Academic Service - Learning 101

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Academic Service - Learning 101

• Service-Learning
• as a part of a Liberal Education

Adapted from a presentation given by Valerie L.
Holmes, Assistant Director Office of Student
Life Dr. Jay Cooper, Assistant Professor of
Education Sponsored by the Community Service
Learning Center Pew Faculty Teaching Center
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OUTLINE

• Understanding the Spectrum of Service
• Defining Service Service-Learning
• (What does the literature say about service?)
• Best Practices
• what s-l is what s-l is not!
• Models of service-learning
• Sharing Resources
• The Community Service Learning Center as a
  Resource

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Grand Valleys Academic Service-Learning Goals

• To introduce participants to pedagogy of service
  learning through definitions in the literature
• To identify best practices of service learning
  and critical issues in developing service
  learning projects
• To discuss service learning in the context of
  curriculum development and liberal education
• To share resources with faculty wishing to
  further explore service learning as a pedagogy

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Understanding the Spectrum of Service
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Theoretical Roots

• Service learning has its theoretical roots in the
  work of Dewey and Kolb
• John Dewey (Experiential Ed and Social Democracy)
• David Kolb (Experiential learning model)
• Many models are also grounded in the work of
  Chickering, Kohlberg, Perry Astin (Delve)
• Greenleaf, Palmer and Coles have also become
  important contributors to S.L.
• Astin-Theory of involvement power of
  faculty/student interaction

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What is Service - Learning?
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Defining Service-Learning What is it?

• Robert Sigmon (1979) Service learning is an
  experiential education approach that is premised
  on reciprocal learning. Serving to learn,
  learning to serve.
• Academic Service Learning Typology

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Defining Service-Learning What is it?

• National Corporation for Service (1990) A method
  under which students learn and develop through
  active participation in...thoughtfully organized
  service experiences that meet actual community
  needs, that are integrated into students academic
  curriculum or provide structured (time for)
  reflection that enhances what is taught in school
  by extending student learning beyond classroom
  and into the community.

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Defining Service-Learning What is it?

• NSEE (1994) Service learning is any carefully
  monitored service experience in which a student
  has intentional learning goals and reflects
  actively on what he or she is learning throughout
  the experience.
• National Society for Experiential Education

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Defining Service-Learning What is it?

• Service learning is a form of experiential
  education in which students engage in activities
  that address human and community needs together
  with structured opportunities intentionally
  designed to promote student learning and
  development. Reflection and reciprocity are key
  concepts of service learning (Jacoby, 1996, p.
  5)
• Barbara Jacoby Service Learning in Higher
  Education Concepts Practices

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Defining Service-Learning Laymen's Terms

• It is essentially a form of experiential
  education in which students use their knowledge
  gained in the classroom to learn from a practical
  experience in the community, from which the
  community benefits. It has also been referred to
  as community-based learning and academic
  service learning.

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Components of Service-Learning
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Fundamental Concepts of Service-Learning
Pedagogy The 3Rs

• RECIPROCITY
• The student and person/group being served are
  considered co-learners and co-teachers
• REFLECTION
• The pedagogical principle that learning occurs as
  a result of experience and guided reflection
• RELATIONSHIPS
• The learning occurs over the course of the
  service experience with the community partner and
  through developing relationships it is
  process-oriented

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Goals of Service-Learning
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AcademicBenefits of Service-Learning

• Promotes learning through active participation
• Provides structured time for students to reflect
• Provides an opportunity to use skills and
  knowledge in real-life situations
• Extends learning beyond the classroom
• Fosters a sense of caring for others

Adapted from the National and Community Service
Act of 1990
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PersonalBenefits of Service-Learning

• PERSONAL OUTCOMES
• Personal efficacy
• Personal identity
• Spiritual growth
• Moral dev.
• Interpersonal dev.
• Ability to work well with others
• Leadership
• Communication skills

• SOCIAL OUTCOMES
• Reducing stereotypes
• Facilitating cultural and racial understanding
• Social responsibility
• Citizenship skills
• Commitment to service

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Benefits of Service-Learning

• LEARNING OUTCOMES
• Student learning
• Ability to apply what learned to real world
• Academic learning
• Demonstrated complexity or understanding, problem
  analysis, critical thinking and cognitive
  development

• CAREER DEVELOPMENT
• Contribution to career development
• RELATIONSHIP WITH INSTITUTION
• Stronger faculty
• Relationships with students
• student satisfaction with college
• Students more likely to graduate

Elyer, Giles, Jr. Stenson and Gray, (2003)
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Best Practices
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Aspects of Student Learning in Service-Learning
Civic Responsibility
Academic Achievement
Community-based Learning Experiences Learning
About Service
Connection Learning Service through
Reflection Learning About The Social Issue
Classroom-based Learning Experiences Learning The
Course Content
Service
Learning
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What Service-Learning IS NOT!

• An episodic volunteer program
• An add-on to an existing school or college
  curriculum
• Completing minimum service hours in order to
  graduate
• Service assigned as a form of punishment
• Only for high school or college students
• One-sided benefiting only students or only the
  community

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5 Critical Elements to Include in
Service-Learning

• Orientation Training
• Community Voice
• Meaningful Action
• Reflection What, So What, Now What?
• Evaluation

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Partners in Service-Learning
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Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service
Learning

• ACADEMIC LEARNING
• Principle 1 Academic credit is for learning, not
  for service
• Principle 2 Do not compromise academic rigor
• Principle 3 Establish learning objectives
• Wingspread Special Report (1989). Principles of
  good practice for combining service and learning.
  Racine, WI Johnson Foundation.

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Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service
Learning

• COMMUNITY LEARNING
• Principle 4 Establish criteria for selection of
  service placements
• Principle 5 Provide educationally sound learning
  strategies to harvest community learning and
  realize course learning objectives
• Principle 6 Prepare students for learning from
  the community

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Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service
Learning

• ROLE OF THE STUDENT, FACULTY COMMUNITY PARTNER
• Principle 7 Minimize the distinction between the
  students community learning role and classroom
  learning role
• Principle 8 Rethink the faculty instructional
  role
• Principle 9 Be prepared for variation in, and
  some loss of control, with, student learning
  outcomes
• Principle 10 Maximize the community
  responsibility orientation of the course

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Models of Curriculum-BasedService-Learning

1. Pure Service-Learning
2. Discipline-Based Service-Learning
3. Problem-Based Service-Learning
4. Capstone Courses
5. Service Internships
6. Undergraduate Community-Based Action Research

Hefferman Cone (2003)
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Exemplary Service-Learning Syllabi

• Include service as an expressed goal
• Clearly describe how the service experience will
  be measured and what will be measured
• Describe the nature of the service placement
  and/or project
• Specify the roles and responsibilities of
  students in the placement and/or service project
• Define the need(s) the service placement meetings
• Specify how student will be expected to
  demonstrate what they have learned in the
  placement/project
• Present course assignments that link the service
  placement and the course content
• Include a description of the reflective process

Taken from Campus Compact website www.compact.org
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Resources

• Campus Compact
• Brown University
• Box 1975
• Providence, RI 02912
• 401-863-1119
• http//www.compact.org/
• Corporation for National and Community Service
• Americorps/Senior Corps/Learn and Serve America
• 529 14th Street NW, Suite 452
• Washington, DC, 20045
• 202-606-4949
• http//www.nationalservice.gov/Default.asp
• National Service Learning Clearinghouse
• R290 Votech Building
• 1954 Buford Ave.

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Resources

• Service-Learning and Civic Engagement National
  Research Directory
• http//gse.berkely.edu/research/slrdc/resdirectory
  
• National Review Board for the Scholarship of
  Engagement
• www.scholarshipofengagement.org

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• As a Resource
• Campus Wide Days of Service
• Issues Education through Programming
• Individual Group Community Service
• Co-Curricular Service-Learning
• New Initiative - Academic Service-Learning
• What would you like to see from us?
• Email or call the Community Service Learning
  Center at Volunteercenter_at_gvsu.edu or
  616.331.2468
• Or stop by the CSLC 110 B Kirkhof Center on the
  Allendale Campus
• Also, see our Website for more information
  www.gvsu.edu/service