By Kathy Nordyke The College of Business (COB) is the first college on Missouri State University’s campus to require all COB majors to complete service-learning through the ITC 200 course. The outcomes of this requirement have provided a valuable service to the community and high-impact educational practice for students. Let’s look at the numbers: During the 2021 - 2022 academic year, 1,536 students completed 23,121 hours of service to the community. The total number of students include several high-school dual-credit students. Based on the industry-standard service rate calculator from IndependentSector.org, COB students have generated an estimated value of $629,122.41 in the community. The College of Business and service-learning office are encouraged by these results and hope to see them improve over time. COB students have generated an estimated value of $629,122.41 in the community. Other 1-credit or integrated service-learning courses in the COB include MGT 300, MGT 440, MGT 770, MKT 354, MKT 456 and HID 241. Below is the 2021 – 2022 participation and … [Read more...] about College of Business embraces service-learning methods in 2021-2022
By Taylor Ware Get out of your comfort zone and try new things— that’s what everyone will tell you as you start your university adventure. The beginning stages of college are intimidating. Getting involved in unfamiliar activities can be unnerving. Service-learning often falls into this bracket of “intimidating” activities, but it doesn’t have to. Take recent graduate, Nick Lantz, as evidence. Nick arrived at Missouri State University eager and spirited. He was ready to make a difference. With lofty aspirations for medical school and a passion for helping people, he soon found a home with service-learning. Nick was introduced to the possibilities of service-learning through presentations from our office in several of his introductory courses. When a close friend of his brought him to the office, he met with our director, Dr. Kathy Nordyke, who informed Nick more about opportunities that met his needs. He was soon assigned to be the lead student in charge of two after-school programs at Robberson Community School. Robberson supports … [Read more...] about A service-learning journey with Nick Lantz
By Taylor Ware “By 3 years of age, there is a 30-million-word gap between children from the wealthiest and poorest families. A recent study shows that the vocabulary gap is evident in toddlers. By 18 months, children in different socio-economic groups display dramatic differences in their vocabularies (Fernald, Marchman, & Weisleder 2013).” To address this issue, the National Youth Leadership Council devised the National Literacy Project: Bridging the Divide. Tasked with developing this initiative was the Citizenship and Service-Learning (CASL) office here at Missouri State University. The project asks that students create and assemble a variety of reading and writing literacy resources which are to be housed on the CASL website. Last fall, an entire classroom committed to this project. Professor Telory Arendell’s Theatre for Social Change course spent their semester hard at work writing, practicing, designing, and performing. Honor’s student Matt Walter took the lead as producer of their project. Theatre for Social Change is considered the capstone experience for … [Read more...] about Theatre students use the stage to help improve literacy