Community Outreach Project

Learning Outcomes

This assignment is designed to address Information Literacy and Written Communication learning outcomes. These specific outcomes are incorporated into the grading rubrics for the papers.

If you wish, you may click HERE to download the American Association of Colleges and Universities VALUE rubric on Teamwork

If you wish, you may click HERE to download the American Association of Colleges and Universities VALUE rubric on Problem Solving

Purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to experience the notion of working in a small group to solve a very real-world problem. This is a semester-long project. Your team will need to find a REAL need out there in the community and work to develop and implement a plan to address that need.

The need may be to coordinate someone to do shopping for an elderly person, build a new set of stairs to a porch, develop a volunteer plan for a child care center, or raise funds for a project. The point is that this is REAL.

Proposal

Each member of your group will engage in the process of searching for a suitable (and doable) project. You will work as a team to select your project, identify a plan, coordinate resources, and put the plan in place to solve a problem in your community. As you can likely see, this is not an EASY project...but I promise it will be rewarding.

Each team in class is an "Action Team" as part of the KVCC Center for Civic Engagement. As such you have to define an identity (name, membership, group identity, Facebook presence (if desired), and literature (eventually). I will be the overall "Supervisor" of all the teams, so I am a resource that you can turn to.

Each team will work closely with me to create an Action Team identity and a Project Proposal. When it is ready, each Action Team will submit (and share with the class) a "Plan of Action." The Plan of Action will introduce the team and the nature of the project they are taking on. It must be "branded" so that it represents your group's Identity, Personality, and Style.

Plan of Action

Cover

Branded cover with creative elements.
10 pts.

Introduction

This section introduces the team itself. Each member should be profiled. Any "Mission Statements" or "Guiding Principles" should also be outlined in this section.
45 pts.

Project Description

This section will outline the "Community Problem" in detail and explain why existing resources do not meet the need.

This section should outline the PLAN that the Team is going to implement in order to meet the need.
45 pts.

The plan will be presented to the entire class and members of the class will be able to contribute ideas/resources that may be of assistance to team.

Implementation

Now you need to actually carry out the plan. This will entail taking whatever steps you have outlined in your Plan of Action, modifying the steps as needed, and dealing with any issues or conflicts that come up.

The end product is that you actually meet the need in the community.

You will document your project using images, words, and video. Final projects will be published on Storehouse.com, a web-based story-telling site with an accompanying iOS app of the same name.

iPads with access to Storehouse are available in the library and can be used to create your Storehouse site.

Click here to see an example Storehouse site related to the 2014 College Bowl event

Click here to see an example Storehouse site related to students learning how to use the iPad

As you construct your presentation other individuals not in your group may appear in the pictures and/or videos you take. In order to get the "OK" to use thier images in promotion I would ask that you have each of them complete the form listed below. If they choose to NOT sign the release or you forget to do it it means that we are then limited to looking at the presentation in class alone...we can't share it with the wider college community (which is fine).

Click here to download the release form

Storehouse Presentation

Contents

  • Team name and branding
  • Description of the team (names, goals, etc.)
  • Description of the project
  • Description of the implementation of the plan with text, pictures, graphics, video, etc.
  • Conclusions
100 pts.

This section of the Grading Rubric is to evaluate the Problem Solving process of the group. It is not officially a part of the GRADE, but it is evaluated as part of the assessment of this General Education Learning Outcome

These areas should be CLEARLY outlined in the content of your web page (in the description of the implementation part)...

The 1-2-3-4 rating scale is related to the different degrees of accomplishment that are outlined in the Problem Solving VALUE Rubric that you can click to above. Review these categories and write up your material for the website accordingly.

I will be completing these ratings based on the website you create...unlike the Reflection Quiz where YOU will be rating yourself.
Define Problem 1 2 3 4
Identify Strategies 1 2 3 4
Propose Solutions 1 2 3 4
Evaluate Potential Solutions 1 2 3 4
Implement Solutions 1 2 3 4
Evaluate Outcomes 1 2 3 4

Reflection Quiz

Throughout this process you will be working closely with a small group of people. The course will cover a curriculum of "Team Management, Development, and Process"

The final part of this project is for each of you (not as a team) to evaluate the Teamwork process that you encountered. Keep in mind that you will be assessing only YOUR participation. This is considered to be reflective so truthful evaluations will not impact your grade...a lack of reflection will.

Download the VALUE Rubric for Teamwork located at the top of this document. Use the table to analyze your OWN actions in the group. For each of the categories in the table you will need to:

  1. Select the number that corresponds with the level of achievement in the VALUE Rubric for Teamwork
  2. Write a brief story from your experience that exemplifies why you evaluated yourself at that particular level of achievement.
Based on the VALUE Rubric evaluate "Contributes to Team Meetings" (5 pts) 1 2 3 4

Story

  • Relates to your contribution to team meetings
  • Clearly justifies your rating
20 pts.
Based on the VALUE Rubric evaluate "Individual Contributions Outside of Team Meetings" (5 pts) 1 2 3 4

Story

  • Relates to your individual contributions outside of team meetings
  • Clearly justifies your rating
20 pts.
Based on the VALUE Rubric evaluate "Fosters Constructive Team Climate" (5 pts) 1 2 3 4

Story

  • Relates to your actions to foster a constructive team climate
  • Clearly justifies your rating
20 pts
Based on the VALUE Rubric evaluate "Responds to Conflict" (5 pts) 1 2 3 4

Story

  • Relates to how you responded and dealt with group conflict
  • Clearly justifies your rating
20 pts.

Overall Grading

The grading for this project will reflect the grades that you receive on the Proposal, Website, and Reflection Quiz. Your total grade will be calculated according to this weighting:

  • Proposal - 20%
  • Website - 40%
  • Reflection Quiz - 40%

Finally since this is a form of Service-Learning, I would like each of you to complete the online Service-Learning Experience Summary.

Completion of this online survey is REQUIRED for any credit to be applied to your project. Each of you must complete it individually.