Integrated Education Program Description

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Integrated Education 

This project will support the efforts of Sustainable Williamson to help local, regional, and national

innovators to understand and replicate successful community-based programs that provide diverse

employment options, including environmentally sustainable jobs and entrepreneurship. Additionally, this

project will expand upon these ideas by including a service learning program targeted at university level

students from across the country. The goal of the project is to add value both to the existing projects

and to the students. The program aims to be a mutually beneficial sustainable program providing

financial support in the form of continuing service learning programs to the community of Williamson

and valuable experiential learning programs for students.

By integrating service learning into the class curriculum, students will create fundamental connections

between theory and practice that will simultaneously provide them with real world experiences as well

as build the capacity of the emerging CASE network. Utilizing Sustainable Williamson as a regional

hub, Central Appalachian communities will work side by side with local sustainability practitioners as

well as university faculty and students on specific projects that are identified collaboratively.

Synthesizing both local needs and the specific course goals and themes of each faculty member, our 

team will develop a curriculum and service learning program with the goal of ensuring a just transition

throughout the coalfields of central Appalachia. The following are some general examples of classes

our team will explore developing over 2013:

Community Health: In collaboration with an identified university, our team will develop a

practicum focusing on measuring the specific health outcomes of Sustainable Williamson’s

programs.

Food Systems: In collaboration with an identified university, our team will develop a

practicum focusing on developing a market-based approach to local food production with an

emphasis upon organic farming and permaculture.

Sustainable Tourism: In collaboration with an identified university, our team will develop a

practicum which focuses on building a regional outdoor recreation plan.

Sustainable Building: In collaboration with an identified university, our team will develop a

practicum which focuses on integrating LEED and other certifications into planning and

design.

Energy Optimization: In collaboration with an identified university, our team will develop a

practicum which focuses on developing financing models for a variety of renewable energy,

energy efficient and demand-response applications.

 At this point, all potential practicums are tentative. Upon securing funding, our team will begin firming

up commitments with interested universities, utilizing  Amizade’s established network of universities

across the country, in order to develop one or more pilot programs. Additionally, this project will provide

an opportunity for eight interested faculty members and administrators to participate in a site visit to

Williamson in order to explore future project ideas and service learning programs.

 

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Collaborative Partners 

 As a part of the integrative education component of CASE, Sustainable Williamson has partnered with

 Amizade Global Service-Learning to develop an innovative service learning program targeting both

universities and civic groups across the nation. Amizade, Ltd. is a US 501(c)3 nonprofit organization

that offers 19 years of expertise and experience in organizing and overseeing exchange programs

focused on experiential service, learning and civic development. Amizade has successfully connected

thousands of volunteers, students and adult learners with service and learning opportunities around the

world through organizing and hosting more than 600 international experiential learning exchange

programs. In addition to running service learning programs internationally, Amizade also works

domestically, partnering with communities for service learning experiences in Washington, DC,

Pittsburgh, New Orleans, and the Navajo Nation in Arizona and New Mexico.

 Amizade’s programming has led to clear community outputs in the form of the construction of rainwater 

harvesting systems, schools, community centers, and libraries, among other definitive infrastructure.

 Amizade’s efforts have also led to outcomes as varied as developing citizens with leadership skills in

diverse social settings, building reconciliation through deliberate cross-cultural programming, and

advancing young people’s professional preparation and co mpetencies through community-engaged

university study. Amizade has been formally partnered with West Virginia University (WVU) for eight

years. Through the partnership with WVU and over fifty other institutions of higher education, Amizade

has successfully offered numerous courses on community development, civic education, and

development of intercultural communication competencies. As a global leader in service-learning,

 Amizade seeks to integrate the following values into all components of the CASE network:

1. Community-Driven Service: Amizade has a 19-year record of cooperating with communities

on service that local individuals and organizations define and direct. We not only cooperate

with communities on issue identification, we also work collaboratively on project

implementation, continuous evaluation, and regular improvements.

2. Deliberate Learning: One of Amizade’s core assumptions is that context matters. We

cooperate with community members and organizations to educate Amizade participants about

local culture, local concerns, and local assets.

3. Intercultural Immersion and Exchange: Amizade encourages connections across cultures.

Through cooperative service efforts, deliberate local learning, and in some cases, homestays,

 Amizade experiences ensure deep learning about cultural assumptions, worldviews, and of 

course the concerns and happiness that we all hold in common.

4. Consideration of Global Citizenship: Amizade invites all participants to reflect on

fundamental human equality and how we might each work to build a world where human life is

treated more equally across traditional cleavages of ethnicity, nation, class, or gender.

Consideration of personal, political, and economic opportunities for enacting global citizenship

provides Amizade participants with the opportunity to extend their global civic service beyond

their Amizade program.

5. Reflective Inquiry: All of the preceding themes are woven together through a final core

 Amizade value, which is reflective inquiry. The questions we face when engaged in

intercultural service around the world are often difficult. And it can be challenging to stay

connected to global civic engagement after a short-term experience. But Amizade believes

 

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strongly that it is important to continue asking: What is service? How have I learned from

others’ cultures? What do I understand better about my own? How can I value others around

the world, even from my home? What are the ways I can be a good global citizen right here?

These are just a few examples, but Amizade encourages reflective inquiry throughout

experiences and afterward.

 As a part of Amizade’s comprehensive service-learning program, our team has identified several

interested universities to develop integrative practicums which will provide future practitioners of 

sustainability with real-world experience in the field of sustainable development. Additionally, this

project will utilize Amizade’s existing relationships with universities across the country. Amizade

collaborates with over fifty different colleges and universities each year, working directly with faculty

members to plan meaningful service learning programs that integrate each faculty member’s own

discipline and research area with intercultural immersion and community-driven service. Amizade has

worked with faculty and administrators from West Virginia University, Arizona State University, Carlow

University, Carnegie Mellon University, Central Michigan University, Community College of Allegheny

County, Penn State University, George Washington University, Middlesex University Dubai, Roger 

Williams University, Santa Clara University, Slippery Rock University, Susquehanna University,

University of California Los Angeles, University of Wyoming, West Point Academy, and many more.

Program Description 

Develop Curriculum: This project will draw upon Sustainable Williamson and the CASE network ’s

existing projects along with Amizade’s existing service learning pedagogy and curriculum. The resulting

curriculum will be an integrative practicum unique to the issues of the Williamson and central

 Appalachia region that will provide future practitioners with real world experience in the field of 

sustainable development. Further, this curriculum will be designed to complement various academic

disciplines allowing for the curriculum and program to be attractive to a variety of faculty, universities,

and civic groups.

Pilot Program: This project will culminate in the implementation of 1 or 2 (depending on group size)

pilot programs. Arranged in collaboration with faculty and university partners, the pilot program will

include program scholarships for student participants and may include faculty and administrators from

other universities as part of their initial site visit.

Faculty and Administrator Site Visits: This project will bring eight faculty and administrators from

other interested universities around the country to participate in site visits. This will allow faculty and

administrators to work with community members and program staff to develop appropriate programing

and course work, integrated with established curriculum, for their students leading to future, income-

generating programing.

Future Programing: Stemming from the faculty and administrator site visits, as well as existing

relationships with universities and civic groups, this project will establish the foundation for future

program-fee based service-learning courses.