*summarized from "Selecting and Identifying with Communities: Social Responsibility"
Ghana's University for Development Studies requires every student to participate in community-engaged learning through the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme, TTFPP. The Third Trimester Field Practical Programme occurs in northern Ghanaian communities for students' first two years. The program aims to introduce students to coursework through aiding communities while changing their perspectives on deprived communities.
Kaku Sagary Nokoe's, Ph.D. Selecting and Identifying with Communities: Social Responsibilities workshop introduced the Third Trimester Field Practical Programme as an example of selecting a community to identify with program goals. The Third Trimester Field Practical Programme provided examples of course design elements and their correlation to program performance.
According to Kaku Sagary Nokoe's article, "Selecting and Identifying with Communities: Social Responsibility," TTFPP was created due to a mandate by the university that required practical methods for research and outreach services. Practical methods would allow the university and the community to have constructive interactions, improving northern Ghana and Ghana as a whole.
TTFPP is a mandatory course worth six credit hours as stated on the University for Development Studies Outreach for International Students. Students live and study in the communities during their third trimester for a total of eight weeks over the course of two years. The first year is dedicat-ed to studying the community and its needs, which will be addressed in the following year.
Communities are selected based on guidelines outlined in Nokoe's article. The guidelines reference consistency with learning outcomes, ethics, a communities' level of tolerance, marginalized communities, poverty and life improvement and the institutional/national mandate.
Students participate in co-planning self-help projects, enhancing learning and development planning for funding according to the article. Project topics mirror schools within the University for Development Studies. The Outreach for International Students states students are assessed on orientation, community entry and stay, field journals, two oral presentations and a written report.
After the program concludes, reports are left in the communities as a reference for organizations that will work with the communities according to the Outreach for International Students. Community-engaged learning in Ghana is prominent in health-based programs, such as COBES, the Community Based Extension and Service program.
TTFPP is a unique version of community-engaged learning in Ghana. It is also one of four prominent community-engaged learning programs in Africa, Nokoe states in his article.
Program Type: TTFPP is a mandatory course for all students at Ghana's University for Development Studies where students are assigned to communities and gain six credit hours.
Duration: Students spend a total of eight weeks during their third trimester in communities for their first two years at the university.
Academic Framework: All students participate in TTFPP which is structured around community studies and colleges within the University for Development Studies. i.e. Agriculture, Medicine, Mathematics
Community Partnerships: The community-engaged experience is done strictly between the university and the community.
Assessment and Evaluation: Students complete field journals, two oral presentations and a written report for their grade.
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