Contact Us
Engaged Scholarship and Learning
Follow us at engagedUTRGV
ESTAC 3.106 and BINAB 1.105
Hours: M-F 8am-5pm
Email: engaged@utrgv.edu
Phone: (956) 665-3461 Edinburg
Phone Alt: (956) 882-4300 Brownsville
Support for Service Learning Designated Courses
Service Learning is a thoughtfully organized service experience that addresses a need in the community in a reciprocal and mutually beneficial relationship and integrates a reflective component that relates the service experience to academic course objectives and the students learning.
UTRGV requires that officially designated courses meet defined criteria in course design. However, course content, readings, and activities remain at the sole discretion of the faculty member teaching the course. These criteria are based on nationally recognized standards and have been established to enable the institution to document and assess Service Learning activities in a consistent fashion and to tie institutionally recognized community engagement activities to the agreed-upon practices and definitions.
Service Learning Designation applications are reviewed and approved at a section-level (on an instructor basis for a singular course.) Use our Service Learning Toolkit to learn more.
Engagement Zone's Service Learning Module
UTRGV has implemented the use of Engagement Zone, a platform that allows you to view student-tracked hours, view service opportunities, connect with over 200 organizations across the Rio Grande Valley, and pull semester reports of all the service completed as part of your course. Upon approval and designation of the Service Learning course, the Office of Engaged Scholarship and Learning will meet with Service Learning faculty to review Service Learning details that will be added to the Engagement Zone platform.
Engagement Zone is a portal that allows UTRGV students, faculty, and staff to address community needs. The portal allows us to connect with community organizations in meaningful ways. Through Engagement Zone, community partners can post service needs and events in real-time. The Service Learning Module delivers an online solution that saves educators and Service Learning coordinators time by efficiently communicating service opportunities to the entire campus. The platform offers program administrators one centralized place to pull all data from. This creates efficiency and maximizes impact in multiple ways:
- Faculty and staff do not have to gather data from different sources.
- Administrators and instructors can use detailed data collected by Engagement Zone to accurately report the accomplishments of each Service Learning course or program.
- Tracking provides hard numbers on student involvement, including types of services and hours served. The collected data reveals how UTRGV's Service Learning program has impacted the community and the student population.
- Faculty and program directors can tap into community needs and discover organizations and partners that are doing great work in the community.
Core Components of the Service Learning Teaching Strategy
- Investigation: Students begin their research on the community problems related to course content.
- Planning: Students, often working with community partners, plan the ways in which they will meet the community's needs.
- Action: All participants implement their plans by engaging in activities that will meet the community's needs. This is the actual service portion of Service Learning.
- Reflection: At each stage, participants engage in some form of activity that allows them to think about the community's need, their actions, their impacts, what worked and did not work, and/or similar types of analytic thinking.
Frequently Asked Questions
How do I access the Service Learning Module?
- Access Engagement Zone by using ez.utrgv.edu. Once logged in, you may click on your profile initials, and Service Learning Leader Portal to view your instructor privileges.
- Click on your course. Once You have accessed the module, you will see five menu items:
- Leader Portal (Provides access to your instructor view),
- Roster (See your student list and filter for specific students),
- User Info (Search for details of a specific student such as hours submitted, responses, and e-mail),
- Needs (View all needs listed for your course), and
- Responses (See student responses).
How can I register students for my course?
- Students will be able to join your course via a private, unique link that you provide. To view the course link, access your Service Learning Leader Portal and click on Copy Link for the course you would like to share. Share the link shown in your course with your students. Please note that students not registered for your course via the link will not be able to view your page. Another way to register students at one time is to schedule a class visit where a member of the Office of ES&L will have students register and illustrate an Engagement Zone tutorial!
Can I edit my course details on the Service Learning Module?
- Contact the Office of ES&L at (956) 882-4300 to request any edits to due dates, reflection questions, required hours, and any other questions you may have, and we will happily assist you.
Where do I access information about student Service Learning hours on the Service Learning Module?
- Access your course in the Service Learning Module.
- Click the Review Hours The table displayed shows the dates of service, hours served, student names, need titles, and status (approved, declined, or pending.)