UW1020: Professional Communication in International Social Enterprises: A Community Engaged Scholarship Course in Partnership with Clinic+O, taught by Dr. Jessica McCaughey.

At its core, this course interrogates the question: How does writing allow mission-driven organizations to get work done? This first-year writing class is themed around the topic of international healthcare communication, particularly that of our class partner, Clinic+O, a relatively young organization in West Africa that is “committed to

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Students in PT 8352: Teaching in Physical Therapy taught by Dr. Erin Wentzell complete a variety of service projects that help community members learn how to live healthy lives and adapt to their unique needs.

For information about Community Engaged Scholarship at GW: https://go.gwu.edu/cesc

Semester Reports

Spring 2024

Projects:

Projects in this course vary, but all focus on providing valuable educational resources and support to community members with specific health needs.

HSC Kids In Action: Yoga program at Children's National Medical Center. Students assisted with setting up and cleaning up yoga sessions, led yoga activities, helped with check-ins, and provided one-on-one engagement with children who needed direct supervision.

Personalized home exercise program. Students worked directly with a community member, researching and developing exercises tailored to the individual's complex needs, helping them readjust to community life.

Personalized health goals for community members. Students conducted interviews with local community members, gathered information, and created resources including exercise routines and nutritional recipes specific to the individual's health objectives and condition.

Student Comments:

"It was amazing to learn how to create a Home Exercise Program (HEP) for a more complex individual and help her readjust to her community."

"I learned how to apply motivational interviewing in a clinical setting."

"It was a great opportunity to work on my interview skills, be able to take in and process information from a real person, not a student reading a case, and then come up with a way to share high level information in a way that can be patient friendly."

"I got to learn more about my community and become connected with our community partner."

"I learned that you need to be adaptable to every child's specific needs because they have varying learning abilities."

"I worked with the Free Minds Book Club to take poems created by incarcerated members of their club and design expressive typographic works."

"Through the Free Minds Book Club collaboration, my students not only worked with real content, but also had the unique opportunity to interact with the authors of the content and learn about the lived experiences that inspired the words. Students' exceptional level of engagement and commitment was evidence that they were aware of the impact their work would have on someone at a personal level. There was a sense of great responsibility and care that students put into this work, wanting to do justice to these extraordinary narratives. Throughout the collaboration, there was a sense of joy, curiosity, and respect developed on both sides, along with an appreciation for unfamiliar perspectives.

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In this service-learning class by Prof. Karina Lora, students partner with CentroNía,  a bilingual and multicultural learning community in Washington, DC. The main project involves teaching nutrition education to preschool students at CentroNia's Columbia Heights neighborhood. Students gain cultural competence and learn to tailor educative messages to to specific audiences.  In the classroom, students reflect on current events related to food and nutrition issues affecting underserved populations in the US, and learn about other community/school-based programs like CentroNía.

For information about Community Engaged Scholarship at GW:https://go.gwu.edu/cesc

Semester Reports

...continue reading "EXNS 3120 Experiences in Community Nutrition"

In Disaster Preparedness, a course originally developed by Karen Dawn in the School of Nursing, students learn disaster response  guidelines used by nurses in communities, such as limiting injuries and maintaining community health. Students immerse themselves in disaster nurse roles, including rapid, effective response, and care coordination.

Students identify an organization to work with, and use the principles gained in class and lectures, to develop disaster preparedness plans with them. Depending on what the partner organization requests, students provide disaster plan handbooks, conduct workshops, and connect them to local resources to increase capacity to effectively respond to disasters.

Semester Reports

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In Professor Sean Cleary's course, "The Autism Experience," students gain insights into autism from a public health perspective. Through service-learning and community participatory research methods, they engage with autistic young adults, their parents, researchers, clinicians, and service providers. The course explores the science, various viewpoints, and real-life experiences of autism, with a specific emphasis on the transition to adulthood for young adults. Working alongside community advocates, students delve into research that directly impacts the autistic community.

Professor: Sean Cleary

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As a primary project for this course, students learn to operate a real foundation, which they call the GW Arc Foundation. This annual course project is funded by the Learning by Giving initiative, which engages students in communicating a Request for Proposals (RFP), evaluating submitted proposals given their own clear criteria, and awarding the funds to a local nonprofit organization.  Prof. Michelle Kelso has carefully designed this project as the culminating experience for the Human Services and Social Justice Program. It ties together the knowledge, skills, abilities, and attitudes needed to address complex real-world issues in socially just ways. This course represents the integration and reflection on the key theories, research, practices, issues, and policies addressed throughout the program. Program majors take this course during their last semester in the program.

Throughout the semester, students focus on philanthropy, grant-making, and community-engaged research practices. Students engage in a philanthropy project through community partnerships with nonprofit organizations in the District of Columbia and surrounding areas.

Semester Reports

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This Public Health capstone course, developed by Sara Wilensky, engages students in research and advocacy projects with local community-serving organizations, such as the Latin American Youth Center.

This senior seminar course was designed as both a writing in the disciplines and a community engagement course. Professor Wilensky has created a capstone experience for public health seniors, focusing on real-world projects with community partners.

Speaking at the 2024 Annual Meeting for Academic Public Health, Wilensky described the key aspects of her course design:

1. Co-creation of projects with community partners, ensuring the work would be useful for them.
2. Flexibility in course design to accommodate real-world challenges and changes.
3. Use of student teams (pairs) for projects, with multiple teams working on each community partner project.
4. In-class work time to facilitate collaboration and provide informal feedback opportunities.
5. Variety of writing assignments, including the main project, complementary papers, reflections, and a learning portfolio.
6. Emphasis on project management skills, providing tools like worksheets and templates.

Professor Wilensky highlighted the importance of being proactive in addressing team dynamics, maintaining open communication with community partners, and being prepared to adjust projects as needed.

Wilensky's community partners have shared that this course strengthened relationships with GW. They received high quality, useful products, and appreciated the opportunity to contribute to students' educational experiences.

Student feedback is also positive, "I think that applying the concepts of advocacy, health education, service learning, and others that we have focused on in depth throughout undergraduate coursework has made this project a significant milestone in my public health work."

For information about Community Engaged Scholarship at GW: https://go.gwu.edu/cesc

Semester Reports

...continue reading "PUBH 4140W Senior Public Health Seminar"

In Marc Choi's CGD 2091: Design Studio II course, students learn about brand identity systems and programs, and the iterative design processes used in developing a cohesive and comprehensive branding program (print, social media, and motion). Using a community-centered design approach, student teams partner with local community service organizations like the Rock Creek Conservancy and Free Minds Book Club to visually capture the values and spirit of these organizations for online and print branding.

For information about Community Engaged Scholarship at GW: https://go.gwu.edu/cesc

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