Service Learning,Current Events and Flexible Course Syllabi

This paper is a continuation of the pedagogical approach on flexible syllabi that was presented in a previous paper titled 'The Role of Current Events and Flexible Course Syllabus (FCS) 1 in the Fall 2011.In Spring 2012, after the Haiti earthquake, we were invited to assess the post-earthquake rehabilitation and reconstruction work in Meje, Haiti.This trip gave us an opportunity to present the design solutions crafted in the Spring 2012 Design Studio class.Among other items this technical/educational trip involved a student presenting comprehensive design solutions.As an extension of the flexible syllabi approach, the current event becomes the chance to present the design solutions to the actual stake holder --a Haitian community in this case.This trip also provides the opportunity to extend the learning experience through offering technical advice to the stake holders.Another aspect is the student benefiting from presenting their solutions and interacting with the stakeholders.The stake holders in question are the local building contractors, developers and community leaders.There were no governmental involvements.The second aspect of this approach is the interaction among/between the other students and faculty from other disciplines on the technical trip.The conversation promoted the interdisciplinary collaboration required to solve our modern-day problems of rehabilitation for rebuilding lives and communities.Here the disciplines involved were Architecture/Engineering, Nursing, Water Management/Environmental Sciences, and Language and Communication.The surprising discovery by the health professionals is that their work will never be done if the environment issues were not addressed.We also discovered that the existing construction tradition had not changed even after such a devastating calamity.