Dr. Eric Gorder is a faculty at Journalism Department. He has been teaching Photojournalism for 20 years (10 years with a Service Learning component). After Service Learning was formalized […]
Dr. Eric Gorder is a faculty at Journalism Department. He has been teaching Photojournalism for 20 years (10 years with a Service Learning component). After Service Learning was formalized in 2014, two of his courses Photojournalism I (JOUR 2332) and Photojournalism II (JOUR 3083) were among the first courses to be designated as service learning.
Morgan Atwood, service learning graduate assistant, interviewed Dr. Gorder in 2015 to learn more about his experience teaching service learning class. Below is the transcript.
Based on your experience, please describe the ways in which service learning experience is different than the traditional classroom approach to learning.
In my courses, adding a service learning component has resulted in students learning course material by producing content that can be used as a useful product, which can be used for communicating a message in a variety of areas; news, marketing, advertising, documenting other programs, classes or non-profit agencies, etc. I feel strongly about encouraging students to get off – campus and out into the community to observe how under-resourced community members from different socio-economic backgrounds are living. Witnessing the struggles and challenges that many of our community members endure can be a real eye-opener for students, and can yield good subject matter for story-telling and news reporting. Traditionally, assignments were designed to help students learn technical and aesthetic processes only. With the service learning approach, the emphasis is on the process as well as the product, and the process the student goes through can be transformational.
How do service learning courses improve the University of Arkansas community?
Students realize there are opportunities to create change when they interact with members of the community that they ordinarily would not have.
By exposing students to community issues and asking them to describe them, they discover techniques for focusing attention on the issues which may be in need of change.
What role do you think a faculty/staff play in the courses?
I rely on referrals from other faculty who are working in the areas that my students are assigned to cover. Those faculty members are much more familiar with the dynamics in those situations and can provide insight as to what kinds of details and other issues that the students, may need to consider before they consider covering the story. In addition, those faculty and staff that are involved in the story can provide insightful sound recordings that can serve as sound bites in their presentations.
How has teaching an experiential learning course enhanced your career development such as expanded teaching skills, increased research/grant/publication opportunities?
Incorporating service learning into a course curriculum can make a class a more memorable and valuable one, and can increase the effectiveness of the instructor. It can promote career development by creating a variety of insightful learning opportunities and experiences for students. I think students who go through the process and who become engaged with members of the community become examples of how effective a service learning class can be. These classes result in publication opportunities for students and their instructors. The process generates much more attention to the plight of underserved community members, and faculty find themselves in situations where they are afforded publishing opportunities to describe this process.
What lessons do you teach your students/advice do you give your students that can be implemented in their service learning?
The goal for me is to encourage my students to become socially analytical and to develop higher level thinking skills while learning the techniques of documenting stories through photography and audio recording. I emphasize that the process they experience will result in important personal revelations, insights, and heightened awareness, and stress that this will be an opportunity to make a difference in someone’s life including their own.
The class is designed to result in opportunities to have their work published. It will also result in a body of work including a portfolio that can be used when applying for work in the future. Having been published is often a “foot in the door” advantage, which, along with a diploma and a transcript, results in a more experienced applicant.
What is the greatest reward you believe students can obtain through service learning courses?
It is rewarding for a student to recognize that they have have developed an ability to bring attention to an issue that merits scrutiny potentially resulting in change. The idea for me, is for them to experience their own revelations, and to realize, and articulate these in the reflection for the course. My hope is for students to continue after graduation looking for opportunities to make a difference.
If you could describe service learning in one word what would that word be?
Purposefulness
Please explain.
I think the word describes the dual aim of leading a student into a situation in which there was no preconception other than to experience a situation and to document it. This leads to students encountering a subject that they had never considered, realizing that an improvement of the situation might result from their involvement and description of it. This should result in a sense of purpose for students while they document these issues.
What needs of our community do you see that can be aided by the development of new service learning courses?
Under-funded non-profit agencies are found in the community. Efforts of caring, community-minded individuals, who seek to help others can be ineffectual as a result. Social issues need attention. Under-resourced populations that could be networked and assisted often do not get access to the services that they need. Publicizing the problems, connecting the services, and heightening awareness through community interaction are all needs of the community that can be improved upon.
What does service learning mean to you as a faculty member?
Turning words into action. Creating opportunities for students who realize they have develop a sense of purpose. Helping students acquire an ability to bring about change. Hopefully students with this experience will continue to apply their skills to make a positive impact.
To know more about Dr. Eric Gorder, check out his Linkedin page.