HS 272 Fall, Kilgore Hall Raingardens, NC State, Raleigh, NC (received a 3,500 donation and raised $25,000 in in-kind donations) resulted in a $7,000 value in design services and $70,000 value in landscape construction
This class consists of the development of design and construction projects, which incorporate the entire design process culminating with a complete set of construction documents, cost predictions, and built projects. Students met with University leaders to identify guiding principles form Campus Capacity and Assessment Study. They researched the history of the landscapes, inventoried, and analyzed the site. They presented their findings to the stakeholders used feedback form University, faculty, and staff stakeholders to develop designs and construction documents for their designs. Finally, the students worked with the NC State grounds team to build the landscape including demolition, grading of the raingardens, preparing the soil, paving the path, laying the cobbles, and procuring and planting the plants.
A survey was conducted to analyze the course organization and the learning outcomes identified through the student’s perception of how they evolved during the learning experience. The results describe the impacts, which reveal challenges and reinforce the value of teaching landscape design with a hands-on service-learning course.
This work tackles the challenge of teaching a design course that builds skills and critical thinking abilities while applying them in a service-learning design project that weaves throughout the course. It showcases how to use the design process and the critical thinking cycle to structure the course and design project process. This information helps faculty to structure a service-learning (community-engaged) component in their design courses. It provides a description of impacts on student learning that make the extra effort worthwhile.