Ultimately, a student needs to show mastery of a subject to pass a college-level course, but students and professors are getting creative in how they demonstrate their knowledge. Final exams at the College of Charleston start Wednesday, December 6, 2011 and students will be doing everything from traveling to Huntsville, Alabama and presenting to NASA officials to developing exercise sessions for classmates.
Students in the First Year Experience learning community, “Healing Narratives,” have interviewed residents at local nursing homes or hospice centers and for their final exam will present an explanation of how the resident’s story does or does not fit into the genre of illness narratives, using at least three psychological sources. “Healing Narratives” combines English 110 and Psychology 103 and a service-learning component. Many of the students are interested in pre-med, education or psychology and are interested in service professions.
“This has consistently been an inspiring class,” says English professor Kathy Beres Rogers. Rogers teaches the course with psychology professor Silvia Youssef Hanna. “Most of the residents the students interview face isolation and illness, and many face the knowledge that their time is limited, but they consistently teach our students valuable life lessons, the most important of which is perspective.”
Youssef Hanna adds, “The students enter the class with some knowledge of community service, but leave with a level of growth and understanding of how critical it is to serve your community. This course fosters the development of a mutually beneficial relationship.”
For more information about Healing Narratives, contact Kathy Beres Rogers at rogerskb@cofc.edu or 843.953.5925.
Students in the NASA Space Missions course, taught by professors Jon Hakkila and Cassandra Runyon, flew to Huntsville, Alabama to present posters of their final exam project in front of hundreds of attendees including a panel of NASA scientists and engineers. The students’ posters focus on their proposed Titan Lake Lander mission, in conjunction with other university students who designed other parts of the program. For more information, contact Jon Hakkila at hakkilaj@cofc.edu or 843.953.6387.
Athletic training students in professor Michelle Futrell’s class are meeting with members of the campus community to measure their fitness and health status and then conduct an assessment. The students will provide these “clients” with recommendations for implementing a fitness/wellness/exercise program. The exam requires them to meet with the client and provide practical instruction. This final exam meets requirements for the nationally accredited Athletic Training Education Program.
Health and human performance students preparing for their capstone course next semester are planning and conducting circuit-training sessions for their classmates. Next semester, these students will conduct group exercise sessions with groups on campus and with members of the Charleston community through the C-PARCS program. Each exercise session will be done in circuits, will last about 45 minutes and the equipment and space the students have access to will be purposely limited to see if they can think on their feet and adapt to different situations. For more information, contact Tim Scheett at scheettt@cofc.edu or 843.953.6538.
Students in professor Ashley Stock’s Dance Ensemble Performance course will be hosting a free performance as their final exam – and all the works were choreographed by Robert Ivey between 1980 and 2001. The students will also perform several pieces inspired by and in honor of Robert Ivey. The performances will be on Monday, December 5, 2011 and Tuesday, December 6, 2011 at 7:00 p.m. in Theatre 220 of the Albert Simons Center. Contributions to the Robert Ivey Dance Scholarship Fund are encouraged. For more information, contact Ashley Stock at stocka@cofc.edu or 843.953.5860.
Students in Hollis France’s International Political Economy course presented videos as part of their final projects. Cameron O’Banion focused on the commodity chain of the peach, using a local/global nexus regarding peaches grown in South Carolina and peaches imported from Chile. For more information, contact Hollis France at franceh@cofc.edu or 843.953.6324.
Students in the Gender and Theatre First Year Experience class will be performing their final projects in the Chapel Theatre. They created short plays (5-7 minutes) inspired by the book The Awakening, which they read in their Women’s and Gender Studies class.
