COURSE DESCRIPTION:

Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) is an experiential learning (Service-Learning (SL) category) course open to all students from any discipline who have achieved sophomore status.   Service-learning is an important component of experiential learning and is intentionally integrated into the undergraduate learning experience by giving students the opportunity to use what they’re learning in the classroom and make a difference in the lives of others through education and the equipping of various life and job skills. As a result, SIFE student teams develop, innovate, and implement an assortment of sustainable projects and programs for the benefit of the Belmont, Nashville, Middle Tennessee, and global community.

COURSE OBJECTIVES:

Per the charge of SIFE headquarters, each Belmont SIFE project will meet the following pedagogical objectives:

• Teaching entrepreneurship
• Teaching success skills
• Teaching the benefits and function of a market economy
• Teaching ethics
• Teaching financial literacy
• Teaching environmental sustainability

SIFE students will also learn and understand concepts related to a market economy and free enterprise system, as well as work individually and in teams to create and develop, implement, and evaluate outreach projects designed to involve students, faculty, and the community in an educational awareness of a free enterprise system.

In addition, SIFE students will (1) develop leadership, negotiation, persuasion and written and oral presentation skills, (2) refine marketing and management skills as they work to implement, evaluate, and improve projects, and (3) develop a better understanding of the importance of conducting business in a professional and ethical manner.

COURSE REQUIREMENTS:

Assessment of Student Learning:

Course grading and assessment is based on developing and completing all reading assignments with written responses, a midterm reflection essay, a final reflection essay, and participating in an existing project (minimum one hour per week).  Project participation accounts for 33% of the grade (logging hours throughout the semester as to be determined by your project leader). 33% of your grade will be determined through your tri-weekly written response’s ability to demonstrate your understanding of the reading assignments. The remaining 33% of the semester’s grade will be represented by successful completion of an end-of-semester individual reflection. All assignments will be graded on the merit and will be awarded a grade of pass/fail. As you can see, failing to fully complete any one part of the assigned requirements will lead in a grade of D, while failure to fully complete any two components will result in a failing grade. Note: Please post all assignments on SIFE dropbox.

Project participation will be evaluated on:

1.         Creativity/Innovation

2.         Clarity of project objectives

3.         Professionalism

4.         Cost Efficiency (if applicable)

5.         Organization of project

6          Effectiveness in working with others

7.         Involvement of the community and students

8.         Effectiveness in accomplishing objective(s)

9          Actual completion or intended continuation

Group Meeting Attendance:

We will meet as a group weekly with all SIFE members in order to discuss all SIFE projects as well as competition information and project work.  Two (2) absences are allowed without an excuse.  Please notify the instructor or SIFE student leaders by e-mail when absences are to occur.  Your e-mail is confirmation in your student record.

ASSIGNMENTS:

Service Activities

Service and Service Log: Once you are plugged into a SIFE project, you must complete at least one hour a week of service with that project.  If a regularly scheduled service time must be missed, you must rearrange for that time to be completed within the same week based on the availability or capacity of your project.  After completing your service for the week, you must also sign in to Google and log your hours for your particular project, as well as a description of the work done that week.

Bi-weekly readings with written response: Out of the book When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert, you will be assigned chapters which must be completed about every 2 weeks.  With each reading, a written response to the chapter’s opening and closing remarks are be emailed to the SIFE office (belmontsife {at} gmail(.)com) by the given due date.

Required Text: When Helping Hurts by Steve Corbett and Brian Fikkert

“When Helping Hurts begins by establishing a solid biblical foundation for understanding the nature of poverty and its alleviation. This is more than an academic exercise, for people’s understanding of poverty shapes the strategies they use to minister to poor people. Building upon this foundation, the book then outlines several general principles for all poverty alleviation efforts including: the importance of distinguishing between relief, rehabilitation, and development; the difference between asset-based and needs-based strategies; and the advantages of participatory over blueprint approaches. These general principles are then applied to short-term mission efforts and to various economic development strategies appropriate for North American and international contexts, including jobs training, financial literacy, individual development accounts, and microenterprise development.”

- WhenHelpingHurts.com

Reading and writing assignments are to be completed or on the dates as follows:

Jan. 25

Read Preface and Introduction; Read Ch. 1 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 48-49)

Due: Questions 1-5

Feb. 10

Read Ch. 1 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 48-49)

Due: Questions 1-5

Feb. 22

Read Ch. 2 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 72-73)

Due: Questions 4-10

Read Ch. 3 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 98-99)

Due: Questions 1-2, 5-8

Mar. 4

Read Ch. 4 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 121-122)

Due: Questions 1-5

Read Ch. 5 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 139)

Due: Questions 1-3

Mar. 15

Read Ch. 6 – 8 and answer Reflection Questions and Exercise (pg. 198-199)

Due: Questions 1-3

May 4

Read Ch. 9

Due: Final Individual Reflection (See Below)

Final Individual Reflections:

You will be required to write one end-of-semester reflection. This reflection must demonstrate internal reflection and critical thinking regarding your experiences with your service project.  Consider the following list of questions and select at least four in order to frame your reflection.  There is no specific length requirement, however it will be important that this reflection is well thought out and demonstrate true learning.  A good reflection will be between 2-5 pages in length.

REFLECTION QUESTIONS:

Personal

• What did you learn?  What did you gain?
• What do you want to remember from the experience?
• Was your heart touched in any way?
• How are you different?  How are you the same as before you did service learning?

Relational

• What are you learning about the people you are serving?
• How are their pains and joys similar/different to yours?
• Did your relationships become mutual or did they remain one way? 
  • (i.e. Did you do all the giving and helping?  What did they give to you?)

Social

• How is the social world of the people you work with different from your normal social world
  • (the one you inhabit with your family and at Belmont)?
  • What is it like for you to have the experience of two social worlds?
  • Why is this situation like this? (How did it get this way?  What is its history? What causes it? 
    • What sustains it?)
  • What are the economic and political factors involved?
  • Who makes the decisions that affect people’s lives?  Who benefits?  Who pays?
  • What attitudes and behaviors help?  What attitudes and behaviors are problematic?

Tips for doing well in this class: Work closely with your chosen project and project leader. Prof. Gonas, Prof. Loes, and Prof. Stahl will monitor all work, and your attendance of your hourly commitment is your responsibility.  It’s usually fun and most students end up spending much more time than what’s required. The purpose of the writing reflections are to assess that you are actually reading and reflecting on what you read and on your service.  The final reflection paper’s purpose is to gauge if and how the course and readings have altered and integrated the idea of sustainable poverty alleviation in to your career goals in or outside of Belmont, personally or professionally. Using personal experiences during projects as well as referencing reading will be a focus of assessing your performance in the course.