For Students
Timeline
Fill out the Student Interest Survey
Your first assignment for the semester is to fill out the Student Interest Survey. NOTE: You must use your MIAD login to access this link.
The responses that are collected help the Service Learning assistant suggest some opportunities for your service placement.
Once you’ve submitted your answers, the Service Learning assistant, Chelsea Beiler, will contact you within a week to give you some suggestions for places you might be interested in volunteering based on your answers. If you would like to set up a meeting or send an email to discuss your options for service learning, please use the following email:
Chelsea Beiler
Service Learning Program Assistant
servicelearn@miad.edu
Office hours: Mon-Thurs, 10am-4pm
Choose your Service Placement
Before reaching out to organizations about volunteering, be sure that they’re approved placements. A placement is considered approved if:
- It is listed on the Placements page of this website
- It is sent to you by your Service Learning instructor or the SL assistant as a suggestion
- It has been approved by your Service Learning instructor or the SL assistant
If an organization you’d like to volunteer with is not approved yet, or you aren’t sure, contact your instructor and servicelearn@miad.edu to discuss.
Reach out as soon as possible to placements you’re interested in. We recommend sending out an email that introduces yourself as a MIAD Service Learning student and letting the contact know why you’re interested in volunteering at that organization. If there’s a specific featured opportunity available, let them know that’s what you’d like to do, and ask questions that you may have. If you don’t hear back within a few days, it’s worthwhile to give them a call and see if that’s a better way to get in contact. Visiting the location in person is also a great way to talk to someone one-on-one if you’re able to! If you haven’t heard from a placement within a few days, we recommend having a backup option that you can reach out to next.
If you’d like to contact multiple placements at once, you are welcome to do so, but make sure to be communicative with all placements you contact about whether you will be working with them or not. Non-profit staff can be stretched thin, and communicating effectively helps save them time and energy.
Begin Volunteering
Once you’ve set up your volunteer placement, there may be some training or orientation to complete. All training and orientation hours count for your required 35 service hours. You’re encouraged to bring a contract with you to the placement on your first visit, so you can fill out the contract and have it signed right away.
We expect students to be engaged and active with their volunteer work, take initiative where appropriate, be reliable with their scheduling and attendance, and communicate delays or absences with their volunteer supervisors. Supervisors will be asked to fill out an evaluation of your performance that will factor into your grade, and the evaluation takes these aspects into account. Keep in mind that the volunteer work required for this class isn’t just about showing up and getting your hours in – it’s about developing real connections to the communities around you, and you will be asked to connect the work you do at your volunteer placement to the concepts being explored in class.
Fill out the Contract and Timesheet
When you start volunteering, you will be required to fill out a contract and have your supervisor at the organization you’re volunteering with sign it for you. The contract must be turned in before midterm, and the timesheet is due at the end of the semester. Find copies of the Service Placement Contract and Service Learning Timesheet, as well as links for where to upload completed forms, on the Resources and Forms page.
Complete 35 hours
Complete 35 hours of service work over the semester.
FAQs
I have a placement in mind, but it isn’t listed on the Service Learning website. Can I still do my service there?
Probably. Even though all placements must be approved by your instructor, plenty of students find their own placements because they have already volunteered or have knowledge about a particular place.
Remember – you need to get these hours completed during the session in which you are enrolled. We do not grant extensions without a significant reason.
I have already done a lot of service. Can this count?
Sorry, no. The service completed for this course is done while you are enrolled in the course and becomes an integral part of the classroom work.
I know a place where I want to volunteer – and they want me to design a new website for them. Is this alright?
Currently we have a cap of 15 hours of ‘desk work’ for Service Learning projects, meaning work that isn’t done at the placement where you’re volunteering or with direct coordination with the community that the nonprofit organization serves. If you are unsure of whether an opportunity counts as ‘desk work’ please contact the service learning assistant, Chelsea (servicelearn@miad.edu), to discuss further.
I require accommodations or have special circumstances that I’m worried might make it difficult to volunteer. How can it be accommodated?
All accommodations for Service Learning placements must be discussed with your instructor, the Service Learning director (Leslie Fedorchuk) and the Service Learning assistant (Chelsea). Your instructor must have a copy of your accommodation letter, and Chelsea will work with you to find a placement that suits your needs on a case-by-case basis.
I am just too busy to do this right now. Can I do the service hours later?
No, the service hours must be completed while you are enrolled in the course. This is the ‘capstone’ course for your Humanities studies, and as such is a more demanding course. If the course workload is truly too much to take on, this may not be the time for you to be enrolled in this course. You may want to talk to your advisor about solutions for taking the course during the summer, or another semester.
Does travel time count for volunteering?
If you spend more than 30 minutes traveling to and from a volunteer shift, you are allowed to take the extra time as part of your volunteer hours. For example, if you spend 20 minutes getting to your shift and 20 minutes getting back, for a full 40 minutes of travel time for that shift, you can add 10 minutes of travel time to your hours for that shift.
There are two placements I want to volunteer with! Can I split my time between them?
Generally, we suggest that students focus on a single volunteer placement for the full 35 hours, both so that they can get a good understanding of how that organization works behind the scenes, and also so that the organization is able to benefit from the time and effort they put into scheduling and training new volunteers. However, if you are not able to fulfill your volunteer hours at one location, or are going to volunteer for a special event with another organization, this can be a good option.
You will need multiple contracts for multiple placements, or a short-term placement contract if you are volunteering for less than 10 hours (or 3 shifts) for another organization. To discuss, please contact Chelsea, the Service Learning assistant (servicelearn@miad.edu).
I’m having a difficult time contacting the organization I want to volunteer with, even though I’ve emailed and called them. What should I do?
Always make sure to have a couple of backup options available in case you don’t hear back from a placement for a while. Sometimes for whatever reason, it might take a while to hear back, and their timeline may not be fast enough for the Service Learning deadlines. If you don’t hear back from a placement within a week of initially contacting them, try reaching out to another. If you are having continued difficulties with communication with your placement for starting or scheduling your volunteer shifts, please contact the Service Learning assistant (servicelearn@miad.edu) and we’ll work with you one on one to find a solution.
I’m having a difficult time fulfilling my volunteer hours. What should I do?
Talk to your instructor as soon as possible if you’re having trouble getting your volunteer hours in, whether it’s due to communication/scheduling problems with the organization or factors outside of Service Learning. We want you to succeed in the course and are willing to work with you to develop solutions, but we can’t help if we don’t know what’s happening until the last minute. If you’re struggling with time management, we strongly encourage you to visit the Academic Success Center to work with a tutor who can help you structure your schedule and work on time management skills.