Campuses for Environmental Stewardship: An Emerging Model for Interdisciplinary Service-Learning

was revised based on feedback and observations from the initial implementation and expanded to include campuses in an additional state, Massachusetts.

In partnership with Campus Compact offices in MA, NH and VT, Maine Campus Compact (MCC) awarded sub-grants to 18 faculty teams across the four states to infuse service-learning and environmental stewardship into their courses during the 2015 fall and 2016 spring semesters.

Selected campuses were required to deliver a minimum of 4 related service-learning courses, each partnering with community organizations to address an environmental challenge.

The CES initiative had several overarching goals:  to complete service- and problem-based learning projects in Maine, Massachusetts, New Hampshire, and Vermont communities to enhance student learning outcomes, and to tie this learning to issues of civic importance and real world application;  to create and sustain changes in campus delivery of courses for experiential and environmental education of students in all fields of study; and  to create a strengthened and replicable model for interdisciplinary approaches to service and problem-based learning.

On each campus, small teams of faculty (four to six faculty per team) representing diverse disciplines used service-learning to integrate environmental stewardship into their courses. Disciplines represented by these faculty members ranged from Romance languages and history to botany and physics. Each faculty member created or updated service-learning projects to integrate environmental stewardship into new or pre-existing undergraduate courses. Faculty focused on strengthening student learning outcomes through the implementation of service-learning practices as well as the incorporation of student-led initiatives into their projects. The objective of the student-led initiative component was to provide opportunities for students to take leadership roles in community projects and to help them develop transferable, 21st century skills that could then be applied to other critical issue areas. These student-led initiatives provided students with practice in critical thinking, problem-solving, teamwork, decision making and leadership.

As part of the CES program, participating faculty teams:  Attended a two-day Faculty Institute on service-learning and environmental education.

Faculty received professional development training in project design, community partner relations, building student capacity for behavioral change and action, project management, assessment of learning, integration of environmental stewardship concepts into their disciplinary teaching, reflection activities and program evaluation. The faculty teams also had to complete a campus action plan during the Institute, which outlined steps for planning projects, collaborating with colleagues and leveraging institutional support.  Received sub-awards. Each campus team was awarded a $4,000 sub-grant to implement their service-learning projects. Permissible expenditures included supplies for community projects, speaker honoraria, event-related costs, transportation to community partners, and faculty stipends.  Received ongoing consultation as they developed or updated syllabi. This was achieved by added support from the MCC Program Manager, a curriculum consultant, and the Campus Compact offices in each state. Combined, these services provided ongoing technical assistance support for faculty course development, classroom environmental presentations, resource and research as well as assistance with planning and implementing student-led community events.

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