Civic and Global Learning
The evaluation of the Geography AS degree through the lens of DQP indicators made it apparent that there were no formal service learning opportunities for students in the geography program. In an effort to increase civic engagement in the Geography program, faculty are developing more civic and service learning opportunities for students. Since geography is the study of the relationship between physical and cultural environments, it is critical for the program to provide students with opportunities to explore and apply geographic learning in connection with environmental, political, cultural, economic, and gendered, racial, and other social responsibility and justice issues.
Through partnering with the college’s service learning center, the Thayne Center for Excellence, the Geography program is currently creating civic and service learning opportunities in two of the core courses within the program. Students taking a Physical Geography course will have the opportunity to work with nonprofit groups or governmental agencies on environmental issues. Students taking the Human Geography course can choose to work with nonprofit or governmental agencies on social and economic issues. And students looking for careers in geospatial technology will have the opportunity to partner with nonprofit or governmental agencies on mapping projects. The program also offers an internship course that students may take if they would like to work with an industry partner. These projects are forthcoming and will be implemented August 2015.
Another way the department chose in increase its service opportunities was through the development of a strong internship program. Students seeking college credit now have the opportunity to intern with a variety of governmental, non-profit, and private organizations in geospatial technology. Currently, the department's strongest partnerships exist with Salt Lake County Government, Utah Geologic Survey, and the United Fire Authority.
Service learning and internship opportunities that the program now offers and others that we will offer in the future did not exist before the implementation of the DQP. The evaluation and reflective processes that the DQP provided gave geography faculty key insights into where we should and where we could offer civic and service learning opportunities that would benefit both students and the communities in which they serve/live.
Through partnering with the college’s service learning center, the Thayne Center for Excellence, the Geography program is currently creating civic and service learning opportunities in two of the core courses within the program. Students taking a Physical Geography course will have the opportunity to work with nonprofit groups or governmental agencies on environmental issues. Students taking the Human Geography course can choose to work with nonprofit or governmental agencies on social and economic issues. And students looking for careers in geospatial technology will have the opportunity to partner with nonprofit or governmental agencies on mapping projects. The program also offers an internship course that students may take if they would like to work with an industry partner. These projects are forthcoming and will be implemented August 2015.
Another way the department chose in increase its service opportunities was through the development of a strong internship program. Students seeking college credit now have the opportunity to intern with a variety of governmental, non-profit, and private organizations in geospatial technology. Currently, the department's strongest partnerships exist with Salt Lake County Government, Utah Geologic Survey, and the United Fire Authority.
Service learning and internship opportunities that the program now offers and others that we will offer in the future did not exist before the implementation of the DQP. The evaluation and reflective processes that the DQP provided gave geography faculty key insights into where we should and where we could offer civic and service learning opportunities that would benefit both students and the communities in which they serve/live.
Civic and Global Learning
At the associate's level, students pursuing a degree in Geography will:
- Describe his/her own civic and cultural background, including its origins and development, assumptions, and predispositions.
- Describe diverse positions, historical and contemporary, on selected democratic values or practices, and present his or her own position on a specific problem where one or more of these values or practices are involved.
- Provide evidence of participation in a community project through either a spoken or written narrative that identifies the civic issues encountered and personal insights gained from this experience.
- Identify an economic, environmental, or public health challenge spanning countries, continents or cultures, present evidence for the challenge, and take a position on it.
- Develop a formal proposal, real or hypothetical, to a non-governmental organization addressing a global challenge in Geography that the student believes has not been adequately addressed.
- Explain diverse positions, including those representing different cultural, economic, and geographic interests, on a contested public issue, and evaluates the issue in light of both those interests and evidence drawn from journalism and scholarship.
- Develop and justify a position on a public issue and relate this position to alternative views held by the public or within the policy environment.
- Collaborate with others in developing and implementing an approach to a civic issue, evaluate the strengths and weaknesses of the process, and where applicable, describe the results.
- Identify a significant issue affecting countries, continents, or cultures, present quantitative evidence of that challenge through tables, graphs, or maps, and evaluates the activities of either non-governmental organizations or cooperative inter-governmental initiatives in addressing that issue.
- Assess and develop a position on a public policy question with significance in Geography, taking into account both scholarship and published or electronically posted positions and narratives of relevant interest groups.
- Proposes a path to resolution of a problem in Geography that is complicated by competing national interests or by rival interests within a nation other than the United States.
The bulleted indicators listed above for each level of academic pursuit are just slightly modified from the DQP by the Geography program to align better with the discipline. There is no direct intent on the program determining what should or should not be taught at the 4-year institutions. The goal is to start a conversation within the State of Utah and nationally on what all three levels should look like.
Signature Assignments
Program Showcase
With student permission, the Geography program plans to showcase student artifacts demonstrating how students have acquired broad, integrative knowledge while going through the program.