Service Learning Experience Summary Landscape architecture is a field and profession that is usually underappreciated by the general public. Whereas most people associate landscape architecture as designing with plants, the profession and education supporting it are much broader. For example, most people do not know urban planning and city design were originally practiced by landscape architects dating to the origins of the profession in the 19th century. To this day urban design is still an important part of education in landscape architecture and its practice. In keeping with the profession's engagement in large scale urban design projects, this service learning experience involved faculty and graduate students in the Division of Landscape Architecture in the development of design, implementation, and funding of four key areas of Madill, Oklahoma, a small town north of the Texas border that has experienced pressures of rapid change, sprawl and loss of its small town and neighborly character. Mayor Joe Minter approached the Division of Landscape Architecture with four possible areas needing attention: the city's historic courthouse square, an abandoned railroad right-of-way, the community park, and maintenance of State Highway 70 through town rather than as a bypass recommended by ODOT. Upon seeing the possibilities and needs of the town, Professor Tom Schurch recommended that the four areas be addressed simultaneously to comprehensively address the needs associated with growth, sprawl, and small town character. The Mayor shared Schurch's vision and the comprehensive approach was introduced to a group of graduate students in landscape architecture and planning enrolled in an advanced design studio.

Course Information College: Architecture Department: Landscape Architecture Level: Advanced Graduate (Design IV) Number of Students: 6

Introduction/Background A service learning approach was taken in this course (Design IV) for several reasons. First, prior experience with service learning clearly demonstrated that a student's education benefits from direct engagement with the "real world". The practical experience of working with a host of people, or "stakeholders," in the community broadened the education experience in ways that directly benefited each student's preparation for work in their chosen profession of landscape architecture and planning. Second, as a publicly funded state university, a project of this nature allowed a community to benefit from resources that the landscape architecture program offers. Small communities typically do not have the resources to address the forces affecting them, and they would likely do little or nothing if service learning from an academic unit such as landscape architecture was not available to them. Under such circumstances, service learning assists the parties in both education and the civic setting that is the focus of a "project". Third, a community based project of this nature is viewed as an outstanding opportunity for visibility for the program and the profession of landscape architecture, which, as stated previously, is not well understood. In this way other communities learning of what Madill has done might avail themselves of the capabilities of the profession either through a service learning agreement themselves and/or through funding outlets that projects of this nature bring to their attention. In terms more specific to the curriculum, the course that the service learning experience was run through is a core course within the curriculum. It is the fourth of five intensive design studios that focuses on urban design. So given the level of student development and the subject matter, it is the perfect time to undertake a student learning experience that has both student and civic benefits.

Course Design LA 5545 Design IV is a core course in the Master of Landscape Architecture curriculum. As a five-credit studio course it provided 12 contact hours of class time each week. The students worked as a team of six with a division of labor and responsibility necessary to complete a large volume of work in one semester. By design, the six graduate students involved included four from the MLA program and two from the Masters of Regional & City Planning program. This multi-disciplinary perspective allowed for a full consideration of design, implementation, funding strategies, and community engagement that were critical to the project as a service learning experience with significant civic dimensions. The mix of students from two different but related fields also facilitated their learning process. The course design had intended that they learn from each other, and the benefits in this regard were manifold. The placement of this course at an advanced stage in the MLA curriculum allowed for some autonomy on the parts of the students. However, the project was guided by a faculty member who had benefited from service learning when he was a student and who had applied the service learning approach previously.

Disciplinary or Other Academic Learning Objectives The course in which the service learning experience was applied (LA 5545 - Design IV) is a key component of an interrelated professional design curriculum. In particular, this advanced studio course is ideal for service learning because the students are experienced enough at this juncture of their education to work with faculty guidance to conduct a complex undertaking in a real setting and with a real client group. The studio structure and focus is built around the topic of urban design and it applies theoretical aspects of this important aspect of landscape architecture that were learned in a prior seminar course. Service learning is not requisite to learning and applying the subject matter, however, a project such as that done for Madill greatly enhances a student's experience through activities that could never be created in a studio setting alone. There were many experiences benefiting learning that a studio alone could not provide in the Madill project. For example, working directly with elected and appointed officials, as well as a cross section of a diverse community in addressing the four project areas identified above are rich opportunities. These experiences were manifold and included onsite community workshops and presentations engaging the various stakeholders through each step of a comprehensive design process. In addition to workshops and presentations, the student group had direct interaction with various demographic groups through a "visual preference survey" conducted at the local Wal-Mart, the local high school, and through a website developed exclusively for the project. Another important learning objective was to instill in students through their direct experience with a community that their design solutions are less about them and more about the community they are working with. In other words, good design is a team effort and it must be inclusive to be perceived by client and user groups as successful. Similarly, the students learned important lessons with respect to project implementation and funding. Various legalistic approaches to implementation such as creative zoning, establishment of special districts, and inclusion in the city's comprehensive plan, as well as construction phasing strategies were important to implementation. In addition, the community was apprised of various funding sources at state and federal levels and those of a private nature that would pay for professional design consultants and construction. The overall design process, and comprehensive design recommendations addressing the four project areas were presented in a bound document of a graphically rich and sophisticated nature. In bringing the community design experience to some form of closure from an academic perspective this means of presentation provides the students the important experience of packaging their work in a professional manner. Without the funding provided by the community, this document and the project in general would not have been possible.

Civic Learning Objectives The overarching learning objectives in this service learning experience concern civic engagement for purposes of building awareness and understanding that change can occur for the better. The building of awareness is most significant on the parts of the stakeholders identified within the Madill community, or any community for that matter. At the crux of the awareness issue is the importance of the civic landscape that every community has in one form or another, and most importantly that a civic landscape is important to one's sense of belonging, identity, and membership within a community. It's not far-fetched to regard the civic landscape as important to our democratic heritage, as well, because it is within our livable streets, various parks, and public squares, as well as meetings and other civic buildings or places that inhabitants can better understand their community and be part of an ongoing discourse. The alternative, in which people cloister themselves in exclusive and private settings, is neither healthy for one’s community or the nature of our representative government. Another facet of awareness pertains to the implementation and funding facets of the Madill project. Most people are not aware that various legal and regulatory mechanisms are available for their community's use to good ends. Good design is one thing, but the means to building it through intelligent use of laws, regulations, and funding sources is fundamental. The service learning effort also engaged the local press, keeping it informed of various developments of the project. Each of the public forums in Madill had a local reporter present, and front page coverage of the student design team’s actions and efforts helped in the important role of public information and engagement. With respect to the matter of change, this service learning effort was determined to demonstrate that forces of change could be guided for the betterment of a community. Therefore, the design team's efforts at involving the community at various levels and through various means was of paramount importance in assisting Madill in the particular problem solving efforts at hand. Moreover, the student's demonstration of strategies for positive change through civic engagement also occurred. Through each of the means of communication by the students involved, the community learned of alternative modes of transportation, the importance of pedestrianization and human scale, that parts of towns and cities can interconnected, and that wise decisions can encourage compact development without crowing and combat the problems associated with sprawl.

Findings/Conclusions Community based work of a design and planning nature is very demanding of the faculty and students involved. The students were essentially required to perform beyond the five credits that they earned for the course. However, service learning of the type done for Madill can be so gratifying that it can build and maintain a momentum that is infectious. A caveat of design and planning service learning that is by definition demanding and requires a strong team effort, is that such can be stressful and lead to fractious behavior between students having to work closely together for long hours. Under these circumstances faculty leadership is essential to keep the project on schedule and on target with respect to the tasks at hand. A faculty member guiding such efforts is better off going into the project expecting friction between students to occur, and being prepared for deal with it before it becomes destructive. The benefits to the students can and should carry well into their careers, and it is important to remind them of that. Similarly, when a community has good leadership and can engage the various stakeholders, the benefits to them over time can be enormous. Typically, a community gets a huge "bang for its buck" when engaging a competent academic program. However, it is incumbent on the institution to make clear that the physical designs it provides to a community are not for construction. To this end, the implementation and funding strategies are highly important because they are a means by which life can continue to be breathed into the overall effort.

References Center for Community Based Projects. (2001). " Madill Design Project: Visions, Recommendations, Guidelines." Self-published report. Division of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma. Center for Community Based Projects.(2002). "Duncan Trail Corridor Study." Self-published report. Division of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma. Center for Community Based Projects. (2005). "Peace Park: A Pathway to Peace." Self-published report. Division of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma. Center for Community Based Projects.(2005). "VFW Memorial Park." Self-published report. Division of Landscape Architecture, College of Architecture, University of Oklahoma. Keller, Lawrence F. and Timothy K. Kinsella. (1991) "Urban Studies and the Community: A Multi- Paradigmatic Framework for Public Service." In Journal of Planning Education and Research. V 10, N 2, pp107- 114. Lyle, John T. (1999). Design for Human Ecosystems. Washington, D.C.: Island Press. http://la.coa.ou.edu/

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