Mission

IFH MISSION AND SERVICE-LEARNING

Mission of the IFH Program at the University of Florida:

The mission of the IFH program initiative at the University of Florida is to promote and facilitate interdisciplinary health profession student education through service-learning. At the UF Colleges of Medicine, Pharmacy, Dentistry, Nursing, and Clinical and Health Profession the IFH program provides an educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community family volunteer needs and reflects on the learning activity in such a way as to provide further understanding of course content, and provide health profession students with a broader appreciation of family health within a community context, and offers an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.

What is Service Learning?

  • Learning by doing
  • Applying academic concepts to meet community needs.
  • Meeting course objectives by serving outside the classroom.
  • Deepening understanding through reflecting on real life experiences.
  • Integrating service into the academic curriculum to reinforce learning.

Why Service-Learning?

“For student to learn effectively, they first need to be engaged. Service-learning helps promote both intellectual and civic engagement by linking the work students do in the classroom to the real-world problems and real-world needs. Without compromising academic rigor or discipline-specific objectives, service-learning gives students concrete reasons for doing their personal best.” Dr. Edward Zlotkowski