Course Meeting Time
Fall 2009
Tuesday/Thursday 9:30am - 11:00am

Course Description
The Commonwealth College Capstone Experience is designed to provide all Commonwealth College students with the opportunity to integrate their undergraduate experiences and prepare for their careers-professional or academic-and lives as informed citizens. The CSL Capstone presents Commonwealth College students with an option for making Community Service Learning an integral component of the Capstone Experience. Students work closely with at least one community organization to complete a project that is defined as important to the organization.

Section Description: Capturing Stories for Community
In this two-semester Capstone course, students will engage in a community-based research project with one of four partnering community organizations. Students will volunteer with an organization for 30 hours per semester and conduct research on issues that are facing the organization’s participants. In addition to engaging in service, students will collect oral histories and digital stories from people served by the community organizations.

Students in this course will learn about qualitative methods necessary for capturing stories and learn the digital technology associated with creating digital stories.  Oral histories are a widely used method of gathering, preserving, and interpreting the voices and memories of people in communities. Digital stories are 3-5 minute visual narratives that synthesize images, voice, text, and music to create compelling stories.

These products will provide a permanent historical record of the concerns, perspectives, and visions of the participants within the community organization.

How to Sign Up
If you are interested in this course, please contact instructor Gloria DiFulvio at gloria@comcol.umass.edu.

Instructor Information
Gloria DiFulvio
Commonwealth College
gloria@comcol.umass.edu