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examples of service-learning courses taught at UNO.

A full archive of past service-learning courses taught at UNO is available here.

Teaching Computer Skills to Inmates

Students in ISQA 4000, taught by Dr. Donna Dufner, have the opportunity to provide basic computer skills instruction at the Douglas County Correctional Center. This PowerPoint presentation (63 megabytes), created by Dr. Dufner and students Nabil AlAraj, Maria Arredondo, Colleen Barnhart, Moustapha Barry, Jason cooney, Mackenzie Jaeger, Brian Kellogg, Sheila Korth, Tess Larson, Scott Lindgren, Daniel Moenning, and Roberta Pintus, includes photographs of the experience and the students' reflections on the course.

PA 4500 Nonprofit Fundraising (Fall 2007)

Students in Public Administration 4500, Nonprofit Fundraising, will be actively engaged in the community this fall, learning and working on three different service-learning projects. Through this course and the classs projects, students are given the "golden opportunity" to gain experience and expertise in fundraising while getting to know and contribute to building and strengthening our metropolitan community.

The class will be initiating, planning, and hosting a fundraising event to provide educational toys and games for the refugee children and families in the metropolitan area. Aditionally, the funds raised will be used for materials and instruction of "Mommy and Me" classes for the refugee families. As the refugee families arrive within the metropolitan area, their toddlers are in need of "catching up in preparing to enter school." This fundraiser's objective is to raise awareness of the needs of the refugee families while raising some funds which will begin to address some of the needs of the children/toddlers. This will be conducted in collaboration with Lutheran Family Services and the Literacy Council of the Midlands.

Two other small groups of students will be working to identify and write grants and gather donations for the Seven Days of Service and Global Youth Service Day. Both of these activities are held annually in the spring and are held in collaboration with educational, corporate, civic, and nonprofit partners.

Seven Days of Service (Multi-Year Alternative Spring Break Project)
Partners: Family Housing Advisory Services/Wells Fargo Bank/Wesley House/Social Work/Public Relations/Construction Systems Courses

  • Probably the largest project and longest lasting partnership has been with Family Housing Advisory Services and Wells Fargo Bank.
  • This interdisciplinary project has become an annual effort, starting back in 2003 and done annually each spring semester thereafter, culminating in a large volunteer effort during spring break. Each year a team of faculty members, usually from Social Work, Public Relations (Communication), and Construction Systems, collaborate together to have their students plan and manage the project.
  • Family Housing Advisory Services identifies several houses which they own and intend to sell to low income families who are in their program.
  • The Construction Systems students assess these properties as to what needs to be done to make them livable and what could be upgraded. They estimate materials needed and make a plan for getting the work done in seven days, over Spring Break. They usually are able to get donations from various home improvement and building supply vendors for the materials needed for the project.
  • The Social Work students develop a plan for recruiting UNO students and faculty to volunteer for at least one day of their Spring Break, solicit donations for lunches, plan a recognition / celebration banquet for the evening of the last day, and also solicit door prizes for volunteers. They also register student volunteers each morning during the Seven Days and provide a continental breakfast for them.
  • The Public Relations students develop a public relations campaign plan, developing press releases and student recruitment flyers. They garner coverage from the Omaha World-Herald, The UNO Gateway, and local television stations.
  • As you can see, all of these disciplines must coordinate together to get this large, seven-day effort to be successful. They number of students involved has grown from 70 the first year (2002) to almost 450 in the spring of 2006. The number of properties has grown to encompass multiple buildings each year.
  • Wells Fargo Bank participates each year by challenging UNO and FHAS to recruit more student volunteers and then donates money to FHAS according to how many volunteers participate. This project has earned for FHAS over $170,000 over the past 4 years.

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Conflict Coaching with Youth
Partners: Boys and Girls Clubs of Omaha, Speech Course

  • Communication professor Dr. Shereen Bingham, in her fall 2005 and spring 2006 Interpersonal Conflict (SPCH 4700/8706) classes, developed a partnership with BGCO to provide conflict coaching to middle school and high school students in their program.
  • A kick-off meeting was held, followed by three coaching sessions between pairs of one UNO student and one BGCO member.
  • At the end of the program, BGCO member/participants were invited for a final evaluation and celebration on the UNO campus. They were treated to a pizza dinner by the Service-Learning Academy and a tour of the campus plus a UNO memento by Recruitment Services.
  • The BGCO members reported that this experience was overall positive. With a few logistical changes, the program was implemented for the second semester in the spring 2006.

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Computer Consultation with Micro-businesses
Partners: Juan Diego Center – Micro-Business Program/New Community Development Corporation/eBay Grantees/Computer Science Special Topics courses:

  • Dr. Donna Dufner, Associate Professor of Information Systems and Quantitative Analysis, developed a partnership with the Juan Diego Center’s Micro-business program to work with individual entrepreneurs in South Omaha. Her students worked with three new small businesses to identify needs for computer use, develop appropriate computer applications, assist in the purchase of affordable hardware and software, and train the owner and other employee users to use the system for their business.
  • Another professor, Dr. Peter Wolcott, planned the same kind of course for the fall of 2006 with the New Community Development Corporation eBay grant program that works with small businesses in North Omaha.

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Development of Zoo Docent Training Manuals on various animal species
Partners: Henry Doorly Zoo Education Department Technical Communication (English) Courses

  • Professor Maria Knudtson has been a docent at the Henry Doorly Zoo for a number of years. She takes her Technical Communication classes to do service with the Education Department with the Zoo.
  • The education department prepares training manuals on animal species for the purpose of reference and training of zoo docents.
  • Prof. Knudtson’s students research, write and format these manuals.

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Development of a Community Service Incentive Program for Juvenile Offenders
Partners: Heartland Family Service – Juvenile Tracker Program/Criminal Justice: Community-based Corrections

  • Instructor Elizabeth Keller, in her fall 2005 CJUS 4350 – Community Based Corrections course, assigned tasks to seven teams that came together to research, design, develop and prepare for implementation a community service program for juvenile offenders.
  • This program was designed to create a positive alternative for juveniles in the program to perform community service that would add value to their own communities to programs from which they could benefit. An incentive component was developed and a recognition process was included.
  • All of this was done under the guidance of Joanna Lindberg, Director of Juvenile Services with Heartland Family Service.
  • A manual (which included policies, procedures, forms, community service partner information with agreements and an incentive structure) was assembled by the class and presented to Heartland Family Service at the final class session of the course.
  • In that presentation, Joanna Lindberg accepted the work that the class did and thanked them. She stated that the program would be implemented as a part of her Juvenile Tracker Program.

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Employee Survey Consultation
Partners: Catholic Charities/Heartland Family Services/Social Settlement Association/Girls, Inc./Family Housing Advisory Services/Child Saving Institute/Business Management Course

  • Dr. Lynn Harland, in her spring 2006 Managing Performance in Organizations (BSAD 8310) course, placed six teams of students with nonprofit agencies to do employee surveys.
  • This project is a true management consultation that involves working with the management team to develop the thrust of the survey, talking with an employee focus group to identify some emergent issues, development of the instrument, administration of the survey, data entry / analysis, and finally feedback to the management team (and employees, if requested).
  • The outcome is that six non-profit agencies have the value of a professional management consultation without the cost.

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