Request for Proposals

We are looking for student and faculty teams to present in three types of sessions:

A. Training on a specific theme
B. Best practice presentations
C. Poster sessions

***Click here for the RFP form***

A. Training on a specific theme

A major portion of the Student Conference on International Service Learning will consist of large group education sessions followed by small group breakout sessions where participants can dig deeper into the information presented. This will allow time for more students to share and learn from one another. Trained student leaders will facilitate the breakout sessions, but the large session presenters will propose targeted discussion questions or small group training/learning activities to take place during the follow-up breakout.

If you are interested in being considered as a main presenter for the large group sessions, please consider the following content areas and submit a training proposal.

• Basics of Service Learning – What is SL? Who is involved? Role of reflection. Service vs. Service-learning. Credit vs. non-credit experience. What should be the learning outcomes of an experience? How to create the experience. How are the main partners to be involved?

• Risk Management – What are the important things to consider regarding health / safety / liability with an international service learning experience?

• Reflection – This is the core of any service-learning program and we would like to have an interactive training session on reflection. How to plan, lead, and organize reflections sessions. What are the various methods and vehicles to use in reflection?

Please submit two separate proposal forms for the large group session and the associated small breakout session. This will enable you to identify AV needs for each. In the breakout session proposal, please use the “session description” block to describe the learning activities or sample discussion questions being proposed.

B. Best practice presentation sessions (will fall into two main categories):

1. Programs involving service-learning outside the US.
2. Service-learning programs in the US which integrate international students and American students, and facilitate intercultural learning of some kind.

Best practice presentation sessions should address the following:

• Briefest possible description of what the project entails
• Goals of the program
• Challenges faced in planning and implementation
• Working with community partners
• Learning outcomes
• Suggested changes for the future

Best practice sessions will be 45 minutes in length, with some running concurrently.

 C. Poster Session

Space will be available at the conference for institutions to highlight and share service-learning projects. Be as creative and informative as you would like. Presenters for best practices sessions and large group training are very welcome to also bring posters highlighting the projects mentioned in their other sessions.

All groups are encouraged to bring multiple posters with them to the conference. A full proposal is not required to take part in this session, but please submit a proposal form to indicate your intention to participate, so that we can arrange for adequate space.