Community Partnership Program
2015
Student Manual
Contact Information:
Dr Judith Crockett
HIP100 Subject Coordinator
School of Community Health
Charles Sturt University
PO Box 883
Orange NSW 2820
Email: [email protected]
Ph: 02 63657582
Web Address
http://www.csu.edu.au/faculty/science/cmhealth/
Table of Contents
Section 1: Introductory Information .......................................................................... 3
Introduction ................................................................................................................ 3
Program aims: ............................................................................................................ 4
Program objectives: ................................................................................................... 4
How to contact Community Partnership Program Staff at CSU: .............................. 4
Section 2: Community Partnership Program............................................................ 5
What does the program involve? ............................................................................... 5
Philosophy: ................................................................................................................ 6
Frequently asked questions: ....................................................................................... 7
Section 3: Forms ........................................................................................................... 9
Student Proposal Form ............................................................................................... 9
Guidelines for your written reflection...................................................................... 10
Student Record of Service Form .............................................................................. 11
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Section 1: Introductory Information
Introduction
The ‘Community Partnership Program’ represents the involvement of all students
enrolled in HIP100 in the contributing of their time to community service groups and
organisations. Participation in the Community Partnership Program represents your
first professional practicum experience and aims to facilitate development of
foundational interpersonal skills integral to your journey towards becoming a
healthcare professional.
The Community Partnership Program is underpinned by a service learning education
philosophy. Service learning encompasses formation of reciprocal partnerships
between students, communities and educators (McMenamin & McGrath 2010) and
therefore provides benefits not only for students but also for communities. Service
learning is not volunteer work, but rather a class-oriented experience where students
are involved in a service activity within the community (Konukman & Schneider
2012). Through immersion in service learning, students learn through meaningful
action in the community and reflection on that action (McMenamin & McGrath
2010). This experiential learning model provides a way of learning through
experience and assists students to link academic studies and knowledge to real life
problems in their communities. Service learning offers a learning environment that
promotes critical thinking and problem solving and requires students to practice
ethical decision making (Houseman, Meaney, Wilcox & Cavazos 2012). Inclusion of
service learning in academic curricula provides a means to revive curriculum and
reaffirm its role in the preparation of 21st century global citizens (Ponder & Vander
Veldt 2011). For nearly two decades researchers have consistently reported on the
positive consequences of service learning in undergraduate education including,
development of practical skills, personal responsibility, interpersonal skills, leadership
ability and citizenship (Lee 2012).
In summary, service learning represents a teaching and learning strategy that
integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich
learning experiences, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities. This
emphasis on civic responsibility, and working toward ‘the public good’ is particularly
relevant for students in undergraduate professional programs. Professional practice in
all healthcare professions is underpinned by the ethical aim of doing good for others.
Professional practitioners continually seek to achieve optimum outcomes for the
people with whom they work, often in dynamic and uncertain circumstances. Service
learning prepares students for the complex and dynamic contexts of professional
practice where service to others is a prime driver.
Participation in the Community Partnership Program will:



Facilitate development of skills (eg critical and reflective thinking abilities)
central to your professional development
Facilitate development of dispositions (eg primacy of service to others)
central to your professional development
Meaningfully contribute to communities
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Program aims:




To develop service based links between the School of Community Health,
Charles Sturt University, service groups and organisations in the wider
community.
To provide students with the opportunity to develop their sense of self and
experience a caring/helping role.
To provide students with the opportunity to develop an awareness of the
resources and services available in the community.
To provide students with the opportunity to work with a range of people and
organisations.
Program objectives:
1.
2.
3.
4.
Develop respect for people and their individuality.
Identify relevant community services and resources.
Understand the centrality of meeting community identified and directed needs.
Develop an understanding of the potential role of health professionals to meet
the needs of people and community based service organisations.
5. Develop a sense of effective teamwork.
6. Develop a sense of community spirit.
7. Complete a minimum of 30 hours participation in the Community Partnership
Program during their first year of study.
How to contact Community Partnership Program Staff at CSU:
Questions or concerns with respect to the community partnership program may be
directed to your HIP100 subject co-ordinator Judith Crockett [email protected] or
alternatively your tutorial group tutor.
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Section 2: Community Partnership Program
What does the program involve?

You are required to find an organisation within the community that requires
assistance. Typically these organisations depend on volunteers from the
community to operate. This organization should be a not for profit type
organisation. This organisation may be in any field you like – working with
children, adults, in the field of sports, disability or youth homelessness – it
does not have to be “health” related. Some examples of organisations that
students have partnered with in the past include: day care centres, pre schools,
primary schools, high schools, local football/basketball/netball teams, nursing
homes, St Vincent de Paul, Smith Family, Landcare, RSPCA, and the Blood
Bank. To gain the maximum benefit from this program you are strongly
encouraged to choose an experience that will be challenging and is not directly
linked to your chosen profession. The aim of this program is NOT to ‘observe’
or engage in voluntary activities with professionals working in your chosen
professional discipline.

This program is flexible and allows you to choose the community organisation
with which you would like to participate and the manner in which you
complete your service hours. Some students will choose to complete their
hours over a full week while others may choose to complete a few hours every
week. Students who choose to contribute their time to a disability (or any other
service) weekend camp that requires at least one overnight stay will be
deemed to have completed their 30 hours.

The organisation you choose to participate in must have a structured
orientation program for its volunteers or be registered with the Volunteer
Resource Bureau.

You are required to contribute 30 hours of service to an organisation of your
choice. You may negotiate with the organisation about how you will complete
your 30 hours. Completion of your community service is necessary to pass
HIP100. You are responsible for maintaining your record of service hours and
gaining the signature of a representative from your chosen organisation on
your record of service form that must be submitted by Friday 17th July 2015.

Once you have chosen your organisation you need to submit the student
proposal form (p.8 of this manual) via EASTS by Friday 24th April. Please
note that submission of this form is required for satisfactory completion of
HIP100.

You are strongly encouraged to commence your Community Participation
Program experience as early as possible in the session as it will compliment
and enrich your academic studies in the subject.
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
You have until Friday July 17th to complete your 30 hours of service and
submit your Student Record of service Form (p 10 of this manual) and final
written reflection assignment. Details of your written reflection assignment are
in your subject outline. These will be submitted via EASTS.

By Friday July 17th each student is required to submit a written reflection (750
words) on an aspect of your community partnership experience. As reflective
practice capabilities are integral to lifelong professional learning this
assessment task aims to nurture your individual reflective practice capabilities.
Philosophy:
There are many reasons why you may have chosen to become an allied health
professional. You may wish to reflect on these reasons. From our point of view, the
most important reason is your desire to join a profession that assists people to reach
their full potential and achieve all that they want to do in both work and leisure. In
short, you have joined a profession because you want to help other people.
Throughout your education, we wish to help you explore and develop this sense of
helping people.
A community partnership program has therefore been incorporated into your first year
curriculum as an integral part of your overall professional practice experience.
Participating in the community says much about:
a) Your sense of community spirit (human inter-connectedness)
b) Your willingness to give help without thought of monetary benefit (altruism)
c) Your desire to continue with the giving of yourself, and your time, to the non
profit sector (integrity)
d) Your ability to look deep within yourself to find untapped resources of giving to
others (reflective compassion)
e) Your ability to give of yourself with cheerful determination that you are helping
(hope).
The philosophy underpinning the Community Partnership Program is one of fostering
within students a strong sense of human connectedness, altruism, integrity,
compassion and hope. In combination these attributes can be understood as ‘care’. We
expect that by the time you enter 4th year, you will be highly developed as human
carers.
The first year Community Partnership Program is the beginning of your learning
journey. This experience will help in the development of your professional attitudes
and form a basis for all of your subsequent fieldwork experiences.
What is important for you to know, however, is that we are not interested in
developing graduates who can demonstrate ‘forced’ or ‘artificial’ caring. We are sure
that all of you have come across people who say (and sometimes even act!) as if they
care but in your hearts you know that they do not. Many of these people have learnt to
‘act out’ care. This is not what we are aiming at. How we understand the development
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of a truly caring person is that it represents a truly personal journey for each and every
individual. We each come to care in different ways, and as a result of different
experiences – so we cannot ‘teach’ it! Because of this it is up to you to find your own
expression of care.
What we can do as a School, however, is provide you with many opportunities to
explore and develop your sense of yourself as a caring individual. The Community
Partnership Program is the first of these.
Frequently asked questions:
Will the university arrange this program?
No, you are responsible for arranging your own experience. (This is the only
placement you are allowed to arrange on your own). Your subject co-ordinator,
lecturers and tutors will offer support and guidance as required in selection of an
appropriate experience. Details of other support mechanisms you can access will be
provided in class. Ideally, your partnership experience will be in one of the AlburyWodonga, Orange or Port Macquarie communities, but you can also arrange your
experience to be in your home community - or elsewhere.
How do I find suitable experiences?
You may already know a community organisation that requires volunteers. If not,
suitable placement opportunities will be uploaded to the resource section of your
interact site. Alternatively you can also contact the Volunteer Resource Bureau. A
link to the Volunteer Resource Bureau will be uploaded to your interact site.
How do I choose a community partnership experience?
You must choose a community partnership organisation/service that has a volunteer
orientation program. Completion of this program will ensure that you receive
maximum understanding of what it is that a community service organisation aims to
do, and what it expects of you. It may be an organisation that you already have links
with. When choosing a service/organisation, remember you will be committing a
minimum of 30 hours of your time - so think about practicality and your level of
interest in the organisation’s activities.
May I get paid for the community partnership program?
No! You may not get paid for this program and you may not accept monetary
reimbursement or reimbursement in kind; for example, petrol vouchers for any
expenses incurred during your placement.
How long is the community partnership program?
You must complete a minimum of 30 hours of experience – it is up to you if you want
to complete this in 1 week or over 10 weeks (or more). You are able to do more than
30 hours if you wish. This additional time committed will be reflected positively in
your professional portfolios.
Can I change my mind about where I am doing my experience?
Yes – we recognise that part of being an adult learner is the understanding that
experiences are not always right for us. If you change your community partnership
experience, you will need to complete additional Student Record of Service forms
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(one for each organisation) to reflect your total contribution of 30 hours. The hours
you have already completed with the first organisation will count towards your 30
hours, as long as you have had your Student Record of Service Form signed by the
relevant person at the first organisation. You do not need to complete an additional
Intent to Participate form.
What do I have to do to pass the community partnership program?
By 24th April: Organise a community program experience and submit the student
proposal form (p.7) form detailing your plans via EASTS.
By July 17th: Submit your record of hours form and reflective assignment via EASTS.
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Section 3: Forms
Community Partnership Program
School of Community Health
2015
Student Proposal Form
Student Name:
Student Number:
Discipline:
Community Partnership Site:
Site Address:
Contact Person:
Phone Number:
Outline of Orientation program
Why I have chosen this placement:
What do I expect to gain from this placement:
Student Signature:
Date:
This form must be submitted via EASTS by Friday 24th April 2015.
This component is required for your satisfactory completion of HIP100
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Guidelines for your written reflection
As reflective practice capabilities are integral to lifelong professional learning this
assessment aims to nurture your individual reflective practice capabilities. You are
required to choose and think about an aspect of your community partnership
placement experience, it may be an incident that stands out or your experience in
general and discuss the learning you have taken from the chosen experience and
anticipated relevance to your future career as a healthcare professional. An incident
that stands out for you may be a critical incident which is an event/issue or problem
that you experience that resonates deeply with your values, or in a significant way
influences how you think about the world.
Your reflective report should:
 Briefly describe the incident or experience
 Avoid detailed description of events as this will limit the amount of
meaningful reflection you can report
 Provide some level of interpretation of events
 Describe emotions that were experienced and critically analyse why you
responded in the way you did
 Relate the experience and your reaction to your academic teaching throughout
the session
 Examine the congruence of events with your personal and/or professional
values
 Identify what you have learned from the experience for example how you
might perform differently when facing the same or similar situations in the
future
 Discuss the anticipated relevance of your learning to your future career as a
healthcare professional
The guidelines below may help you organise your thinking:
 Ask what else might have happened – or what else should have happened?
 Try to see it from another viewpoint.
 Ask what didn’t happen.
 Consider what really was the cause of the problem/issue or event.
 Consider a reversal of the situation.
 Consider what has been left out of the story you told.
 Ask what personal beliefs, values and assumptions underpin the incident.
 What are the problematic notions involved here, what are the dilemmas being
posed by the incident; what is it that is essentially contestable and
unresolvable?
 What needs further consideration? What is to be learnt from this?
(Guidelines taken from Chapter 4, Understanding artistry: educational research, practical enquiry and case study. In D. Fish & C.
Coles (1998). Developing professional judgement in health care: Learning through the critical appreciation of practice. Oxford:
Butterworth Heinemann. pp. 54-74.
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Community Partnership Program
School of Community Health
2015
Student Record of Service Form
Student Name:
Student Number:
Discipline:
Community Partnership Site:
Site Address:
Contact Person:
Phone Number:
Service hours completed:
Agency representative signature:
Student Signature:
Date:
This form must be submitted via EASTS by Friday July 17th 2015
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