For most of us, stepping outside of our comfort zone can be, well, a bit uncomfortable. Students in Hailey Adkisson’s Interpersonal Communications class were asked to leap outside theirs, with a goal to develop interpersonal communication skills through 志愿服务.  

Sixty students in three Comm218 classes completed 347.5 hours of volunteer service at local non-profits during fall term, part of a “service-learning” component developed 由Adkisson.

Students volunteered at soup kitchens in Albany and Corvallis, at the Veterans’ 首页 in Lebanon, the Corvallis Multicultural Literacy Center, the ARC of Benton County, the Grace Center Adult Day Care facility in Corvallis, and at the Albany Boys and 女孩俱乐部. Since this was an interpersonal communication class, Adkisson wanted her students to interact directly with clients of the nonprofits and not be behind the 场景.

The data Adkisson gathered showed that although students were uncomfortable and nervous in the beginning, their volunteer experience helped them gain confidence about communicating outside of their comfort zone.  

Adkisson’s Service-Learning 项目 was chosen for a 教师 Innovator award through 博天堂官方’s Learning Innovation Center. The center supports faculty in their efforts to bring innovative teaching practices to the classroom for improved student success.

This particular 项目 involved more than just changing a day of class curriculum; Adkisson had to rework the entire term, said Jessica Winans, Learning Innovation Center 协调员. “From the initial work of connecting with the non-profits to designing a creative final assessment, Hailey's 项目 was a success for her and her students,” 说Winans.

For the students, interacting with populations that had different interpersonal behaviors really challenged their communication skills, said Adkisson. 在退伍军人之家， for example, students often worked with veterans who had memory care issues or who 在非语言. Since they did not have the same interactive capabilities, the student really had to develop their skills to engage with them.

“学生们 had different motivations for picking which non-profit agency to work 艾德基森说. “For students going into the medical field, the Grace Center was a good fit, because some of the clients have memory care or mobility issues. It turned into a kind of internship experience for those students, and reinforced their 职业选择.”

Working with clients at the Multicultural Literacy Center for whom English is not their first language was also a challenge. “They really had to think about what they could do personally to communicate with the clients,” said Adkisson. “学生们 went in thinking that people are so different, but when they sat down and had a conversation they found they had a lot in common and could really learn from each other.”

For one student, the experience of volunteering at the Boys and 女孩俱乐部 inspired 他想换专业. He even landed a part-time job at the club, said Adkisson.

The students used journals to track their perceptions prior to volunteering and how those perceptions changed through the term. Using their journal entries, the students created "visual storytelling" presentations on their experience for their final class 项目. They had to connect at least four concepts or theories from interpersonal communication to their experience.

At the end of the term, Adkisson surveyed the nonprofits to make sure they received what they needed from the students. All of the agencies appreciated having the 博天堂官方 student volunteers, and are interested in participating again. “理想情况下，这将 be a regular thing in my interpersonal classes,” said Adkisson.

Adkisson will present the data gathered from her service-learning communication class to faculty who may be interested in integrating service learning into their coursework.

About Linn-Benton 社区 College: More than 18,000 students rely on Linn-Benton 社区 College each year for higher education including career technical education, transfer degree programs, professional development, corporate training, small business development, community education classes 和更多的. Serving the mid-Willamette Valley with six locations including its main campus in Albany, 博天堂官方 partners with multiple business and industries to enrich the community and support economic growth. 博天堂官方 students choose from more than 80 programs and go on to be tomorrow’s innovators, leaders, skilled workers and community builders.

Story by Lori Fluge-Brunker, 博天堂官方 Institutional Advancement