Educating For Tolerance And Compassion: Is There A Place For Meditation In A College Classroom?

Could contemplative practices change the way we think and act so that we move toward a more just, compassionate, and reflective classroom? The author’s personal experiences and preparation for the practice, the content, the impact of the practice on students, and reflections on contemplative practice as a movement in education are offered as an example of the potential for contemplative education in a college classroom

Using Blogs To Enhance Student Engagement And Learning In The Health Sciences

Teaching in a diverse, urbancommunity college, it has become apparentthat students spend most of their free (and classroom) time participatingin social media. In response, wedecided to incorporate social media, blogsspecifically, as a way toincrease student engagement, retention and achievement. The learning objectivewas for our students to learn how to translate complex science into something abroad audience can understand and appreciate. Graduates of a health program need to be the best communicators when i translatingscientific evidence into something others can understand, and act on. Wecreated a health blog and with the goal of helping students translatewhat they learned in a classroom via their own health blog

Implementing Service Learning: From Nutrition Education into Community Action

Service learning integrates academic learning and relevant community service with classroom instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking and personal civic responsibility. Through a grant, community college students were provided with grocery store vouchers to purchase unfamiliar, healthy foods. Students were taken on an educational “tour” of a local supermarket and were shown how to grocery shop according to dietary guidelines.  Students then engaged in service learning by going out into their communities where they acted as nutrition educators and taught community members skills they initially learned.  As a result of this project, students reported success in applying the knowledge and skills learned from one setting to another.  By engaging in service learning, students also reported improved nutrition knowledge and overall confidence with the subject matter.&nbsp

Starting An ePortfolio: A Multi-Disciplinary Approach

ePortfolio integrates technology with a student’s academic course work and have increasingly become an integral part of higher education curriculum.  They allow students to showcase their academic work in a fresh way on a digital platform.  Traditionally, however, ePortfolio is implemented from a single discipline approach.  This project aimed to combine two similar courses within a learning community setting where students compiled their course work onto their individual ePortfolios.  By engaging in a multi-disciplinary approach, students reported a better understanding of the other discipline and felt a better sense of academic preparation (i.e. real life experience) for graduation and transfer to four-year colleges

Veterans Returning From War Into The Classroom: How Can Colleges Be Better Prepared To Meet Their Needs

Colleges throughout the country are bracing for a large influx of returning veterans over the next couple of years and the question is whether they can meet the needs of this population. There is a paucity of empirical literature on Iraqi and/or Afghan veterans’ adjustment in the college arena and the factors that mitigate the attrition rate and facilitate success. This research offers a glimpse into the lives of the veterans returning into college life.  An important implication of this research is to better inform educators, mental health professionals and administrators with regard to policy making, program development and restructuring efforts. A qualitative research design using structured interviews to obtain information about returning veterans from Afghanistan and/or Iraq was used in this study. This study discusses the many challenges that soldiers face when they return into the classroom.  Experiencing symptoms of PTSD is an issue exacerbating the transition into student life.  Campus health and counseling officials should have knowledge regarding symptoms and treatment strategies for PTSD and have an extensive referral list for veterans

Using Service Learning As A Method Of Transferring Health Knowledge

High school students enrolled in a College Now health education class were taught the importance of regular calcium consumption and then were trained on how to act as peer educators to disseminate the calcium information to their peers. This program empowered students through service learning to choose more dairy in their daily diet. Service learning is defined as education in action where students serve their communities by offering their knowledge, skills and time. As a result of this project, students reported success in applying the knowledge and skills taught by peer educators which helped students translate nutrition education into peer education

The Mathematics of Nutrition Science

The Mathematics of Nutrition Science is a workbook designed to integrate and contextualize developmental mathematics into an introductory college level Nutrition class. Definitions and skills from Community College Level Elementary Algebra and Quantitative Literacy courses are explained through examples analyzing the nutritional content of different foods. The book contains exercises for students to practice these skills, and also to reflect on the concepts through short writing assignments aligned with developmental English. These materials could be used by Nutrition course instructor in many different ways, and are designed to be self-contained and require minimal mathematical instruction

Poster Session - Implementing Service Learning: From Nutrition Education into Student Action

Service Learning is a pedagogy that integrates classroom instruction with community service, focusing on critical thinking and civic responsibility. Through a federal Department of Health and Human Services grant, nutrition students were taken on a supermarket tour and shown how to grocery shop according to dietary guidelines. Students then went out into the campus community and shared skills they had learned. As a result of this project, students reported improved nutrition knowledge and confidence