Tennessee State University Service Learning and Civic Engagement

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Tennessee State University Service Learningand
Civic Engagement
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Positive student, community, and university
outcomes
Student Civic Engagement
Institutional Civic Engagement
The Engaged Campus
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Sending students to do community service is easy!
Why do we need workshops?

• Development of QUALITY pedagogy
• Enhance the quality of the courses
• Our interest is in harvesting the most from the
  service experience---both for ourselves and for
  our students

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WORKSHOP OBJECTIVES

• Define Service-Learning
• Show the impact of Service-Learning on
• Students
• Faculty
• Community
• Provide service-learning examples and best
  practices
• Provide you with an opportunity to get started
• Provide you with resources to help you teach a
  service-learning course

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Your Goals

• Think of 1-3 learning goals you have for this
  workshop.
• Write them on post-it notes

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What is Service-Learning???

• Service-Learning is a method of teaching that
  enriches learning by engaging students in
  meaningful service to their universities or
  communities through careful integration with
  established curricula.

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National Commission on Service-Learning

• a teaching and learning approach that
  integrates community service with academic study
  to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility,
  and strengthen communities.

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Service-Learning Models

• Discipline-based
• Project/problem-based
• Capstone Course
• Service internship
• Community-based action research
• Placement-based

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Project-Based or Placement-Based?

• Are students placed at a site to fulfill a
  specified number of service hours?
• Are the hours less important than the service
  project to be completed at the site?

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Remember--- The academic credit is for
learning---not for hours of service.
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More Best Practices

• Establish Learning Objectives
• Establish Criteria for the Selection of
  Service-Placements
• Prepare Students for Learning from the Community

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More Best Practices

• Rethink the Faculty Instructional Role
• Be Prepared for Variation in, and Some Loss of
  Control with, Student Learning Outcomes
• Maximize the Community Responsibility Orientation
  of the Course

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BENEFITS of Service-Learning

• Review benefits for students
• Review benefits for faculty
• Review benefits for community partners
• Review benefits for the university

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Service-Learning Enhances the Mission of TSU
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Community service example

• If students remove trash from a stream bed
• they are providing a service to the community as
  volunteers

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Service-learning example

• When students, who are taking an environmental
  education course,
• remove trash from a streambed,
• analyze what they found,
• share the results and offer suggestions for the
  neighborhood to reduce pollution,
• and then reflect on their experience and the
  impact of their service,
• THAT is SERVICE-LEARNING!

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Common characteristics of authentic
service-learning

• positive, meaningful and real to the participants
• cooperative rather than competitive experiences
  promotes teamwork and citizenship
• addresses complex problems in complex settings
  rather than simplified problems in isolation
• engages problem-solving in the specific context
  of service activities and community challenges,
  rather than generalized or abstract concepts from
  a textbook

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Common characteristics of authentic
service-learning

• students are able to identify the most important
  issues within a real-world situation through
  critical thinking
• promotes deeper learning there are no "right
  answers" in the back of the book
• generates emotional consequences, which challenge
  values and ideas
• supports social, emotional and cognitive learning
  and development

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The Seven Elements of High-Quality
Service-learning

• 1.Integrated Learning- clear outcomes
• 2. High Quality Service- actual community need
• 3. Collaboration- all partners benefit and
  contribute
• 4. Student Voice- students actively plan
  participate
• 5. Civic Responsibility- contribute/impact
  community
• 6. Reflection- connect service academic
  learning
• 7. Evaluation- measure learning service goals

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Logistics and Support

• Before the semester
• Faculty modify course syllabi
• Faculty meet with S-L staff to discuss support
  needs
• Criteria for partner agencies and S-L activities
  identified
• Partner agencies and S-L activities identified

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Lets begin with some questions

• Open the documents
• Guiding Questions for Designing an SL Course
  and Worksheet

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Setting Up SL Courses

• Use the website or copy this document onto your
  flash drive to guide your syllabus development.

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Some decisions to make.

• Learning outcomes
• Individual or group
• Number of hours
• Types of experiences

• Community partners
• Orientation to the site(s)
• Tyes of reflections
• Assessment

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Reflection A Key ComponentBefore, during, and
after!

• The intentional consideration of an experience in
  light of particular learning objectives
• (Hatcher Bringle, 1997).

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Take some time to review and discuss reflection
handouts and use your Worksheet to reflect on
your course.
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SAMPLE REFLECTION QUESTIONS
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Suggested Assessment Plan

• Students know learning objectives at beginning of
  course
• Students are given examples of average and
  outstanding work
• Students are provided with all rubrics from which
  they will be graded when the assignment is given
• Students are given guidance on which areas
  students in past years have struggled

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Example

• Student reflections
• Journal entries (What? So what? Now what?
  ORID model)
• Final service-learning project report
• Presentation to community partner and/or class
• Grades on exams and quizzes

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Questions and Discussion

• What student learning outcomes do you want to
  assess through the service-learning experience?
• How will you assess/evaluate the outcomes?
• How will you know if the desired outcome that
  drove the design and implementation of the
  service-learning component was achieved?
• How will you know that they got it?
• What role will the community play in assessing
  the student? The course?

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Learn more about service-learning

• www.servicelearning.org
• compact.org
• tnstate.edu/servicelearning

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Resources

• Campus Compact (www.compact.org)
• Sample syllabi in a wide variety of disciplines
• Curriculum guides and publications
• Professional development opportunities
• Grants and awards

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Resources

• Service Learning Center
• SL website (www.tsuservicelearning.com)
• SL Resource Library
• Class presentations
• Evaluation instruments
• Community Partner database and assistance

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Service Learning Classes

• English Chemistry
• History Geography
• Music Honors
• Nursing Design
• Education Early Childhood
• Psychology Engineering
• Health Phys. Edu.
• Communications
• Dental Hygiene
• Physical Therapy
• Speech Pathology
• Institute for Government
• Consumer Sciences

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Diversity of Service Learning Projects
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Cross-DisciplinaryCollaborations
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Cross DisciplinaryEducation Programs
Computer Skills
Mentoring
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Community Needs

• Tutors
• Mentors
• Program development
• Technology assistance
• Advocacy
• Training
• Needs Assessments
• Discipline-specific assistance

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What can your students learn from structured
experiences in the community?

• How will the community benefit from your
  students projects?

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