Update #1

Loyola Marymount University has approved a new Core Curriculum and the implementation will begin Fall 2013. In addition to the course themes of foundations, explorations and integrations, there will be flagged courses in the areas of Writing, Oral Skills, Information Literacy, Quantitative Reasoning and Engaged Learning.

The Engaged Learning flag will impact the work at the Center for Service and Action since community- based learning (CBL) courses will be able to fulfill this requirement. The CBL staff will continue to be a resource for interested CBL faculty who will create courses to fulfill this flag requirement. This is a unique opportunity for the Center for Service and Action to continue to build on its relationship with faculty who are interested in providing community engagement experiences to their students through their academic discipline.

Update #2

William Fitzgerald Service in Action Summer Grant is awarded to two undergraduate students interested in working at a non-profit organization during the summer months. Applicants must demonstrate a strong commitment to one social justice issue and develop an 8-week experience working with a non- profit organization that focuses on their social justice issue. During the academic year, grant recipients serve as liaison between LMU and the non-profit organization. In the spring of their senior year, the students submit a proposal to present their experience at the Undergraduate Research Symposium.

Click here to learn about Jazmin Sanchez ’13 and her project with the Good Shepherd Shelter for Battered Women with Children

Update #3

The Bellarmine College of Liberal Arts at LMU hosts annual forum October 24 th - November 10th. The 2012 forum theme is Health Now: Questions, Controversy and the Promise of Prevention. A full schedule of events is available online.

Update #4

ServeLA, the official kickoff of the service portion of the Freshmen Service Project, took place on September 22nd. Over 200 First Year students participated in service projects organized at the Downtown Women’s Center, Community Corporation of Santa Monica, Orville Wright Middle School,

TreePeople, Mar Vista Family Center and Jovenes, Inc. First year students completed beautification projects, prepared meals, planted new trees, sorted clothing donations and organized carnivals and fun activities for children. The purpose of ServeLA is to provide first year students with opportunities for exposure to and awareness of the issues faced in Los Angeles. The nonprofit organizations offer LMU students ongoing volunteer opportunities after the day of service. Students can continue to volunteer with their non-profit agency as they develop an unwavering commitment to service and justice.

ServeLA II will take place in January 2013. The education campaign, the learning component of the Freshmen Service Project, will begin in October in each of the residence halls.

Spring 2012 JEP Newsletter (.pdf)

A team representing JEP participated in the 4th annual Digital Media and Learning (DML) competition in San Francisco in February.   Sponsored by the MacArthur Foundation and Mozilla, and administered by the Humanities, Arts, Science and Technology Advanced Collaborative (HASTAC) at UC Irvine, the competition received hundreds of proposals from public and private institutions, ranging from museums, to corporations, to colleges and universities.  The purpose of the competition was to support the development of “digital badge systems”—a 21st century adaptation of the concept underlying Boy Scout and Girl Scout badges, where children earn insignia that represent the development of knowledge or a particular skill. 

The DML competition aimed to support institutions creating badge systems that incentivize and reward the development of “lifelong learning” skills, such as critical thinking, leadership and teamwork, or knowledge acquired outside of traditional academic contexts, such as on the job or in the community. Because they are digital, badges not only provide a visual representation of a particular skill, they can also communicate information about the specific criteria or steps taken to earn the badge.  Badge earners can use Mozilla’s “Open Badge Infrastructure” to export institution that granted the badge to an electronic resume, a Facebook or LinkedIn account, or anywhere else they want to display their achievements online.

Alumna Gives First-Years Words of Wisdom 10.28.11

Linda Biehl '65, co-founder of the Amy Biehl Foundation, was the keynote speaker at the 2011 Whittier College New Student Convocation. Biehl spoke about her philanthropic work in South Africa and encouraged Whittier students to commit themselves to service.

"For real engagement it takes energy, it takes passion, it takes good motivation, and it takes commitment. Then it is real. Then we become human being together," she told the audience.

Click here to watch her keynote address on YouTube.

In 1993, Biehl's daughter Amy was killed by political radicals in South Africa while she was there as a student. Linda and her late husband Peter turned the tragic death of their daughter into action by creating the Amy Biehl Foundation to keep their daughter's passion for helping others alive and to serve the needy of that country.

Biehl's lecture marked the conclusion of her week-long residency with the Center for Engagement with Communities that included visits to classrooms and other local non-profit and educational organizations.

Students Jumpstart pres-schoolers success in learning

A throng of cute preschoolers yelping your name in glee, squeezing up close while you read them a book, appreciating everything about you — for 40 Bruin undergraduates, this is all in a day’s work in UCLA Jumpstart.

Life Lessons beyong the lecture hall: Last month, on a hill above UCLA's bucolic Sunset Recreation Center, incoming freshman Sunny Brar learned to tend a community garden in what she considered UCLA's best civics project. Meanwhile, in the basement offices of the study-abroad center, first-year student Vaspour Antanesian analyzed data from a survey he helped design for what he considered the campus' best civics project.

Our Website: www.communitylearning.ucla.edu