Engaged Learning through Curriculum Infusion

Peer Review, Summer 2007 by Riley, Joan B, McWilliams, Mindy

Georgetown University's Bringing Theory to Practice (BTtoP) demonstration project, Connecting the Safety Net to the Heart of the Academic Environment, addresses student depression, alcohol and substance abuse, and other student health and wellness issues through various forms of engaged learning, including community-based learning, to reach students on a personal level. Georgetown's unique focus is on a pedagogy called curriculum infusion, which brings real-life college health issues into the curriculum of academic courses through readings, guest speakers and discussions, and class assignments.

The success of curriculum infusion depends on the intrinsic connections that can be made between a course's intellectual content and the health issues. When curriculum infusion is successful, students go beyond merely absorbing information by integrating reflections on how these health issues apply to college students, or to groups they work with in community-based learning components of their courses, with the academic content of their courses, across a wide range of disciplines. Our objective is that the engaged pedagogies of curriculum infusion and community-based learning will achieve the following goals:

* To increase Georgetown students' awareness of and reflection upon issues of college mental health and wellness in ways that enhance and reinforce the intellectual content of their courses

* To strengthen the campus Safety Net by training faculty and teaching assistants to be alert to trouble signs in their students, to approach students effectively, and to know where to direct students for help

* To create relationships among campus health providers and students through guest lectures and discussions so that students will feel comfortable approaching these professionals for their personal needs

After four semesters piloting our project, seventeen Georgetown faculty have implemented curriculum infusion in what we refer to as Engelhard Courses, some in combination with community-based learning (The disciplines represented are anthropology, biology, English, mathematics, nursing and health studies, philosophy, performing arts, psychology, business, foreign service, and theology.) In addition, thirteen graduate student teaching assistants and three undergraduate teaching assistants were trained in campus Safety Net procedures and served as assistants in these Engelhard Courses. Five campus health professionals conducted the Safety Net trainings and collaborated with faculty to implement curriculum infusion in their courses. The leadership team is a crosscampus collaboration of student affairs, curriculum development, assessment, community-based learning staff, and faculty (see sidebar).

Most significant, perhaps, is this projects broad reach among our student body. In four semesters, nearly 1,200 Georgetown undergraduates have taken one or more courses infused with mental health components. In addition to completing required readings and engaging in conversation with guest speakers, students have written reflection papers relating the classroom topics of mental health to their lives and have responded to quantitative surveys. Focus groups of students from these Engelhard Courses revealed that they experience a more personal connection with their professors, that they appreciate the time and space in an academic classroom to hear and think about student health issues, and that their thinking and attitudes toward these issues have changed. One student characterized his experience this way: "It made my relationship to my professor more personal. He made it personal. He told us how it affected his family. He cared about us, rather than wanting to indoctrinate us." Another student said that "this expanded my horizons" about what was healthy, wellness-promoting, and normal.

Selected Engelhard Courses: A Diversity of Disciplines and Approaches

Introduction to Math Modeling

Professor Jim Sandefur of the Mathematics Department has offered this course to nonscience majors for more than twenty years. He has designed the course to delve into the mathematics of the everyday world, such as problems with the elimination of caffeine or alcohol from the body, the sustainable management of renewable resources, and managing lottery winnings. As an Engelhard Faculty Fellow, Sandefur dedicated two course modules to the student health topics of alcohol and weight control. After three semesters teaching this way, with graded assignments and guest speakers for each topic, Sandefur is convinced that he is reaching students, improving their knowledge about the effects of alcohol and food consumption, and providing them the tools for making informed choices. Reflection papers from his students confirm this view. Students reflect on their eating and drinking habits, reveal how little they know about the effects of alcohol and unhealthy eating, and express changes in their attitudes and behaviors regarding consumption choices.

Responsibility, Resilience, and Self-Respect