New Podcast on Service-Research from Mercer University

Posted by Mercer University on May 5, 2020

Mercer University’s Research that Reaches Out office has launched a new podcast that tells the stories of how faculty and staff are working with students to deepen learning and address real-world problems by stacking two high-impact practices, service and undergraduate research. These early episodes include concrete steps for how faculty and staff have modified classroom service partnerships and outreach in the face of Covid-19 distancing.

Check it out on SoundCloud: https://soundcloud.com/mureachesout

Read episode transcripts on our website at http://qep.mercer.edu/resources/podcasts.cfm

• Episode 1: Reframing Ethics with Dr. Charlotte Thomas
  After 26 years of teaching a philosophy intro course, Dr. Charlotte Thomas at Mercer University threw out the thought experiments and partnered with The Daybreak Center, a Project of St. Vincent DePaul, to ground her students’ theoretical work in community-engaged projects. She talks about adapting her classroom-based service-learning project for an online format for a summer class and in response to the Covid-19 mid-semester shift to online learning.

• Episode 2: Engaging Student Voters with Lauren Shinholster
  Lauren Shinholster is leading the charge in college student voter engagement at Mercer University. After earning multiple awards for the university in regional and national college voting competitions, she shares her strategies for successfully engaging student voters and adjusting for elections in the midst of Covid-19.

• Episode 3: Usability Research with Dr. Pam Estes Brewer
  In her usability class at Mercer University, Dr. Pam Estes Brewer’s students’ research findings have informed the designs of dozens of websites and apps for partners like the Department of Homeland Security and the Georgia PINES Library System. Hear how Dr. Brewer manages the demands of project-based learning in her classroom and how she turned the Covid-19 crisis into an opportunity for students to develop new professional skills – adjusting to environmental changes without sacrificing project outcomes.