Reflective Essay Blog

Introduction

            For my service-learning project, I worked with older adults living in rural areas in central Illinois. The main goals and outcomes I wanted to help my population with was promoting social and emotional engagement. Older adults are at high risk for experiencing social isolation and the negative impacts that it has on their overall health. The COVID 19 pandemic has also had a large impact on the number of older adults experiencing social isolation.  I was excited to begin my service-learning project, but I was also very nervous. I was anxious to see how the older adults would receive the activities that I was planning on doing, or even if there was going to be any interest from them at all in even participating. I also was wondering how accessible the technology aspects of the project were going to be since I was going to be doing this project all remotely. The three activities that I designed for my service-learning project was creating a digital resource on how to access music online, I led a music and movement Zoom class, and I created a virtual music Jeopardy game to be played during another Zoom class.  I had many fears and questions about this project, but I am happy to share that this project turned into more than I ever could have imagined. 

Outcomes about myself 

            I am very proud of the work that I accomplished with my project this semester. I worked hard to find resources on how to make online media easier to access for older adults, particularly older adults living in a rural area. I also grew my creativity skills as I was planning and designing the different activities that I would be implementing throughout the semester. 

When I first started this project, I thought that I had a great idea of exactly what to do and how to do it…before I even had an in-depth conversation with my contact at the location where I would be implementing my project. Getting ahead of myself in projects was a bad habit that I knew I had, but I did not ever stop to think how ineffective that it could be until I started working with a community partner. I realized that I could, at times, be unintentionally self-centered in my work and only focusing on the end results. To use a few figures of speech to sum up my thought processes, I “see the forest and not the tress” and “put the cart before the horse.” Many times, I choose to focus on the big picture instead of the smaller, more important details.  This project truly helped shaped the way I will now think about, plan, and execute projects as well as how to work with other people. 

Outcomes regarding the community partner

            My completion of this project would not have been possible without the guidance and support from my community partners. I worked with a Council on Aging located in central Illinois, and I had the opportunity to talk with several case managers and directors of this organization. The individuals that I worked with throughout the semester were incredibly helpful every step of the way. From the interview to the end of the third activity I was receiving invaluable feedback on how to constantly keep improving upon my activities.  

Outcomes regarding my knowledge and skills

The older adults that that I had the pleasure on interacting with were amazing and I learned so much from them during each activity. The main goal I had for my service-learning project was to promote social and emotional engagement among the older adults living in rural central Illinois. At the beginning of this project, I based most of my knowledge about social isolation and how to help combat it through the experiences that I have had with some older adults in my life, particularly my grandparents. My community partners helped me understand that not every older adult has the same support systems that I was accustomed to seeing and that many older adults are much more isolated than I initially thought. Especially out in rural areas. Seeing and having glimpses into the lives of this group of older adults through our Zoom meetings helped me gain a new worldview for what life is like for older adults experiencing isolation. 

When I first began designing and planning for my service-learning project, I was nervous on how well the skills and knowledge that I had been acquiring on Universal Design for Learning (UDL) and Social and Emotional Learning (SEL) would transfer to my project and if I was going to be able to execute these concepts correctly. Back in January when this class and project began, I had no idea about UDL, SEL, or even service learning. However, after many months of studying, hard work, and pushing myself outside of my comfort zone, I am so happy to say that I learned so much more than I ever thought I would. 

Outcomes about my values

            Throughout the course of the semester, I became painfully aware of the privileges that I have. Like I mentioned earlier, I had little to no idea about UDL and how to implement it properly because this was something that I did not necessarily need in my personal, everyday life. I am an able-bodied and neurotypical individual and never stopped to think about how the world was literally designed and catered to people like me. This semester I realized that I need to use the privileges that I must help make the world around me more accessible for everyone.  

Outcomes about action

            When incorporating UDL and SEL in my activities I was able to see firsthand things that worked, things that didn’t and how I can apply this knowledge to other areas of my life. I am currently studying to be a Music Therapist, and I know for certain that I will be implementing these principles in my future practice to make what I do inclusive, safe, and accessible for everyone.

            In regard to the population I worked with, I had minimal experiences working with older adults. I think I have been intimidated by this population because I felt like I could not relate to these individuals very well. However, throughout my time participating in the service-learning project I would like to pursue more opportunities working with older adults. Whether that may be through future clinical work or finding ways to volunteer, I know now that it is something that I would enjoy and continue to learn from. The older adults that I had the pleasure of working with taught me so much and were so kind and fun to work with during the Zoom class sessions.

Outcomes and conclusion 

            I have learned many valuable things through the content of this course in addition to what I learned through the service-learning project. Most of the content in this course as well as the concept of service learning were completely new to me, so initially I was intimidated about everything that I was going to be learning and experiencing this semester. I am so happy that I took this course and was able to participate in such a meaningful service-learning project. 

            Learning the components of UDL and SEL and how to effectively implement them in practice was a great learning experience. I have not had many courses throughout my academic career where I was able to put things into practice in such an involved and meaningful way like I did through service-learning. Not only did service-learning help me better understand what I had been learning in class throughout the semester, it also helped me to grow as a person as well as a future professional. Improving upon my planning skills, communication skills, and leadership skills will help me tremendously in my future career and I am very thankful for having the opportunity to partake in a service-learning project this semester.