sentiment. This process includes attention to the ways we each stereotype "the other" with projections, the costs of perpetuating narratives of discord, the opportunities to discover a "third way" of being with one another, and "real time" experience in elements of dialogue. The objective is for those who attend the panel to walk away with a beginning sense of how public conversations can be conducted in a manner that offers the hope for a more civil discourse. CLOSE section A3 :: Library Room Digital Literacy and Design Including Underrepresented Students in Hands-On Creative Digital Work, Elizabeth Losh, UCSD Director of Academic Programs, Sixth College, Elizabeth Losh This showcase of work of a diverse group of UCSD digital poetry students in the Literature department includes strategies for teaching pedagogical literacy based on current peer-learning, active learning, and digital learning research. Abstract: By engaging students with forms of digital literacy that directly connect to self-expression in a project-based learning course, those who might be extremely unlikely to self-identify as “programmers” can become active participants in courses that teach code literacy along with other forms of written composition. At UCSD, a diverse group of student writers in the presenter’s electronic literature lab/workshop create creative digital works that experiment with form and genre, draw on rich media resources, and provide more accessibility and interactivity for public audiences. Students interrogate the definition of “writing” itself, as they work with different fonts, screen layouts, sounds, and rules and consider the analogies between writing written texts and writing computer code. To lower barriers to programming, this course focuses on adaptation as a group activity. By translating the same text originally written for the page into code, peer learning is fostered. Students must explain their interpretive choices to each other and talk about conceptual, rhetorical, stylistic, and technical features. Such students learn “procedural literacy,” which Michael Mateas defines as “the ability to read and write processes, to engage procedural representation and aesthetics, to understand the interplay between the culturally-embedded practices of human meaning-making and technically-mediated processes.” Mateas claims that new media practitioners who lack “an understanding of how code operates as an expressive medium” can never open the “black box” at the heart of any computer program or understand “the crucial relationship between authorship, code, and audience reception.” In addition to the work of Amy Bruckman and Fox Harrell, this presentation will connect the case study of the active UCSD student-learners to a number of projects aimed at teaching programming to students who might otherwise often suffer from the effects of the “participation gap” in digital literacy among particular underrepresented groups. CLOSE section Data Literacy and Cultural Analytics, Lev Manovich, UCSD Professor Lev Manovich, Visual Arts, UCSD Abstract: The joint availability of numerous large data sets on the web and free tools for data scraping, cleaning, analyzing and visualizing enable potentially anybody to become a citizen data miner. But how do we enable this in practice? What are the necessary elements of “data literacy”? How do we inspire students in traditionally non-quantitative fields (art history, film and media studies, literary studies, etc.) to start playing with big data? One the limitations of the existing popular data analysis and visualization tools is that they are designed to work with numbers and texts – but not images and video. To close this gap, In 2007 we have established Software Studies Initiative (softwarestudies.com) at University of California, San Diego. The lab’s focus in on development of new visualization methods particularly suited for media teaching and research. In my presentation I will show a sample of our projects including visualization of art, film, animation, video games, magazines, comics, manga, and graphic design. Our image sets range from 4535 covers of Time magazine to 320,000 Flickr images from “Art Now” and “Graphic Design” groups, and one million manga pages. In September 2011 we released ImagePlot - free software tool that visualizes collections of images and video of any size. I will discuss how we use ImagePlot in classes with both undergraduate and graduate students to create collaborative projects which reveal unexpected cultural trends and also make us question our existing concepts for understanding visual culture and media. You can download software here: http://lab.softwarestudies.com/p/imageplot.html CLOSE section Designing experiential learning into the large classroom: supporting authentic practice, Beth Simon, UCSD Beth Simon Lecturer, Computer Science and Engineering, UCSD In CSE3 students are engaged in developing and practicing "real-world expert" computing analysis and communication skills, scaffolded by the Peer Instruction pedagogy. Abstract: How can a "standard" course bring components of experiential learning into the large lecture hall? In CSE3 hundreds of students at a time "learn programming" -- but not to learn to program. Instead, their goal is to develop the level of analysis and communication skills that will enable them to be 21st century digital contributors. This is accomplished by transforming lecture into guided experiences where students practice analyzing and communicating about technical issues in small groups. They get the actual experience of talking about computing issues in ways computer experts do -- and hone their understanding not only of computers but of how to work effectively with computers and computer experts in the real world. In this session I will describe the ways in which use of the Peer Instruction pedagogy supports experiential learning in CSE3 and report on how 1000+ students say the course impacted them. CLOSE section My Gallery Interactive, Wesley Hsu, PRIME - Pacific Rim Experiences for Undergraduates Wesley Hsu My Gallery Interactive aims to create a crowd-sourced photography museum experience using a novel multi-touch table interface that allows users to experience the curatorial process in an engaging way. Abstract: New technologies are allowing museums to engage visitors through innovative and interactive exhibitions. As part of this movement, the goal of this project is to create a crowd-sourced experience using a novel multi-touch table interface that allows users to experience the curatorial process in an engaging way. This project is a unique collaboration between three parties: The Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experiences (PRIME) program at UC San Diego, which is a summer internship that provides students the opportunity to participate in hands-on research at one of the participating research institutions in a Pacific Rim country; the Museum of Photographic Arts (MOPA) in San Diego; the National Institute of Information and Communications Technology (NICT) in Tokyo and Kyoto. From the perspective of a student, the experience in Japan was impactful in ways extending beyond the internship alone. While the project as an entirety was a collaborative effort between the three aforementioned parties, the development of the interface was largely self-driven by myself and my project partner, Lance Castillo. Being the first time to have as much control and responsibility over a project of this scale, the experience was challenging and indeed transforming—I was thrust into learning how I work. I learned how much of a visual thinker I am, important principles of interface design, pacing oneself in problem solving, iterative design, and intercultural/interdisciplinary collaboration. These were skills that could certainly be talked about in class, but only be learned through direct experience. The culmination of this work was demonstrated at the Knowledge Capital 2011 technology exhibition held in Osaka. This project harnessed the talent of UCSD undergraduates and presents a new, exciting model for collaboration between museums and academic institutions interested in merging art and technology. It has opened up new doors to extending the project beyond the summer. CLOSE section A4 :: Conference Room Mentoring The Transformative Effect of Mentoring, David Artis, Karen Van Ness, Adele Savage, UCSD (download powerpoints 1 2) Director of Faculty Mentoring Program David Artis, Karen Van Ness, Adele Savage: The Transformative Effect of Mentoring This panel would describe the impact two programs, HMP3 and the FMP, have on the students, their mentors, and the greater community. Paper 1 Title: Health and Medical Profession Preparation Program (HMP3): developing the healthcare leaders of tomorrow Paper 1 Description: This presentation will discuss the transformative effect HMP3 has had on the students in its mentoring program. Paper 2 Title: The UCSD Faculty Mentor Program (FMP): creating connections Paper 2 Description: This presentation will discuss impact the research projects of FMP students have had on the students themselves, the mentors, and the larger community. Panel Abstract: In a university as large as UCSD, mentoring programs provide students with one on one contact that they may not get in large classes. Such contact helps students understand the importance of their scholarship as well as themselves as scholars. The Health and Medical Professions Preparation Program (HMP3) and the Faculty Mentor Program (FMP), both of which are under Academic Enrichment Programs, offer such programs to UCSD undergraduates. One-fourth of the students who come to UCSD enter with the goal of going on to graduate school in one of the health professions. Most want to become doctors, but there is also a large amount of interest in dentistry, pharmacy, optometry and many other health professions. HMP3 gives them an up-close and personal look at the profession to which they aspire, so that they can make an informed decision about their future. We are currently in the 16th year of the program, serving ~500 students with mentoring by ~100 mentors. Students write in an online journal after each of their visits with their mentors. Samples of the journals will be read during the panel presentation to illustrate the transformative impact of this program on the students. The FMP provides research experience to all undergraduates with at least Junior standing and a 2.7 GPA. Student may develop their own research projects, help a professor with his or her own research, or work in a laboratory on campus. The students present their research at the annual Faculty Mentor Program Research Symposium at the end of the academic year. Student projects will be described in the presentation, emphasizing work that has been done by undergraduates that has contributed to community building and social justice. The impact these projects have had on the students, the mentors, and the larger community will also be discussed. CLOSE section Communication and Leadership Development through Experiential Co-Curricular Seminars, Grace Bagunu, Center for Communication and Leadership, UCSD Grace Bagunu, Center for Communication and Leadership Abstract: UC San Diego offers unique experiential co-curricular seminars that educate undergraduate and graduate students in the areas of interpersonal relationships, professional communication, intergroup dialogue, communication and leadership, and public speaking. In the Center for Student Involvement – Communication and Leadership (CCL), experiential co-curricular seminars are offered on a quarterly basis at no-cost to students. The seminars meet once per week for an hour and twenty minutes for 9 weeks out of a 10 week quarter. Leadership development programs have been implemented on college campuses through many types of experiential co-curricular programs. What makes the work at CCL unique is that the majority of the work that is done focuses on communication skill development as it relates to personal and leadership development. We utilize communication theory (Lasswell, Deutsch, Westley & MacLean, et. al) and leadership theory (Komives, et. al) to guide seminars while infusing experiential learning styles in the implementation of each seminar. Assessment is a key component in the implementation of CCL’s experiential co-curricular seminars. We implement pre- and post- test surveys to seminar participants utilizing the tools provided by Campus Labs (formerly Student Voice). In addition, built-in qualitative, reflective assessments are collected throughout the quarter through Take the Challenge activities. In the quarterly public speaking seminar, observational assessments are made on the progress of students’ public speaking abilities. Quantitative data is also examined to understand the usage, attrition, and completion rates of participants in seminars. This presentation will highlight the quarterly seminars offered by CCL along with examples of assessment tools and activities facilitated in the program. This highly interactive session will give participants a better understanding of the types of experiential co-curricular programs that are offered on a quarterly basis, and encourage participants to participate or engage in similar type programs as it relates to their area of expertise. CLOSE section OASIS Mentor Practicum: A Transformational Process of Personal Growth & Peer Support, Antoinette Nagai, Agustin Orozco, Whitney Liera, Jessica Lopez, Sashieana Scott, UCSD (download powerpoint and handout) Antoinette Nagai, Augustin Orozco, Whitney LIera, Jessica Lopez, Shashiena Scott: The OASIS Mentor Program Panel Abstract: This presentation discusses experiential learning in the OASIS Mentor Practicum course (with Educational Program Studies 116) and subsequent peer-mentor work for those who are later hired as OASIS Academic Transition Counselors (ATCs). The Mentor Practicum focuses on the development of counseling skills, especially as they relate to issues that impact the retention of educationally disadvantaged, underrepresented, and first-year students at UC San Diego. The Mentor Practicum is designed to encourage students to think critically and to question their belief systems, while still honoring their cultures and identities. The curriculum involves learning about oppression (through the lens of the cycle of socialization), racism, classism, multiracial perspectives, LGBTQIA perspectives, sexism, and ableism. It ends with students developing strategies for social change and promoting the cycle of liberation. After completing the Mentor Practicum, students are qualified to apply for positions as OASIS ATCs. In this capacity, they serve as both the foundation for the residential life component of the OASIS Summer Bridge program and as key players in the retention and development of Summer Bridge students during their first year through the Academic Transition Program (ATP). Summer Bridge/ATP is designed to facilitate the academic and sociocultural adjustment of underrepresented students at UC San Diego, and ATCs contribute to this effort by conducting one-to-one counseling conferences, facilitating group meetings & discussions, and ensuring the development of a strong support network among ATP students. Drawing on 3 ATCs’ experiences, this presentation will illustrate the types of transformational learning that occur during the Mentor Practicum as well as the ATC mentoring position. This unique combination of classroom learning and work experience provides an opportunity for students to apply their newly acquired skills in a way that not only helps in their personal and professional development, but also contributes to the retention and success of underrepresented students. CLOSE section A5 :: Price Center East Forum Experiential Learning in STEM disciplines Circuit Bending: Technology and Community Outreach, Garnett Hertz, UCI Garnet Hertz, Artist in Residence & Research Scientist, Department of Informatics, University of California Irvine A series of hands-on workshops introducing STEM through D.I.Y electronics to middle-school aged children in underrepresented and low income Latino communities. Abstract: This project involves taking electronics workshops for adults and adapting them to be more suitable to children and people that wouldn't normally have the chance to work with electronics. In particular, we have targeted students 9-12 years of age from under-served communities, and are currently working on building curriculum, guidebooks and kits to help these students in "circuit bending" (Ghazala, 2004) - the process of hand-modifying battery powered children's toys to build custom electronic instruments. Our goal is to instruct individuals with no prior experience in computing or engineering in the fundamentals of electronics. In 2010 and 2011, Garnet Hertz led a team of five students at UC Irvine to develop a workshop guidebook specifically targeted to children. Titled "Toy Hacking", the booklet has gone through two major revisions and has been translated from English into Spanish, Chinese and French. The group currently working on this project is the "Technology and Community Outreach" (TACO) Team. We are currently seeking partners to hold community workshops, give feedback on curriculum design and help translate this booklet into other languages. CLOSE section Inspiring passion in engineering with youth, Saura Naderi, UCSD/CalIT2 Saura Naderi Inspiring passion in engineering with youth Abstract: Getting more young people interested in so-called 'STEM' careers -- science, technology, engineering and medicine -- is a national priority, and hands-on activities can expose them early on to concepts that do just that. With the software and technology currently out there, students can play with electronics while educators teach them core science concepts in math, physics, and engineering. The market for do-it-yourself projects has reached a point where it’s now more cost-effective to build a basic robot from scratch than buying certain LEGO kits (provided students already have access to a computer). This means we can expose younger audiences to the excitement of engineering. By packaging these engineering-based projects with an art or music theme, we can capture the attention of students because we’re allowing them to express their creativity without fear of doing something incorrectly. Example: we developed the Girls’ Hat Day project. Girls ages 7-14 from an underserved neighborhood in southeast San Diego were asked to build an electronic and mechanical hat for opening day of the Del Mar racing season. From their perspective, the goal was to build a hat, not learn about engineering. Yet in the process of making their hats, they learned some of the basics about electronics -- dispelling some of their fears that might otherwise scare them away from future careers in science or engineering. CLOSE section Service Learning in Earthquake Engineering, Lelli Van Den Einde, UCSD Professor Lelli Van den Einde: Learning in Earthquake Engineering: A Student Reconnaissance and Humanitarian Trip Following the 2010 Chilean Earthquake Students participated in a reconnaissance trip to Chile following their 2010 earthquake to provide humanitarian aid and gain hands-on practical experience to promote deeper learning of structural engineering design principles. Abstract: Following the February 27, 2010 8.8M earthquake in Chile, the Department of Structural Engineering at UCSD sent a small team of undergraduate students to the affected areas in Chile for a rewarding educational and cultural experience. The mission of the project was to provide humanitarian aid to the Chilean community, expose the students to earthquakes effects on buildings, infrastructure and culture, and provide them with an opportunity to compare Chilean design code and construction techniques with the United States. Students were selected through a formal application process that focused on developing a cohesive team with a variety of technical, leadership and language skills. Students were provided with several engineering professional contacts in Chile and were charged with organizing the 5-week trip, developing the itinerary, and fundraising. Emphasis was on coordinating technical and educational experiences and identifying opportunities to provide humanitarian aid. During the trip, students met with local professors and engineering firms in Santiago and Concepcion to address complex earthquake engineering problems. They also spent two weeks on a farm in Cobquecura that was badly damaged from the earthquake. In exchange for food and lodging, the students assisted in rebuilding the farmhouse. This offered hands-on, problem-solving opportunities to gain knowledge in the design and construction of reinforced concrete beams, columns, and timber frames. The practical experience provided immediate results that promoted deeper learning of structural engineering. The team demonstrated strong teamwork and citizenship skills. Surveys of the students upon completion of the trip showed that the experience significantly affected their lives as individuals and engineering professionals. This presentation will provide an overview of the reconnaissance and humanitarian service-learning project including logistics issues, lessons learned and sustainability of the project, and will demonstrate its potential in supporting social, emotional and cognitive learning and development in Earthquake Engineering. CLOSE section Activities of Association for Women in Mathemathics, Katie Walsh, UCSD Katie Walsh, President, UCSD Association for Women in Mathematics The UCSD Association for Women in Mathematics discusses their outreach programs for undergraduates and the experience they have gained administering those programs. Abstract: In 2007, graduate students at UCSD founded a student chapter of the Association for Women in Mathematics (AWM). In the following three years, the chapter was awarded a TENSOR-MAA Women and Mathematics Grant which (along with matching funds from UCSD's Physical Sciences Division) has allowed them to organize a number of outreach activities at UCSD. Their projects for undergraduates include summer GRE review classes, travel funding for undergraduates to attend conferences, and a yearly research conference at UCSD for undergraduate mathematicians. The group encourages interaction between undergraduate and graduate students with a number of shared activities with the undergraduate Math Club, jointly organizing panels on summer research experiences, collaborating on projects for the San Diego Science Festival, and holding informal social activities for the two groups. We will discuss the experiences of the group and the opportunity for learning on two levels: among the undergraduates, who are exposed to mathematics research and graduate life and for the graduate students, who are learning through the program how to apply for grants, organize conferences, coordinate speakers, and mentor younger students. CLOSE section Service Learning Science Center, Valerie Knox, Darci Strother, Bianca Mothe, Steve Baum, Leslee Santo, CSUSM Val Knox, Community Partnerships Coordinator , CSUSM Dr. Darci Strother, Modern Language Studies/Director of Office of Community Service Learning, CSUSM Dr. Bianca Mothe, Biotechnology/Biology Program Coordinator, CSUSM Principal Steve Baum, Twin Oaks Elementary School Leslee Santo , Student The panel will discuss creating, implementing, and operating a science center at an elementary school and discuss its impact on university and elementary students Paper: Service Learning and STEM Faculty Paper description: The OCSL director and cpc will discuss the successes and challenges of dispelling service learning myths for STEM faculty (at CSUSM) Paper: Faculty to Faculty: A STEM Faculty Fellow Created Service Learning Interest in STEM Faculty and Students Paper description: The STEM Faculty Fellow will discuss preparing STEM students to develop appropriate curriculum that bridged their learning with the appropriate elementary grade level science standards. Paper: The Effects of the Science Center on the Elementary School Students Paper description: The Twin Oaks Elementary School principal will describe the effect the science center had on the elementary students. Paper: The College Student Voice Paper description: A participating STEM service learning student will discuss the project and reflect on its impact. CLOSE section
10:30-11:45	Session B B1 :: Comunidad Room Experiential Learning in Writing Programs Writing in the Community, Geoffrey Middlebrook, Stephanie Bower, John Murray, University of Southern California Professor Geoffrey Middlebrook, Stephanie Bower, John Murray At a time when some studies point to limited learning in American higher education, and newly minted college and university graduates face diminished job prospects, this session examines how community-based writing courses can function as gateways to meaningful knowledge and career preparation. Paper 1 Title: Conflict and Creativity: Navigating the Gap between Town and Gown Paper 1 Description: This speaker discusses the possibilities and conflicts contained within community-service learning courses as gateways between town and gown, for even while employers recognize the value of "assessments that demonstrate graduates’ ability to apply their learning to real-world challenges," as noted by the AAC&U, most of the research on community-service learning downplays its role in preparing students for their professional lives. Paper 2 Title: Community Service and Digital Storytelling: Challenging the Dominant Models Paper 2 Description: This speaker discusses how to forge genuine bonds between students and community members by employing an underused model for service learning, which Thomas Deans characterizes as writing with, rather than for or about the community. Paper 3 Title: Citizen Journalism: Crossing the Threshold from Academe to Occupation Paper 3 Description: This speaker discusses a grant-funded project at the University of Southern California where undergraduates in certain advanced composition courses, from majors across the campus, enter the community as citizen journalists to conduct research and interviews that allow them to write on current and consequential topics in their fields and of their choosing. Panel Abstract: Criticism of the "ivory tower" has a long tradition in the United States, but of late the reproach has become palpable and, some would claim, measurable. Yet according to the authors of the book Academically Adrift: Limited Learning on College Campuses, the array of troubles afflicting American higher education could at least in part be eased through curricular experiences that not only address the "increases in cognitive disengagement from societal events" among undergraduates, but also develop "individual purpose and meaning" in their lives. Along a related dimension, findings from a survey by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) revealed that employers believe recent graduates "needed to improve considerably [their…] writing skills," and when queried about the pedagogical methods they most valued in considering a new hire’s potential for success, those same business leaders "overwhelmingly favored integrated, applied-learning experi ences like […] community-based projects." Given the current controversy over the intellectual rigor of a baccalaureate degree, and the fact that a difficult economy is creating increased competition for even entry-level positions, this session examines how community-service curricula in advanced composition courses can be gateways to meaningful knowledge and career preparation. CLOSE section What I learned about teaching, Norah Ashe-McNalley, University of Southern California Associate Teaching Professor Norah Ashe-McNalley, University of Southern California What I Learned About Teaching Students When I Started Working With Them One sentence description: Eight years’ of experience working with student editors on an online journal has taught me the value of collaborative learning, yet there is resistance in the university to implementing these models in the writing classroom because the culture of assessment places greater value on learning outcomes that are measurable than ones that are experiential. Abstract: Eight years ago, my colleague Kathi Berens and I began an undergraduate online journal at USC. We decided that the journal was going to be completely student-run: student authors, student editors, student graphics designer, student web designer. We secured some funding so we could offer our students a stipend, and we hired a small crew of extremely bright, talented, and opinionated kids. And so I found myself, just a few weeks after the birth of my daughter, without a lick of coding or layout experience, walking into a conference room and making the audacious claim that we were going to build website that would house some of the best undergraduate writing at USC. Thus began my foray into experiential learning. From the outset, the teaching model for the journal has been collaborative, project-based learning. My role in the weekly meetings is less writing professor and more mentor or advisor. The aims of the group are literary and intellectual, rather than overtly pedagogical. There are no grades, for example. Nevertheless the learning outcomes are just as tangible as in any classroom. The purpose of this paper is to explore some of the differences between teaching in a traditional classroom setting and the mentoring model of collaborative learning. In a collaborative, project-based setting, students take a far more active role, setting their own parameters for success and assessment, problem solving, sometimes even assuming the role of teacher. Collaborative projects such as Scribe can offer students far more real world value than the traditional writing classroom, and yet there is resistance in the university to implementing these models in the writing classroom because the culture of assessment places greater value on learning outcomes that are measurable than ones that are experiential. CLOSE section Peer to Here: Activating Passive LearnersM¸ Kathi Inman Berens, University of Southern California Visiting Professor Kathi Inman Berens, University of Southern California Passive learning habits inhibit students in DIY build settings; this presentation suggests strategies to activate a sustained peer-to-peer learning environment. Abstract: Peer-to-Here: Activating Passive Learners With Experiential Learning Hands-on projects are highly conducive to student-centered learning, and students are eager to work in such environments. But engrained habits as passive learners will inhibit students' success in DIY settings. This presentation will examine two test cases of experiential, peer-to-peer learning. Then it will suggest some strategies to interrupt habits of passivity and activate effective peer-to-peer learning. I teach advanced social media at two universities, USC and Washington State University/Vancouver. Although the WSUV students were more vocally anxious about their grades and wished to "give" me what I was "looking for," after I explained the assignment parameters of our multi-platform, six-week social media campaign for the MLA 2012 Electronic Literature show, they organized into teams and set to work. The USC students were less nervous about their grades, but in the thick of builds that required them to take the lead, a few students wanted me to cut their meat: break the assignment down into tiny, bite-sized chunks. SC students built a spring registration web app that's been downloaded 569 times: a great success. But their workloads were very uneven. Next spring, I will teach more process and less tool. Students can find tool tutorials on YouTube, but they need synchronous, participative coaching on collaboration. Both the USC and WSUV students successfully delivered their digital products on time, but only one was a slam-dunk in peer-to-peer learning. This presentation will explain how and why passive v. active learning practices are at the core of those results. CLOSE section Using Writing that matters to jumpstart experiential projects, J.C. Ross, UCSC/CSUMB J.C. Ross, Research Grants Coordinator / Lecturer , UC Santa Cruz / CSUMB What if writing courses, in which students develop and write grants for projects of their own design, were logical places to spark experiential learning, capturing both students’ ideas and their interest? Abstract: While educators look for way to make experiential learning a more central component of academic life, undergraduates often struggle to understand how writing connects to their majors and professional lives. Increasingly, they disengage from assignments that they see as "merely" theoretical; they do minimal work and make minimal progress. We talk about how students can’t write and won’t work at writing. But what if students wrote real-life writing projects designed to jumpstart their experiential projects? What if writing courses were logical places to begin experiential learning – and student interest in it? At CSUMB, and at other universities where I piloted these assignments, students design writing projects that foster campus and community research, connecting them directly to work outside the writing classroom. The projects (to launch a buddy program for autistic children, found an Artmobile, connect student drivers/riders, assist Latino LGBT students in f inding community, co-exist with Fort Ord's raccoons, and create urban forests and mural cubes in blighted neighborhoods) were presented at a juried Great Ideas Fair. These projects let students explore possible majors beyond the book, invest in their campus, get to know their surrounding community, and connect to possible mentors – all while improving critical thinking, writing, and ability to problem-solve in the real world. And because the projects build on students' existing interests and expertise (a mentoring program for Cambodian-American teens gets designed by a Cambodian-American freshman), students approach writing and the experiential learning that results from it with more investment and confidence, with a greater understanding of how all these areas are integrated in learning and their future lives within healthy, successful communities. CLOSE section Crowdsourcing Community Service, Mark Marino, University of Southern California Associate Professor Mark Marino, USC Students at USC in a mandatory writing class develop critical thinking by taking on cyberbullying, summer education, and college access with crowdsourced projects and social media. Abstract: In the summer of 2009, LAUSD canceled summer school for K-8 and all be credit recovery in high school. My Advanced Writing students at USC had been studying social media tools and decided we could help. We created SOS Classroom (http://sosclassroom.org) by crowdsourcing the problem, aggregating resources and posting them online. Since then, my students have tackled the College application process (http://college.sosclassroom.org), cyberbullying (http://wallwatch.sosclassroom.org), and other social challenges using this technique and through a unique partnership with CORE Educational Services, a nonprofit beyond-the-bell organization serving LA and San Diego. The combination of the complex problem, interaction with communities in need, and the creation of concrete solution has allowed me to add a "critical thinking" component to my course that forms itself around the abilities, strengths, and vision of each cohort of students. In this presentation, I will share some of our strategies for developing these service projects in the context of a mandatory writing course with a random sampling of Liberal Arts and Social Science majors. (May present with Brad Lupien, co-founder and co-President of CORE.) CLOSE section Peer Tutoring in the College Writing Center, Angela Kim, Elizabeth Losh, and UCSD Students, UCSD Angela Kim, Ph.D. Student in Literature, CAT TA, Elizabeth Losh, Director of Academic Programs, Sixth College, Maril Vernon, Sean Kehoe This presentation by Sixth College Writing Studio tutors and similar peer tutors in Warren College discusses the value of teaching practicum experiences both to the campus and to participating students. Paper 1 Title: Managing Expectations Paper 1 Description: Effecting institutional change isn't always easy, and peer-learning or working with communities can require forms of creativity and improvisation often not associated with traditional writing programs. Paper 2 Title: Fostering Collaboration through Engaging Students in Peer Learning Paper 2 Description: College writing programs on the UCSD campus have a history of siloed development, but the development of peer-tutoring service-learning programs among cohorts of tutors at different colleges can facilitate a "culture of writing" on the campus. Paper 3 Title: The Language of Writing Preparedness Paper 3 Description: This talk by a student peer-tutor examines how difficult it can be to talk about college composition readiness in a supportive but fact-based way with students who may feel very defensive about their skills as incoming writers Paper 4 Title: Saving Time, Creating Space Paper 4 Description: Having these writing spaces shortens the amount of time people have to wait from feedback on work to writing; they have instant progress/immediate action, since there is less lag time between ideas and their development Panel Abstract: Students enrolled in peer-tutoring practicums in connection with college writing programs and satellite writing centers gain knowledge about how people learn to write, how to help people learn to write, and effective practices for coaching first-year writers. Students then put that knowledge to work by coaching students enrolled in core curricula in Sixth College's Writing Studio and the Warren Writing Center and gain professional experience in teaching and training, competence in techniques for improved written, verbal, and media communication skills, access to research opportunities in the field of writing studies, feelings of personal success from undertaking a complex initiative for organizational change, and a chance to develop as student leaders. This panel of students, faculty mentors, and graduate student researcher-facilitators will explore the intellectual and psycho-social benefits of this kind of experiential learning and the community-building th at occurs when a writing center becomes, as Stephen North explains, both a "center of consciousness" and a "physical locus." CLOSE section B2 :: Art Space Room International Education Education Abroad, Kelly O'Sullivan, Maribeth Erlich, UCSD Kelly O'Sullivan, UC San Diego Programs Abroad Office, Director of Outreach and Academic Integration, Maribeth Erlich We will highlight some research and internship abroad opportunities as well as our structural shift from destination to discipline advising. Panel Abstract: The Programs Abroad Office would like to share some of the research and internship opportunities abroad that UC San Diego students have experienced and which highlight the exceptional out-of-classroom learning opportunities that are available. We hope to have a returned student or two with us to talk about their experiences. Additionally, we would like to showcase our new discipline-based advising model which we have recently moved to in an attempt to better serve our population of students at UC San Diego and strengthen our ties with academic departments and colleges. In our newly revamped pre-advising required workshop called "First Steps", we use an Outcomes Based Assessment framework to help students set intentional academic, career, and personal learning goals in considering their study/intern/research abroad options. Through our new "First Steps" we are hoping that students become more engaged in their goal-setting before they go abroad, and then through suggested post-experience reflection exercises are more clearly able to articulate the academic connections from their abroad experience to their UCSD academics and future careers. CLOSE section Engage and Reflect: Global Leadership Certificate, Sarah Ross, UCSD Sarah Ross, Director of International Education, UC San Diego International Center UC San Diego undergraduates engage in international and intercultural activities and reflect in a structured program to develop leadership skills relevant to our globalized world. Abstract: In Fall 2010, the UC San Diego International Center’s International Education Office launched the Global Leadership Certificate Program, an opportunity for undergrads to engage and reflect, in an intentional and structured manner, on the many ways they are internationally engaged. Within international education, we often refer to the knowledge, skills and sensitivities that students need to be effective in their careers and lives, and we know that these assets can be strengthened by engagement and reflection. Hence, engagement and reflection are at the core of the Global Leadership Certificate Program. Students report that they feel their education is flying by and that it is difficult to make sense of what it means to them. Those who complete the program will be able to articulate how they have developed the knowledge, skills and sensitivities necessary to be effective, engaged leaders in our interdependent world. Twenty-six students from across disciplines and col leges committed to the program, forming two cohorts that bring together international students, study abroad returnees, and other students. They interact in small groups, with an advisor, both in person and primarily through an online community through which they post reflection papers. After an initial seminar, students submit an introductory identity statement and articulate personal, academic and career goals. Students engage in a series of activities, such as leadership skill development, intercultural engagement activities, international experience, coursework, and cultural events. For each required activity, the specifics of which are tailored individually, participants write reflection papers (following the "what, so what, now what" structure) to explore the international and intercultural components of their student experiences. We propose that Sarah Ross and Shahla Akbari (who helped formulate the program) present with a student participant TBD. CLOSE section A College-Based Global Service and Research Seminar, Heidi Keller-Lapp, Pedro Scotto UCSD Heidi Keller-Lapp, Assistant Director/Lecturer, Making of the Modern World Program, and Pedro Scotto, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs ERC, UCSD Pilot program to offer a college-based undergraduate experiential learning experience that combines a preparatory seminar, global service abroad project, and research component. Abstract: In Winter Quarter 2012, Eleanor Roosevelt College (ERC) will pilot "ERC Global Service and Research (GSR)," an elective two-course sequence that integrates academic course work, experiential service learning abroad, and research in such fields as sustainability, education, and social/health services. In 2012, the service learning project will be conducted in Belize, therefore, this course sequence will focus on the history, demographics, and culture of Belize and the geopolitical context in which contemporary Belize is situated. The first course in the sequence will be a preparatory seminar that provides an historical and cultural overview of Belize to enhance students’ understanding of the context of their service learning and to provide an intellectual basis for the development of a research proposal. UCSD faculty and graduate students who work in Caribbean/Central American fields will offer guest lectures. The spring quarter course combines service learning in Belize (conducted over spring break) followed by a research seminar. The GSR elective sequence will combine programmatic, academic, and international expertise, bringing the academic orientation, rigor, and expectations of the current ERC Making of the Modern World program and its faculty to the college’s Student Affairs service learning experience that has existed since 2000. It will be coordinated by the Assistant Dean of Student Affairs (who oversees the collaborative student fundraising efforts and group formation) and an Assistant Director/Lecturer from the Making of the Modern World program (who will teach the preparatory and research courses.) Both will oversee the on-site service project in Belize. This project brings experiential learning to the center of college life and helps students to develop an ethic of social responsibility and commitment to public/human service. It encourages faculty and students from diverse disciplines to integrate their areas of expertise and participate in a project that encourages study abroad and enhances research and learning. CLOSE section PRIMED for the Global Workforce, Daniel Li, UCSD Daniel Li. Student, UCSD How the Pacific Rim Undergraduate Research Program opened my eyes to the meaning of science. Abstract: Through the National Science Foundation funded Pacific Rim Undergraduate Research Program (PRIME), and its innovative learning infrastructure, I have been able to grow and mature significantly in a short period of time. This past summer, I traveled to Japan as a "scientific ambassador" representing UCSD. This cultural immersion research program has sent students on international collaborative research projects since 2004. All of my research experiences in the past have helped me diversify my interests, but this international experience helped me connect everything back together in an single interdisciplinary effort. Not only have I learned to think like a scientist through independent study, I understand more of the responsibilities that a scientist must accept. Our job is not to only learn but to educate as well, promoting active learning and awareness of important scientific issues. Through the study abroad education of the PRIME program, I have been able to exper ience firsthand the impact of a first rate science education. My summer experiences directly led to many community outreach opportunities. I had the opportunity to speak to Dean’s Leadership Council, which consists of the Dean of Biological Sciences and many influential members of the community, about the impact PRIME has had on my education. In addition, I enrolled in the UCSD Global Leadership Certification Program. This is a new program started by UCSD this year and helps students identify their leadership qualities through experiential learning as well as inter-cultural interactions. The PRIME program has helped me realize the qualities of a great scientist. Beyond a well-developed scientific thought process, we have to directly pass on our research passions through teaching. This distinguishing trait is important in science, because not only is the job of a scientist to envision the future, we must be able to share this future with society. CLOSE section Learning by Experience through the PRIME Program, Mikhail Nekrasov, UCSD Mikhail Nekrasov, Alumni, UCSD The role that a research experience played in helping me become a proficient researcher. Abstract: I am a recent UCSD alumni. I graduated in March 2011. In 2009, I conducted an internship with the PRIME program in NMMBA, Taiwan. There, I developed a system for automated monitoring of coral spawning using image processing techniques that relied on the larvae’s fluorescence. This experience is the most influential experience of my entire undergraduate career. It has shaped me as a researcher and has given me an opportunity to carry out an international multidisciplinary project from conception to fruition. My experiences have shown me the importance of being globally engaged. While our universities do a phenomenal job of teaching us the tools and techniques to be successful researchers, experience has to be gathered first hand. Taking theory and applying it in the field in a foreign country, is a giant leap that only experience can overcome. In class, we are often presented with problems in an idealized laboratory condition. During my internship, I was forced to confront assumptions and work in a field station in the unindustrialized south of Taiwan. There I had to overcome scarce resources, power failures, earthquakes, and a category two typhoon. These experiences expanded my decision making and have stuck with me through all of my projects. My experiences during PRIME set off a cascade of events in my life. They led me to a research position at CALIT2 (working with the same professor I had on my PRIME internship) and subsequent other projects, including one in Thailand. I have published two papers and have been invited to half a dozen conferences. These experiences have helped me transition from a student to a proficient researcher and global citizen. CLOSE section One Student’s Experience of Experiential Learning, Iris Shieh, UCSD Iris Shieh, UCSD, Academic Internship Program, Education Abroad Program, National Science Foundation A Summer Abroad in Japan: Pacific Rim Experiences for Undergraduates (PRIME) in Collaboration with Doshisha University Abstract: PRIME is an excellent program that exemplifies experiential learning at its finest. Students collaborate extensively with professors from the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) and international universities to design a unique research project that is conducted abroad over the summer. A large part of this collaboration is made possible by Doshisha University. This internship not only provides the chance to understand how research is carried out – thereby giving students the opportunity to decide if research is a viable career option, but also allows students to experience their host country’s culture and daily life firsthand. Students spend their spring quarter preparing for their project and also participate in pre-departure workshops to address culture shock and heighten cultural awareness. In addition, students are also required to complete reflective surveys during their time abroad and to engage in workshops after returning. At the end of the internship , students from UCSD and from Doshisha University present their projects at an international symposium. In this presentation, I will discuss the preparations and thought processes that went into creating my project, the cultural awareness preparations with PRIME (workshops, surveys, etc.), the cultural tidbits that I learned over the course of my stay, what I took away from my experience abroad, and how it has affected me as a person. I will address how PRIME has helped me develop cultural awareness on a global scale and analytical skills to conceptualize the experience through self-initiation and self-evaluation. In addition, I will also discuss how the international symposium at Doshisha culminates in an informative exchange of ideas and research while building ties across cultures. CLOSE section B3 :: Library Room The Arts UC Proximity, Kim Yasuda, Ken Rogers, Catherine Liu, Shannon Jackson, Adam Bush, UC Kim Yasuda, University of California Institute for Research in the Arts Ken Rogers, UC Riverside, Catherine Liu, UC Irvine, Shannon Jackson, UC Berkeley, Adam Bush, UC Santa Cruz Through cross-disciplinary coursework that is situated at the neighborhood boundary of the university, Proximity Research functions as a socially embedded, studio/laboratory for teaching and research. Paper 1 Title: Proximity Research: Isla Vista, CA [Kim Yasuda, UCIRA, UCSB] Paper 1 Description: Proximity Research: Isla Vista, California continues a multi-year (2006-2010) arts and planning initiative to expand university investment within the college town of Isla Vista, California. Paper 2 Title: Proximity Research: Off-Peak, Los Angeles, CA [Ken Rogers, UC Riverside] Paper 2 Description: Off Peak has been an ongoing project combining academic research, social media, and public practice art to address the social and environmental problems facing the greater Baldwin Hills community. Paper 3 Title: Proximity Research: Learning from Irvine [Catherine Liu, UC Irvine] Paper 3 Description: Learning from Irvine is an interdisciplinary research project looking at post-war American institutional history through the role of the public university Paper 4 Title: Proximity Research: College UnBound [Adam Bush, UC Santa Cruz] Paper 4 Description: College Unbound integrates students’ own purposes and visions for learning with the needs of their workplaces and communities. Panel Abstract: Proximity Research: Public, Participation and Place is a multi-year arts research teaching and planning initiative launched through the University of California Institute for Research in the Arts (UCIRA) as an opportunity for faculty and students across the system to explore the capacity for university campus investment in neighborhood communities. Each of the 10 UC arts campuses has an undeniable presence in California’s post-war development history and these unique and proximate conditions could play a critical role in the State’s transitional present and viable future. In a turn toward the intimate and proximate, these overlooked spaces, oftentimes within or just outside of the borders of the university, provide the sustained residency time for experiential teaching and research to embed themselves deeply within a community. Further, proximity opens up the prospect for a different set of relationships to be forged between scholarship and community. Each setting presents a different set of research questions, whether within the space of one neighborhood or across an entire state. Through cross-disciplinary coursework that is situated at the neighborhood boundary of the university, Proximity Research functions as a socially embedded, studio/laboratory for teaching and research. Classes in public art, urban planning and geography come together to explore the capacity for university teaching and student research to participate in community process and to consider social patterns amongst the broad range of academic and non-university stakeholders. Conceived of as an expanded community laboratory, the University Community Research Laboratory (UC_RL) offers a way to activate the public’s engagement through demonstrations in real space and time exploring the built environment and visualizing the connective networks and use patterns of a local condition. CLOSE section Design Clinic: Expanding Community Engagement, Leslie Ryan, NewSchool of Architecture and Design Leslie Ryan, Chair, Landscape Architecture Department, NewSchool of Architecture and Design Design Clinic is an elective course for architecture and design students that allows students to work collaboratively with actual clients and communities. Abstract: Students in NewSchool of Architecture and Design engage sites, structures and clients in community-based projects in Design Clinic, an elective course in the school's professional curriculum. It is open to students in all majors at the school: architecture, landscape architecture, construction management and digital media arts. Students work collaboratively on projects that are brought to Design Clinic by local non-profits, community groups and motivated individuals (our "clients"). Much more is at stake for the students than in a typical lecture class or most design studios. Students are responsible for listening to client’s needs, directing and managing the project that they elect to pursue, organizing necessary research and site visits, and assigning tasks for team members. They produce plans, design sketches and documents that subsequently can be implemented by the client. The faculty role is that of advisor or coach, akin to a studio setting where faculty teach students by guiding them through the design process. Students in Design Clinic are introduced to a range of projects that also outline the array of work that they would do as professional designers and planners. Currently, they are working with the San Diego Food Bank on projects to redesign their landscape, information panels that describe the food bank’s LEED certification process, and architectural work for a new "repack" room. Another project is with San Diego Coastkeeper and Ocean Beach Main Street to develop a system of green infrastructure interventions that can help business owners cope with San Diego's new stormwater standards and help prevent some of the flooding of lower lying areas of the community. A third project is the conversion of a school bus into a library for school children in San Ignacio Lagoon in Baja California, a project that is supported in part by the National City-based International Community Foundation. CLOSE section Contextual Inquiry, Deborah Forster, UCSD Deborah Forster, research affiliate, Temporal Dynamics of Learning, UCSD-INC Contextual Inquiry is a series of courses designed for graduate students in the Masters in Landscape Architecture program at the New School of Architecture and Design, San Diego Abstract: Contextual Inquiry is a series of courses designed for graduate students in the Masters in Landscape Architecture program at the New School of Architecture and Design, San Diego that was co-developed by Leslie Ryan, Chair of the program, and Deborah Forster, cognitive scientist. Contextual inquiry emerges from systems thinking, cognitive science, ethnography and other fields. It provides a framework for ecological approaches to research through an ensemble of exercises that includes recombinant processes, perceptions, meaning-making, and relational dynamics, as explored through active (re)search, collaborative work, and understanding one’s own participation in performing and enacting of the world. Formal education tends to separate the object of study from the learner’s subjective experience. In formal learning settings students are often asked to inhibit their own spontaneous reactions, and to pay attention to the information about the world ‘out there’ to the exclusion of their own perspective. This orientation further obstructs the natural processes of cognitive discernment, already set up for the body to ‘hide’ from the mind– hence the effort required in contemplative traditions to rediscover body-mind integration. This has implications for learning, since most procedural knowledge, including relational dynamics, and ways-of-being-in-the-world cannot be taught didactically. Taking an experiential approach to research methods provides opportunities for students to discover and encounter their own experience differently, then extend that learning outward. In doing so, we are motivated to address one of the central challenges we face in higher education, where students seem to internalize all too well the disciplinary boundaries they encounter. Understanding the extent of context and the value of inquiry is at the core of these courses. We will introduce the principles of the approach we developed and report current progress, with implications we see for the place of experiential learning of inquiry methods in the curriculum of educational training programs. CLOSE section B4 :: Conference Room Student Development and Experiential Learning Impact Community Service to Service learning, Penny Rue, UCSD (download powerpoint) UCSD Dean of Student Affairs Penny Rue This paper will explore the elements that create an educationally powerful community service experience. Abstract: Student participation in service activities is an important part of the collegiate experience for today’s students. Many students begin their service activities in high school and come to college with an expectation that they will continue to help others. Most college students provide their service, whether one-time or ongoing, through an organized activity that helps them connect to other students and their new community. Some students begin to make the connection between the social needs they encounter and their classroom education. They are motivated to ask questions about structural inequities and connect what they are learning about political systems, international migration, environmental problems or food policy with their service in elementary schools, refugee centers, clean-up projects and soup kitchens. Should the university take a more active role in facilitating such a transformation? Service learning has been defined as "a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development" (Jacoby, 1996). Over the past two decades, a body of research has been developed that unpacks the learning in service learning. Additional studies document the transformation on universities themselves, as well as the communities in which they are located. This paper will explore the conditions that promote growth in critical thinking, perspective transformation and citizenship through service learning activities. While curricular-based service learning can structure the deepest learning, volunteer experiences can be developed in ways that make transformative learning more likely. These research-based characteristics will be explored and discussed. CLOSE section Student Expectations and Workforce Realities: An Examination of Experiential Learning’s Value from an Employment Perspective, Andrew Ceperley, UCSD Andrew Ceperley, AVC Experiential Learning & Director, Career Services Center This facilitated panel of employers of UC San Diego Graduates will examine the connection between the University’s drive to expand experiential learning opportunities for students with the strategic needs of employers seeking entry-level talent for their organizations. Abstract: In August 2011, UC San Diego’s Division of Student Affairs developed a new integrated organization called the Student Affairs Experiential Learning cluster. Comprised of four existing student services units – Academic Enrichment Programs, Career Services Center, International Center, and the Office of Academic Support & Instructional Services (OASIS) – the staff and student leaders of the EL cluster are eager to collaborate with campus peers to shape experiences that foster student self-discovery and help them develop the personal, academic, and professional skills and relationships needed for a successful transition into diverse and global communities. But do the experiences we create correlate with increased employability upon graduation? The discussion will be framed by the results of two recent surveys conducted by the National Association of Colleges & Employers (NACE): the Class of 2011 Student Survey Report and the Job Outlook 2012. Over 50% of the students responding to the Student Survey indicated that they had some form of experiential education while in college. On the other hand, 74% of the employers responding to Job Outlook reported that relevant work experience was the highest attribute sought in graduating college students. On resumes and in interviews, they offered the following to be the candidate qualities most compelling for the ideal college candidate: ability to work in a team, leadership, written communication skills, problem solving skills, and work ethic. Somewhere between the student’s expectations of the workplace and the employer’s desires for their organization’s future talent are the experiential opportunities that result from shared effort of the university’s experiential learning communities. This facilitated panel of employers of UC San Diego Graduates will examine the connection between the University’s drive to expand experiential learning opportunities for students with the strategic needs of employers seeking entry-level talent for their organizations. CLOSE section Assessment of Sixth College Practicum, Diane Forbes, Daisy Rodriguez, UCSD Diane Forbes, Daisy Rodriguez: Sixth College Practicum Assessment The Sixth College Practicum Program actively engages in assessment to measure student learning, attitudinal changes, and the impact of experiential learning. Abstract: The Sixth College Practicum Program actively engages in assessment to measure student learning, attitudinal changes, and the impact of experiential learning. Through the Practicum students are able to integrate theory and practice by undertaking a project that fosters academic development, civic engagement, and personal growth. One of the Practicum options available to students are CAT 124 courses, which are hosted by Sixth College's Culture, Art, and Technology (CAT) program , and bring together an interdisciplinary faculty to expound on the CAT theme. The College provides distinct experiential learning opportunities in areas such as visual arts, social justice, mentoring, and writing. The key assessment tool for the Practicum is a pre-and post-Practicum survey, modified from the Rockquemore and Schaffer (2000) study. The survey measures students’ attitudinal changes, their learning process, and how that process is unique to experiential learning. The data that will be presented is based on student participation in CAT 124 courses during the Spring, Summer, and Fall 2011 quarters. Key findings demonstrated significant changes in student attitudes related to career preparedness and success, attitudes towards community service and civic responsibility (such as the importance of volunteering), attitudes about courses with an academic connection to life and attitudes about social justice. Preliminary findings of attitudinal differences based on gender, ethnicity and participation in non-CAT Practicum courses will also be discussed. The presentation will also cover areas for development in the program’s assessment and a review of areas in which there might be l ittle or no significant attitudinal changes. CLOSE section The Experience of Learning through Academic Cheating, Patricia Mahaffey, UCSD Dean of Student Affairs Patricia Mahaffey, John Muir College This proposal explores the student perspective after an academic integrity violation has occurred by examining in what ways students accept responsibility for an integrity violation and ultimately derive a sense of meaning from their experience. Abstract: The startling number of students who have admitted to engaging in academic dishonesty at some point in their academic careers is large, as established in the field of literature. Further, institutions of higher learning have an inherent responsibility to assist in the moral education of the nation’s youth. Therefore, understanding how colleges and universities can effectively approach violations of academic integrity is imperative. This session endeavors to frame the dilemma of student cheating from a developmental perspective by analyzing how students understand the experience of engaging in academic dishonesty and, perhaps most important experience growth as an outcome of this incident. The college years are fraught with developmental moments and the action of making a poor immoral choice is in practicality an opportunity to develop an individual’s positive moral reasoning. This interactive program includes a short presentation of experiential theory and research followed by a session of reviewing individual cases that involve a violation of academic integrity. The learning outcomes identified for this proposal include: • Understand the obligation institutions of higher education have to positively assist in the holistic development of students. • Generate an appreciation for the influence of shame, resilience, moral development and self reflection in the positive development of students following a violation of academic integrity. We know that students cheat for a wide variety of reasons, under a variety of circumstances and students hold a myriad of perceptions and attitudes about academic dishonesty. What we have less understanding about from the student perspective is what meaning they make from an experience of cheating. Universities play a critical role in helping students once a transgression has occurred make sense of that experience. The program will include some best practices in approaching academic dishonesty from a student developmental framework. CLOSE section B5 :: Price Center East Forum Engaged Pedagogy at High Tech High, San Diego High Tech High Complex City, Rachel Nichols , Margaret Noble, senior students, High Tech High Margaret Noble (mixed media arts teacher), Rachel Nichols (English teacher), and four students from our senior class as yet to be determined We designed an experiential project to help our high school students become more aware of their local surroundings, in order to foster an educated, ethical, and empathetic community. Panel Abstract: How do we help students to become more aware of their surroundings, in order to foster an educated, ethical, and empathetic community? We devised an experiential project, "Complex City" in order to help students think critically about their communities. In asking them to visually and sonically map an area of San Diego that had significance to them, we wanted them to step back from the familiar aspects of their community and city, and translate those aspects into a visual map. As part of this project, students researched, interviewed, and investigated their city and community in myriad ways. What they once thought was familiar suddenly became very unknown. By compiling their maps and making collective and idiosyncratic maps of San Diego, they have been challenged to rethink what they understood to be the reality of the built environment around them, as well as to accept the new knowledge that their classmates contribute. They have become more invested in their own community because their new knowledge implicates them as involved citizens. By exhibiting their research using multi-media mediums, students include their communities in knowing about each other and themselves. CLOSE section Life Examined, High Tech High, Brandon Davidson, Sarah Rodriguez, senior students, High Tech High Brandon Davidson, Biology Teacher and Sarah Rodriguez Humanities Teacher, High Tech High School Life Examined is a project designed for a diverse group of student learners asking them to investigate and explore the living world using biological and poetic methods. Panelists: Our High Tech High Media Arts panel will consist of: Sarah Rodriguez (humanities teacher), Brandon Davidson (biology teacher), and four students from our junior class as yet to be determined. Panel Abstract: Life Examined is an exploratory project designed to allow students to express observations and ask questions about the living world that surrounds them. This project challenges students to investigate, experiment with and examine aspects of life that intrigue them in an attempt to uncover deeper understanding and true nature. In humanities students have been doing this throughout the semester using poetry, reading and writing. In biology, they have applied these strategies to study cell biology, genetics and biotechnology. Life Examined is a cross-disciplinary project that asks students to now explore biological concepts through the lens of poetry. It asks students to think about poetry and biology in new ways. Students will exhibit their work in a book microscope photography and biology-inspired poetry. CLOSE section
12:00-1:00	Lunch Special Feature Lunch Panel :: Comunidad Room -- All are invited Integrating civically engaged research and service learning, Keith Pezzoli, UCSD Keith Pezzoli, Lecturer/ Director of Field Research, UCSD This paper describes how UCSD's Urban Studies and Planning Program (our two-quarter field research practicum) and The Global Action Research Center enable scholarship of engagement by building knowledge-action collaboratives, integrated asset maps for community development, online multimedia resources and bioregional networks. Abstract: UCSD's Urban Studies and Planning Program (USP) has an undergraduate field research practicum called the "Senior Sequence". All students majoring in USP must complete the fall-winter (two quarter) Senior Sequence during their senior year. Students learn how to formulate interesting research questions of their own; write a research proposal; conduct the research; and analyze, interpret, write-up and present their findings. Each student must also complete 100 hours of service learning in an internship placement. We encourage students to integrate their research and internship. To enable such integration we ask prospective supervisors to provide students with opportunities to do use-inspired, problem-solving and/or solutions-oriented research. Keith Pezzoli, the instructor of the Senior Sequence, created a USP Grand Challenges Research Database in partnership with over 40 organizations. The Grand Challenges include internship opportunities that blend professional wor kforce development and research education. This has worked very well, but it is labor intensive to maintain and difficult to scale up as our program grows. For this reason, Pezzoli created a nonprofit organization called The Global Acton Research Center (The Global ARC). The Global ARC is a nonprofit organization that specializes in connecting researchers and communities, especially multiethnic and underserved communities. Pezzoli will talk about lessons learned thus far as The Global ARC builds the following functionality: • A systematic way for community-based organizations to clarify and publically broadcast their priorities for use-inspired, problem-solving, and solutions-oriented research. • Collaborative infrastructure (internet and institutional) that incentivizes citizens, scientists, entrepreneurs and others to collectively pool/share research-based evidence for innovation and public benefit. • A holistic "connect the dots" approach to urban-rural sustainability that integrates otherwise fragmented efforts in the quest for justice, environmental health and good jobs. • Leadership capacity-building for community engagement, research translation, science communication and social innovation. CLOSE section Action oriented research in underserved neighborhoods, Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell, UCSD Mirle Rabinowitz Bussell, Continuing Lecturer and Academic Coordinator, Urban Studies and Planning Program, UCSD Summary of a novel, student-led asset mapping project in southeastern San Diego Abstract: Our presentation considers best practices in action-oriented student research in underserved urban neighborhoods. It describes and analyzes methods of fostering collaboration between students and community stakeholders in an effort to design research opportunities that offer pedagogical value to students and direct benefits to underserved communities. In particular, we present the lessons learned from a novel student-led asset mapping project in southeastern San Diego prepared under the direction of faculty and staff from the UC San Diego Center for Community Well-Being in the 2010-2011 academic year. The CCW asset mapping project provided an opportunity for students to learn about and apply methods of research design, data collection, data analysis, and data presentation. An integral component of the project required members of the student research team to interact with community stakeholders, learn about their challenges, and prepare tangible responses. The students employed a variety of research methods which enabled them to collect hundreds of data points documenting and spatially locating community assets in categories such as youth and senior services, health and medical services, information services, safety, places of worship, and fresh and affordable food options. Student responses to the experience were unanimously positive and led to a range of outcomes including increased knowledge about research design and implementation, a greater understanding of the challenges and rewards of working in underserved communities, and a feeling of productivity associated with contributing to a project that led to tangible improvements in community quality of life. Our presentation will discuss the process employed to successfully complete this project, highlight some of the main project outcomes, and will share student perspectives on the value of participating in action-oriented research projects. We will focus on best practices that can be transferred to other action-oriented student research projects at UC San Diego. CLOSE section The Political Equator 3, Teddy Cruz, UCSD Teddy Cruz, Co-Director, Professor of Visual Arts, : Center for Urban Ecologies, Visual Arts - UC San Diego The Political Equator 3 – Experiential Learning in the Territory Since 2006, the Political Equator Meetings have taken the form of nomadic urban actions and dialogues involving the public and communities, oscillating across diverse sites and stations between San Diego and Tijuana. Abstract: Since 2006, the Political Equator Meetings have taken the form of nomadic urban actions and dialogues involving the public and communities, oscillating across diverse sites and stations between San Diego and Tijuana. These conversations-on-the-move take place outside institutions and inside the actual sites of conflict, enabling the audience to both witness and participate while producing new models of urban pedagogy towards citizen action. The meetings seek to amplify the cultural imagination of marginal communities, and the impact of their generative socio-economic and political knowledge in the rethinking existing exclusionary urban policy. The Political Equator unfolds around a series of public works, performances and walks traversing these conflicting territories and serving as an evidentiary platform to re-contextualize debates and conversations about local and global conflicts across environmental, socio-economic and political domains. The third edition of the Political Equator (PE3), "Conversations on Co-Existence: Border Neighborhoods as Sites of Production," took place on June 3–4 of 2011. This time, the audience oscillated between two marginal neighborhoods on both sides of the San Diego-Tijuana border fence adjacent to a sensitive environmental zone layered with militarization. Attracting an international roster of artists, architects, environmentalists, scholars, community activists and politicians, investigating practices in the arts, architecture, science and the humanities that work with peripheral neighborhoods worldwide where conditions of social and economic emergency are inspiring new ways of thinking and doing across institutions of urban development and public culture. The experiential nature of the PE events on participants and the communities has been substantial. We will discuss the various components that have become principles of organization for us in this context, as well as the special opportunity afforded this time, to coordinate the PE3 event with related community efforts in UCSD, brining many more students to interface and engage directly in these communities. CLOSE section Experiential Learning in the Classroom: Encouraging the Development of a Critical Understanding of Culture, Deborah Downing Wilson, UCSD Deborah Downing Wilson, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition, UCSD Communication Department Encouraging the Development of a Critical Understanding of Culture Abstract: Yes, we are products of our cultures, but we are also the stuff from which culture is produced and the prime vehicles for cultural change. This paper looks at two models for addressing with students questions related to the ways that cultural groups come into existence at all and develop over time. We pay special attention to the social processes that occur at the boundaries between cultural groups. How do we define, sustain, and defend group boundaries? What sorts of communication processes make negotiation of cultural boundaries possible? Both models are grounded in a pedagogical ethos that Goethe called Romantic Science, or the belief that experiential knowledge changes learners in ways that alter the way they interact with the world. Our goal is for students to discover first hand, through class activities and field projects that are directly supported by classic and contemporary theoretical commentary, that through their everyday activities they can be powerful agents of social change. CLOSE section
1:15-2:30	Session C C1 :: Comunidad Room UCSD/Community School collaborations The Partnership between UC San Diego and Gompers Academy is Education in Action, Rafael Hernandez, Jenny Parsons, Shelly Buono, Mariko Cavey, UCSD Rafael Hernandez, Director, Early Academic Outreach Program, CREATE, Jenny Parsons, Shelly Buono, Mariko Cavey Panel Abstract: (1) One of the main goals of the partnership between UC San Diego and Gompers Preparatory Academy (GPA) is to transform the quality of the educational experience for students. The relationship between UC San Diego and Gompers Academy has a direct, positive, transformative impact on students, as well as the undergraduate students who serve as tutors and mentors. a. College students are contributing to creating and sustaining a college going culture at Gompers. b. The students’ academic preparation, including standardized test scores, has increased at Gompers Academy. c. Tutors and mentors from UC San Diego interact with the students at Gompers Academy, promoting education and professional development. (2) UC San Diego provides a wide range of intellectual, material, and research resources to the partnership which enhance the educational mission of Gompers Academy, including: a. Teaching interns in math, science, and English/ESL b. Professional development experts in math, science, reading, writing, ESL, and history/social studies c. Undergraduate and graduate students serve as interns and tutors in classrooms and in the after school program d. Parent education opportunities which inform parents about higher educational options for their children after high school as well as offering concrete advice on how to achieve higher educational goals and obtain funding for college. (3) The relationship between UC San Diego and Gompers Academy has been in existence for five years so far and UC San Diego averages 30 students on the Gompers Academy campus each academic quarter. (4) The course, TMC 198, provides UC San Diego students with hands-on experience in urban schools in an effort to enable UC San Diego students to conduct basic research on issues of urban education directed toward improving educational quality and preparing students for college. (5) Bud Mehan and Rafael Hernandez serve on the Board of Directors for Gompers Academy. CLOSE section Experiential Learning: A Fuel for Action (PAL Program), Luz Chung, Caren Holtzman, students, UCSD (download presentation - PDF) Luz Chung, Caren Holtzman, Plus four to six UCSD student panelists Education Studies Department faculty and students will highlight key features of their service-learning program, which places tutors and mentors in underrepresented, low-income preK-12 schools in San Diego County Paper 1 Title: A Social Justice Approach to Experiential Learning: The Partners at Learning (PAL) Program Paper 1 Description: This paper will discuss key features and the theoretical framework of the Education Studies Department's service-learning program, which places tutors and mentors in underrepresented, low-income preK-12 schools in San Diego County. Panel Abstract: During this presentation we will introduce the Partners At Learning (PAL) Program housed within UC San Diego’s Education Studies Department. Grounded on service learning, PAL offers a series of undergraduate courses that seek to provide UC San Diego undergraduates with opportunities to learn the cultural and linguistic diversity of San Diego, and to confront their own assumptions about status and privilege. We will be presenting and discussing the theoretical frameworks that guide the design and implementation of PAL curricula. In addition, we will be sharing and examining the experiences and work of students involved in PAL, and will facilitate discussions about the implications of service learning programs in fostering social justice among our youth. PAL courses provide students with an introduction to theoretical and practical issues in preK-12 education by incorporating both academic work and a fieldwork component into the course structure. The goals for a ll PAL classes are twofold. We strive to provide our university students with meaningful experiences that facilitate their understanding and appreciation of the complexities of a multicultural community as seen in the public school setting. We also strive to support our local schools by providing mentors and tutors to underserved, underrepresented schools and neighborhoods. We deliberately structure class sessions, readings, lectures, and discussion sessions to challenge preconceived notions and assumptions about merit, ability, language, culture, and academic achievement. We believe that the vital link between theory and practice provides our students with constructs through which they can examine issues of social injustice, as they pertain to schools and society. Furthermore, this vital link allows students to question their own assumptions, and to reflect on their practices as they work with marginalized students, learn from the communities outside the university, and cr itically think about their roles in enacting change and partaking in social action. CLOSE section C2 :: Art Space Room Social Justice/Equity Emphasizing the Social in Social Justice, Long Bui, Ma Vang, Maria Cesena, Stevie Ruiz, UCSD Long Bui, Ma Vang, Maria Cesena, Stevie Ruiz, Lecturers, Ethnic Studies, UCSD An interactive discussion about different ways to construct class projects emphasizing social justice and community empowerment in Ethnic Studies and beyond Panel Abstract: This panel brings together previous and current lecturers in the department of Ethnic Studies who have experimented with alternative teaching methods to teaching and helping students become more critical of their academic environments as well as larger society. Recognizing not just that student intelligence and creativity lie in a variety of mediums but also the fact that a collective movement for social justice demands more than writing a single-author student research paper—the speakers of this panel wish to emphasize the necessity and value of collaborative work and community-based activities. In doing so, they want to extend the production of knowledge (and hence power) from academic institutions into an expanding platform for progressive action and change. Attentive to the power dynamics found within the college campus, we invite others to consider the following questions: What political consciousness and meanings are created when teachers give undergrads as part of their class assignment the opportunity to build their own historical archive, put on their own art show exhibit for the community or attend a protest rally? How do we think about “learning” as not merely an intellectual or scholarly enterprise but a spiritual, familial, personal and emotional endeavor? What is gained or lost when we do not question the authoritative structure and hierarchal premises of higher education? At a time when public and private universities are outsourcing their programs overseas to places like Asia, what does a “global education” mean and in what ways do we do fail to interrogate the taken-for-granted idea of the global citizen/student? This panel hopes to break away from that teachers are the sole repositories of knowledge and recognize the powerful agency of students to articulate the demands of the future in an era of crisis. CLOSE section Methodological Potentials in Community Based Research, Lauren Berliner, Camille Campion, UCSD Camille Campion and Lauren Berliner, Phd Candidates, UCSD Department of Communication Two UCSD graduate researchers propose new methods for community-based research Abstract: For their dissertation research in the UCSD Department of Communication, doctoral students Camille Campion and Lauren Berliner have designed media workshops that enable them to work directly with community groups in greater San Diego. Both researchers actively participate in social change in the communities in which they are situated and rely on both university and community resources to co-produce videos with their participants that are used to reciprocally inform the respective communities and researchers. Berliner's work is with teens that participate in a media production workshop at the San Diego LGBT teen community center. Campion works with Project Safeway and People's Produce Project, two local non-profit social organizations in an underserved district of San Diego. Finding models and methods to pursue social change alongside answers to their research questions has been challenging, as many available research methods such as ethnography, situational analysis and action-research don't fully account for the types of concerns and encounters that they face. Their presentation will grapple with these questions of method and propose a critical, qualitative research design that includes traditional lineages while expanding on them by introducing new media technologies and the reflective capacities of digital technology. Finally, they will consider how researchers at UCSD might employ these kinds of methods to leverage off the success of the “engaged university" in order to strengthen learning and growth in the UCSD community and local communities. CLOSE section C3 :: Library Room Experiential Learning in Underserved Communities Serving San Diego within the Courthouse crossing the Bridge, Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Inden Gharapet, Ligia Hernandez, Michael Bolivar, Kim Nguyen, UCSD Alejandra Sotelo-Solis, Director, Community Law Project, Ligia Hernandez, Michael Bolivar, Kim Nguyen, Inden Gharapet Come learn how Community Law Project students serve as JusticeCorps members and mentors Panel Abstract: For the last ten years at UC San Diego, the Community Law Project’s mission has been to provide community service opportunities for students invested in working with and empowering under-served and under-represented communities through civic engagement. Establishing spaces for dialogue around law, public policy and advocacy our students are able to reach beyond UC San Diego’s campus to make tangible change within the greater San Diego community. Two programs to be highlighted in this panel are the JusticeCorps program and the Youth Success and Outreach Program. Both programs produce independent leaders who understand their fields better through one-on-one interaction with members of the community. All student volunteers do this co-curricular service without class credit or pay. Through the Justice Corps program, members commit to 300 hours of service at the San Diego Superior Courthouse and learn how to work with non-represented litigants. Each member learns about the needs of those seeking legal assistance and after a series of trainings is encouraged to learn more about the court, its needs and the constant demands within the county-wide public legal system. Youth Success and Outreach Program Mentors commit to serving the foster youth ages 12-18 every Monday for one academic school year. These students engage the foster youth in activities on empowerment, academic achievement and college readiness. The UC San Diego mentors facilitate those discussions and learn about their roles as leaders, potential careers in social service programs as well as gain knowledge on the daily challenges that the foster youth face. CLOSE section Twenty-First Century Optimal Learning Environments (La Clase Mágica), Diamant Shaw, UCSD Diamant Shaw, Director, La Clase Mágica UCSD students gain a sense of self, digital voice, and diversity through LCM Abstract: La Clase Mágica is a 20+ year program which has integrated teaching, research, and service by creating collaborations between university faculty, undergraduate students, and local community organizations to serve children and families in underserved communities. It functions as an ever evolving “laboratory” to implement, study, and refine theories of teaching, learning, and development. UCSD students are involved in LCM by various means, either through our Practicum course, creating a research project for credit, or joining us as a research assistant. Our Hubs of Innovation Project has been challenging undergrads and the child participants to think globally about community issues such as health, environment, and financial literacy. These core life skills are just a few of the ways LCM is impacting students, creating connections, and inspiring creativity. The diversity of the practicum students who participate in LCM throughout the quarter adds to the cultural complexity and unique collaboration that goes on at 5 after-school sites with local elementary children and two preschool sites in low income and minority communities. Our research assistants bring their knowledge of science, world issues, and cultural practices to the creation of new interactive curriculum – which includes a new website and blog where the children can create and post digital projects. More importantly, the undergraduates work as a team in accomplishing curriculum projects, and coordinating a digital dialogue which takes place on the blog between the children and a “magical” entity El Maga. This intermingling between the ages and across cultural boundaries has helped shape LCM in a unique manner, creating bridges between the university and community organizations, providing outreach to communities underrepresented in the UC system, all the while allowing UCSD students to gain a better understanding of theories of learning and development along with self, digital voice, and diversity. CLOSE section Experiential Learning: A Fuel for Action, Jamelle Jones, UCSD UCSD Partners At Learning Artsbridge Scholar Janelle Jones , Education Studies Department The Artsbridge EDS Course created a significant turning point for my academic career as an undergraduate. Abstract: In my junior year, I had the opportunity to become a UCSD Artsbridge Scholar. This service-learning practicum was a transformative experience for me. I volunteered at EJE Elementary Academy in a bilingual classroom full of giddy, thoughtful and intelligent second graders. My job was to communicate with my host teacher and my fellow group members to develop a lesson plan that provided an artistic bridge for the lessons that the second grade students were learning about in class. As I took this Partners At Learning (PAL) course, I noticed that my academic experience was taking a dramatic turn. I was no longer passively engaging with lecture material. Instead, I was consciously aware of the scholarly research presented in class about the incredible relationship and benefits that the arts bring to classrooms. My studies became a part of my daily experience as I would visit EJE Academy throughout the week. I could take the methods, strategies, and concepts from the article and directly apply them to my work in my host classroom. This service learning course transformed my academic career because I could actively observe, analyze, and participate in the field of education. It further inspired me to accomplish my dream of opening up performing arts after school programs for children. I would like to present my experiences at the Experiential Learning Conference. My specific focus will be on the work that I did in my assigned classroom and the impact that it had for me as well as the students at the school. I have a Pecha Kucha presentation of my work at EJE Academy for Winter quarter that highlights our challenges, expectations, and goals throughout the experience. The knowledge and skills that I have acquired will last far beyond my academic career. CLOSE section C4 :: Conference Room Leadership Development Peer Facilitation in Co-Instructor models of Social Change, Crystal Dujowich, University of San Diego Crystal Dujowich Co-Director of Emerging Leaders, Leadership Minor Instructor, & Doctoral Student, University of San Diego The Emerging Leaders Program at the University of San Diego is a freshmen Leadership course that is founded on the Five Exemplary Leadership Practices (Kouzes & Posner) and the Social Change Model (Komives & Wagner), and this paper explores using a co-instructor team of one professional staff member and one junior or senior Leadership Minor student to facilitate learning. Abstract: The Emerging Leaders Program at the University of San Diego provides a unique framework for teaching freshmen. Co-instructor teams are implemented in each section comprised of one professional staff member and one junior or senior Leadership Minor student. This session explores the learning and challenges that our student leaders embark on from both the learner and facilitator roles. Goals • Provide a framework of how to connect learning between upper classmen and freshmen • Develop awareness regarding alternative methods of teaching and learning • Create an environment that allows for meaningful dialogue and learning • Support innovation and creativity in experiential and action-oriented learning A presentation will be provided to give an overview of the current Emerging Leader's program at the University of San Diego. Co-presenters will include Leadership Minor students that have recently participated in Emerging Leaders as a freshmen as well as upper classmen who have served as co-instructors. It is expected that this format will provide a rich dialog across differing perspectives. Additionally, several prompts will be included to engage the participants in envisioning how peer co-instructing may take form on their campus. Peer co-instructing is not widely used in recognized undergraduate classrooms. The USD model provides insight in how this pedagogy can be implemented in conjunction with Leadership Studies as well as other disciplines. Furthermore, this model connects our most engaged leadership students with those that are just embarking on their undergraduate career. Beyond the peer co-instruction, the Emerging Leaders program utilizes community service and internships to foster additional forms of experiential learning. Lastly, the program does offer some descriptive statistics on retention that indicate favorable enrollment and participation. CLOSE section Facilitating Deeper Learning through Student Centered Approaches, Daniel Tillapaugh, University of San Diego (view prezi) Daniel Tillapaugh, Instructor, Leadership Studies Minor & Ph.D. Candidate, University of San Diego Far too often, our students are engaged in one-way transactional learning approaches; this presentation offers participants the opportunity to learn about student-directed learning pedagogies currently being used in the University of San Diego’s leadership studies minor which offer transformative experiences of one’s learning, both in the classroom and outside. Abstract: How can we best prepare students to be engaged citizens? A critique of our current learning environments is that many of the curricular experiences students encounter involve one-way transactional approaches. As a result, students engage with pedagogical models that neither invite them to the learning process nor challenge them to think about what it really means to learn. Through engaging students in the learning process by having them help construct the course and determine the ways in which they will engage and learn, students become empowered and increasingly more invested in their own learning, the relationships with their classmates, and in the course as a whole. In an effort to address these concerns, the leadership studies minor at the University of San Diego promotes innovative and inquiry-based approaches to teaching leadership. Specifically, the presenter has experience teaching a capstone leadership course utilizing a variety of pedagogical approaches that involve the students as active players in the design, direction, and day-to-day delivery of the course. This approach draws on literature and research related to: adaptive leadership and case-in-point pedagogy (Daloz Parks, 2005; Heifetz, 1998), action inquiry (Torbert, 2004), leadership identity development (Komives, Owen, Longerbeam, Mainella, & Osteen, 2005), self-authorship (Baxter Magolda, 1999), and human development (Chickering, 1969; Erikson, 1980; Kegan, 1982; Wilbur, 2000). This “project” of designing the course serves as a case study from which the students observe themselves and the group through the leadership process. The group then uses this reflection in acti on to inform their direction as a class. The presenter will share experiences and provide some resources and strategies on different ways to incorporate student-centered and directed approaches in the curriculum. Discussion will center on how educators can integrate resources and techniques used within the leadership capstone course in their own areas and disciplines. CLOSE section Sixth College IGNITE Leadership Development Program, Emily Ulmer Feinstein, Students, UCSD Emily Ulmer Feinstein, Assistant Dean of Student Affairs, Sixth College The IGNITE program aims to help students realize their potential for leadership. Panel Abstract: At Sixth College, students join a community of leaders and scholars as an incoming Sixer. Our students are asked to be active and responsible citizens and think critically about the world around them both in and out of the classroom. We put faith in our students’ abilities to think critically about local and global issues in innovative and creative ways. To help them in their journey as a leader-scholar, we encourage students to participate in the IGNITE personal development program. IGNITE is an initiative that bridges the academic and student life experiences that our students will have at Sixth College. The program aims to assist students in unleashing their potential for leadership, connecting with fellow students, faculty, and staff in meaningful ways, and supporting their academic and social success at UC San Diego. IGNITE Leadership Fellows join in a community of established and emerging leaders and scholars. Participants will inspire, teach and empower each other to develop and practice the skills, attitudes and actions of citizen leaders. How does IGNITE benefit our students? Participants in the IGNITE program master and gain essential skills including, but not limited to: • Increased social self-confidence • Public speaking skills • Leadership development, training, and education • Academic success support • Community service learning engagement • The ability to work in teams effectively • Understanding and appreciation for diversity • Critical thinking skills • Self-reflection • Communication skills • Organizational skills The IGNITE program allows each participant to seek out his or her own learning in ways that support one’s growth and development, both in the present and for the future. CLOSE section C5 :: Price Center East Forum UCSD/ArtPower! Film/High Tech High campus-community collaboration Art Power: Developing Collaborative Community Connections Around Project-Based Learning Initiatives, Rebecca Webb, Elizabeth Yang-Hellewell, Margaret Noble, Rachel Nichols, Michael Trigilio, UCSD, ArtPower!Film, and High Tech High Rebecca Webb, ArtPower! Film Curator; Elizabeth Yang-Hellewell, Program & Audience Development Manager; Margaret Noble, HTHMA Digital Arts & Sound Production Teacher; Rachel Nichols, HTHMA English Teacher; Michael Trigilio, UCSD Visual Arts Professor ArtPower! Film Practicum ArtPower! recognizes that creative learners make creative teachers, and teaching and learning go both ways. In spring 2012, ArtPower! Film, Sixth College, and the Department of Visual Arts, along with High Tech High Media Arts, will launch a ten-week creative mentorship program for university students to work with film production students at High Tech High Media Arts. Learning together and creating together—this is what ArtPower! collaborations are all about! Using ArtPower! Film's new Practicum Program with UCSD's Visual Arts Department and High Tech High Media Arts, this panel will explore strategies for building community collaborations around project-based initiatives, for the benefit of both university students and the larger community. CLOSE section
2:45-3:45	Session D D1 :: Comunidad Room Transformative Effects of Student Internships Transformative Learning Through Experience: Student Perspectives on the Academic, Career and Personal Impact of Academic Internships, Tricia Taylor Oliveira, Van Ngo, Alexandra Skiba, UCSD Tricia Taylor Oliveira, Interim Director, Academic Internship Program, Van Ngo, Alexandra Skiba In this facilitated panel, students and alumni of the Academic Internship Program share the impact of internship experiences on several aspects of their career, personal and academic development. Paper 1 Title: Intern at Sony Playstation Paper 1 Description: Alexandra Skiba will share insights from her two-quarter experience as an intern at Sony Playstation. Paper 2 Title: Intern at UCSD Budget Office and Center for Wireless & Population Health Systems Paper 2 Description: Van Ngo will share insights from her two distinct internship experiences. Panel Abstract: Extending learning from the classroom to professional settings via internships provides students with opportunities for active exploration and the development of concrete knowledge and skills. This process can lead to changes in perspective on the students’ career and educational paths, as well as their growth as individuals. In the AAC&U’s 2008 report High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter, internships are included amongst the list of activities with the potential to positively influence student engagement and success. Beyond serving as an entrée into the world of work, academic internships can be multi-faceted learning opportunities that yield deep and sometimes unexpected insights. Students’ education becomes more relevant as it both informs and is informed by “real world” experience. In this facilitated panel, students and alumni of the Academic Internship Program share the impact of internship experiences on several aspects of their career, personal and academic development, including • Perspective on the communities within which the students worked: the industries, organizations and populations encountered through the internship • Awareness of personal values, interests and strengths • Career decision-making and preparation • Understanding of academic theories and concepts learned in class • Engagement and motivation toward continued learning The Academic Internship Program connects undergraduate students of all majors with credit-bearing internships related to their studies and career goals. Students integrate their internship experience with academic research through the completion of a final analytical paper. Students also respond to guided reflection questions though the course of the internship. In addition to addressing the above points, the panel will discuss elements of their academic internships that contributed to their learning. CLOSE section Live, Learn, Intern…The UCDC Program, Christy Quiogue, Lauren Schein, Jojo Zhao, Traci Kim, UCSD Christy Quiogue, Internship Coordinator, UCSD Career Services Center, Jojo Zhao, Lauren Schein, Traci Kim UCDC Alumni Share Their Experiences of Interning in our Nation’s Capital Panel Abstract: The UCDC Program enables nearly 90 UCSD students to “live, learn and intern” in Washington D.C. every year. It was created for the purpose of providing an opportunity for students to continue their studies while interning in Washington, D.C. for one academic quarter. During this program, participants live in the UC Washington Center with other students from the UC campuses while also taking classes in the center, which are elective courses and/or a thematic research seminar offering students the opportunity to reflect on and enlist their internship experiences in an academic setting. The highlight of the program is the participation in an internship, where students gain career-related experiences and professional development with organizations such as the U.S. State Department, National Geographic Institute and the Federal Reserve Board. Participants express that the internship experience has helped them develop confidence in their career readiness and workplace skills due to meaningful internship assignments, supervision feedback and mentoring by professional staff members. In addition, participants return to San Diego with increased self-awareness and appreciation of our community as their involvement in these internships enabled them to see themselves as contributing members of society. This panel will be composed of current UCSD students (now UCDC alumni) who will share their stories of both professional and personal growth as a result of interning in our nation’s capitol. We will learn how the intellectual, social and professional challenges of living, learning and interning in DC have transformed their way of thinking and responding to learning that happens both inside and outside of the classroom. CLOSE section Lessons from an Internship, Volunteering Abroad, and Independent Research, Sara Mangosing, UCSD Sara Mangosing This presentation will discuss my experiences in Experiential Learning and its impact on what I know, the person who I am today, and my future goals. Abstract: Growing up in Guam, I wasn’t provide with the latest books, technological resources, or many teachers during my primary and secondary education, but one thing I valued as a child was growing up through experiential learning—whether it be hiking through the rainforests or working alongside my father building our house. Coming to the states for college led me to pursue further opportunities in experiential learning which my home had very little access to. I have three examples from my personal experience of experiential learning that I would like to discuss that have helped shape the person I am today, what I know, and my goals for the future. Firstly, I would like to discuss how an internship with the Animal Hospital of La Jolla through UCSD’s Academic Internship Program helped me to realize that a career I thought I was interested in going into, ultimately was not a good fit for me. Secondly, I would like to discuss how my involvement in Global Brigades let me apply school material to tangible solutions for communities in the third world; I would like to discuss how working alongside foreigners affected them, my peers, and myself in a way that transcends books and lectures and the impact this had on my core values and my lessons on the importance of skills such as being flexible and culturally sensitive in an interdisciplinary, multicultural setting. Lastly, I would like to discuss how my involvement in independent research built my problem solving skills and fueled me to apply what I have learned in school to medical research, which helped me to solidify my goals. Tying all my experiences, I am continuing to build the skills that I need to work in a multicultural, progressive, and interdisciplinary world that requires creative solutions for tough problems. CLOSE section D2 :: Art Space Room Student Well-Being Investing in development and engagement of student peer leaders and its impact on the well-being of the campus community, Deborah Pino-Saballett, Tiffany O Meara, Jenss Chang, Erica Okamura, Nancy Wahlig, Simon Teal, UCSD (download powerpoint) Deborah Pino-Saballett, Director of Health Education, Student Health Services, a department of Health, Recreation and Well-being, Tiffany O Meara, Jenss Chang, Erica Okamura, Nancy Wahlig, Simon Teal, Student Health Services, Recreation, Counseling and Psychological Services, Sexual Assault and Violence Prevention Resource Center, and the ZONE Department representatives (staff and students) from The Health, Recreation and Well-being Cluster will talk about the importance of providing diverse experiential learning opportunities for students, and it's impact on the well-being of these student leaders, and the larger impact on the students they reach through these engagement activities. Paper 1 Title: CAPS' Wellness Peers: Contributing to campus well-being by reaching out to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health assistance Paper 1 Description: Co-coordinators of CAPS Wellness Peer Education program Tiffany O'Meara, Ph.D., Counseling Psychologist, and Jenss Chang, Ph.D., Post-doctoral Fellow, will discuss the CAPS Wellness Peer Educator program, a group of 8-10 undergraduate and graduate students who are trained to provide outreach and education to UCSD students on issues of mental health and well-being, and work to reduce the stigma of seeking mental health assistance Paper 2 Title: Student Health Advocates: Developing leaders in health and well-being while working to enhance the personal health of students on campus and the collective health and well-being of the campus community Paper 2 Description: Erica Okamura, Peer Health Education Coordinator and Debbie Pino-Saballett, Director of Health Education will be joined by current Student Health Advocates to discuss what they have learned through participation in the program, and it’s impact on their feelings of purpose, and connection to the campus as a whole Paper 3 Title: Changing the campus culture: Students learning the BIT model to gain skills and confidence to safely and successfully intervene when something just doesn’t seem right Paper 3 Description: Nancy Wahlig, Director of the Sexual Assault & Violence Prevention Resource Center will talk about training student leaders in the Bystander Intervention Training (BIT) model. This model, created by UCSD students and staff, can empower students with the skills needed to become a responsive bystander in everyday situations. Paper 4 Title: Leadership in the Wilderness, how the outdoors can build more effective people. Paper 4 Description: Outdoor Leadership provides for enormous personal growth for those involved. Outback Adventures the University’s Outdoor Education program will discuss the ways that it can contribute to a healthy, balanced and effective life through its Outdoor Leadership Certificate Program. Panel Abstract: With UC San Diego ranked the 8th best public university in the nation by U.S. News & World Report, and the 33rd best college in the world by Times Higher Education, students know that coming to UC San Diego they will be provided with an excellent education, in an academically charged environment. What we also want students to know is that they are part of a campus that cares about their well-being and as such, provides many opportunities for leadership development and engagement where they can acquire skills, competencies, and knowledge which contribute to their success in school and beyond. The departments* in the Health, Recreation and Well-being Cluster not only provide critical services that assist students in their well-being, but also provide diverse opportunities for student development and engagement. These development opportunities contribute to the student’s personal well-being, and also to the well-being of the campus community. Through a ripple effect from modeling and information sharing, students pass on health and wellness knowledge informally to their friends, and formally to their peers through presentations, workshops and events. Staff and students from the Well-being Cluster will talk about how these programs were designed, what the training consists of, and how the programs contribute to the retention and resilience of students. Additionally, the students will talk about the transformative impact these programs have had in their life as a student. We will talk about how staff from different departments, and from diverse disciplines have worked together, integrating their skills to design programs with the goal of increasing student and campus well-being. CLOSE section D3 :: Library Room Experiential Learning in Engineering Engineering for Humanity, Mandy Bratton, Teams in Engineering students, UCSD Mandy Bratton, Director, UCSD Global TIES This program will describe Global TIES - Teams in Engineering Service, an innovative humanitarian engineering program, and outline its impact on student engagement, learning and development. Abstract: Global TIES is an innovative humanitarian engineering program in which faculty-advised, interdisciplinary teams of undergraduates design solutions that matter for local and global nonprofit organizations. It is one of three programs to twice earn UC San Diego a place with distinction on President Obama's Honor Roll of Higher Education Community Service. Established in 2004 as TIES – Teams in Engineering Service by the Jacobs School of Engineering, the program has designed engineering and technology solutions for Habitat for Humanity, United Cerebral Palsy, the National Federation for the Blind, and the UC San Diego Student-Run Free Clinic, among others. In 2009, the program expanded its mission to include partnerships with non-governmental organizations working in developing countries. The program currently has projects with Engineers Without Borders in Kenya, Gawad Kalinga in the Philippines, and Ghana Africa International Operations in Ghana. In 2010-11, Global TIES enrolled 482 students in 11 projects. Of the students with engineering majors, 30% were women and 12% were underrepresented minorities. Several Global TIES students were selected to participate in the 2011 Clinton Global Initiative University, two have won Gordon Leadership Awards, and one was the first engineering student and first undergraduate to win an Institute for International, Comparative, and Area Studies Human Rights Fellowship. Two teams were recently awarded UC San Diego – Clinton Global Initiative University awards. Data will be presented that document the impact of the program in terms of student engagement, learning, and development. A panel of students will also describe, in their own voices, the impact the program has had on their professional and personal development. CLOSE section D4 :: Conference Room Experiential Learning Dialogue Process Use of circle processes as a strategy for engaging experiential learning, Sean Horrigan, and Students, University of San Diego (download powerpoint) Sean Horrigan, University of San Diego Participants will engage in and learn the framework of a unique form of group dialogue that will explore challenges and strategies for experiential learning, which can then be integrated into their own programs, curriculum, and services. Abstract: Circle processes have been used as a structured dialoguing tool to address community conflict in many of the world’s indigenous cultures for centuries. In the 1990s institutions of higher education began incorporating these practices into their work. Circle processes engage student development goals by building ethical leadership, interpersonal competence, and cognitive complexity. They create a safe space to reflectively think, express opinions, and experience interdependence and human connection. This rich environment can be used for a wide variety of purposes in higher education including community-building, addressing conflict, supporting understanding, healing, reintegration, and celebration. In a partnership between Student Affairs and the School of Peace Studies at the University of San Diego, we have recently begun implementing circle processes to mobilize students, faculty, and staff to address complicated social issues and community conflicts, including student behavior, hate crimes, and other relevant social topics. Our goal is to embed the use of circle processes within already existing programs, curriculum, and services. We are able to cultivate a deeper dialogue that enables learning and transformation by creating a process in which community members are able to speak their truth in a safe space. This experientially-based session will allow participants to gain facilitation skills by engaging in an actual circle process that is aimed at the conference theme of “mobilizing the next generation for social reform.” There will also be USD undergraduates who have participated in and facilitated circle processes to share their experience. We hope to provide a space that allows participants to simultaneously engage in the theme of the conference and learn about a strategy that they can integrate into their daily work. We will provide a paper that examines the use of circle processes in higher education, with case studies and an assessment of the impact of circle processes at USD. CLOSE section D5 :: Price Center East Forum Residential Life Teaching and Valuing Equity and Inclusion in the Residential Student Environment: An Experiential Model, Anthony P. Jakubisin, Malik Ismail, Sonia Rosado, Cesar Figueroa, Jennifer Maldonado, Caroline Kim, UCSD Anthony P. Jakubisin, Assistant Resident Dean, Sixth College Residential Life, Malik Ismail, Sonia Rosado, Ed.D., Cesar Figueroa, Ed.D., Jennifer Maldonado, Sixth RA, Caroline Kim, Sixth RA Reflections on the design, implementation, and assessment of a workshop designed to address equity and inclusion in the university residential environment. Equity-Minded Education: A Local Experiential Model for Student Leaders Equity-Minded Education from conception to assessment. Panel Abstract: In August 2011, all seven areas that constitute UC San Diego's residential life program partnered with the Inter-College Residence Association, the Sexual Assault Resource Center, and various other campus offices for the first time to train nearly two-hundred student leaders on the topics of equity, inclusion, social justice, and bystander intervention. In this breakthrough collaborative, thirty professional staff from units across campus served as small-group facilitators during an intensive three-day workshop in which students were challenged to think critically about their own identities, the identities of folks in their communities, and the ways in which they could respond to incidents of intolerance, hatred, and bigotry. The workshop’s curriculum was based largely upon Bensimon’s 2004 equity-minded framework, the work of Adams, Bell, & Griffin in their 2007 text, Teaching for Diversity and Social Justice, 2nd ed., and the 2010 UC San Diego Student Affairs Learning Outcomes. In groups of 3-5 students, facilitators guided participants through educational activities that examined socialization processes, power dynamics, and ethics. To encourage deeper reflection about the content of the workshop, participants also wrote expressive poems or essays throughout their experience. Following the workshop, a learning assessment was conducted that measured participant outcomes based in six skill areas: 1) Intrapersonal, interpersonal, and intergroup competencies; 2) Social justice and community responsibility; 3) Personal skill development; 4) Effective communication; 5) Intellectual growth; and, 6) Leadership skills. At the conclusion of the event, attendees and facilitators alike commented on the transformative nature of the experience and inquired how they could support the training in the future. Given the excitement and positivity surrounding the event, the organizers hope to make it an annual cornerstone of the UC San Diego residential life training and development program for student leaders. CLOSE section
4:00-5:00	Session E E1 :: Comunidad Room International Education Pacific Rim Experiences for Undergraduates (PRIME): A Model of Real World Engagement: Experiential Learning within a Global Research Community, Peter Arzberger, Jim Galvin, Jason Haga, Tricia Taylor, Gabriele Wienhausen, UCSD (download powerpoint) Dean of Biological Sciences, Gabriele Wienhausen, Peter Arzberger, Jim Galvin, Jason Haga, Tricia Taylor PRIME is an international summer internship program that allows students to engage with and contribute to real-world challenges, such as understanding viruses causing pandemic flue outbreaks and migrating IT service to respond to disasters from tsunamis, earthquakes, fires or floods. Abstract: Pacific Rim Experiences for Undergraduates (PRIME): A Model of Real World Engagement: Experiential Learning within a Global Research Community Abstract: To succeed in today’s global research enterprise and economy, students must have - in addition to excellent technical skills - strong intercultural knowledge and competence taught and experienced through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges. PRIME, an immersive, hands-on international educational advancement and research internship program for science and engineering students, was created in direct response to this challenge. During their summer break, students – as a member of the international host-site research team – conduct research and experience the culture and daily life of their host country. Students spend the spring quarter preparing for both, the technology background for the project and the cultural immersion in a foreign country. Students fulfill a cultural awareness curriculum that includes pre-departure workshops, reflective assays during the stay, and post-return workshops and activities. In this paper we describe the PRIME model, we discuss the benefits of the model for the students, the UCSD and the host mentors. We present an assessment instrument used to measure students’ cultural awareness development. PRIME was made possible by creating partnerships with diverse campus units (SDSC, Calit2, Division of Biological Sciences, AIP and the International Center) and developing synergies by building on their individual strengths. We describe those affiliations and the key roles they have played. We will conclude by proposing how PRIME could be scaled and how it could be used as a model for how to create sustainable programs that engage more students in international research and embark on a life-long journey of cultural awareness development. CLOSE section A PRIME experience doing research at Osaka University, Brian Tsui, UCSD Brian Tsui This paper will describe how the PRIME program at Osaka University developed my critical thinking skills in research and improved my cross-cultural communication proficiency. Abstract: very year, the Pacific Rim Undergraduate Experience (PRIME) internship program sends undergraduates to different locations in Asia, to work on a research project. Last summer, I went to Osaka University to develop a workflow for modeling proteins using computer clusters. The PRIME internship gave me an outstanding opportunity to develop independent, critical thinking skills in a real-world research environment. I applied scientific concepts that I learned in my class, such as protein structure, to develop a computational workflow for predicting protein folding. While I received feedback from my mentors weekly, my fellow PRIME scholar and I independently completed the project together. This semi-independent research project allowed both of us to make errors, investigate solutions, and implement these corrections to create a fully functional workflow at the end of the internship. This form of trial-and-error learning forced me to think about where I went wrong and how to correct these mistakes. On a cross-cultural level, I enhanced my communication skills by interacting with Osaka University faculty and students daily. Because most of the students at the university spoke limited English, I had trouble communicating with them in the first week of the program. However, I soon adapted to limited communication by learning some Japanese and by being more patient in my conversations. By trying to explain the meanings of my sentences in many different ways, I ultimately became a much clearer communicator both in Japanese and in English. The PRIME program provides the opportunity for students like me to develop better independent research skills, learn more about a different culture by living in it for nine weeks, and develop better communication skills. These lessons certainly would be difficult to learn in a classroom setting, making PRIME a valuable program at UCSD. CLOSE section Tokyo: Inspired and Shaped, Isabelle Fanchiu, UCSD Alumni Isabelle Fanchiu PRIME How my life was forever changed in Tokyo through the PRIME internship Abstract: How do you describe interning and living in Tokyo in 300 words? I could begin with a few visual words – glamorous, compact, vibrant, modern, historic – and try to explain why I picked those adjectives. Or I could talk about things that still flash into my mind now and then – the unique personalities of each district and the warmth of people. But I won’t limit you to just that. Prior to my departure, I prayed and hoped for a purposeful trip – I did not want to be just a visitor. I arrived in Narita Airport without any expectation of what life in Tokyo would turn out to be. And I completely fell in love. But perhaps not for the same reasons why many of my peers do. Japan (Tokyo)’s charm is not just about its fashion leading role, pop-culture, embracement of other cultures, or well-developed public transit system. The environmental awareness, culinary art, cleanliness, and preservation of history and nature are more than just inspirations. The reasons are beyond my admiration for people’s work ethics, mannerism, consideration, hospitality, and relationships among each other. Through my research internship at NiCT, I had the opportunity to collaborate with PhD researchers from Tokyo, Florence, and Kyoto in addition to my mentor in the United States. Our interactions helped me understand how the different cultures and backgrounds shaped the way we approached, analyzed, and solve problems in a professional, academic setting. The research helped me develop essential skills and attitude as a working professional in a private industry today. After this fortunate opportunity of working in a national research institute among the country’s best pick researchers, a doctorate degree no longer seems like a long-reach, quietly kept dream. Instead, it becomes an inspiration and a necessity at the same time. CLOSE section E2 :: Art Space Room Recruitment and Retention Transforming Learning Spaces Through Engaged Pedagogy, Frida Alvear, Patty Mendoza, Albert Orona, Maureen Abugan, UCSD (download powerpoint and handout) Advisor Frida Alvear Student Life: Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES), Patty Mendoza, Albert Orona, Maureen Abugan Using the Student Promoted Center for Education and Service (SPACES) at UC San Diego as a model program, we will explore bell hooks’ term "engaged pedagogy," provide practical ways of applying an engaged pedagogy into one’s practice, and understand the developmental outcomes that students gain from being involved in student-organized access and retention programs. Paper 1 Title: Students Take Action: Student Initiated and Student Run Center Paper 1 Description: Through engaged pedagogy, students from historically underrepresented and underserved communities develop personal growth by raising their consciousness so that their experiences and management skills become relevant to community empowerment and access and retention efforts. Paper 2 Title: What does community mean? Paper 2 Description: By tracing key political, social and cultural histories and lived experiences of the communities that the SPACES serves, defining "community" gives student staff the necessary background to determine how empowerment and holistic well being can be achieved in access and retention work. Paper 3 Title: Reciprocal not receptacle Paper 3 Description: Here we will explore tools and strategies for applying an engaged pedagogy that seeks to create an environment with reciprocal learning instead of the traditional student/teacher binary that often puts educators as the prime holders of knowledge thereby institutionally setting up students to mainly have the role of absorbing information. Paper 4 Title: Students as Change Agents: Stories and Lessons Paper 4 Description: Through video, images, and oral storytelling, student staff and the professional staff members who support them will share the joys, challenges, and the overall impact that students gain from coordinating and participating in student-run access and retention programs. Panel Abstract: bell hooks writes in Teaching to Transgress: Education as a Practice of Freedom, "To educate as a practice of freedom is a way of teaching that anyone can learn." What does educating as a practice of freedom entail? What transpires when students are valued as a source of knowledge? How can we create pedagogical strategies for holistic learning that are empowering and transformative for students, staff, and faculty alike? In this panel, we will examine the methods, programs, and structure of the Student Promoted Access Center for Education and Service (SPACES), UC San Diego’s student-initiated and student-run access and retention center. We will explore engaged pedagogy as a critical lens of experiential learning, in particular to address the conference’s goal of "learning more about the impact of experiential learning on students, higher education, and the community." More specifically, we will analyze the use of engaged pedagogy within SPACES, where students’ voices have a significant role in shaping the practices and priorities of the Center. This panel directly relates to the conference’s theme, "Education in Action: Mobilizing the next generation for social reform," as students are the next generation who are and will continue to be the initiators and mobilizers of social change. This session will particularly benefit students, staff, or faculty that hope to understand student-organized efforts to enhance educational access and retention and anyone who seeks to implement similar practices in their own initiatives. CLOSE section The TRiO Student Support Services Program (SSSP) Transfer Student Experience, Berenice Jau Gil, Alberto Vasquez, Amy Taylor, UCSD Bernice Jau Gil, Alberto Vasquez, and Amy Taylor: The TRiO Student Support Services Program (SSSP) Transfer Student Experience This panel will consist of transfer students that are part of the TRiO Student Support Services Program and will speak to the services they receive and the impact they have had their retention and successful persistence at UCSD. Panel Abstract: Transfer students are a diverse and growing population at UCSD that also come with varied needs for services that must be tailored to the array of experiences they bring into their transition to campus. The UCSD TRiO Student Support Services Program is a federally funded project housed within UCSD’s Office of Academic Support and Instructional Services (OASIS) that provides a comprehensive approach to serving and supporting its program participants which include transfers to meet these needs. SSSP works with only students that meet the federal low income guidelines, who are first generation college students and or students with disabilities until their date of graduation (up to six years). The program provides a one week residential transition program on campus (STEP), one on one Peer Mentoring, a Learning Community Seminar the student’s first two quarters with other transfer students, individual tutoring in Math, Science and Writing and access to Math and Science workshops at OASIS, professional staff support and counseling in academic, personal and career and graduate school . The panel will consist of transfer students who are part of SSSP. Students will vary from first year transfers, 2nd year transfers, transfer student who is about to graduate or recently graduated, parents and military veterans. Transfer students will share their unique experience in transitioning to UCSD from the perspective of a SSSP student who receives the above mentioned support. Talking points will include how participating or not participating in SSSP’s residential transition program (STEP) impacted their adjustment to UCSD and what their academic, personal and social transition as transfers was like. Panelist will discuss the challenges faced and how the services offered by SSSP helped them overcome and persist as successful students at UCSD. CLOSE section E3 :: Library Room Leadership Development in Business Empowering Student Leadership Through Collaborative Programming: The annual Quarter of Business, Lauren Payne, Richard Ho, Hansol Hong, Dana Monroig, UCSD Lauren Payne, Assistant Director-Career Development, UC San Diego Career Services Center, Richard Ho, President of Student Business Council Hansol Hong, UCSD Alum and former president of student organization Dana Monroig, Employment Services Advisor, UC San Diego Career Services Learn from a panel of business-oriented student leaders and career advisors the successful methods employed to enhance students’ leadership, teamwork, and program management skills by developing a series of Business Quarter career events designed to educate their peers and connect them to viable career opportunities in the business sector. Panel Abstract: UC San Diego is dedicated to developing a true learning community and to providing powerful learning experiences for all students. The Career Services Center (CSC) plays an important role in this learning community by providing students with the opportunity to engage in variety of experiential learning opportunities. Learn from a panel of student leaders and career advisors the successful methods employed to enhance students’ leadership, teamwork, and program management skills by developing a series of Business Quarter career events designed to educate their peers and connect them to viable career opportunities in the business sector. Student leaders played an active role in the development of programs, employer outreach, logistics, panel facilitation and marketing. As a result, 100% of the student surveyed agreed that they improved their ability to speak articulately and to establish mutually rewarding relationships with student leaders, employers, and Care er Services Center staff. This panel will demonstrate the value in collaborating with student organization leaders to develop innovative programming while deepening marketable leadership skills in students. CLOSE section E4 :: Conference Room Experiential Learning in Underserved Communities Knowledge as a Journey of Self-discovery, Deborah Downing Wilson, Jay Lemke, Cindy Moser, Brittany Loy, UCSD Deborah Downing Wilson, Ph.D., Associate Researcher, Laboratory of Comparative Human Cognition Jay Lemke, Ph.D., Senior Research Scientist, UCSD Dept. of Communication Cindy Moser, M.A., Principal, Urban Discovery Academy Brittany Loy, B.A. Knowledge as a Journey of Self-discovery Undergraduates as participant researchers in community-based practicum programs Paper 1 Title: Implementing a Participatory Science Pedagogy in Higher Education Paper 1 Description: Situating undergraduates as ethnographic researchers in community-based practicum programs Paper 2 Title: Community in the Making: Research and Learning in a Technology-rich Playland Paper 2 Description: Research feels different when you're learning from the inside out. Paper 3 Title: Project-based Education in Multiple Dimensions Paper 3 Description: Applying the principles of project-based learning in a university-charter school partnership Paper 4 Title: Grounded, Aware, Focused, Prepared and Passionate Paper 4 Description: Goal and identity formation in academic service learning Panel Abstract: This panel will present four perspectives on a research and pedagogical model where undergraduate students are situated as ethnographic researchers who participate inside the social practices that we are all working to understand. This panel highlights local after-school programs where UCSD undergraduates are enriching their own and their younger buddies' experience with computers, online learning games, visual and performing arts, "greening projects", and the use of video to document social communication research. From tech support to videography, from learning with the kids to learning from them, fluid living communities form and renew themselves from week to week, term to term, and year to year. All within the context of, supporting and supported by, a larger community-created institution. Deborah Wilson will provide an overview of the logic and organizational structure of the program which follows a romantic science ethos, or a belief that knowledge acqu ired through experience changes learners in ways that alter their relationships with the world. Senior Research Scientist, Jay Lemke will discuss our current research at Urban Discovery Academy, looking at the children’s use and understanding of computer-based technologies, at the indispensable role that undergraduate students play in that research, and at the value of community-based research for undergraduates and for the research community. Cindy Moser, Principal of the Urban Discovery Academy, will share her observations about what the broader academic community can contribute to the university programs, and what these programs bring into the community schools. Finally, Brittany Loy, an alumnus of our program, will talk about the time she spent in our program and the long-term benefits of her experience as a student researcher. CLOSE section E5 :: Price Center East Forum UCSD-Community Collaborations Students Reach out to Underprivileged, Alice Jan, Payal Desai, Parinda Sukavivatanachai, Oscar Baterina, Dimple Patel, UCSD Alice Jan, Payal Desai, Parinda Sukavivatanachai, Oscar Baterina, Dimple Patel Making a difference: Health Corps at UCSD reaches out to San Diego's underserved communities to improve healthcare. Abstract: In San Diego, nearly 33% of people are without heath insurance and in dire need of care (San Diego Health and Faith Alliance). Health Corps, a student-run organization started in 2010, originated as an idea to address this disparity of care in underserved populations by providing opportunities for students to work for local, nonprofit agencies and free clinics. At the start of this organization, we knew the problems that existed regarding healthcare disparities in the local communities and that we wanted to take concrete steps to help. The exact manner in which we wanted to accomplish this, however, had yet to be determined. The implementation of this project thus began by identifying and contacting local agencies with a need for student volunteers. While establishing strong relationships with partner organizations such as Kalusugan Community Services and South Bay Community Services, we started to recruit students interested in health related opportunities through general body meetings. In the past year, we have been able to send students to work at health fairs, where they have been involved with basic health screenings and educational outreach efforts. Currently, we are working on establishing long-term volunteer opportunities with our partner organizations. Through the experience of establishing Health Corps, we gained insight into the logistics of managing a large organization. By reaching out to agencies in the San Diego community, we learned how to network effectively. Through communicating and recruiting students, we developed leadership skills and learned how to work efficiently as a team. Additionally, because we worked with populations of different ethnicities and backgrounds, we gained cultural awareness and understanding. With time, we hope to increase the number of partnerships with local agencies and free clinics, as well as reach out to more students looking for volunteer opportunities in the healthcare field. CLOSE section HOPE (Healthcare Opportunities Preparation and Empowerment), Aubrey Miller, Omar Viramontes, Adele Savage, UCSD Aubrey Miller, Omar Viramontes cochairs, Adele Savage, HOPE Provide insight about the programs and events offered by HOPE and how they create positive social change. Panel Abstract: The ability to motivate students and incite social change is the fundamental goal of HOPE (Healthcare Opportunities Preparation and Empowerment). This UCSD student organization is truly unique because it is driven to improve the overwhelmingly small proportion of underrepresented students in health related graduate schools. HOPE’s mission is to create programs and events that can directly help these students get into their professional school of choice. One such program is Project:Success, this is an opportunity for pre-health underrepresented students to receive assistance in some of their more challenging required classes, such as Organic Chemistry. Study sessions are held weekly and are led by a student volunteer, who has already completed the course and feels competent enough to help others. Improvement in classes is essential for anyone interested in a medical profession, thus, this program directly assists underrepresented students improve their likelihood of acceptance. An extremely popular HOPE event is the Cadaver Lab at Miramar College held twice every academic year. This is a unique experience for undergraduate students because they are able to examine entire cadavers, as well as individual body parts. The event often results in motivated students that are excited about the prospect of medicine and amazed by the human body. HOPE is a partner of the UCSD School of Medicine’s Mentor program. This relationship provides HOPE members with the opportunity to be given a medical student as a mentor for the academic year. These relationships are essential since the mentors can provide the students with unparalleled feedback. Finally, HOPE has a fantastic system of communication. It is the umbrella organization for all other underrepresented pre-health organizations on campus. Also, HOPE has a close relationship with HMP3 enabling all events to be mentioned in HMP3’s weekly e-mails. "Everything that is done in the world is done by hope". CLOSE section Empowering The Student Voice Through Voting, Arshya Sharifian, UCSD President Arshya Sharifian Student Organized Voter Access Committee Student Organized Voter Access Committee (SOVAC) aims to institutionalize voter registration and to ensure a consistent and effective student voter turnout. Abstract: High voter turnouts are the direct way of communicating politicians who are unmoved by rallies and protests. The community that sends its messages through the poll is granted more legitimacy by the democratic process. At SOVAC, we believe that through this legitimacy, we can remind politicians who holds the greatest elective power — we do. Student Organized Voter Access Committee (SOVAC) aims to institutionalize voter registration and to ensure a consistent and effective student voter turnout. SOVAC, in a non-partisan manner, looks to maximize political capital by registering students to vote in the San Diego county, with the intentions of mobilizing students to register and subsequently turn out to vote in future elections. We hope to remind students how their votes are a fundamental tool of communication with politicians, and that this communication is vital in making sure our leaders make decisions that benefit the student population. SOVAC aims to involve communities and organizations in the political climate to create opportunities for discourse amongst members of these groups. As we involve more members of the community to participate and work cooperatively in this joint effort to inform others, voter registration will become more effective and efficient. Convincing large numbers of busy students to take the time to register is not easy. SOVAC recognizes this, and develops streamlined processes of registration. During the move-in weekend of the 2011 Fall quarter, SOVAC used a quick and concise strategy to register close to 1,300 students in a three days. At Sixth and Eleanor Roosevelt College, where SOVAC implemented this strategy, close to 30% of the total amount of each campus registered to vote. We believe that the students’ vote is their loudest voice. Politicians speak one language—votes. When students don’t vote, politicians don’t listen. SOVAC hopes to give them a reason to. CLOSE section
5:00-5:30	Closing Remarks – Comunidad Room • Dan Donoghue, Diane Forbes, Jim Lin, Elizabeth Losh, UCSD

For more information, contact Diane Forbes, Practicum Director, Sixth College at eduinaction@ucsd.edu or call 858-822-5953.

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