Service Learning

Students in the English Department gained valuable insight into applying classroom skills to the documentary service learning project of 2016. Service-learning is an educational approach that combines learning objectives with community service in order to provide a pragmatic, progressive learning experience while meeting societal needs. Service-learning involves students in service projects to apply classroom learning for local agencies that exist to effect positive change in the community.

Blue Mountain Preservation Documentary

Course: English 491

Students in this course planned, shot, edited, completed, and promoted a set of 3 short documentaries. During the course of the semester, they met with various stakeholders, including four BMPA members and Dr. Tom LaDuke, Biology, who served as an expert during the course of the legal battle; filmed interviews; edited video and audio; selected royalty-free music soundtracks; storyboarded and scripted; developed a social media presence for the project; worked on logo design; wrote and curated social media content, and more.

In the process, they learned how to operate video and still cameras and audio reproduction equipment, how to set up lighting equipment, how to use basic video editing tools such as Premiere Elements and Windows MovieMaker, how to manage a social media calendar, and many other skills.

Impact At A Glance

"The projects gave me real-life experiences that are desired in the workplace. The group projects and traveling to key locations made the course different, but enjoyable.” —Randy Lertdarapong, Graduate, Class of 2016

Benefits

To Our Students

• Provides students the opportunity to showcase the new skills acquired during the course
• Provides resume content
• Allows for valuable opportunities to network within the community

To Our School

• A student from Brooklyn, became so interested in the conservation issues that she signed on for a spring internship with Delaware Currents, a local news outlet focused on water conservation efforts
• An advisee heard about the project and took on a summer internship for BMPA converting the case’s vast paper document archive to electronic versions

To Our Community

• Provides awareness to the abuse and destruction of wildlife habitats and water sources