Checklist: Approve a component course
Criteria for Approving 1-Hour Component Courses
After a department’s Service-Learning Curricular Component Course has been created and has passed through all the required “New Course Approval” procedures, a faculty member is then free to attach the one-hour component to a 100-level or above content-based course and designate it as a Service-Learning course. The approval process for Service-Learning designation is initiated by the faculty member at the departmental level and includes the Department Head, Dean, Faculty Oversight Committee, and CASL Associate Director. Each signature indicates approval of the course syllabus as being appropriate for service-learning designation.
The following criteria are to be used by the Department Head, Dean, CASL Associate Director and Faculty Oversight Committee in evaluating the syllabus and approving the attachment of the Service-Learning Component Course. All courses must meet the criteria listed in the Faculty Senate Action that identifies the requirements of the Citizenship & Service- Learning Program.
Learning Site Requirements
- The organization must be an external government or service organization.
- The service must relate to the course content.
Student Service Requirements
- The service must represent sustained work over the time span of the course. The activity should not be a “one-shot” situation where students work intensely for one or two weeks to meet their 40-hour requirement.
- The service provided for the not-for-profit organization must be unpaid.
- Graded course assignments will assess the activity-related learning.
Component Course Syllabus Requirements
- The syllabus must include a section describing how the service-learning option is related to the goals of the course.
- A list of appropriate service-learning placement sites must be listed.
- CASL Student Orientation requirement listed. Identify that the 2-hour training session may be counted toward the 40 required service hours.
- List information identifying how the student’s learning from the service activity will be evaluated (e.g., tests, reflection papers, reflection journals, portfolio review, class presentation, project).
- It may not be readily apparent how the service opportunity relates to the course content; the instructor must make an argument explaining the relevance of the service activity to the course.