Western Kentucky University
Effects of the Quality Enhancement Program on Undergraduate's Community Involvement
Institution
Western Kentucky University
Faculty Advisor/ Mentor
Frank Kersting; Mary Lloyd Moore; Joseph Etienne; Barbara Brindle
Abstract
The Communication Disorders Department is particularly proud of its innovative program to truly engage undergraduates in a community program, which also gives them experience in their major. The program involves placing undergraduate preprofessional students in a school setting to provide English as a Second Language instruction to bilingual students in the Bowling Green School System. Currently the Bowling Green school system has students from over 18 different countries; such diversity presents a challenge to a school system. Through the partnership of WKU’s Communication Disorders’ faculty and the school system, enhanced service delivery is provided so that bilingual students in grade school and middle school can learn English. The second initiate is undergraduate placement in an Adult Day Care facility to provide communication enrichment activities. At this facility students learn how to interact with the aging population who may or may not have a communication disorder. This direct student engagement addresses the university Quality Enhancement Program which fosters student community engagement. For a research project, the undergraduate students conducted pre-post survey of attitudes and perceptions of both bilingual students and the aging population. Documentation of the viability of such a student engagement project is through the survey results and the Reflective Essays written at the conclusion of these experiences. The poster session will present a detailed description of the ESL school program and the activities the student organization provides to the Hispanic family as well as data from the pre-post surveys and Reflective Essays.
Effects of the Quality Enhancement Program on Undergraduate's Community Involvement
The Communication Disorders Department is particularly proud of its innovative program to truly engage undergraduates in a community program, which also gives them experience in their major. The program involves placing undergraduate preprofessional students in a school setting to provide English as a Second Language instruction to bilingual students in the Bowling Green School System. Currently the Bowling Green school system has students from over 18 different countries; such diversity presents a challenge to a school system. Through the partnership of WKU’s Communication Disorders’ faculty and the school system, enhanced service delivery is provided so that bilingual students in grade school and middle school can learn English. The second initiate is undergraduate placement in an Adult Day Care facility to provide communication enrichment activities. At this facility students learn how to interact with the aging population who may or may not have a communication disorder. This direct student engagement addresses the university Quality Enhancement Program which fosters student community engagement. For a research project, the undergraduate students conducted pre-post survey of attitudes and perceptions of both bilingual students and the aging population. Documentation of the viability of such a student engagement project is through the survey results and the Reflective Essays written at the conclusion of these experiences. The poster session will present a detailed description of the ESL school program and the activities the student organization provides to the Hispanic family as well as data from the pre-post surveys and Reflective Essays.