Academics

Students in the Key Service Community are committed to academic excellence. We ask that participants dedicate themselves to high academic performance and take advantage of the support and resources available for success.

Fall Semester Service Clusters (Co-registration for two classes)

As a Key student, you have the opportunity to enroll in two of your first semester classes with other students from the community, called a Service Cluster. A Service Cluster consists of two classes: a 1-credit IU193 first year seminar class combined with a 3-credit focused course that relates to the theme of your cluster. This will enable you to know at least 18 other students in two of your classes, which will contribute to a more positive classroom experience. In addition, your Key Mentor serves as the Teaching Assistant (TA) for the IU 193. There are a total of 8 Service Clusters to choose from, so students from a wide variety of majors and/or interests participate in the community. Here is an example of a cluster that you will choose from:

Spring Semester Course: IU 175 Public Problem Solving through Service Learning

During the spring semester, all Key Service Community students will enroll in a 3-credit introduction to service-learning course: IU 175 Public Problem Solving through Service-Learning. This class is instructed by Dr. Clayton Hurd, who is the Director of Service Learning at Colorado State University. Following is a description of the course.

Service-learning is an educational practice that combines community service with formal coursework in a way that both responds to community-identified needs and helps students meet academic, social, and civic learning goals. Service-learning is distinguished from volunteerism by its equal emphasis on service and learning goals as well as its equal benefit to both the service provider and the service recipient. Whereas volunteerism is often undertaken for purposes of charity – where people wish to “make a difference” by contributing a bit of their time and resources to those “less fortunate” than themselves – a service-learning approach looks beyond charity to understand and address the root causes of social problems that create the need for charity-based service in the first place.

Closely tied to the process of social problem solving, service-learning functions on the idea that students are unlikely to be effective citizens without the ability to understand complex social problems, apply what they learn, and have the critical thinking ability to make adequate judgments about the information they receive. Through their community involvement, students will gain an understanding of community issues, community assets, and community processes for making change happen. Students will engage in real-world issues and social problems, working with community organizations to become "part of the solution." In this way, students become involved not just in social issues but in relationships with others across the service-learning partnership. Ideally, a student serving in a community develops a relationship with community members and at the same time develops a deeper understanding of the root causes and broader social issues that contribute to community problems. In all of these ways, service learning is intended to help students learn and care about others and develop the skills and attitudes to become “multicultural community builders” in our rapidly changing, diverse world.

Group Study (Supplemental Instruction)

For some classes, you will attend group sessions, called Supplemental Instruction (SI), with a "master student" - this is a chance to study together, ask questions, and enhance your study skills.  SI is a small study group for traditionally difficult freshman level courses such as Biology and Zoology. Groups meet once per week for one and one-half hours. Sessions are lead by a trained leader who has taken the course and received an "A" or "B". The group leaders attend the course lecture so that each group is specific to the professor's curriculum. Students and leaders review course lecture, textbook readings, homework problems, and other material as it relates to the course.

Academic Progress Conferences