Service Learning Commons^™

Service-Learning In The United States: Status Of Institutionalization, Ann Rautio

Service Learning, General

Service-learning takes students beyond the traditional classroom by integrating service to the community into the academic curriculum. In forming new connections to their communities, students experience an increase in academic achievement, career orientation, social development and civic response. They acquire a sense of efficacy, learn 21st century skills such as teamwork and problem solving, and engage in the broader world of their community and the society of their future. In 2000, the Education Commission of the States (ECS) conducted the first 50-state (and the District of Columbia) policy scan on service-learning, seeking to determine the status of institutionalization of service-learning …

Death Of A Dream Service-Learning: 1994-2010: A Historical Analysis By One Of The Dreamers, Don Hill

Service Learning, General

This essay was written in 1994 to stimulate discussion about issues that I felt threatened the efforts of the service-learning community to effectively expand with high-quality programs. It was based on my observations as a person involved in providing professional development support to teachers and education professors. — Don Hill, October 2005

Service-Learning In Community-Based Organizations: A Practical Guide To Starting And Sustaining High-Quality Programs, Eugene C. Roehlkepartain

Service Learning, General

Whether you’re new to service-learning or have been doing it for years, this guide gives you and your organization the tips, tools, and techniques you need to start making a positive difference in many people’s lives by providing high-quality opportunities for youth to serve and learn.

101 Ideas For Combining Service & Learning, Florida International University

Service Learning, General

Opportunities within the following areas are discussed: anthropology, accounting, art, biology, business, liberal studies, computers, education, English, environment, history, philosophy, political science, psychology, sociology,

Toward An Ideal Relational Ethic: Re-Thinking University-Community Engagement, Steve Garlick, Victoria J. Palmer

Service Learning, General

This article argues for the importance of developing a relational ethic to guide university-community engagement practices and processes. Our objective is to demonstrate that ethical 'engagement bridges' can be formed to link higher education institutions (HEis), human capital at the community level, and the important global questions of our day that resonate with regional communities. Taking centre place in this triad is the notion of being-for, an ideal form of togetherness put forward by Zygmunt Bauman (1995) in his early work on globalisation and post-modernity. Being-for is presented in this article as a moral aspiration that, if embraced, can tie …

Service Learning In Medical Education: Project Description And Evaluation, Nicole J. Borges, Paul J. Hartung

Service Learning, General

Although medical education has long recognized the importance of community service, most medical schools have not formally nor fully incorporated service learning into their curricula. To address this problem, we describe the initial design, development, implementation, and evaluation of a service-learning project within a first-year medical school course. Medical students (eight women, eight men) screened clients of a community agency for high blood pressure and educated them about the effects of hypertension on health. Results of the project indicated significant increases in students' attitudes, knowledge, and skills related to community health, resources, and service. Infusing medical education with service-learning activities …

Teen Toolkit: Prepare Today - Lead Tomorrow, Camp Fire Usa

Service Learning, General

Prepare Today—Lead Tomorrow is a teen service-learning experience developed through a grant from Learn and Serve America by Camp Fire USA staff from councils across the country. The goals of this initiative are to:
-Engage teens in intensive community preparedness service-learning experiences.
-Create opportunities for youth to provide leadership roles in community preparedness efforts.
-Improve the level of preparedness in families, schools, and communities.

Corporation For National And Community Service: Strategic Plan 2006-2010, Corporation For National And Community Service

Service Learning, General

Through the programs of the Corporation for National and Community Service (the Corporation), Americans are investing their time, energy, and talent to improve the lives of others and strengthen their communities. In the process, they are building a more engaged society and becoming leaders in civic life.

Service-Learning In Watershed-Based Initiatives: Keys To Education For Sustainability In Geography?, James Eflin, Amy L. Sheaffer

Service Learning, General

A call for combining the strengths of geographic education with environmental education to produce an 'education for sustainability' addresses local problems for sustainable development. A place-based approach encourages civic responsibility among students. Using service-learning to extend education beyond the classroom in this case study connected students with local clients in a watershed-based initiative. Theoretical underpinnings of service-learning for geographic education are discussed, and the case study is viewed from instructor, student, and client perspectives to identify successful outcomes and provide suggestions for those who might adopt service-learning for the first time.

Disciplining Service Learning: Institutionalization And The Case For Community Studies, Dan W. Butin

Service Learning, General

This article argues that the service-learning field has been pursuing the wrong revolution. Namely, service learning has been envisioned as a transformative pedagogical practice and philosophical orientation that would change the fundamental policies and practices of the academy. However, its attempted institutionalization faces substantial barriers and positions service learning in an uncomfortable double-bind that ultimately co-opts and neutralizes its agenda. This article argues that a truly transformative agenda may be to create a parallel movement to develop an "academic home" for service learning within academic "community studies" programs. This "disciplining" of service learning is the truly revolutionary potential of institutionalizing …

Becoming Culturally Responsive Teachers Through Service-Learning: A Case Study Of Five Novice Classroom Teachers, Elinor L. Brown, Bobby R. Howard

Service Learning, General

In the effort to augment teacher candidate education beyond text-based direct instruction, universities and teacher preparation programs are incorporating more field-based interactions through which teacher candidates can master skills and reinforce pedagogy through experience. The term "service-learning" was first used by the Southern Regional Education Board in 1969 to describe "the accomplishment of tasks that meet genuine human needs in combination with conscious educational growth" (Staton, Giles & Cruz, 1999).

Student Nurses Participate In Public Health Research And Practice Through A School-Based Screening Program, Christine A. Bronsan, Sandra L. Upchurch, Janet C. Meininger, Lynne E. Hester, Gwen Jonson, Mona A. Eissa

Service Learning, General

Obesity has reached epidemic proportions among children in minority populations, placing them at risk for diabetes and hypertension. The importance of educating a generation of nurses who have the knowledge, skills, and passion to address this public health need is crucial to the profession and to America's health. This article describes the use of a Community Partnership Model to frame baccalaureate nursing students' (B.S.N.) service learning within the context of a research study to screen middle- and high-school students for health risks. The missions of education, research, and practice are linked together in the model by three processes: evidence-based practice, …

Studying The Historical Jesus Through Service, Alicia Batten

Service Learning, General

Service learning pedagogy often assumes a variety of forms when connected with classroom teaching. Through a creative use of service learning pedagogy, the author constructs learning designs that foster student engagement with course content and prompts interrelated connections between the subjects and their own service learning experiences. The author highlights the importance of setting a context for service learning through creating activities linked to learning goals, integrating service learning components with classroom teaching methods, and proactively engaging student apathy, resistance, and faith perspectives through specific assignments that combine experience, analysis, and subject matter. The course described in this essay directly …

Sharing Your National Service Story: A Guide To Working With The Media, Corporation For National And Community Service

Service Learning, General

Running a national service program is more than a full-time job. Between developing projects, recruiting volunteers, managing finances, seeking resources, and filling out paperwork, it may feel like there’s no time to do anything else. With all the things a busy program manager has to do, you may wonder: “Why should I care about media coverage, and can it really help me?”

Service-Learning Projects Enhance Student Learning In Strategic Management Courses, John Angelidis, Igor Tomic, Nabil A. Ibrahim

Service Learning, General

Academia has been criticized for Its supposed isolation from society and its lack of emphasis on practical applications and hands-on experience. Institutions of higher education are responding to this criticism by incorporating experiential service-learning in their curricula. One business course which is particularly appropriate for integrating service-learning into the curriculum is Strategic Management.

Impact Of Service Learning On Physical Therapist Students' Knowledge Of And Attitudes Toward Older Adults And On Their Critical Thinking Ability, Janna Beling

Service Learning, General

As the number and proportion of elderly people rapidly increase in the next few decades, there will be increased demands for physical therapists to work with older clients. Although the availability of physical therapists to work with elderly people will be determined, in part, by their personal preferences,¹ most physical therapists will be routinely required to work with elderly clients and clients' aging family members.² In order to provide effective services, it is imperative that physical therapist students possess adequate knowledge about the aging process and recognize the individuality of older clients, as well as their capacity for …

Changing Landscapes: Enduring Values, Angela Bodino

Service Learning, General

The campus of Raritan Valley Community College (RVCC) seems pastoral with 160 acres of woods, a pond, and gentle grassy slopes. Two miles to the west are two golf courses and farmland. Two miles east are homes built in the 17th and 18th Centuries close to the North Branch of the Raritan River, close to a colonial cemetery and the soaring spire of the Reformed Church. This setting reminds us of an early American ethic of hope and change, the promise of vast spaces, new destinies and new communities.

Research Matters, Shelley H. Billig

Service Learning, General

Many people are attracted to service-learning because they see what it does for students, schools, and communities. Students are more engaged in their studies, schools are revitalized, with a new sense of mission and focus, and community members, energized by working with students on service-learning projects, are more supportive of young people and their schools.

This rosy picture is the reality in some settings with well-implemented service-learning, but too often this is not the case. In fact, much service-learning practice is uneven in quality, and research shows that low-quality service-learning has little impact.

Three-Year Longitudinal Service-Learning Research Study: Preliminary Findings, Frank D. Aquila, L. Richard Bradley, Jennifer Dodd, Charlotte Jones-Ward

Service Learning, General

Using an experimental design, this study examines the contributions of service-learning to decreased at-risk behaviors, student cognitive, social, and personal development, and academic achievement over a three-year period. During the pilot phase and Years One and Two, teachers and students from eleven different Ohio schools have been surveyed. Preliminary findings are presented.

Highlights Of Campus Compact's Annual Membership Survey, Campus Compact

Service Learning, General

The trend toward increasing civic engagement among colleges and universities is stronger than ever. In Campus Compact's 2003 survey, member institutions reported not only record participation in community service but also an increase in structural and financial support for initiatives to improve communities and to make civic learning part of academic life.

Service Learning Models Connecting Computer Science To The Community, Carol Traynor, Maria Mckenna

Service Learning, General

Service learning is an educational experience that enables students to apply material learned in the classroom by volunteering in a real-world situation. This paper provides a brief review of service learning and describes two models that the computer science department at Saint Anselm College implemented successfully.

Experiential Learning As Service For Others, Mary K. Canales, Helen French

Service Learning, General

In the hours and days immediately after the collapse of the World Trade Center on Sept 11, 2001. When it became evident there would be few survivors to care for, nurses realized that despite their clinical skills and medical knowledge, they were powerless to help during this tragedy. Many began to question the meaning of their practice and ask themselves what they could do to serve their country and fellow citizens in this time of uncertainty. Since the Sept 11 terrorist attacks, many nurses are learning other ways to serve and translating that service into personal and professional growth.

Making The Case For Social And Emotional Learning And Service-Learning, Linda Fredericks

Service Learning, General

This ECS Issue Brief provides an overview and description of both social and emotional learning (SEL) and service-learning (S-L) as tools to improve the lives and academic performance of students. It describes how the two practices arc interrelated and the research evidence that supports the expanded use of both practices in the classroom. Also provided are descriptions of the essential clements required of successful SEL and S-L programs, examples of such successful programs that are in existence today, and a discussion of state activities and experiences. Lastly, the brief discusses a series of likely challenges that education leaders implementing SEL …

Integrating Service-Learning Into Dietetics And Nutrition Education, Jennifer M. Chabot, David H. Holben

Service Learning, General

This article presents a review of the service-learning literature as a foundation for a discussion on integrating service-learning into dietetics and nutrition education. The purposes of this review are to (1) define service-learning, (2) discuss how service-learning can enhance dietetics and nutrition education programs, (3) explain principles and best practices fur integrating service-learning into dietetics and nutrition curricula, and ( 4) outline practical tips for orienting students for this experience and establishing sites for service-learning activities. The information shared has pedagogical implications and is transferable to any dietetics and nutrition education program.

Making The Case For Social And Emotional Learning And Service-Learning, Education Commission Of The States

Service Learning, General

This ECS Issue Brief provides an overview and description of both social and emotional learning (SEL) and service-learning (S-L) as tools to improve the lives and academic performance of students. It describes how the two practices are interrelated and the research evidence that supports the expanded use of both practices in the classroom. Also provided are descriptions of the essential elements required of successful SEL and S-L programs, examples of such successful programs that are in existence today, and a discussion of state activities and experiences. Lastly, the brief discusses a series of likely challenges that education leaders implementing SEL …

Service Learning As Scholarship In Teacher Education, Alice M. Buchanan, Shelia C. Baldwin, Mary E. Rudisill

Service Learning, General

This article describes how two teacher education service-learning programs illustrate alternative interpretations of scholarship. A tutoring-mentoring program in a teaching oriented masters institution and a motor skill development program in a land grant doctoral-research institution are described relative to how each illustrates forms of scholarship as interpreted by Boyer ( 1990). We discuss how these forms of scholarship the scholarship of discovery, integration, teaching, and application--relate to stated institutional mission and evaluation practices. Service-learning experiences for preservice teachers can have the multiple benefits of promoting an ethic of service and social responsibility, demonstrating excellence in teacher education, and exemplifying scholarly …

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Dispositions, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

The University of Idaho, Division of Teacher Education, is refocusing its teacher certification program to reflect national standards and place P-12 students at the center of preservice learning. The integration of service-learning into course work throughout the program ensures that a community of learners will be developed both in academic settings and in society.

Meeting Ncate Standards Through Service-Learning: Professional Knowledge & Skills, National Service-Learning In Teacher Education Partnership

Service Learning, General

Community service has a long-standing tradition in the mission and purpose of California Lutheran University. Believing that the adoption of academic service-learning as an innovative and effective instructional strategy can enhance and enrich the teaching and learning experiences of both Faculty and students, in 1994, the School of Education included service-learning as a required assignment in several courses in the Teacher Preparation Program.

Building Bridges And Crossing Borders: Using Service Learning To Overcome Cultural Barriers To Collaboration Between Science And Education Departments, Kevin Carr

Service Learning, General

Science faculty and teacher education faculty need to coordinate in order to prepare teachers to teach science. This article describes several successful and unsuccessful collaboration efforts between scientists and educators that took place during the creation of an interdepartmental service learning project, Science Outreach, at George Fox University.

Service-Learning, 1902, Julia Garbus

Service Learning, General

"We are all segregated in the prison of class," mused turn-of-the-century literature professor Vida Dutton Scudder. "More than we recognize, our inner life is shaped by the traditions of the group to which we happen to belong; and until we escape from such prison, at least through imagination, or better far through personal contacts, our culture is bound to remain tragically cramped and incomplete" (On Journey 67-68). In innovative literature courses, Scudder offered college students escapes from their class prisons through "imagination." She facilitated "personal contacts" by encouraging students to work with people of other classes and races in inner-city …