Last semester I took Methods into Environmental Science and worked along the Park River in Hartford, CT on water quality. Mary Pelletier, who runs the Park River Watershed spoke in our class and discussed about our watershed and what her job consisted of. I also took the course Analyzing Schools with Professor Rachel Leventhal-Weiner in the Fall where I was introduced to the different forms of education systems especially in and around the Hartford community. With the combination of these two classes as well as an interest in taking GIS (Geographical Information Systems) I found the course and internship Data Visualization very appealing.
I think starting the semester off already knowing some things, such as who one’s community partner is, what area one wanted to work in, etc. was important to figure out before the class actually began. It was nice having already spoken with Mary even if it was mainly over the phone to establish that initial relationship prior getting down to business. I do agree that since this course was offered for the first time in this way, at times I did feel confused and distracted as Jack was writing the book along the way. I had never heard of GitHub before, and I also never realized how much one could do with a Google Drive. But I also never experienced any huge issues where I was not able to get my questions answered or solved either through Jack, Veronica or by consulting the Data Visualization ebook online.
When choosing between the different curricular models listed, I would recommend option 2. My reasons for this is because I do believe keeping this course as it is makes sense. As long as we sharpen it up a bit — and now that the book is written — students in the future will not feel as though the course is being written as it is being taught. I like the idea of a 0.5 credit class because we are learning a lot of material that I personally will be utilizing in the future. Adding the 0.5 internship with the class credit is great as well. This gives students the opportunity to partner and pair up with a community organization, but students do not feel like the whole point of the class is doing what the community partner wants. I feel as though options one and three might create even greater confusion for future students. Establishing that relationship with Mary early on definitely helped me shape my project idea. I think that meeting and pairing up with a community partner half way through the semester might just make things more chaotic as students may feel awkward or uncomfortable working so closely to someone in such a short amount of time.
The culmination of the final projects and the presentations at the Community Learning event on Wednesday was a perfect way to end the course. I know community learning was not stressed as much throughout the course. But I truly believe a class such as this one is imperative for students to participate in some time throughout their Trinity career. One question, I think Jack asked Veronica, Marissa, and me, was why we thought community learning was important especially incorporating it into an internship like Data Visualization. We all had great responses; but I replied that students usually do assignments for classes because we finish it for a grade in the end. When we work on a community learning initiative, we learn the importance of professional work where everyone will see the things we have done publicly. It’s important to remember that when we work on a community learning project we are involving more than just ourselves.