The Daily Bulletin

Please join the Civic and Community Engagement Office for the webinar "A Case Study of a Service-Learning Group Project for Public Health Students during the COVID-19 Pandemic," presented by Rebecca Cheezum, of the Oakland University School of Health Sciences, on Friday, November 5, at 1:30 p.m. This presentation describes the implementation of a service-learning group project during the COVID-19 pandemic (2020–2021 academic year). This project, which spanned fall and winter semesters, is required of all first-year master of public health students at Oakland University School of Health Sciences. Each group of six students was assigned to a community partner for the course of this project. In the fall semester, in a course titled Principles of Community-Based Participatory Research (CBPR), groups focused on partnership formation and conducted a small needs assessment using qualitative research methods. Students generated a conference abstract, written report, and presentation. In the winter semester, the students continued their project in a class, Planning, Implementation and Evaluation of Public Health Interventions. They developed a theory- and evidence-based intervention and evaluation plan and wrote a grant proposal in response to a mock RFP. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic, all class sessions and project-related interactions with community partners and members were conducted virtually, using Zoom and Google Meets platforms. This presentation will describe the project requirements and structure, role of community engagement in the project (and program, more generally), feedback from community partners, ways in which the project was adapted for the pandemic, challenges faced, strategies for success, lessons learned, and components of the pandemic-related adaptations found to be beneficial that may be continued in the future.

Also included in this presentation are the following:

"The Past-to-Future Archaeology Partnership: Stem Outreach during a Pandemic," featuring Jon Carroll of Oakland University. The objective of Oakland University’s Past-to-Future Archaeology Partnership is to team with local school districts to offer high school students access STEM opportunities through archaeological field training. This discussion highlights the challenges and successes of launching such an effort during a global pandemic.

"Global Is Local: Developing Community-Engaged Partnerships during the Pandemic," presented by Cyndi Rickards, Drexel University; and Esther Koster and Marco Hofman, Amsterdam University. When COVID forced engaged scholars to pivot, Drexel and Amsterdam Universities brought students together each week in “policy pods” to analyze what makes a city just. The students compared data, history, and issues of equity while creating a unique learning community. This partnership has evolved to include city officials, urban policy experts and a travel component;

"Necessity Is the Mother of Invention: Rethinking Resources in the Face of a Crisis," presented by Kevin Corcoran and Diane Baldwin of Oakland University. A great deal of work on creativity focuses on the need to change our conception of what the role of a specific object is. Reconceiving a phone made it possible that the phone function as a camera or a credit card, or provide any number of other helpful applications. As a result, we will not see the phone in the same way ever again. Such “Eureka” moments often occur in the face of a crisis. A situation in which we don’t have access to what we think we need. In the spring of 2020 in the face of COVID-19, our campuses struggled to find the resources to continue to serve in partnership with our communities. Most, if not all, of our students were gone from campus; ditto our faculty and staff. Community members were concerned for their health and well-being. Yet the needs not only persisted, they accelerated. Our presentation focuses on how we changed the lens by which we viewed our Theatre Department, our student union, and our math faculty and students (among others) to address needs in our community. Our discussion concludes with consideration of how we can maintain this altered focus as we co-create a more nimble and brighter future.

This hour-long event is presented by the CUMU Learning and Sharing Virtual Series and is free to members of the Buffalo State College community. Please register online for this webinar and any others in the series you may be interested in.