Volunteering is generally considered an altruistic activity where an individual or group provides services for no financial gain. When a person understands the concept of learning by helping others, he or she begins to grow personally as a leader.
The servant-leader is servant first… It begins with the natural feeling that one wants to serve, to serve first. Then conscious choice brings one to aspire to lead.” - Robert K. Greenleaf.
Designers for Learning - Gain Experience for Good
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Designers for Learning is a non-profit organization with a mission to providing support for underserved adult learners. It offers a massive open online course (MOOC) for those interested in designing instructional materials as open educational resources (OERs), which can be used by adult basic education (ABE) instructors and adult learners. As learners in the MOOC, we were introduced into the world of adult learners through video interviews and made to feel empathy for their personas. Some of our adult learners were people who dropped out of formal education because they were young mothers, they were living in rural regions, they lacked parental support, they had to earn for their families, or they took to drugs early in life. The persona with whom I connected emotionally was a young man who was incarcerated and was waiting to get out of jail to start a new life.
“He who opens a school door, closes a prison,” said Victor Hugo. I hope that the OERs I create helps someone to lead a respectable life.
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The resources that we volunteer instructional designers created were based on the Common Core State Standards (CCSS). We were guided on how to pick the appropriate subject and strand. The design effort was part of a joint effort that included the course instructor, course designers, subject matter experts and course facilitators. By being part of this service venture, I was a learner and a volunteer instructional designer at the same time. As a participant, I learned about my target audience, their needs and instructional design implications and transferred that learning to designing an instructional material. This instructional design experience was in a real-world authentic challenge.
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Evidence of Service Competencies
Click on image to learn more about Designers for Learning
I enrolled in the MOOC for the first time in Spring 2016 and designed a lesson suitable for a blended classroom environment on Renewable Sources of Energy, which is a requirement according to the CCSR educational standard for grade 8. As an OER for ABE, I redesigned the lesson to make it relevant for adult learners. This lesson is available in the OER Commons.
Click on badge to see the OER
My first experience made a lasting impression on me and I continued to be associated with Designers for Learning because I was emotionally involved in the project. I enrolled in the second offering of the MOOC and moved my lesson on Renewable Sources of Energy to a completely online environment on Canvas. This is the link to my online instructional design project.
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Click on badge to see the OER on Canvas
For a third time, again I enrolled in the MOOC to create more OERs for ABE now playing a greater part and I was asked to be a facilitator in the MOOC in Spring 2017. However, I could not join the team because I was assisting another Professor at Purdue University. This time I evaluated a lesson created and uploaded few years back and re-designed the entire lesson. My lesson on Honey Bees and Environmental Sustainability helped adult learners to prepare for the GED and also provided a business proposition, using which they could make themselves economically self-sufficient. This lesson is also available in OER Commons. Click on badge to see the OER.
I was in direct contact with Dr. Jennifer Meddrell, the Director of Designers for Learning, offering suggestions and highlighting errors in the website and so on. I met her team in AECT 2016 in Las Vegas and again in AECT 2017, Jacksonville. In the Fall 2017 offering of the Service MOOC, I am a facilitator. Dr. Meddrell emailed the facilitators team and called me a "Greeter Rockstar."
I enjoyed welcoming course participants and it became evident that they also liked interacting with me, from the personal emails I received and from the comments on the discussion forums.
This is a link to the Letter of Recognition I received from Dr. Jennifer Maddrell for my role as a volunteer facilitator.
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Bauer Center, Lafayette, IN:
Demonstrate Science experiments to elementary school students. (2018-19)
Imagination Station: Demonstrate Science experiments to elementary school students and design websites of lesson modules. (2016-present)
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Purdue Graduate Office:
Global ambassador for India (2017-20). Conducting webinars and presentations about admissions, funding, and other elements that impact life in campus.
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Indian Women’s Association Academy:
Educational service projects in the Greater Lafayette Community (2018-present)
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K-12 Schools in India:
Providing consultations on how to implement educational technology tools in K-12 classrooms to promote 21st century skills development among students.
Purdue Under-Graduate Research Council:
As council member make students aware of research opportunities, and mentor under-graduate students in research (2019-20).
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Imagination Station - Community Service Grant
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I was awarded a $500 grant for community service along with IWA Academy. This money was spent towards purchasing materials that are required for conducting demonstrations and experiments at Imagination Station and Bauer Center, Lafayette. The goal of our project is to promote STEM education in the Greater Lafayette community.
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iLookout - Fall 2019
Evaluation of the instructional design of an online course on child abuse, developed at Penn State University. This course guides primary caregivers on how to identify and report cases of child abuse, when they see it. The online course uses gamification to motivate learners to finish the course.