a. No information available.
b. Dr. Anthony Adams has collaborated with the Ypsilanti public school district through his work with the Digital Inclusion Component of a HUD-COPC grant, beginning in 2000-2001. Dr. Adams uses telecommunication systems (e-mail) to connect EMU students (mentors) with high school and middle school students (protégés). Mentors serve instructional needs by assisting protégés with written feedback on writing assignments. The project was piloted two years ago with the Romulus Community Schools District. Dr. Adams conducted an evaluation of his 2000-2001 pilot program. He used a quasi-experimental design to compare EMU students taking his SOCL 105 Introductory Sociology course who were involved in the telementoring service-learning project with those who were not. Dr. Adams found significant between group differences on social responsibility and personal efficacy. He further found that EMU students involved in telementoring had a greater ability to apply course concepts and a greater mastery of course content, in general. During this current semester (Fall 2002), Dr. Adams has 23 EMU volunteer mentors from his Introduction to Sociology course working at the middle-school level. He believes the project successfully pairs economically disadvantaged and at-risk middle school students with university students. He identifies the following as positive outcomes for students involved at both the university and the middle school level: a strengthening of communication skills; more positive attitudes toward education and intellectual inquiry; a greater commitment to completing their degree; a greater commitment to academic excellence.
c. Several of our faculty have connections to community organizations through their involvement with Academic Service Learning. For example, Dr. Robert Orrange has developed a service-learning component to his SOCL 105 Introductory Sociology course that has his students engaging with local Boys and Girls Clubs. In doing so, his students will gain close working knowledge of the processes and factors that determine a group’s success. They will also have the experience of connecting and communicating with others from different social backgrounds and life experiences. It is believed that this experience will be instrumental in the development of future teachers of sociology.
d. Our Department has articulation agreements with numerous community colleges throughout Michigan, including Washtenaw Community College, Oakland Community College, Wayne Community College, and Monroe Community College.
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