Elizabeth Coffey: “So much valuable experience by getting to apply the knowledge you have learned in a real setting”

Meet Elizabeth Coffey (Ellie), graduate assistant in Rehabilitation, Human Resources, and Communication Disorders.

She first took a service learning course class CDIS 5273 Language and Literacy with Dr. Lisa Bowers in spring 2018. She found that the service learning experience is different from the traditional classroom because students are learning the material in class but at the same time are actually applying it in the real world. In her service learning class, students learned how to give the Developmental Indicators for Assessment of Learning, Fourth Edition (DIAL-4) in HeadStart preschool centers. She and her classmates learned how to give this assessment in class but then were able to apply our knowledge in an actual preschool to practice our skills.

She was forced to use problem solving skills when she realized that real kids do not sit still and perform the assessment quite as well as her peers in class. She learned which parts of the test should be given first, how to give breaks during the tests, and the best way to encourage the children throughout the tests. In her opinion, the biggest benefit of this service learning opportunity was the hands on experience that she gained by not just taking in knowledge in class but by actually applying what she has been learning in the real world.

The most moving experience for her was realizing that the score she was assigning to this child was basically labeling them based on their knowledge. This motivated her to be the best clinician and test administrator she could be and to try to get the most efficient responses from the child possible.

Ellie’s number one piece of advice for a future service-learning student is to take full advantage of this unique opportunity because you can gain so much valuable experience by being getting to apply the knowledge you have learned in a real setting.