Sociology Commons^™

Health Professions Schools In Service To The Nation: Evaluation Report, Sherril B. Gelmon, Barbara A. Holland, Anu F. Shinnamon

Higher Education

The Health Professions Schools in Service to the Nation Program (HPSISN) was a multi-site, multi-year program designed to explore service learning as a tool for curricular reform within health professions education, and as a method for effectively preparing future professionals for work in a new health delivery system. With sponsorship from the Corporation for National Service and The Pew Charitable Trusts, 20 institutions were invited to participate from 1995 to 1998. The program was administered by the Center for the Health Professions at the University of California at San Francisco. A project-wide evaluation was commissioned at the beginning of the …

Doing Well By Doing Good: A Study Of The Effects Of A Service-Learning Experience On Student Success, Judith S. Berson, William F. Younkin

Higher Education

This study explored the effects of service learning on student success in college. The study consisted of 286 students enrolled in six paired community college courses in various disciplines. One section of each pair was taught using traditional subject matter and course materials,while the other section of each pair was required to participate in a 20-hourservice learning activity in addition to the regular course curriculum.Participating faculty completed questionnaires and interviews regarding the courses, and students completed end-of-course evaluations. The results indicated that, overall, students who participated in the sections with a service learning requirement achieved higher final course grades and …

Community Service Learning Increases Communication Skills Across The Business Curriculum, Mary L. Tucker, Anne M. Mccarthy, John A. Hoxmeier, Margarita M. Lenk

Higher Education

Community service learning offers a unique and rewarding way for business students to reinforce communication capabilities while developing lifelong career and social skills. This article defines community service learning, discusses its importance to business as well as higher education, and describes three community service learning projects. Students in these projects taught elementary students, designed a computer system for a community nonprofit, and developed accounting systems for university divisions. In doing so, they enhanced their understanding of classroom theories and communication skills through service-learning.

In The Service Of Citizenship: A Study Of Student Involvement In Community Service, Robert A. Rhoads

Higher Education

I learn more through my volunteer work than I ever do in any of my classes at school. Talking to people from diverse backgrounds provides so much insight that people just can't imagine. I study all these different theories in political science and sociology, but until you get a chance to see how the social world influences people's everyday lives, it just doesn't have that much meaning.

I have been involved in volunteer work ever since I was in high school, and I'll probably continue to do stuff like Habitat [for Humanity] until I'm old and gray. I get a …

Weaving Service-Learning Into The Fabric Of Your College, Nan Ottenritter, C. David Lisman

Higher Education

Institutionalizing service-learning can be a rich and complex process. The following ideas about sustainability are offered as points to keep in mind as we go about getting service-learning programs more solidly grounded within our institutions. We've organized our ideas into the following categories: institutional mission, faculty outcomes, student outcomes, community impact, coordination of services, and advancement of the field. Most topics are accompanied by a checklist and "thought prompts." The checklist provides a guide for improving service-learning programs from the perspective of many different constituencies across an institution. The thought prompts are key words that frequently surface in discussions about …

Cross-Cultural Field Placements: Student Teachers Learning From Schools And Communities, Laura L. Stachowski, James M. Mahan

Higher Education

The student teaching experience is typically characterized by a collaboration of school and university-cooperating teacher and university supervisor- to prepare novice educators for the instructional, managerial, and disciplinary demands of classroom teaching. Less often are individuals and groups outside of the immediate school environment perceived as active and important contributors to learning outcomes and professional development for student teachers. However, an increasing number of teacher educators are addressing the role of the community in providing student teachers with information and insights that will enhance the classroom experience in vital ways.

A Pedagogy For Citizenship: Service Learning And Democratic Education, Meta Mendel-Reyes

Higher Education

Maria clutches the papers tightly. After over two hours of waiting through reports, announcements, awards, and other agenda items that seemed much less urgent than hers, the chance to speak has nearly arrived. She looks at the determined face of the African American woman seated beside her, one of several residents living across the street from a trash incinerator that has brought pollution, disease, noise, and rats to their quiet neighborhood. At last, they would have the opportunity to tell their story to elected officials who could do something about it. Maria glances down at the statistics that took her …

Awarding Credit For Service: A Study Conducted For The Corporation For National Service, Robert D. Shumer

Higher Education

The expansion of service-learning and service programs throughout the educational system in the United States continues at a strong rate. Bolstered by the national initiatives sponsored by the Corporation for National Service (CNS) and by state movements such as the mandated graduation requirement for service in Maryland, many people are interested in where and in how this reform movement is being implemented. Specifically, they are interested in understanding what counts for service, how service is monitored, and how service counts or is credited in school districts. A central issue focuses on the criteria school systems and school personnel use to …

How Undergraduates Are Affected By Service Participation, Alexander W. Astin, Linda J. Sax

Higher Education

Based on entering freshman and follow-up data collected from 3,450 students (2,287 women and 1,163 men) attending 42 institutions with federally funded community service programs, the impact of community service participation on undergraduate student development was examined. Even after regression analyses controlled for individual student characteristics at the time of college entry, including the propensity to engage in service, results indicate that participating in service during the undergraduate years substantially enhances the student's academic development, life skill development, and sense of civic responsibility.

A Proposal For The Development Of Fort Hays State University Service Learning Program, Dan Kahl

Higher Education

"Service Learning" is quickly becoming a style of education that is recognized for its' effectiveness and practical benefits. Linking class curriculum with hands-on applications is often referred to as "experiential education". Service Learning is a form of experiential education identified by an equal emphasis on academic learning and service to others. The combination of focusing on meeting community needs, identifying learning objectives, and intentionally reflecting on what is being learned makes service learning different from plain volunteerism or community service.

Academic Effects Of Service-Learning, Elizabeth B. Gardner, Corinne M. Baron

Higher Education

Service-learning is growing in popularity. Ziolkowski (1996) pointed out that if service-learning is to become a lasting component in American education, it must have a clear link to "the academy" (in addition to the development of moral and civic values and the benefit to the community). We therefore examined students' perception of their learning of specific aspects of course content. We measured perceived learning in two sections of Cognitive Psychology in which half of the students did service-learning. We asked each student to rate his or her knowledge of Attention, Memory, Language, Cognitive Development, Metacognition, Individual Differences in cognitive processes, …

Service Learning As A Strategy To Prepare Teacher Candidates For Contemporary Diverse Classrooms, Deborah Hamm, David Dowell, Jean Houck

Higher Education

The article describes a service-learning program jointly developed, implemented, and evaluated by a large university and a culturally and linguistically diverse urban school district. Each semester, over 200 undergraduate students preparing to be teachers learn first-hand about contemporary classrooms by assisting at-risk students. Program evaluation found changes in the undergraduates' attitudes about the importance of social and individual difference on children's learning.

Service-Learning Projects In Composition And Beyond, Thomas Deans, Zan Meyer-Goncalves

Higher Education

All college teachers want their courses to be relevant and provocative, and to encourage students to be more active learners of the discipline, participants in the academy, and citizens in the wider community. As teachers of composition, we first experimented with combining community service with classroom teaching because it promised to advance teaching aims we value, especially making connections between academic courses and community needs, and between cognitive thinking and ethical social action. And we continue with service-learning projects because our experience and students' responses suggest a significant degree of success in meeting those goals. But we are certainly not …

Community Service-Learning In Teacher Education: A Report On Innovative Programs In New England, Beth Wohlleb, Robert Maloy

Higher Education

As the strengths of community service-learning are becoming more recognized by educators at all levels, many institutions of higher education are incorporating CSL as a dynamic pedagogy into their teacher education programs. Many schools or departments of education encourage or require certification candidates to perform CSL as part of their teacher training as ways to learn about the teaching profession through the practice of teaching and reflection. Fewer schools integrate service-learning into their teacher education program in another way: by teaching preservice teachers how to use service-learning as a pedagogy with children in their own future classrooms. This second group …

Higher Education And Civic Responsibility, Alexander W. Astin

Higher Education

It goes without saying that higher education plays a major part in shaping civic life in modern American society. Our colleges and universities not only educate each new generation of leaders in government, business, science, law, medicine, the clergy, and other advanced professions, but are also responsible for setting the standards and training the personnel who will educate the entire citizenry at the precollegiate level. Higher education institutions can also exert important societal influences through the scientific, technological, and cultural knowledge produced by their faculties. (Reprinted with permission by the author.)

Expanding And Sustaining Partnerships, Judith A. Ramaley

Higher Education

The Community Outreach Partnership Centers (COPC) Program requires adaptations in the university environment. We must examine and reinterpret (1) the roles and responsibilities of faculty; (2) the design of the undergraduate curriculum; (3) the structures of the university that create the capacity and support to sustain different working relationships with the community; and (4) our definitions of success and quality.