Preference
Worksheet
Get Involved Choosing | Getting Started | Hours | Education Majors | Extra Credit
The Process
During the first week of the semester, SL instructors will provide classes with an an orientation to Service-Learning objectives and requirements. Students will also receive information that profiles our partnering agencies.
Choosing a Service-Learning Agency and Position
Early each semester, Service-Learning Job Fairs are held at the Multi-Function Room in Corey Union. Service-Learning participants attend this fair, gather information about specific agencies, and prioritize their choices for submission to instructors.
The coordinator of the English Department’s Service-Learning Program then assigns students to a position with an organization of their choice or one like it. Because each assignment requires agency contact and confirmation, assignments cannot be made until the third week of the semester.
Getting Started
Students then arrange to meet with staff at their assigned agencies to introduce themselves, to discover
the specifics of their new position, and to work out a schedule.
Students begin Service-Learning work after that. Instructors will ask students to maintain records of their
work, and may require that students write reflective reports and essays, and participate in classroom
discussions and exercises on Service-Learning experiences.
Hours
Service work averages 2-3 hours per week for 10 weeks, although schedules for some positions may vary. A minimum of 30 hours of service is currently required.
Service-Learning and Education Majors
NCATE, the organization that provides accreditation to many education programs, including that of SUNY Cortland, will soon require student teachers to have at least 100 hours of documented teaching-related experience before they do student teaching.
Appropriate Service-Learning experience (tutoring, for example), as part of a designated composition class, provides an education major with 60 of those 100 hours, providing that student takes two CPN classes in the fall 0f 2001 or later.
The Extra Service-Learning Credit
SUNY Cortland recognizes participation in a service-learning class by giving four credits to students passing designated Service-Learning courses. At the present time those four credit courses are offered by the English Department in designated freshman composition courses of Academic Writing in the Community I and II (CPN 102 and CPN 103). Students interested in taking composition courses with a Service-Learning component should make sure to sign up for them during registration.