The International Engineering Service Program at the University of Iowa

The International Engineering Service Program at the University of Iowa (UIIESP) has evolved immensely since 2003. The UI-IESP changed significantly in response to increases in financial resources from grants and gifts and through the creation of the Design With the Developing World (DWDW) service-learning course. Taught since 2006, the DWDW course has provided 185 students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to propose solutions to problems faced by people in the “developing world”. Since 2013, improvements to the DWDW course include a change in instructional format, the utilization of the Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers, the integration of experiential workshops, and the UI-IESP partnership with Kobriti, Ghana. The Kobriti Partnership recently culminated in the construction of a solar-powered groundwater pumping system by the people of Kobriti with the assistance of a UI-IESP team that included three former DWDW students, a university shop staff member and a university research staff member. Using reflections written by students, the research staff member and the corresponding author, the UI-IESP was determined to be effective overall. Critiques of the UI-IESP highlighted the lack of a national affiliation, the use of a single advisor, the small international scope, the perception that the DWDW course was unable to fully prepare students, and the need for redundancy in communication planning. Lessons learned include “knowing by going”, being resilient, embracing unknowns, respecting indigenous knowledge, and always seeking partners. Best practices include diverse training for students, partnering for the long-term, identifying responsible parties, partnership reciprocity, and utilizing resources from the university, EWB-USA and/or ESW. Index Terms – course design, interdisciplinary, international development, student reflections International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Special Edition, pp. 300–333, Fall 2014

 the history of and funding sources for the UI-IESP;  a snapshot of the design and evolution of the DWDW course (with accompanying syllabi) that is a component of the UI-IESP;  the history and impact of the "Kobriti Partnership" on Kobriti and University of Iowa students;  research staff member and student reflections on the Kobriti Partnership and the DWDW course;  a UI-IESP critique, lessons learned, and best practices drawn from DWDW course experiences, from the Kobriti Partnership, from the UI-IESP member reflections, and from the corresponding author.
To describe the impact the UI-IESP has had on Kobriti we utilized insight from SHI, Ghana Country Director, Benjamin Kusi, and critical reflections from the corresponding author.To International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Special Edition, pp.300-333, Fall 2014 ISSN 1555-9033 303 discern the UI-IESP impact on university students, we utilized written reflections prepared by members of a team of three students, a university research staff member, and a university engineering shop staff member who completed a water project in Kobriti in the summer of 2014.The full reflection from "Student 1" alone is shared for brevity, but the reflections of all three students helped shape the overall program critique.The research staff member provided a personal reflection, an individual assessment of "Student 1" and a combined assessment of "Students 2 & 3".A University of Iowa staff member on the trip was not assessed and did not provide a reflection.The corresponding author was in Kobriti immediately prior to, but not during, the implementation team's efforts and was not assessed by the research staff member.

Course Design Snapshot:
The DWDW course provides students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to propose solutions to problems people face in the "developing world".Appropriate technologies to improve water and sanitation, energy, housing, and health are studied and developed.Community building strategies, participatory methods and other techniques essential to a good design are explored.Much of the learning in the course is facilitated through teamwork and peerto-peer dialogue and activities as guided by the course facilitator.The DWDW course initially met twice per week from 4:30-5:45 p.m. with the late meeting time selected to enable students of various majors to enroll (see the 2007 course syllabus in Appendix A).A desirable course textbook could not be found, so a variety of resources including:  the UNESCO Small is Working 23 video and booklet;  the Introductory Engineering Design: A Projects-Based Approach 24 resource from the University of Colorado at Boulder;  the Millennium Development Goals Report 25 ;  and a variety of 2-4 page, online "appropriate technologies" guides from what was then the Intermediate Technology Development Group and which is now Practical Action. 26ints were earned for quizzes, individual, team-based and service-learning assignments and for a series of short team design-and-build challenges and a semester-long, team-design challenge.The semester-long design challenge from the fall of 2007 went on to win the 2008 U. S. Environmental Protection Agency, National Student Design Competition for Sustainability Focusing on People, Prosperity and the Planet (USEPA P3). 21side from this success, a major course design challenge has been to identify representative service-learning opportunities in a resource rich community such as Iowa City.In course offerings in 2006, 2007 and 2008, this challenge was addressed by focusing on service-learning in a more local context, for example:  feeding the hungry via the Wesley Center, a campus ministry group;  water purification education at Coralville Central Elementary School;  creating permanent shelter with Habitat for Humanity;  and building emergency shelter in partnership with Shelter House, the local general use homeless shelter.
But, in the fall of 2010, an influx of students pursuing the Certificate in Sustainability caused course enrollment to increase from 23 to 47 and the ability of the local community partners to accommodate service-learning was greatly diminished.Additionally, from the corresponding author/course instructor's perspective, the administration of these intimate service-learning relationships became far too burdensome.The successful course design of the past did not scale to the larger student enrollment, so the service-learning component was mostly abandoned for the fall 2010 DWDW course offering.The course was not taught again until the spring of 2013.

Course Redesign Snapshot:
The DWDW course was redesigned prior to the spring 2013 offering to address the increased enrollment issue and to see if successful UI-IESP engagements in Ghana that took place between 2009 and 2012 could provide an adequate service-learning context (see the 2013 course syllabus in Appendix B).Another important element of the redesign was the full integration of the electronic computing and team-oriented workspace afforded by a "TILE" (Transform, Interact, Learn, Engage) classroom. 27The TILE classrooms combine active-learning pedagogy, enabled by technology and class equipment configuration (Figure 1).The TILE classroom allows student teams to be situated at round tables with dedicated laptops, a flat-screen television and a white board.The instructor console is located in the center of the room which tends to minimize "sage on the stage" style instruction in favor of a "guide on the side" approach.Students can quickly research topics of interest on the internet and share reports and video links with team members or the entire class.Another component of the DWDW course redesign was the full incorporation of the course "textbook", the Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers. 28 The Field Guide was used in the 2010 course offering mostly as a design guide for various projects and for open book exams and quizzes.In 2013, a series of online questions and short problems were developed to assess student awareness of content and concepts contained within the Field Guide.Consistent with a "flipped" course design [29][30][31] , the content from the Field Guide is International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Special Edition, pp.300-333, Fall 2014 ISSN 1555-9033 305 explored by students mostly outside of class time via a course management system. 32These online assessments were designed to ensure that students display a breadth of exposure to course content prior to classroom instruction.Learning at depth is facilitated through in-class activities and through team designs where course content is applied towards working through specific challenges, such as "reinventing the toilet". 33earning is also displayed through a series of workstations housed in a campus warehousestyle shop facility where students use Abney levels, pour concrete latrine floors, construct a solar-powered water pumping system, chlorinate a water tower, and lay foundation block in team settings (Figure 2).The course meeting time was changed from twice weekly to once per week from 6-9 p.m. to accommodate these workshops.This change improved the classroom experience as well since interactive research and design in team settings often requires longer time blocks for success.It was also anticipated that students would bring their Field Guide to the workshops as a reference, but many students were using an electronic version available through the engineering library.Some students accessed the Field Guide via personal smart phones or tablets while participating in the workshops.The most important element of the redesign is that all learning is pursued in the context of the needs of our service-learning partnerthe people of Kobriti, Ghana.As a product of the USEPA P3 project mentioned earlier, the corresponding author gave a presentation titled "More  34 was read by the executive director of SHI based in Waverly, Iowa, who then invited the corresponding author to join them in their work in Ghana.Despite the separation of thousands of miles, the Kobriti Program (detailed below), has brought a new richness to the DWDW course.The small community of Kobriti is "brought to life" for the students through the sharing of stories, pictures and video 35 of past engagement trips.Via the course, students have advocated for solutions to water issues in and around Iowa City and for Kobriti, Ghana, with hopes that the ensuing dialogue will lead to better designs for current and future projects that will ultimately benefit people in need.But, despite efforts to provide a learning environment that is contextualized by others' previous experiences in Kobriti, the students are always told "if you don't go, you don't know".This is a long-time tenet of the D80 program at Michigan Tech University 36 as quoted from New York Times columnist, Thomas Friedman.Through a series of interviews and reflections on course performance, three former DWDW students were selected to travel as part of a team to Kobriti, Ghana, in the summer of 2014.These students joined a cohort of nearly a dozen other former students since 2009 that now "know" because they got "to go".

THE HISTORY AND IMPACT OF THE "KOBRITI PARTNERSHIP" ON KOBRITI AND ON UNIVERSITY OF IOWA STUDENTS
The mission of the Kobriti Partnership is to partner with Kobriti and other villages in the Ejura Sekyedumase District in Ghana, West Africa, (Figure 3) on "global health engineering" 37,38 projects focused mainly on community drinking water and sanitation.Staff from the SHI division based in Kumasi, Ghana, hosted the first of several UI-IESP meetings in Kobriti in January of 2009.At these meetings, District officials from the Community Water and Sanitation Agency (CWSA) reported that many communities lacked access to safe drinking water and were without proper resources for disposing of human excrement.
A MAP OF GHANA, WEST AFRICA, WHICH HIGHLIGHTS THE CITIES OF ACCRA, KUMASI, EJURA AND OUR PARTNER COMMUNITY, KOBRITI.Kobriti is located about 20 minutes from the city of Ejura (Figure 3).The population of approximately 600 represents about 70 individual households with many people being farmers.The residential shelters are made mostly of mud and some have structural frames made from tree branches (Figure 4).Kobriti does not have electricity, but the arrival of this resource has been promised by District authorities for many years.While some of the people maintain their northern dialects, the vast majority are proficient in Twi, the language of the Ashanti region.
Only a few residents are proficient in English, a majority of whom are teachers at the local school.Kobriti's drinking water comes from two centrally located boreholes (Figure 5) with handoperated well pumps manufactured in India.Community leaders expressed concern over seasonal variations in water quality that reportedly resulted in the growth of visible organisms in water storage vessels.The CWSA staff person warned the community not to allow children to stuff food waste into the well pump orifice with the assumption that this might be causing the reported water contamination.Community priorities were established through the triangulation of the community health survey responses, along with information gathered from all-community town hall meetings and discussions with community elders that were facilitated by students.0][41] The overall goal here was to create a multidimensional understanding of Kobriti's relationship with, and needs regarding, water and sanitation.The community health survey data included 459 individual responses from 69 unique households that provided informed consent according to an approved internal review board protocol.Response analysis revealed that 84% of the families expressed water quantity as their greatest water concern despite individuals reporting that 68% defecate in nearby fields with only 23% using a dug hole.More water was often associated with drilling another borehole.When asked directly whether sanitation in the form of latrines or greater quantity of water was more important, the responses were split nearly evenly.One ventilated improved pit (VIP) latrine was built near the school in Kobriti with non-governmental organization help, but direct observation revealed the facility was not well kept and lacked resources for wiping and for hand washing.Perhaps this lack of cleanliness and the associated smell explains why many people specifically requested household latrines instead of the VIP design.
Additional town hall styled meetings were held in Kobriti in January of 2011 and January of 2012 that included dozens of community members, District CWSA staff, SHI staff and UI-IESP students and the corresponding author.At both of these gatherings, a new community borehole to supply drinking water was presented as the potential project of highest community priority.The community elder, Naba, was also consulted in private where he gave his blessings toward the construction of a new borehole.The UI-IESP team then began discussions with a private well company based in Accra, Ghana, which culminated in the drilling of a new borehole approximately 8 months later, in the summer of 2012.
Impact: The people of Kobriti received the full attention of the District CWSA staff while UI-IESP members were present and the need for further education regarding water handling and safe storage practices was made apparent.The five week assessment trip made it clear to the people of Kobriti that the UI-IESP was serious about the partnership and that community voices were important.It was clear that the UI-IESP wanted to know as much about the community as possible before proposing any engineering projects.A team member on the five week assessment trip was a third-year medical student who was able to provide simple wound care and recommend if people should seek treatment by a doctor.This immediate ability to contribute to the wellbeing of the community paid long-term dividends for partner relations.The students on the five week assessment trip took pictures of every family and had them printed as gifts that were given at the end of the trip.This truly warmed the hearts of the people of Kobriti (as expressed by SHI Ghana Country Director, Benjamin Kusi).The students reported that their lives were forever changed and that the people of Kobriti were like "family".Prior to the completion of the borehole, a geophysical survey, at a cost of approximately $1500 USD was undertaken.In January 2012, a few days after the surveying crew had left Kobriti, a community meeting was facilitated by District CWSA staff and SHI to announce the location of the new well.Two UI-IESP students were present to observe and document the community response.Immediately after the announcement, a few community members began to exchange words in Twi using loud voices accompanied by finger pointing.After emotions settled, it was shared that the proposed well location, near the school, was within an unmarked burial site known to only a few elders.As a result, this first proposed location for the new well was not feasible.In consultation with SHI staff, a new geophysical survey was commissioned at additional expense.The SHI staff served a critical role in seeing that the selected well drilling company completed all contracted work, as the UI-IESP team was no longer in country, which highlights the importance of maintaining excellent partnerships.The borehole was pump tested in the fall of 2012 and then capped to protect the source water until a pumping system would be installed.
In May and June of 2014, after months of planning and supply staging, a UI-IESP team of three former DWDW students (one female, two males), two staff members (one male, one female), and the corresponding author (male) partnered with the people of Kobriti to install a solar-powered well pump with enclosure.The system has a Grundfos submersible pump (11-SQF-2) installed approximately 125 feet below surface, a 2.5 gallon pressure tank, a Grundfos pump control unit (CU-200), a 48 volt charge controller (ProStar-30), four 12 volt truck batteries, and two 90 watt, mono-crystalline solar panels.These components and others are the same, or similar, to those shown in the DWDW workstation photograph (Figure 2).The local tradesmen designed the concrete foundation for the pump house and implemented a splash pad design.The pump house, designed and built by Ghanaian tradesmen, is of metal construction with a lockable entrance, tin roof and barbed wire, which was installed to deter would be solar panel thieves.The water tested free of bacteria after shock chlorination and the arsenic concentration was below 1 part per billion.The people of Kobriti were excited to see this new community resource come to life after many years of planning and preparation.
Impact: Triangulation toward a true community solution led to the best project for the Kobriti Partnership.The community health surveys revealed that Kobriti had an elevated, but manageable, diarrheal rate that could perhaps be reduced with improved water access for sanitation.The special attention given to Naba by the team affirmed his status as the community elder and elevated the reputation of the UI-IESP in the community.The students were able to facilitate a successful community consensus building effort that serves as a model for similar work they will face in their professional careers.Impact: The partnership between SHI and the UI-IESP was strengthened through adversity.Benjamin Kusi (from SHI) described the fallout from the surveying mishap via email following the return of the UI-IESP team who witnessed the event.Mr. Kusi also provided advice that led to a determination that it was fair for the surveying company to return to Kobriti at additional cost.The students involved with the installation of the pumping system in the summer of 2014 expressed how the experience was extremely challenging, but life changing.

STUDENT AND RESEARCH STAFF REFLECTIONS ON THE KOBRITI PARTNERSHIP AND THE DWDW COURSE
Upon returning from Kobriti, the students were asked to reflect on their Kobriti Project diaries and prepare more formal written reflections regarding the extent to which the DWDW course prepared them for the experience.The students were asked to write specifically about course activities and philosophies that had an impact and they were asked to describe anything they felt was "missing" from the course in light of their Kobriti experience.Additionally, the research staff member provided observations and assessment of the student's experiences.The research staff member assessed the student's experiences in relation to the DWDW course.She went to team meetings prior to leaving the country, but did not attended the DWDW class.The research staff member became familiar with the course structure and content through reviewing the syllabus, materials, and talking with the students while traveling.Two main methodological approaches -participatory rapid assessment and participant observationwere utilized in order to accurately situate the team member's perspectives and experiences. 42,43 articipatory rapid assessment requires the researcher to go into the field with clear, prepared questions and objectives. 42In this case, the primary question was "did the DWDW course prepare students to travel to Ghana?" Participant-observation, a strategic method employed to collect a wide array of data, from narratives, to numbers, to behaviors, was utilized with the purpose of building an ethnographic foundation for the project.3][44] In this case, the research staff member was situated as a "participant observer" in so far as she was an insider who both observed and recorded aspects of the trip and person-toperson interaction.The research staff member also engaged in extensive memo-writing, a process of informal, analytical note-taking that allows the researcher to constantly compare and analyze data. 45owever, before discussing the team's experiences, it is important to briefly contextualize each of them in regards to age, race, gender, training, and personality, all of which were important factors in their experiences.Student 1 is a female undergraduate student going into her senior year, majoring in Civil and Environmental Engineering.She is white, in her early twenties, and has traveled extensively throughout northern Europe, but never to a developing nation.Student 1 has an outgoing and friendly personality, with a very positive or optimistic demeanor.Student 2 is a male graduate student in Environmental Engineering who is white and in his mid-twenties.He has also traveled to Europe, but this was his first trip to a developing nation.However, Student 2 had the most experience with the Kobriti Partnership, as he had been engaged with the partnership for several years through UI-IESP and built the model pumping system on campus.Student 3, also a white male in his mid-twenties, had just completed graduate school in environmental engineering prior to leaving for Kobriti.He has traveled extensively both to developed and undeveloped nations.Student 3 had spent time in South America working on a different water project as an undergraduate engineering student and spent a significant amount of time studying the pumping system design for Kobriti.Student 2 and Student 3 are very similar in terms of personality, as they are both very level-headed, rarely becoming flustered and upset.The shop staff member is a white male in his mid-thirties who has extensive training in constructing engineered systems and had traveled to Kobriti once before.The research staff member is a white female in her late twenties who has traveled and worked in developing countries, and whose primary role at the University is to support students in research and handson learning experiences.

First-person Student Reflection (Student 1):
Together with other students enrolled in DWDW, I worked in interdisciplinary groups to propose new solutions to the various problems currently facing developing countries.Coursework included studying technologies to improve energy, housing, health, with a strong emphasis in water and sanitation.I would not have been even half as prepared as I was for our work in Ghana had I not taken the course.DWDW prepared me for living and working in Ghana's Ashanti Region more so than I could have imagined.While it is impossible to convey all of the many cultural differences within a 16-week course, Dr. Just's previous work in the region allowed us to better understand the issues we would face during our time there.The group who had worked with Kobriti before us prepared a slideshow and a video that allowed us to become more familiar with the community and their customs.Unfortunately, we did not have access to a translator familiar with these types of developments and the various problems and cultural customs associated with this type of work.Experienced advice might have increased the efficacy of our impact on the region.Through DWDW we learned, in detail, about issues facing developing countries.These include inadequate sanitation, malnutrition, and contaminated water.Awareness of these issues allowed us to avoid any detrimental impact on the community.
We focused on sustainability as the most important aspect of the project.We therefore found it even more important to receive the community's input, maximize the design life of our system, and determine with absolute certainty that no harm would come from the project.Another important branch of sustainability that Dr. Just emphasized in practice was remaining in touch with the community by completing follow-up site visits, ensuring continual development in the community.Rather than traveling to a country to complete a project and leaving without any follow up, Dr. Just constantly reminded the class that you may actually being doing more harm than good if you do not remain in contact with the people of the village.
My specific task on this trip was to perform water quality testing on AfriClay filters 46 , ceramic filters used to filter drinking water, that were distributed to the village a few years ago by our organization.Without a translator, it became difficult to complete surveys regarding the satisfaction or dissatisfaction of the filters with a community that, for the most part, only speaks Twi.The situation was one that we were unable to anticipate, and we quickly came to learn that nothing can prepare you for the unknown.Unexpected challenges quickly became apparent -the lack of a translator, the difficulty in acquiring materials, and other situations such as building our solar-powered water pump.We were, fortunately, armed with the knowledge that 'the unknown' would occur and had learned of various measures that can be taken to solve those issues.To communicate with those who owned filters, we recruited the assistance of the few people of Kobriti who spoke English, learned as many Twi phrases as possible, and expanded our water quality testing to sources other than the AfriClay filters.Although we faced challenges in completing the surveys with as much depth as we had hoped, we had more time to test other sources of water that we found the community using for drinking and bathing.We tested both of the two hand-pumps already in use within the community, the solar powered water pump our group had installed, and a large, lid-less, communal water storage container for the presence and concentration of fecal coliform bacteria.We were not surprised to find that the large lid-less container that the community dipped a common cup in was teeming with bacteria, and happy to see that the pumps had virtually no bacteria present.
In the first half of DWDW, we studied James Mihelcic's book, Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers.This book is a how-to guide for applying engineering to clean-water access and sanitation standardization in developing countries.We were assigned relevant portions of the book to study on which we were quizzed weekly.Familiarity with the book and its contents turned out to be very important on our trip.I brought the book with me and found it very easy to quickly find the pertinent information.It ended up being our greatest tool as it was used to teach us how to test the arsenic content of our well's water and the range of acceptable levels, the proper way to build a well and a splash pad, and an in-depth background of developing countries.
The quote from the course that stuck with me the most is the saying that "you don't know until you go."I can't think of a better way to describe the effect that this trip had as it became an absolutely integral part of my college education.A complete change in perspective occurred as I grew to appreciate the many, many benefits that we experience as Americans.Dr. Just's course properly prepared me for this change in perspective.It is, however, impossible to be completely prepared to face all obstacles and challenges of a project of this magnitude.

Research Staff Member's Reflection on Student 1:
Student 1 was the most prepared in regards to her knowledge about Ghana, Ghanaian culture, and the Twi language.She spent a significant amount of time prior to the trip reading about Ghana and making notes of common phrases and pronunciations of Twi words.She brought that notebook with herwhich proved to be an excellent resource for every member of the teamadding words and phrases throughout the trip.This served her well, as she was able to easily build friendly relationships with nearly everyone the team encountered, simply by greeting others or answering questions using the Twi she had learned.She was also able to pick out key phrases when Ghanaians tried to speak with us in Twi and community members quickly learned and remembered her name.Much of the success in rapport building with the community can be contributed to Student 1's efforts.That said, her knowledge of the Twi language was still minimal and did not alleviate the need for a translator, especially in regard to building the system, acquiring materials, and locating and testing the AfriClay filters.
As an undergraduate engineering student, Student 1 was the least prepared in terms of technical ability, which is expected given that she had not yet had various design or coursework experiences.While she was familiar with how the solar-powered pumping system was supposed to function overall as a result of workshops she participated in during DWDW course workshops, she did not feel that she was able to contribute very much to the actual construction or troubleshooting of the system, which proved to be frustrating for her.However, since this was not her primary role on the team, it did not prove to be a hindrance to the execution of the project.In regards to her specific task on the trip, testing the AfriClay filters, Student 1 felt comfortable with the testing procedure and efficiently tested all of the water sources available (which turned out to be improvised).Locating the filters proved to be difficult, as she had to locate the few members of the community who spoke English (most of whom were teachers and had to work during the day while the team was on site) and try to ask them which community members had the filters.One teacher said she knew of people who had filters, but that Student 1 was not allowed to go into their homes to "see" the filters and did not actually tell her who had them, just that they were in fact in scattered around the community.It can be assumed that the short duration of this trip contributed to the difficulty in locating the filters, as a longer community rapport building period may have allowed Student 1 to more fully track and test the filters once the people of Kobriti were comfortable enough with her to let her in to their homes.

Research Staff Member's Reflection on Student 2 and Student 3:
Student 2 was the most prepared technically as he had been engaged with the project for several years and worked to build the model system on campus.Student 3 spent time outside of the class learning about how the solar panels worked and was familiar with the system and the principles behind it.However, it seemed that the biggest contributing factor to their success in the field is that Student 2 and Student 3 both have a solid engineering background and are skilled and comfortable constructing projects from start to finish (meaning that they aren't just classroom trained, but have actually built engineering systems).Both felt confident that they would be able to troubleshoot in the field as issues arose and this proved to be the case.As the corresponding author went ahead of the rest of the team, he was able to put together a list of supplies that needed to be brought from the U.S. and have Student 2 purchase them.Student 2 and 3 knew ahead of time what parts might give them problems and were able to anticipate some of the issues.Their main concerns were the in-country time constraint and making sure that water was flowing when by the time the team left.
Both Student 2 and Student 3 realized that there would be some level of adaptation that would be necessary in terms of pump construction when the team arrived at the field site.They were effective in working with whatever situation presented itself and moving forward past obstacles, easily made do with what was available to them (for example, building a small platform for the pressure tank out of wood found in the village), and utilized Ghanaian hardware when most appropriate.Student 2 and Student 3 accepted the help that our Ghanaian partners and community members offered and did not try to do everything themselves.Acknowledging community members as experts who could and should contribute, rather than doing it all themselves, not only helped the project progress more efficiently and reduce team fatigue, but worked to build community investment in the project.For example, the community had tradesmen who laid the concrete slab around the pump and splash pad to take excess water away from the pump after consulting with the team on the proper design.The team helped, but for the most part gave the community experts the space to do the work.When giving directions for construction and when putting together the pump components, they took the time to explain (to the best of their ability given the language barrier) to the community what they were doing, how they were doing it, and what the outcome was.It was obvious that there was a mutual respect built between Student 2 and Student 3 and the community members (especially those who were trade-oriented).

Research Staff Member's First-person Reflection:
Overall, the trip was successful, as clean water was flowing from the pump before the team left Ghana.However, there were certainly obstacles to consider.Language proved to be a significant barrier.The team was supposed to have a translator who spoke both English and Twi present for the majority of the project, but events outside of our control prevented this.For example, one of the country contacts was experiencing some health issues during the time the team was in-country and was therefore unable to serve as a translator.Occasionally, the team encountered Ghanaians who spoke some English, but there was no one, consistent translator.This made accomplishing tasks like purchasing supplies much harder and towards the end of trip, the team was feeling pressure to complete the pumping system or risk leaving it unfinished.Frequently, the team had to call one of the in-country contacts who was based two hours away in Kumasi and hand a cellular phone back and forth between a team member and a vendor in Ejura or a community member in Kobriti.The language barrier significantly slowed all processes and many days and hours were spent waiting to move forward.However, it is impossible to guarantee the presence of a translator, even with careful planning, and the team adapted as best as possible to the change in plans.
Another major obstacle was materials.Some of the technical elements were ordered months in advance and kept at the SHI headquarters until the team arrived.Other smaller equipment was brought over with the team, and other materials needed to be sourced locally (concrete, the pump shelter, paint, etc.).Some materials that were brought with the team ended up not working and required the team to go search for replacements, which often did not fit with the American made parts.The village of Kobriti is ~15 km from the nearest large town of Ejura where these parts were available, thus many days were spent going (or waiting) to go back and forth between the Ejura and Kobriti.
In terms of lessons to take back to the classroom, building in additional material that addresses cultural competency and community building theories, exercises, and expectations would be an important topic to cover.The students said that the DWDW course emphasized points such as utilizing local materials and allowing for a flexible design, however, in general, it is hard to prepare students in the classroom for what might happen in the field.The DWDW course included a workshop where students examined the fully-functioning replica pump that was built on campus, which Student 1 said was helpful in knowing how it was supposed to be put together and look.However, the pumping system was already built before the most recent cohort (of which Students 1 and 2 were) took the class, so the workshop focused on talking about the construction, rather than actual construction).Each student did bring their personal copy of the DWDW textbook though, which they referenced often throughout the trip for information on tasks like design and testing.They even left one book behind for the local tradesmen to use.
One of the most important pieces of a service-learning trip like this is to gather the right team, with a certain personality type and skillset, to implement the project and interact with community partners.Recognizing that the nature of working abroad in a developing nation, far away from the comforts of home, can be taxing on individuals who are not fully prepared to go, adapt, and continually move forward with a positive mindset.This team exhibited positive group dynamics, mutual respect, and worked well together.For this specific trip and project, the presence of two engineering graduate students and an engineering shop staff member who had been to Kobriti before, all with significant engineering design experience, was imperative.Student 1 simply did not have the background to complete this type of project without the expertise of the other team members.While it did not ultimately hinder the success of the project, the corresponding author was unable to be in country at the same time as the rest of the team.He was able to go and return the week before the team left and report back about what to expect, what supplies should be picked up, and reconnected with the community before the team's arrival.While there was a shop staff member who had been to Ghana before who was invaluable in terms of technical ability and some familiarity with the location and contacts, he was not the primary point of contact for the community partners and was not privy to all of the International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Special Edition, pp.300-333, Fall 2014 ISSN 1555-9033 317 in-depth planning for the trip like the corresponding author.It could be assumed that the trip would have gone more smoothly as a whole had the corresponding author been present with the rest of the team.
It cannot confidently be said that the success of the trip was based on the students having taken the DWDW class, as the students explained that most of what they were experiencing on the trip was not a result of having taken the course.However, each student stated the positive impact that the trip had on their worldview and that it helped to reaffirm their chosen engineering career goals.The reaffirmation of these student's goals for working in international development may be one of the main reasons that they all chose to enroll in the DWDW course.Thus, while the students may not have attained intensive skill development as result of the DWDW course content, the course certainly presented the opportunity for at least a small subset of students to experience firsthand the developing world they are learning to design for.For the rest of the students who are not able to travel and personally work with community partners like Kobriti and SHI, it should be a safe assumption that the DWDW course starts students thinking about sustainable development issues and the range wide of possibilities they will have to contribute in the future.

UI-IESP CRITIQUE, LESSONS LEARNED, AND BEST PRACTICES
The reflection provided by Student 1 indicated that "DWDW prepared me for living and working in Ghana's Ashanti Region more so than I could have imagined" and "unfortunately, we did not have access to a translator familiar with these types of developments and the various problems and cultural customs associated with this type of work".The student felt the course did all it could or should have done to prepare her for the experience, but the barrier of language made the experience more difficult than anticipated.The research staff member also stated that "language proved to be a significant barrier".But, these individuals both viewed the project as a resounding success if viewed from Kobriti's perspective stating that "clean water was flowing from the pump before the team left Ghana".Clearly the make of the team is a crucial component to success with Student 1 cited as a "rapport builder" and Students 2 & 3 and the shop staff person cited as providing most of the technical skills.And, all of the traveling team members made reference to the "life changing" or "perspective shifting" outcome of the trip for them personal.These outcomes, coupled with the safe return of the team and the positive impact on a partner community, represent the overall goals of the UI-IESP.

Critique:
 The myriad international travel services available at the University of Iowa have made it attractive and convenient for the UI-IESP to become unaffiliated with a national program such as ESW or EWB-USA.The fee and liability structure for EWB-USA and the administrative requirements (that often replicate those of the university) were deemed too onerous by the corresponding author so our student chapter affiliation was ended in 2013.
Our student chapter affiliation with ESW was ended in 2011 as the organization transitioned to a new administrative structure.These organizations have much to offer for those considering a program start-up and for those seeking to broaden the scope of their existing program.The corresponding author has encouraged a new departmental faculty colleague with interest in such programs to restart an ESW or EWB-USA student chapter at Iowa as a compliment to the UI-IESP. The success of the UI-IESP is built upon the impressive work of partners, students and staff.However, it has been sustained over time almost solely by the corresponding author, which leaves the UI-IESP vulnerable to collapse should the corresponding author lose interest or face increased time commitments from research and teaching. The scope of the UI-IESP is relatively small in terms of people served internationally.
Tens of thousands of dollars have been spent to provide one additional water access point in Kobritia community of 600 people.In the Xicotepec, Mexico, era of the UI-IESP, approximately 500 school children gained access to drinking water systems at their schools.These accomplishments are noble.But, clearly the greatest impact has been on the nearly 100 students that have traveled internationally via the UI-IESP and the 185 students that have completed the DWDW course since 2003.Those seeking to start a program will have to define the "communities" they seek to impact at the onset and will have to determine what is considered "success". The students that completed the DWDW course and then implemented the well pump project in Kobriti revealed signs of being under prepared.The research staff member cited language as the main project impediment.The language barrier is beyond the scope of the DWDW course, but not beyond the UI-IESP.Arrangements for translators to accompany the summer 2014 team unraveled just prior to arrival in Kobriti.Benjamin Kusi was promoted within SHI approximately two years ago and could not commit to help as he had previously.Arrangements with another translator also did not work out as planned. The corresponding author was not in Kobriti concurrently with the implementation team.
This was a barrier that was overcome by the shear resiliency of the team members.The corresponding author would have found a new translator, for example.The corresponding author did travel to Kobriti during the week immediately preceding the team implementation to meet with partners and to procure final project supplies that had yet to be staged.This travel arrangement was as a result of scheduling issues and is not a recommended practice.The program leader must remain fully engaged to maximize program success and ensure team safety.A veteran traveler to Kobriti was on the team, but he did not feel fully equipped to ask for needed resources when the time came.

Lessons Learned:
 The "flipped" DWDW course design and the TILE classroom configuration enables team-based design to occur much more effectively and dynamically.Classroom time is dedicated to designing rather than basic content delivery.To maximize the benefits of this approach for all students, the instructor must explain that the student is ultimately responsible for learning and that the instructor is a curator of learning experiences.The instructor is also an evaluator.Some students may express a feeling of "not getting their money's worth" if the "expert" instructor does not provide at least a few moments of polished lecturing. "You don't know if you don't go".This axiom has proven true over and over again.It's a memorable phrase that Student 1 mentioned in her reflection after hearing it in the

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DWDW course.Of course, the students in the DWDW course learn a lot even if they "don't go".But, the students that take the course and then travel as part of the UI-IESP have a much more profound learning experience. As a program leader, don't "beat yourself up" too much if participant's reflections indicate a level of under preparedness following a travel experience.Sending a team into an international setting to work with a community and eventually complete projects is a very hard task.You can work on your own and with others to minimize the risks and maximize the preparedness, but there will always be unexpected events and/or issues that will require creative solutions, on the spot. Embrace the unknowns and indigenous knowledge that a community brings to a design project.The DWDW course and UI-IESP prepared the students to understand the basic functions and installation requirements of the well pump system, but it did not prescribe a particular design.The pump house and splash pad were designed "on the fly" by the local community with input from SHI and our team.Our backup plan was to build a simple wooden pump house if the community was unable to "come through".The final product ended up being much better that all parties thought was possible and the community will more fully respect and maintain the pump system since they are fully vested. Partner with local experts for operation and maintenance of projects.Use local tradesmen to build and install components.These people represent the know-how and the resources needed to make a project as sustainable as possible.
Best Practices: students copies of the book as a reward for great leadership or as a parting gift when they leave for the Peace Corps (they will take it with themlike our team did here -and thank you for it later). Partner with a community for the long-term.Schedule follow-up visits to check on previous project performance and to scope out new projects.Take some time to just "hang out" with the community during each trip, if possible.And, stay in regular communication with key project partners even when a trip or new project is not eminent. Be sure the community identifies those responsible for the upkeep and maintenance of a system.In Kobriti, a nine member water board has been established with the authority to level fees to generate funds to purchase replacement parts, etc.Also, seek an in-country In a 2009 presentation to the Iowa City Foreign Relations Council titled, To Hell with Good Intentions?: Reflections on the Consequences of "Saving the World" 47 , the corresponding author publicly questioned the consequences of his actions related to the UI-IESP.The intent was for the UI-IESP and the DWDW course to train students for service-learning and sustainable development in partner communities.There is at least some indication that the UI-IESP and the course simply self-selects for students already pre-disposed for such.But, Student 1 provided evidence that significant, although not complete, training did occur for her in the DWDW course.And, there is a reasonable likelihood that, despite the time spent getting familiar with Kobriti, the water project described here won't turn out to be a sustainable and appropriate use of technology.Future work will involve follow-up in Kobriti which will ultimately determine the degree of success of the project and, ultimately, the UI-IESP.

Grading:
A standard percentage scale will be used as shown from the ICON site image below.

Timeline:
(TD = Team Design; P = Project -Short Term; A = Personal Assignment; RS = Reflections Summary) All journal entries should be double-spaced and dated.There is no required length, but anything less than half a page each for parts one and two, and 2/3 of the page for part three may well be short or underdeveloped and considered average (C grade) work.

Strength of Service Learning Activities:
Students are to have at least 5, independent service learning activities to reflect upon throughout the course of the semester.There are 50 points available to students for "strength of the service learning activities" and these points will be awarded as follows: Average work consists of We will visit the warehouse (Hydraulics East Annex) where the workshops will be held during class.This is a two block walk from our class room.Dress accordingly for the weather.Reinvent the Toilet presentations will be held in Room A of the Iowa City Public Library.Your two-page proposals will also be available for the public to take.Your teams will be held to the highest standards on these presentations so prepare accordingly.DUE: Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Team Presentation DUE: Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Team Proposal DUE: Individual 3D drawing of the solar powered well pump system using SketchUp.

FIGURE 1 THE
FIGURE 1 THE CORRESPONDING AUTHOR TEACHING IN A UNIVERSITY OF IOWA TILE CLASSROOM.PHOTO TAKEN FROM HTTP://TILE.UIOWA.EDU

FIGURE 2 SOLAR
FIGURE 2 SOLAR-POWERED BOREHOLE WATER PUMPING WORKSTATION USED IN THE DESIGN WITH THE DEVELOPING WORLD COURSE

FIGURE 4 EXAMPLES
FIGURE 4 EXAMPLES OF SHELTER AND DAILY LIFE IN KOBRITI, GHANA.

FIGURE 6 SOLAR
FIGURE 6 SOLAR-POWERED WELL PUMP WITH ENCLOSURE, SPIGOT AND SPLASH PAD.THE UI-IESP STUDENTS WERE TRAINED ON HOW TO INSTALL THE PUMPING SYSTEM COMPONENTS DURING THE DWDW COURSE.LOCAL GHANAIANS DESIGNED THE SPLASH PAD AND ENCLOSURE TO THEIR OWN SPECIFICATIONS AS THE PROJECT PROGRESSED.

Feb 13 Week 4 : 13 Week 8 :
Field Guide Sections 14-18 Water Supply and Treatment DUE before class time: Online Quiz 3 We will have a tutorial on Trimble SketchUp software in class.Learn as much as you can before class though.Feb20 Week 5: Field Guide Sections 19-23 Wastewater Treatment DUE before class time: Online Quiz 4 DUE: Preliminary Reinvent the Toilet Challenge Team Presentation.Teams will present in class.DUE: First-draft Reinvent the Toilet Team Proposal DUE: First-draft of team World Water Day Poster.2ft by 3ft vertical layout.DUE before class time: Online Quiz 5 DUE: First draft of the learning materials for the workshop your team will facilitate.Teams will present in class.Mar 6 Week 7: Workshop Preparation DUE before class time: Online Quiz 6 Meet at the Hydraulics East Annex.Enter through the south door, nearest the UI Motor Pool parking lot.Mar Team Presentations and Individual Assignments Affordable Handheld Water Sanitizers" at the 2009 Annual Meeting of the American Association for the Advancement of Science in Chicago.A subsequent story by the University of Iowa News Services Train students in creative ways using a 3 credit hour course, weekend workshops and resources from ESW and/or EWB-USA.Students should know they are designing with, not for, their developing world partners.Students should mix concrete, lay blocks, use an Abney level, interact with a water pumping system, etc. Students should know not to force Western values onto a community for the sake of a "successful" design.Students should know that their best laid plans will not be implemented exactly as envisioned.Students should know what is "critical" to the function of a design and what is "optional" or "flexible' to the design.Students should know what can be designed or implemented "on the fly" and what cannot.Students should be comfortable with some level of design uncertainty while remaining confident of design safety. Use the Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers.Give SHI in our case) that has technical expertise and language skills valuable to the projects. Utilize the full resources of your university.Partner with your study abroad program on administrative issues related to travel insurance, vaccinations, and cultural competency training.Invite guest speakers from other departments to share insights on international projects that impact communities. Partner with your local EWB-USA professional chapter.Students love to travel with professionals and vice versa.This is a great way for students to "interview" with prospective employers while serving a greater good. Seek support from your departmental chair and college dean.Make great videos that advertise the impact that projects have on students and international communities.Be respectful and always cast the partner communities in a good light. Bring members of your partnering communities to the United States.Benjamin Kusi traveled outside of Ghana for the first time when he visited the University of Iowa in March of 2011.It was transformative for him and for the dozens of students that interacted with him in person.

Sep 17 Sep 19 Week 4: Intermediate Technologies -Water and Sanitation Assignments Given Due (W) Quiz
The purpose of the three-part reflection notebook is to allow you to turn your community-based experiences into substantive learning.To do this effectively, you must be careful to differentiate among three kinds of responses: objective accuracy, personal awareness, and intellectual analysis.You should make a journal entry after every community visit or major service task and then submit your notes electronically at intervals noted in the course timeline.Write the three parts as follows: PART ONE (normalfont): an objective, detailed description of what you did.Your description should be organized in 10 minutes segments.If you find yourself simply saying more of the same, you're not being sufficiently specific and may not have paid careful enough attention to what was going on.Grading criteria for this section are (1) amount of useful detail, and (2) degree of objectivity;  PART TWO (bold font): a self-

critical response to your visit, including feelings and thoughts judgments and what you can learn about yourself and your assumptions from what you did and how you reacted. This section is particularly concerned with discoveries you make about yourself and your attitudes toward other people you encounter in the course of your community-based work. The grading criteria for this section are still in self-analysis and demonstrated self-awareness --not just what but why; not just how you react to that how you evaluate your reactions and what you can learn from them;
 PART THREE (italics font): a discussion of your experiences in terms of concepts and themes discussed in class and/or class readings.This section should contain no narrative, and very little subjective reaction.Instead it should demonstrate your skill in making connections between community-based experiences and class concerns as well as your skill in using concepts discussed in class to analyze and illuminate your community-based experiences.Grading criteria for this section are skill in using course concepts to interpret community experiences and ability to use community experiences to illustrate or challenge course concepts.

Field Guide Chapters 1-4 Introduction; Community Approaches to Project Design and Management
5, one-hour experiences of varying quality (20-29 points); Above average work consists of 5, two-hour experiences of varying quality (30-39 points); Excellent work consists of 5 or more, three-hour experiences of varying quality (40-50 points).-just@uiowa.eduWednesdays, 1 p.m. -5 p.m. and by appointment.Always let me know in advance when you plan to visit me so I can be sure to be there.Field Guide to Environmental Engineering for Development Workers by James Mihelcic.This course provides students the opportunity to work in interdisciplinary teams to propose solutions to problems people face in the "developing world".Appropriate technologies to improve water and sanitation, energy, housing, and health are studied and developed.Community building strategies, participatory methods and other techniques essential to a good design are explored.Ability to apply math, science and engineering to problems of the developing world.2.Ability to design and conduct experiments and to analyze and interpret results.3.Ability to design systems, components, or processes to meet specified objectives.4. Ability to work as members/leaders of multidisciplinary project and/or research teams.5. Ability to identify, formulate and solve engineering problems.6. Understanding of professional and ethical responsibilities and usefulness of peer support.7. Ability to communicate effectively in written, oral, and graphical forms.8. Awareness of world diversity, culture and global engineering impact.9. Awareness of value of lifelong learning.10.Understanding role of civil and environmental engineering for physical infrastructure.11.Ability to use the principles, skills and modern tools for successful engineering practice and research.There may be in-class assignments at any point throughout the semester.Scores will count toward your class participation and preparation points.

Mar 20 Week 9: Spring Break World
Water Day, Friday, March 22 nd .Celebrate with your friends.

Mar 27 Week 10: Workshop 1
Meet at the Hydraulics East Annex.Enter through the south door, nearest the UI Motor Pool parking lot.Abney Level Surveying; Solar-powered Water Pumping; Chlorine Disinfection; Latrine Slab Construction; Brick Laying; Drinking Water Tap Stand Construction Meet at the Hydraulics East Annex.