Service Learning Commons^™

Issues Involved In Faculty Implementation Of Community Service-Learning In Teacher Education, Rahima C. Wade, Eric Vanden Berk, Stephanie K. Siddens

Higher Education

This study examined how teacher education faculty from 21 institutions attempted to implement the curricular innovation of community service-learning. Faculty's biggest successes were implementation of program/course changes, increased collaborations on campus or in the community, and perceived positive impact on pre-service teachers. Barriers to implementation included time, resistance, or inertia on the part of colleagues, limited finances, and other reform efforts and commitments that demanded immediate attention. The study highlights several key factors that contributed to faculty success: faculty ownership and involvement in decision making, site-specific professional development opportunities, resources to support faculty 's efforts, and written plans for implementation.

The Voices Of Preservice Teachers On The Meaning And Value Of Their Service-Learning, Kevin J. Swick, Michael Rowls

Higher Education

The perspectives of preservice teacher education students about their service- learning experiences are examined in the context of Serow's conceptual scheme of competence, participation, relationships, and understanding. 240 undergraduates in education and 59 professional program interns participated in the study. Their responses to a service learning survey suggest that service learning positively influences them in relation to personal, professional, academic, and career functioning. The student "voice" on service- learning provides many insights on ways to strengthen S-L in teacher education.

How Service Learning Affects Students, Alexander W. Astin, Lori J. Vogelgesang, Elaine K. Ikeda, Jennifer A. Yee

Higher Education

The two major goals of this study were: 1) to explore the comparative effects of service learning and community service on the cognitive and affective development of college undergraduates and 2) to enhance our understanding of how learning is enhanced by service. These questions were explored by means of a quantitative longitudinal study of a national sample of students at diverse colleges and universities and a qualitative study of students and faculty who participated in service learning at a subset of these institutions.

Service-Learning Resource Guide For Faculty, Appalachian State University

Guides

Appalachian and the Community Together (ACT) is ASU's clearinghouse for community service and service-learning opportunities in Watauga County and northwest North Carolina. We offer diverse opportunities for individuals and student groups to get involved in human services and environmental advocacy, as well as assist faculty members with integrating community service projects into their academic courses.

Designing Teacher Education Course Syllabi That Integrate Service-Learning, Michael Rowls, Kevin J. Swick

Syllabi

Sample service-learning in teacher education course syllabi are analyzed in relation to important variables impacting the value and use of this pedagogy in teacher education courses and experiences. Results of the analysis – as interrelated with the findings of other service-learning research – point to possible means for strengthening the design and uses of service-learning in teacher education. Guidelines for strengthening service-learning within teacher education courses are presented and discussed.

Program Site Visit Monitoring Instrument For Commission Staff, Mississippi Commission For Volunteer Service

Guides

Believing that volunteers are a powerful force for community improvement, whose efforts make the most of limited resources, the Mississippi Commission for Volunteer Service (MCVS) seeks to involve Mississippians to make a difference in every community in the state. As the state's official organization to promote community service and volunteerism, the MCVS invests in Mississippi communities by building public/private coalitions, linking communities and organizations to local and national resources, coordinating state resources for volunteers, and initiating volunteer programs to address unmet needs.

Leadership Reconsidered: Engaging Higher Education In Social Change, Alexander W. Astin, Helen S. Astin

Higher Education

This book was prepared over a period of two years. Most of us have worked together previously as members of an advisory committee for “College Age Youth,” a W.K. Kellogg Foundation initiative to develop leadership abilities in college undergraduates at 31 institutions. That program demonstrated that colleges and universities can provide highly effective environments for the development of future leaders (Zimmerman-Oster & Burkhardt, 1999).

The National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness, The National Student Campaign Against Hunger & Homelessness, National Coalition For The Homeless, The Student Public Interest Research Groups

Partnerships/Community

The National Student Campaign Against Hunger and Homelessness is a national network of college and high school students, educators, and community leaders working to fight hunger and homelessness in the U.S. and around the world. Guided by the belief that young people are in a unique position to make a difference in our society, the Campaign helps turn concern into action. The Campaign is the largest network of students fighting hunger and homelessness in the country with more than 600 actively participating campuses.

The New Majority 2000, Cesar Chavez Foundation

Project Summaries

9th-12th grade students enrolled in a month-long Intersession class organized by members of their faculty and service-learning coaches from the Cesar E. Chavez Foundation. For three hours a day for four weeks, students learned about The New Majority 2000 and planned various community projects that would help address the needs of this new majority. They planned an assembly for the senior students at school where they were informed of important political issues such as the environment, military, the Patriot Act, gay marriage, and education and were given the opportunity to register to vote. The culminating project was a community focused …

Silicon Valley Partnership For Recruiting And Preparing Quality Teachers For Students In High Needs Schools: "It Takes A Valley", Susan Meyers, Amy Strage, Janet Norris

Curriculum

The old African proverb, "It takes a village to raise a child" seemed apropos as the team members discussed our shared commitment to recruiting and retaining quality teachers for our children. However, we are not a village, we are the Silicon Valley hence, "It takes a valley" to raise the teachers, specifically prepared for the children in our valley who are struggling in high need schools.

Community Service Learning Packet, Martin Kimeldorf

Curriculum

This learning packet contains a set of exercises designed to stimulate the student's thinking about their community and the value of community service. It begins with a personal definition of the word "community." From this definition, the student then gathers information about the school community. Hopefully, by attending school club meetings students will increase their sense of belonging and learn about options for volunteering at their campus. The notion that young people are selfish and hedonistic is examined in a section about stereotypes and biased news reporting. To break up the "worksheet" sequence two movie assignment guides are provided, where …

A Case Study Of Community Action Service Learning On Young, Gifted Adolescents And Their Community, Alice Wickersham Terry

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This study documents the evolution o fservice learning in America and the types of service learning. This case study examined the perception of 28 young, gifted adolescents involved in a Community Action service learning project toward their project, the effects of this involvement upon them, the impact of the project on the rural community, and the effects of the methodology that was used in the classroom from 1998-2000. The study examined this case in relation to an earlier pilot study by the researcher.

Data were gathered through focus group and individual interviews, observations, and a review of documents. The importance …

An Approach To Community University Partnerships: Discoveries On The Road To America's Promise, Nancie Teresa Biver

Partnerships/Community

This paper is a journey that explores the complexity and optimism of community/higher education partnerships to support youth. It provides an analysis of the dynamics and history of power and racism. It raises critical questions regarding the role and approach of higher education and America’s Promise, the national alliance for youth. Ultimately, it offers an opportunity to view our communities differently and engage in a process that provides the potential for authentic democratic solution generating, inclusive of the grassroots voice.

This work seeks to enhance the process and intellectual thought supporting the higher education initiative within America’s Promise and community/higher …

Youth Service-Learning And Community Service Among 6th- Through 12th-Grade Students In The United States: 1996 And 1999, Brian Kleiner, Chris Chapman

Special Topics, General

Involving America's students in community service activities is one of the objectives established under the third National Education Goal for the year 2000, which seeks to prepare students for responsible citizenship. Over the past 10 years, legislative initiatives have responded to and galvanized a growing national emphasis on increasing students' involvement with their local communities and linking this service to academic study through service-learning. Examples of initiatives that have mandated support for service-learning activities in elementary and secondary schools include the National and Community Service Act of 1990, the Serve America program and the National and Community Service Trust Act …

Presidents’ Declaration On The Civic Responsibility Of Higher Education And Campus Assessment Of Civic Responsibility, Thomas Ehrlich

Higher Education

The following statement was drafted by Thomas Ehrlich, senior scholar, Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching and president emeritus, Indiana University, and Elizabeth Hollander, executive director of Campus Compact, with the advice and input of a distinguished Presidents' Leadership Colloquium Committee composed of: Derek Bok, president emeritus of Harvard University; Dolores Cross, president of Morris Brown College; John DiBiaggio, president of Tufts University; Claire Gaudiani, president of Connecticut College; Stanley Ikenberry, president of the American Council on Education; Donald Kennedy, president emeritus of Stanford University; Charles Knapp, recent past president of the Aspen Institute, Edward A. Malloy, president of …

Reading, Writing And Service Learning, National Helpers Network, Inc.

School K-12

Cross-age tutoring programs, like the National Helpers Network's "Helpers Promoting Literacy" model, in which middle and high school students serve as reading tutors to younger children, have been popular fixtures in many school service learning programs in recent years. Described by many as "win-win" programs because both the "tutors" and the "tutees" improve their reading skills as a result of participating, these programs are often integrated into English and language arts curricula and give students the opportunity to learn by teaching. But a look at programs throughout the nation shows that service learning practitioners are expanding on that idea and …

Service Strategies And Programs To Help Incarcerated Youth: A Training Program For Volunteers, Teresita Bolivar

Special Topics, General

For more than thirty years, AmeriCorps*VISTA (Volunteers in Service to America) members have been serving disadvantaged communities. The program is dedicated to increasing the capability of people to improve the conditions of their lives.

Foster Grandparents are part of the National Senior Service Corps, a network of more than a half-million seniors who are making a difference as volunteers. Since 1965 the Foster Grandparents Program has tapped the experience, skills, talents, interests and creativity of seniors age 55 and older. They serve 20 hours a week in: schools, hospitals, day care centers, homes for abused and abandoned children, Head Start, …

National Service And The Internet: Building Bridges To Collaboration, Anne M. Ostberg

Service Learning, General

The national service fellow examined how Unified State Plans proposed using the Internet to facilitate collaboration, and how existing state service Web sites reflected the collaboration discussed in Unified State Plans.

Forty-eight states have Unified State Plans for National and Community Service. These plans include as partners several entities: the state commission for national and community service, the Corporation for National Service state office, the state education agency, representatives of higher education, and other representatives of volunteer and service programs. The majority of Unified State Plans (79 percent) propose using the Internet to accomplish goals toward achieving a broad vision …

A Kinder, Gentler Student Body, Linda Jacobson

Special Topics, General

Monica Viega describes what went on in her classroom earlier in the school year as "Jerry Springer fights." Displays of anger and incivility among the 5th graders sometimes grew so intense that furniture would get tossed across the room. But the scene in Ms. Viega's classroom no longer resembles a raucous daytime talk show. Every morning, her Blalock Elementary School students sit in a circle and discuss how they treat one another. They talk about what they see on the television news and about keeping drugs and violence out of their neighborhoods. "This amazes me," Ms. Viega, a first-year teacher, …

Effects Of Service Learning On Student Retention And Success, Trish Axsom, William Piland

Higher Education

Southwestern College (SWC) students who participated in service learning were significantly more likely to complete their English composition course and report greater agreement with statements about learning as it related to career and civic awareness. However, student success rates were not significantly different for service learni11g students.

Problems, Politics, And Possibilities Of A Progressive Approach To Service Learning In A Community College: A Case Study, Kevin L. Burr

Higher Education

Change -- it is easy to determine when change is needed and even what needs to be changed; the problem is effective implementation. Cohen and Brawer (1989) said that community colleges still have not found a way to implement alternative learning methodologies.

It is reasonable to assume that in an institution dedicated since its inception to 'good teaching', new instructional forms will be tried. However, despite the spread of reproducible media, traditional methods of instruction still flourish. Visitors to a campus might be shown mathematics laboratories, the media production facilities, and computer-assisted instructional programs. But on the way to those …

Promising Practice For K-16 - Project Connect: School-University Collaboration For Service-Learning, Education Commission Of The States

Partnerships/Community

Partnership is a recurring theme in education these days: partnerships between schools and communities, between colleges and nonprofit organizations, between high schools and elementary schools, and between K-12 and higher education systems. Whether one refers to the latter partnerships as K-16, Pre-K-H or K-PhD, what truly defines them is the level and type of interactions among the school, university and community.

When Will I Ever Use This Stuff Anyway?, Suzanne S. Austin, Charlotte L. Berceli

Higher Education

As instructors of an intermediate-algebra course at a large urban community college, we decided to use a service-learning project to help students understand and appreciate the mathematics that they were studying. This outcome transcended the classroom and best motivated mathematics students by helping them realize how important the subject is to their futures (Jenrette 1994).

Intergenerational Studies In Higher Education: An Initial Survey (1999), Sally Newman, Anita Johnson

Intergenerational

During the last decade, intergenerational studies has begun to attract an increasing number of academics in a variety of academic fields. Similarly, students in increasing numbers are contacting departments in higher education, including intergenerational units such as Generations Together to inquire about courses and training opportunities. Additionally, human service professionals are demonstrating interest in acquiring the knowledge and competencies necessary to effectively administer intergenerational programs as well as earn academic credit for these new professional skills. Evidence of their interest is the number of online inquiries regarding intergenerational training and educational opportunities.

Building The Service-Learning Pyramid, Campus Compact

Higher Education

Through a $3 million dollar grant from The Pew Charitable Trusts, Campus Compact will undertake an extensive effort to increase young people's involvement in civic and community life. This work will also focus on increasing higher education's commitment to its civic responsibilities.

Working Paper, Russell Garth, Robert L. Sigmon

Higher Education

To educate students for a lifetime of contribution to society, colleges and universities accept an enormous challenge. Toward this end, they help students pursue a broad range of goals-prepare for careers, acquire a sense of civic responsibility; gain self-awareness, and learn how to learn.

The University As Citizen: Institutional Identity And Social Responsibility, William M. Sullivan

Higher Education

To act responsibly, we must know who we are. If higher education today is uncertain about its social responsibilities, as seems manifestly the case, then this suggests that the American academy is unsure about its institutional identity. For organizations as for individuals, responsibility follows from relationships. But relationships grow out of our purposes even as how we relate to others helps to shape our aims. Vital and successful institutions stand out by their ability to maintain their direction and sense of meaning even amid significant shifts in the social landscape. Indeed, they can aid in providing direction for other institutions, …

Novice Teachers' Experiences Of Community Service-Learning, Rahima C. Wade, Jeffrey B. Anderson, Donald B. Yarbrough, Terry Pickeral, Joseph B. Erickson, Thomas Kromer

Higher Education

This study focuses on beginning teachers' experiences with a currently popular curriculum strategy in the US: community service-learning. To determine the personal and contextual factors influencing novice teachers' experiences, we surveyed over 300 early career teachers and interviewed 30 of the larger sample. The study provides evidence that some beginning teachers are willing to implement strategies they learned in their teacher education programs, and can do so successfully, in spite of being busy and unsupported. Results indicate that specific preparation features and school characteristics may play a large role in whether novice teachers implement service-learning activities in their classrooms.

Presidents’ Declaration On The Civic Responsibility Of Higher Education, Campus Compact

Higher Education

As presidents of colleges and universities, both private and public, large and small, two-year and four-year, we challenge higher education to re-examine its public purposes and its commitments to the democratic ideal.We also challenge higher education to become engaged, through actions and teaching, with its communities.We have a fundamental task to renew our role as agents of our democracy. This task is both urgent and long-term. There is growing evidence of disengagement of many Americans from the communal life of our society in general, and from the responsibilities of democracy in particular.We share a special concern about the disengagement of …

Designing Collaborations Between Community Based Organizations And Schools To Produce Curriculum Models For Service- Learning Programs (Richardson Nature Center), Richardson Nature Center

Guides

Richardson Nature Center, located in Bloomington, Minnesota, is part of the Hennepin Parks System. Richardson Nature Center is working in collaboration with local fourth and fifth grade classrooms to teach environmental education in a variety of ways. Students in these classrooms learn about the environment through classroom lessons and experiences at Richardson. Teachers and Richardson naturalists team teach the lessons. The main goal of this program is to impart knowledge, awareness and positive values about the environment to students. Another goal is to familiarize students with Richardson Nature Center, in hopes that they will visit the center after having an …