Kim Becnel

Community-embedded learning experiences: putting the pedagogy of service-learning to work in online courses

Abstract This paper considers the applicability and adaptability of service-learning pedagogy to online and distance education teaching environments. More specifically, it looks at the community-embedded learning model (CEL), which asks distance students to conduct service projects in their local communities, as manifested in a project undertaken by online graduate students in the library science programme at Appalachian State University, a mid-sized university in the United States of America. For this assignment, students, who are located throughout the state of North Carolina and surrounding areas, performed service work in libraries located within their own communities and neighbourhoods, coming together to discuss their experiences in regular synchronous course meetings conducted online. In addition to describing this project, this paper will offer analysis of student reflections, describing what students perceived as challenging, important and rewarding about the experience. Through this study, the researchers highlight the potential value of community-embedded learning experiences for classes conducted in online environments.

Stories of a Storm: A Content Analysis of Mainstream, Small-Press, and Self-Published Picture Books about Hurricane Katrina

The researchers examined mainstream, small-press, and self-published picture books about Hurricane Katrina, analyzing rhetorical purpose, representations of race, and responses to the storm, including decisions regarding evacuation, accepting institutional assistance, and relocating or returning. A comparison revealed that, taken together, the small-press and self-published titles more accurately depict the wide array of survivor experiences than do the mainstream titles, which tend to reinforce a few major patterns and storylines, perhaps for the benefit of an audience outside of the affected areas. Implications for library collection development are discussed.