1. What is an SLS Affiliated course?
SLS trains students to use their disciplinary expertise to help “create sustainable communities” where humans and nature flourish, now and in the future, in Georgia, the U.S., and around the globe. To that end, we partner with faculty across campus to offer affiliated courses. SLS Affiliated Courses teach students skills and knowledge that will help them engage in “creating sustainable communities.” They align with one or more parts of SLS' approach to creating sustainable communities. Our goal is to have affiliated courses in every school, at all levels.
2. How much service-learning or community engagement has to be included?
While we encourage faculty to incorporate real-world learning with community partners into their courses, there is no set amount required for affiliation. Some courses will expose students to key concepts/methods about service-learning and community engagement and will include interactions with community partners, through guest speakers, assignments, or field trips, but no big projects. Others may include deeper community experiences, from small to full semester projects, whether service-learning or socially/environmentally-related capstone design projects. Still other courses will teach students a specific concept related to sustainability, like one of the SLS BIG IDEAS but won’t link to real-world community work at all. In all cases, we encourage faculty to incentivize their students to participate in SLS Events & Workshops and then provide opportunities for the students to bring what they learn into the classroom, through assignments or discussion, so that they begin to think about how the course lessons will prepare them to engage in a broad array of sustainable communities-related work.
3. Benefits of SLS Affiliation:
- Attract students from a variety of disciplines, through SLS marketing efforts such as our weekly e-newsletter and course highlight videos
- Get priority assistance in developing course content and connecting to partners and projects and help taking advantage of our Resources for Affiliated Faculty
- Receive invitations for faculty and students to participate in exclusive SLS activities, such as showcases, field trips, and guest speakers
- Collaborate with SLS on publications and presentations
- Apply for mini-grants for materials, travel, or stipends for guest speakers, etc.
- SLS is starting to develop thematic pathways (an alternative to a certificate or minor), and affiliated courses will be considered for inclusion
4. Commitments of SLS Affiliation:
- Keep abreast of SLS opportunities through our weekly e-newsletter and encourage your students to explore them (subscribe to the newsletter here)
- Introduce the course to your students as SLS Affiliated:
- Include the SLS logo and a short statement about SLS on your syllabus
- Highlight sustainability or sustainable communities as an important theme and explain why you affiliated the course
- Invite SLS staff person or student assistant to speak to your students about SLS. Alternatively, introduce your students to SLS through this short video and our gallery of student profiles. See our "Introduction to SLS and Sustainable Commmunities" tool for more ideas.
- If your course includes engagement with a community partner, please contact us about incorporating SLCE (Service-Learning/Community Engagement) orientation into your course. SLS staff can visit and lead this, or help you incorporate SLCE principles using SLS resources and tools.
- Revisit SLS and the sustainability/sustainable communities theme at different points during the semester so the students come to understand how the course lessons are preparing them to engage in sustainable communities-related work
- Coordinate with SLS to help us assess SLS Student Learning Outcomes – note that this includes providing SLS with a copy of your syllabus and with student work products (learn about assessment here)
5. Request SLS Affiliation
- Complete this form
- Get a sneak preview of the form here (Fall 2018 version)
- Questions? Contact Ruthie Yow, Service Learning and Partnerships Specialist (404-394-9220)
Re-affiliating your course? If your course was previously affiliated with SLS and you wish to re-affiliate for additional semesters, there is no need to complete a form. Please email Ruthie Yow, Service Learning and Partnerships Specialist, and let her know that you are re-affiliating your course and for which semester(s). In addition, please let her know if any information has changed (course name, course number, description, etc.)