The Exploring Making Through Mobile Emergent Technologies (EMMET) program sought to disrupt the trajectory from rural high school to factory floor by introducing STEM and computational thinking (STEM+C) skills through mentorship training and hands-on activities involving creative production--often referred to as "making." The program…

This digest discusses service learning programs on community college campuses. Service learning integrates community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Projects can range from brief, one-time-only experiences to a student commitment of 15 or more hours during a semester.…

This report outlines the development and implementation of a service-learning program at the Community College of Vermont (CCV). The author describes some of CCV's unique characteristics, all of which heightened the challenge of implementing a service-learning program: (1) CCV has no campus-there are 12 sites of the college scattered throughout…

The document discusses a project that sought to create sustainable service learning programs in community colleges. In 1997, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) (District of Columbia) began a 3-year grant project to increase the number, quality, and sustainability of service learning programs in community colleges nationwide.…

This paper discusses three forms of community connections: service learning, partnerships, and public service, and offers an overview of the current service-learning movement in community colleges. It argues that, in order for community colleges to fulfill their missions, they must embrace the full implication of the having "community" in their…

This paper discusses service learning, arguing that the pedagogy of service learning offers a framework in which students can remember and apply more of what they learn than in traditional content based and faculty centered curriculum. Service learning strategies recognize that we retain 60% of what we do, 80% of what we do with guided reflection,…

The author, who is the President of Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC), Florida, argues that the fundamental purpose of MDCC is to preserve democracy. MDCCs open-door policy makes it possible for those who might otherwise be excluded from higher education to gain a college education, which then makes it possible for them to become active,…

This curriculum guide discusses civic responsibility, how it is tied to service learning, how faculty can integrate concepts and exercises in a practical way, and how faculty can assess the development of civic responsibility in their students. Civic responsibility is defined here as active participation in the public life of a community, in an…

El Paso Community College (Texas), a task force school in the Cooperative Assessment of Experiential Learning project, is experimenting with a sponsored experiential learning system. An important requisite for a valid sponsored experiential learning program is an articulation agreement between El Paso Community based agencies and the college. The…

A bilingual vocational training program was instituted to provide fifty-six Spanish- and Chinese-speaking students with a chance to acquire English language skills and training as medical clerks simultaneously. Community benefits expected and evident need in the area for bilingual medical-clerical employees led to the choice of this field. The…