Courses Offering CBR Opportunities

The following courses are examples of those that offer undergraduate students an opportunity to participate in CBR for class credit. If you are interested in adding your course to this list, please email Naomi Penney at npenney@nd.edu.

2008-2009

Action Research in Catholic Schools

Jim Frabutt, Ronald Nuzzi, Anthony Holter, Institute for Educational Initiatives

Fall 2008

Action Research in Catholic Schools I presents concepts, methods, and strategies for conduction classroom-, school- and parish-based strategic inquiry. Students implement the research plan designed in EDU 73777, with a specifci focuse on statement of the research problem, literature review, research design and data collection.

Computer Science and Engineering Service Projects

Gregory R Madey, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Fall 2008

Habitat for Humanity – This project will provide database design and implementation for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. This database project will develop tools for the Habitat organization to trace materials, donors, and other information related to the mission of Habitat.

Autism Resource Site – This project will provide database, website, and networking support for a national resource site for Autism. Current projects include the design and implementation of online surveys, discussion groups, news feeds, secure registration, and general website design.

Toys Group – This project involves the configuring of toys and other electrical powered items for use by the therapists at the Logan Center and St. Joseph's Hospital. With the modified items, the therapists will be able to work more effectively with the mentally and physically challenged youth. 

Montessori School Technology – This project involves the support, analysis, tutoring and planning for information technology at a local Montessori school.

Environmental Justice

Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Department of Biological Sciences/Philosophy

Fall 2008

Students in this couse will study the phenomenon of environmental injustice as it relates to how poor people, minorities, and children are most affected by pollution.  For example, hazardous waste sites are disproportionately surrounded by black and latino communities.  The course examines some of the scientific ways polluters get away with this injustice and some of the ethical reasons for correcting it.  It also shows students how their research and service can help correct it.  Main coursework is project based:  analyzing ethical or scientific flaws in impact statements, regulations, or policy decisions that disproportionately affect the poor and minorities.  Students will work with the communities to analyze their health and evironmental materials and obtain a statement of the problem.  They will be anaylyzing draft government impact assessments to show whether they meet the scietific or ethical standards necessary to protect poor people and minorities.  Student supply the results of their analyses to the affected communities as well as to legislators.  In the past, this research has been used to protect children and poor people in many areas of the US and abroad. 

Leadership, Ethics, and Social Responsibility

Jay Brandenberger, Center for Social Concerns/Psychology

Fall 2008

This course examines leadership and empowerment issues from multidisciplinary perspectives, focusing on the role of the leader within organizations that promote service, social action, or other forms of social responsibility. Alternative models of leadership are explored, with attention to value and moral implications.

Marketing Research

John Gaski, Marketing

Fall 2008

Required for all marketing majors. A study of the application of scientific method to the definition and solution of marketing problems with attention to research design, sampling theory, methods of data collection and the use of statistical techniques in the data analysis.

Mexican Immigration:  A South Bend Case Study

Karen Richman, Department of Anthropology, Institute for Latino Studies

Fall 2008

Mexican immigrants are the fastest growing ethnic group in South Bend.  Their three-fold increase over the past decade in South Bend any myriad other U.S. cities reflects how deeply institutionalized migration has become as a domestic strategy for escape from the pressure of relentless poverty, rural decline, and underemployment in rural Mexico. This course combines service and experiential learning in the Mexican community of South Bend in order to understand how Mexican migrants conduct their lives across the vast distances separating South Bend and their homeland.  At the beginning of the semester, we tour the Mexican immigrant neighborhood of South Bend, visiting the agencies and organizations that provide services to these newcomers.  Students apply to volunteer as tutors, assistants and interpreters at selected sites, including schools, clinics, and law offices throughout the semester.  The service settings and the relationships students establish through them will be the basis for ethnographic research.  The results of this research will be presented at the end of the term in both written form and in-class  presentation. 

Seminar, Educational Research

Stuart Greene, Julianne Turner, or Joyce Long, Education, Schooling and Society

Fall 2008

Students will learn about both methods and topics in educational research. Students will design and execute an original research study.

2007-2008

Strategies and Tactics of Non-Violent Social Change

David Cortright, Institute for International Peace Studies

Spring 2008

This course will help students understand and participate more effectively in movements for nonviolent social change. Students will become familiar with both the theories of nonviolence and social action and the practice of effective social organizing. Topics to be addressed include the religious roots and philosophy of nonviolence, recent cases of nonviolent social struggle, principles of strategy, and the techniques and methods of nonviolent action, including media communications, fundraising, lobbying, grass roots organizing, and coalition building. Relevant historical and contemporary examples will be reviewed to illustrate how movements for social change work in practice. Course work will consist of readings, lectures, videos, and class discussion on the identified topics. In addition, students will be asked to participate in class activities and team learning exercises. Two team learning exercises are scheduled during the semester.

Graphic Design III

Robert Sedlack, Design

Spring 2008

This advanced course in visual communication is for students who intend to pursue the field of graphic design after graduation. The class will help prepare students both technically and creatively for professional practice by focusing on research-based projects.

Health, Healing and Culture

Daniel Lende, Department of Anthropology

Spring 2008

This course provides an introduction to the field of medical anthropology. Medical anthropology examines beliefs, practices, and experiences of illness, health, and healing from a cross-cultural perspective to show that illness, health, medicine, and the body are shaped by social relationships and cultural values from the local level of the family and community to the global level of international development and transnational capitalism. This course will consider the ways in which medical anthropology has historically been influenced by debates within the discipline of anthropology as well as by broader social and political movements. Particular emphasis will be placed on the importance of viewing biomedicine as one among many culturally constructed systems of medicine. Some of the key issues which we will explore are: medical pluralism and therapeutic choice; biocultural studies; medicalization; the political economy of health and disease; the anthropology of the body; the role of medicine and disease in colonialism and postcolonial movements; and applied medical anthropology.

Chemistry in Service of the Community

Dennis Jacobs, Department of Chemistry

Fall 2007

Lead poisoning presents a serious risk to the neurological development of young children. Chemistry, biochemistry, and chemical engineering majors have the opportunity to join community partners in assessing lead contamination in area homes.  Students will interact with residents in local neighborhoods, provide information on the health risks associated with lead poisoning, collect paint chips, soil, and dust samples, and analyze them for lead levels. This community-based learning experience is open only to students who are simultaneously enrolled in Analytical Chemistry (CHEM 30333 and 31333) or have taken CHEM 31333 previously.  CHEM 30331 counts towards graduation as one science-elective credit.

Children and Poverty-Developmental Implications

Jay Brandenberger, Department of Psychology/Center for Social Concerns

Spring 2007

Every fifth child in America faces hunger or poverty. This course examines the impacts of youth poverty and related concerns from the perspectives of developmental and social psychology. Key topics will include conflict resolution and violence prevention, moral development and resiliency within challenging contexts, and educational inequalities/potentials. Central to the course will be an emphasis on children's developing cognitive perceptions of self in relation to society, and an examination of potential solutions, model programs, and relevant social policy. Readings will be drawn from a variety of sources and discussed in seminar format. Active student participation and community-based learning/research are fundamental to the course.

Environmental Justice

Kristin Shrader-Frechette, Department of Biological Sciences/Philosophy

Fall 2007

Students in this couse will study the phenomenon of environmental injustice as it relates to how poor people, minorities, and children are most affected by pollution.  For example, hazardous waste sites are disproportionately surrounded by black and latino communities.  The course examines some of the scientific ways polluters get away with this injustice and some of the ethical reasons for correcting it.  It also shows students how their research and service can help correct it.  Main coursework is project based:  analyzing ethical or scientific flaws in impact statements, regulations, or policy decisions that disproportionately affect the poor and minorities.  Students will work with the communities to analyze their health and evironmental materials and obtain a statement of the problem.  They will be anaylyzing draft government impact assessments to show whether they meet the scietific or ethical standards necessary to protect poor people and minorities.  Student supply the results of their analyses to the affected communities as well as to legislators.  In the past, this research has been used to protect children and poor people in many areas of the US and abroad. 

Introduction Community-Based Participatory Research Method

Naomi Penny, Department of Anthropology/Center for Social Concerns

Fall 2007

This seminar introduces students to CBPR as a method for conducting research that can utilize both quantitative and qualitative methods. The course focuses on ways in which students and community partners can work together to affect social change. Readings primarily emphasize CBPR projects in public health, but also include interdisciplinary content areas, such as social psychology.

Archaeology Field School

Deborah Rotman, Department of Anthropology

Fall 2007

This module will consist of practical instruction in the methods and theory of archaeological survey, excavation, and laboratory analysis.  Students learn field techniques and apply them to investigations of both prehistoric and historic archaeological materials by working with artifacts collected during the field course.

Mexican Immigration:  A South Bend Case Study

Karen Richman, Department of Anthropology, Institute for Latino Studies

Fall 2007

Mexican immigrants are the fastest growing ethnic group in South Bend.  Their three-fold increase over the past decade in South Bend any myriad other U.S. cities reflects how deeply institutionalized migration has become as a domestic strategy for escape from the pressure of relentless poverty, rural decline, and underemployment in rural Mexico. 

This course combines service and experiential learning in the Mexican community of South Bend in order to understand how Mexican migrants conduct their lives across the vast distances separating South Bend and their homeland.  At the beginning of the semester, we tour the Mexican immigrant neighborhood of South Bend, visiting the agencies and organizations that provide services to these newcomers.  Students apply to volunteer as tutors, assistants and interpreters at selected sites, including schools, clinics, and law offices throughout the semester.  The service settings and the relationships students establish through them will be the basis for ethnographic research.  The results of this research will be presented at the end of the term in both written form and in-class  presentation. 

Art, Art History, and Design:  Graphic Design III:  Transpo Publicity Campaign

Robert Sedlack, Department of Art History, and Design

Fall 2007

Each semester two projects of four in the Graphic Design 3 class are an organizational identity project and an indentity/publicity campaign project.  For the organizational identity, students identify a not-for-profit in South Bend or in their hometown and design a new logo, business papers (letterhead, envelope, and business card), as well as an additional communications piece (poster, brochure, web site, etc.).  This project lasts one-third of the semester.

The other project covers the entire semester.  Students work with a local organization (SB Transpo, Memorial Hospital, Potawatomi Zoo) and identify areas in which better graphic communication could make a demonstrable difference for the selected organization.  Last semester students worked with the zoo and addressed av ariety of challenges, including interior and exterior signage (public street signage and didactic panels), publicity (newspaper, magazine, billboards), environmental design (banners, kiosks, etc.), general identity (logo and applications), and the zoo website.

Introduction to Entrepreneurship

John Fitzmartin, Department of Management

Fall 2007

Entrepreneurs are passionate about their ideas but often lack research skills, time, or access to market data. Since 1998, student teams from this course have completed Feasibility Analyses for local entrepreneurs recommended by Jim Gregar of the Small Business Development Center. The student teams provide objectivity to balance the entrepreneur’s passion.  The program provides real-time cases for students. Students interview their entrepreneur as the project begins and meet with her/ him several more times throughout the project. The entrepreneurs attend the student team’s oral, in-class presentation and receive a written feasibility analysis.

Computer Science and Engineering Service Projects

Gregory R Madey, Department of Computer Science and Engineering

Fall 2007

Habitat for Humanity – This project will provide database design and implementation for the local chapter of Habitat for Humanity. This database project will develop tools for the Habitat organization to trace materials, donors, and other information related to the mission of Habitat.

Autism Resource Site – This project will provide database, website, and networking support for a national resource site for Autism. Current projects include the design and implementation of online surveys, discussion groups, news feeds, secure registration, and general website design.

Toys Group – This project involves the configuring of toys and other electrical powered items for use by the therapists at the Logan Center and St. Joseph's Hospital. With the modified items, the therapists will be able to work more effectively with the mentally and physically challenged youth. 

Montessori School Technology – This project involves the support, analysis, tutoring and planning for information technology at a local Montessori school.

2006

Community Research Practicum

Mark Gunty, Department of Sociology

Fall 2006 & Spring 2007

This variable credit course gives students the opportunity to conduct research for community-based service organizations in St. Joseph County.  Building on skills developed in Methods of Sociological Research (SOC 302), students work on existing research projects or identify new projects that will help local organizations evaluate the effectiveness of their programs, conduct needs assessment or do other kinds of empirical research.  Students work with representatives of the organization to articulate their research questions, to develop methods for addressing those questions validly, to resolve measurement issues, and to collect appropriate data.  All methods of social science research can be considered, but it is likely that survey and content analysis strategies will be used most often.  Depending on the nature of the project, the student may also be involved in data base construction, data analysis and reporting.  The primary focus is learning how to put research skills at the service of the community.

The Ethics of Energy Conservation

Margaret Pfeil and Wilasa Vichit-Vadakan, Department of Theology

Spring 2006

This is a joint theology and engineering course exploring the ethics of energy conservation by using the method of community-based learning.  Students will begin by using the university campus as a "trial laboratory" for measuring energy efficiency and thinking creatively about possible energy conservation measures.  We will then ask them to conduct a limited energy efficiency and conservation study for selected non-profit organizations in the South Bend community. This course will fulfill a number of civic learning goals, including: the cultivation of theological and scientific competence in environmental ethics; the identification of leadership skills necessary to address the concrete concerns facing non-profit organizations as they strive to meet pressing human needs in an environmentally sound manner; and, formation of consciences sensitive to the social responsibility of caring for the environment.  Maximum enrollment: 20 students. 

Researching Disease:  Methods in Medical Anthropology

Daniel Lende, Department of Anthropology

Fall 2006

 This class will provide extensive classroom and hands-on training in research methods for medical anthropology.  It will place slightly greater emphasis on qualitative methods, such as participant observation and interviewing, but it will also provide an overview of quantitative methods (including building surveys and some basic statistical analysis).  Students will learn by doing, conducting original research on contemporary health issues in the local community (such as HIV/AIDS and substance abuse).

Why Are People Poor?

Mary Beckman, Arts & Letters College Seminar

Fall 2006

Are people poor because they make bad choices?  Because of the situation into which they are born?  Because of laws and systems?  These are among the questions that will be investigated in this course.  We will consider ways various disciplines from the humanities, arts, and social sciences complement one another to enhance our understanding.  We will also visit an area organization that addresses aspects of poverty, and students will do research or service for a local organization.  They will develop oral skills through several in-class presentations.

Many of the courses that offer CBR opportunities were developed through a CSC Course Development Grant.