CHCH 101 rolling out

July 13th 2011 by Sebastian Boyle

UC students will be able to put their post-earthquake volunteer work to extra use this semester, with the introduction of a course called CHCH 101: Rebuilding Christchurch.
The 100-level, 15 point course will integrate students' volunteer experiences after the Christchurch earthquakes with academic content on the concept of community engagement.
It will come at no cost to domestic students – all the required readings will be online – and the course fee will be refunded once students have passed the course, in the form of a service scholarship.
One of the brains behind the course, Dr Billy O'Steen, a senior lecturer in the School of Educational Studies and Human Development, says the course is now "open for business and ready for enrolments".
Up to 500 students will be able to enrol in CHCH 101 this semester. It will also be offered as a summer school course.
To enrol, students will need to have had a "significant service experience" in the earthquake clean-up. Their volunteer efforts will account for a third of the credit available in the course.
"Whatever they've done between September and February, they've done a third of the course, so now we're going to have readings that are about community engagement and community service, particularly within a university setting," O'Steen says.
Students will also reflect on their experiences in group discussions with tutors, and in essays.
O'Steen says student leaders, including Student Volunteer Army founder Sam Johnson and University of Canterbury Students' Association (UCSA) president Kohan McNab will likely be tutors for the course.
McNab says he would "love to be involved" with the course.
UCSA was an important supporter and partner of the Student Volunteer Army, which attracted a lot of media attention for its clean-up efforts after the two earthquakes.
McNab, a volunteer himself, says students will get recognition from the university for the work they've done.
"The real value is allowing students the opportunity to think about why they did it and what value it had and what benefit they gained from it," he says.
O'Steen says course organisers are working alongside the likes of Johnson and McNab to ensure people understand that "students have led us to where we are".
"We're not trying to ride their coat-tails, we're not trying to co-opt what they've done, or capitalise on what they've done. We're trying to sustain what they've done and institutionalise it in some way so it becomes part of the University of Canterbury," he says.
"We're really trying to build this into the Canterbury experience, if you will."
O'Steen says the course will continue to be offered in its current form "until there's no one left to take it". He says it will then evolve into a slightly different course that will be available for students with no service experience.
"We will create the service experience within the course with regard to hooking them up with some group that's trying to rebuild some part of Canterbury."
McNab thinks students will jump at the chance to enrol in CHCH 101.
"I'd like to think that a lot of students will appreciate the opportunity to engage with what they've done."

Sarah Robson (Te Waha Nui)
Article first appeared online at Te Waha Nui, the magazine of the AUT Journalism School - http://www.tewahanui.info