The following abstract is from my information gathering about experiential learning courses that address communication theory, civility, and ethics.
For their capstone project in a senior level course in Communication Theory students choose a Service-Learning project in which they are engaged in for a semester. Students volunteer for 18-20 hours in positions that involve human communication with clients, staff, and other volunteers at the site. Each semester they are given different site options in the past these have included adult homeless shelters, family homeless shelters, VA hospital, nursing home, and an inner city, low-income, non-profit Day Care Center. Students keep a weekly journal detailing their communication observations and participation at the site applying, when appropriate, our weekly theoretical readings in their analyses. At the end of the semester students write a term paper and give a presentation comprised of their ethnographic participant observations, theoretical applications, personal insights and reflections. Student and community partner response to this project initiated two years ago has been quite encouraging. Students are more engaged in and excited about course material and greatly enjoy this experiential learning project. In particular, students in the project have demonstrated sophisticated understandings of communication theories and are able to apply these theoretical understandings to inform their service-learning experiences. Myers, M. Unconventional Learning: Communication Theory Course Goes into the Streets" Paper presented at the annual meeting of the NCA 94th Annual Convention, TBA, San Diego, CA. 2009-05-23 from http://www.allacademic.com/meta/p256594_index.html.