Service Learning Commons^™

Creating The New American College, Ernest L. Boyer

Higher Education

How can American higher education successfully contribute to national renewal? ls it possible for the work of the academy to relate more effectively to our most pressing social, economic, and civic problems? These questions, while always appropriate, seem especially relevant today because, for the first time in years, our colleges and universities are not collectively caught up in some urgent national endeavor.

Beyond Prevention Curricula: A Guide To Developing Alternative Activities Programs, U.S. Department Of Education

Curriculum

This guide is designed to help educators and youth workers better understand how programs of alternative activities can effectively be used to supplement school-based efforts to prevent alcohol and other drug use among youth, and to encourage schools to become more involved in program development and implementation. It seeks to clear up some of the confusion over what constitutes a program of alternative activities and what its goals should be, to improve understanding of the potential value of this approach, and to recommend promising strategies for improving the effectiveness of these activities in preventing and reducing use of alcohol and …

Community, Neighborhood And Family In Ancient Athens And Modern Philadelphia, Ralph M. Rosen

Higher Education

I am delighted to submit to you my report on the freshman seminar which I offered this past semester, Community, Neighborhood, and Family in Ancient Athens and Modern Philadelphia (Classical Studies 125). It was, indeed, an extremely rewarding experience for me, and I am quite certain that the students in the class found it so as well.

As you know, although I had a number of related objectives in running this course, overall I was concerned to see whether I could make students feel that the study of antiquity is as relevant to our contemporary world as I have always …

Roles For Higher Education: A Resource Guide, National And Community Service

Higher Education

Thank you for your interest in the Corporation for National and Community Service's grant programs. Together with the AmeriCorps and Learn and Serve America: Higher Education grant applications, the Corporation's "Principles for High Quality National Service Programs," and the tape of the Corporation's video conference called "National and Community Service: Roles for Higher Education," this resource guide should provide you with a clear understanding of the Corporation's purpose and programs. In this guide you will find the following: National and Community Service: Opportunities for Higher Education; Questions & Answers; Campus-Based Programs: Tips for Proposal Development; Service-Learning: An Overview; Resource List; …

The Effect Of Community Service Work On The Moral Development Of College Ethics Students., Judith A. Boss

Higher Education

A study designed to test the effect of community service work on college ethics students found that community service work along with discussion of relevant moral issues is an effective means of moving students into the post-conventional stage of principled moral reasoning, as measured by Rest's Defining Issues Test. Other benefits of community service work are also discussed in the paper.

Making A Difference? Student Volunteerism, Service Learning And Higher Education In The Usa, John Mohan

Higher Education

This paper reviews evidence concerning the recent growth of volunteerism among college students in the USA. It describes the various pressures to expand such activities and outlines steps being taken to promote them. Reforms of student financial aid can be used to facilitate service among students who would otherwise have to engage in substantial paid work to afford education, while educational institutions are taking numerous steps, most notably through integrating community service and academic study, to promote such involvement. The more general issues raised by all this are: the likely impacts on servers and served of this activity; whether education-based …

Agency And Community College Leadership Development: Social Science Internships, John Stuart Erwin

Higher Education

When Tracie Huls, a 21-year-old sophomore at Illinois Valley Community College, learned about dysfunctional families the example did not come from a sociology textbook. Huls observed a children's support group at a shelter for battered women operated by Alternatives to Domestic Violence. She volunteered there for a short time through Illinois Valley Community College's internship program.

"One of the children in the group told me her father had died in a fire. I told a staff member at the shelter. The staff member explained that the father was not dead, but that the child was coping with the parents' divorce …

Review Of Research And Evaluation On Service Learning In Public And Higher Education, Richard J. Kraft, James Krug

Higher Education

While service-learning, community service and volunteer programs have been a part of schools and colleges in the United States for decades and there have been a range of research and evaluation studies, there is a general lack of solid evidence on its effects. One of the major difficulties in evaluating or researching service learning programs is the lack of agreement on what is meant by the term and exactly what it is meant to accomplish. While some programs emphasize social growth, character development or civic responsibility, others attempt to study psychological development and effects of program.s on self-concept. Moral judgment …

Undecided/Undeclared: Working With "Deciding" Students, Robert M. Mcdaniels, Jennifer K. Carter, Cynthia K. Carter, Karin I. Candrl, Anna M. Wieberg

Higher Education

Nationally, it is estimated that 77 percent of all freshmen and sophomores are in the process of deciding on an academic major (Rayman, 1993). The student body at University of Missouri - Columbia (MU) is no exception. In addition, a number of students have chosen majors, but for the wrong reasons: "My parents want me to be a . . .", "I must have a major in order to get good academic advising . . .", "I have to choose a major or I can't register . . .", "Everyone else has a major . . .", etc. These negative …

The Participatory Action Research Model, University Of Pennsylvania Center For Community Partnerships

Partnerships/Community

From the Office of the President to the dormitories of first-year students, there is a strong commitment to community service at the University of Pennsylvania. The Center for Community Partnerships serves as Penn's bridge to the community by channeling the idealism, skills, and abilities of Penn faculty, staff, and students and the resources of the University to help improve the quality of life in our city and neighborhoods. Since 1992, the Center for Community Partnerships has been the cornerstone of community service efforts at Penn. Building upon the University's strong foundation of community-based programs and drawing upon Benjamin Franklin's legacy …

Placement Services In Today's Economy, Jennifer K. Carter

Higher Education

To fully understand placement issues at the University of Missouri-Columbia (MU) one must realize that career services functions are decentralized. MU has eight individual career services offices that focus on issues related to careers, primarily for juniors and seniors. These career services are supported by the following schools: Business & Public Administration; Engineering; Education; Human and Environmental Sciences; Library Science; Agriculture, Food and Natural Resources; Law; and Journalism. This structure leaves Arts and Sciences students and freshmen and sophomore students, as well as deciding students to be served by the Career Center (CPPC). To develop and encourage open communication between …

Needs Assessment For The Learn And Serve America Program, L. Richard Bradley

Service Learning, General

In almost every community there are a wide range of agencies which seek to address what are commonly understand to be "the needs of the community." Activities range from caring for the environment to ongoing assistance to those with various disabilities to the more temporary needs for food, shelter, and housing for those whose lives may be in transition due to job loss or change or change in marital status. Yet in spite of the commitment of the dedicated people associated with these agencies, most agency directors and community leaders agree that the needs usually outstrip available resources.

To fill …

White Paper On National Service, Stephen R. Mullen

Service Learning, General

President Clinton unveiled his vision of National Service in a speech at Rutgers University on March 1, 1993. It was a watershed moment in the resurgence of volunteerism and community service. This resurgence began about a decade ago, to highlight the need to appreciate our nation's and our communities' most valuable resource - its people. People from diverse agencies and organizations coalesced to ensure our nation's future by teaching the service or volunteer ethic to our youth. The intended purpose was to provide opportunities for young people to contribute to the development of their communities and give appreciation and understanding …

What Do We Know About The Impact Of Field Based Programs On Students?, Janet Eyler, Dwight Giles Jr.

Higher Education

The literature on field based education programs for undergraduates is voluminous, but surprisingly unhelpful in answering the most important question of all, "What difference does it make in the lives of students?" In this presentation we have focused on this largely unanswered question, first (1) examining the goals commonly held for such field experiential approaches as cooperative education, academic internships, field components of classes, and service learning then (2) discussing evidence for impact on students and finally (3) identifying critical gaps in our knowledge of how these programs affect students.

Community Service Promotes, Marlow Ediger

School K-12

School and society are interwoven. not separate entities. Therefore, the goats of schools should be integrated with those of the surrounding community and society as a whole. Middle school student service helps integrate those goals.

Service Learning Belongs, Allen Wutzdorff

Higher Education

he field of service learning is rapidly coming in from the margins of education as we move into the 1990s. Across the country, students and faculty alike are examining the learning potential of what is already a socially positive force. This growth is not unlike the growth of college internship programs in the 1970s and '80s, where increasing numbers of college students majoring in disciplines not traditionally associated with "experiential learning" were given the opportunities to test out and apply their knowledge and abilities in work settings. An important result of this move into the "real world" was, of course, …

Looking For Help Long Overdue: Where Has Higher Education Been?, Robert Wood

Higher Education

For more than a decade, the American public has carped and complained about the condition of American education. Some have gone so far as to wring their hands over the apparent futility of reform efforts. Overall, the nation has found the state of its public elementary and secondary education unacceptable. It has especially lamented the tragic condition of urban public schools, yet it docs not seem to know what to do about it.

Developing Community Partnerships Through Service Learning Programs, Jay Cooper

Partnerships/Community

Community service programs have existed on college campuses for years but did not fully emerge as they have during the past 10 years. More than 700 volunteer programs exist at colleges and universities throughout the country (Fioerchinger, 1991). National organizations such as the Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL), the Campus Compact, and the National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) have served to stimulate and firmly establish service learning as a movement and an educational priority in this country. In addition to the emergence of college service programs and national organizations, programs such as the National Student Clean-up for Hunger, Into …

Culture For Service, James P. Brawley, William H. Denton, Beryl Mitchell

Higher Education

Community Service Learning promotes active citizenship and addresses community needs through youth service. It is an educational process which involves young people in their own learning as they give valuable service to the community. Research has shown that numerous benefits accrue from the practice of service learning. Students' level of social responsibility increases, their critical thinking skills improve, and they become more competent in their subject matter. Teachers are able to combine instruction with real-world experiences. Educational institutions are able to link significant academic concerns with major community problems and improve community relationships.

The Service-Learning Scholars Program At The Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, Irene Fisher, Linda Bonar

Higher Education

The creation of the Service-Learning Scholars Program (SLSP) represents the culmination of five years of experiential learning in the University of Utah's Lowell Bennion Community Service Center. The initiation of this program also signals the beginning of the second major growth stage in the integration of community service into the mainstream of this major state university.

Teaming Up At Ucla: A Report To The Campus Outreach Opportunity League, Robert D. Shumer, Parvin Kassaie

Higher Education

Do community service. This has been the charge of reports on post-secondary education for the past several years. From the Carnegie report (College: The Undergraduate Experience in Higher Education, 1987) to the passage of "human corps" legislation in California, efforts have been undertaken to expand the number of college students involved in service. Yet students have always done service. Boy Scouts, Key Clubs, Red Cross, fraternities and sororities, undergraduate student projects for the homeless, hungry, and illiterate have .been outlets for service for years. While so many service programs already exist, the real issue is: how do we get a …

Community Colleges: School Community Relationships, David Deckelbaum

Higher Education

The community college functions of community service and continuing education persistently tie the colleges' goals and objectives to their surrounding communities. The community colleges have an opportunity to invest in their own future by embracing and nurturing their relationship with the community. This fostering of an enhanced school- community connection occurs when the colleges involve themselves in the educational, cultural, recreational, and social services of the community. The economic and business links to the community must be strengthened where they already exist and new programs promoted with an eye toward mutually beneficial endeavors.

Challenging College Students' Assumptions About Community Service Tutoring, Jodi L. Borstein

Higher Education

Many adults view community service as a wonderful idea that college students should want to do-or be required to do-as part of their education; yet few have asked why students volunteer for community service. Policymakers and education reformers see student involvement as a way for students to give back to their communities while attending higher education institutions. More than 1,700 tutoring or mentoring programs for at-risk youth are currently operating in institutions of higher education across the country (Tierney & Branch, 1992, p. 1).

Students Teaching Students: A Model For Service And Study, Peter W. Dillon, Robyn Van Riper

Higher Education

When students teach each other, something magic happens. Professors and teachers alike spend much of their time trying to create connecting moments of inspiration when new ideas light up a student's face (Duckworth, 1987). At LEAD USA, a non-profit organization in Williamstown, Massacl1usetts, we have found a way to increase the likelihood of these moments of enlightenment. We call it Students Teaching Students (STS). Students Teaching Students is an innovative curricular model in the tradition of John Dewey and Paulo Freire that provides college students with opportunities to design and teach their own courses for full academic credit.

Models Of Service And Civic Education: An Occasional Paper Of The Project On Integrating Service And Academic Study, Keith Morton

Higher Education

Citizenship education is generally recognized as the primary reason for supporting service-learning on college campuses. Assumptions about citizenship affect how programs and curricula are structured. An analysis of programs around the country identified four sets of "core assumptions" about civic education that inform service-learning courses and programs. This paper is intended to be useful to faculty designing service-learning courses and to those who want to make explicit multiple frameworks for understanding service experiences.

Tackling Society's Problems In English Class, Jim Burke

Special Topics, General

A high school teacher's impromptu unit on "Social Problems" gave his students an opportunity to develop their writing skills while expanding their concept of community.

Using Csl With Special Education And Reading Resource Students, Barbara Carter Ellis

School K-12

During 1992, as my students and myself created a community service learning opportunity, we were introduced to the fun of researching statistics, to developing our problem-solving skills and to the complexities of geography. But most of all we, as a team, learned ways to improve the ways in which we worked with each other in small groups, in our classrooms and in our community.

"Connections" Volunteer Centers And Schools: Partners For Service-Learning, Volunteer Centers Of Pennsylvania

Partnerships/Community

As interest in school improvement has become an increasingly salient national issue in the 1990's, interest in community service and service-learning as an integral part of education and educational improvement has shown a similar increase. In Pennsylvania, the proportion of school districts offering academic credit for community service has grown from 5% in 1989 to 20% in 1992; the number of school districts requiring community service for graduation has grown from one to seven. A series of national studies and reports including the Carnegie Commission's 'Turning Points," the W. T. Grant Commission's "Forgotten Half," and Dr. Ernest Boyer's influential books.High …

The Domestic Volunteer Service Act Of 1973 (As Of October 1, 1993), U.S. Government

Service Learning, General

(a) Because of the long-standing importance of volunteerism throughout American history, it is the policy of the Congress to foster the tradition of volunteerism through greater involvement on the part of individuals of all ages and backgrounds.

(b) The purpose of this chapter is to foster and expand voluntary citizen service in communities throughout the Nation in activities designed to help the poor, the disadvantaged, the vulnerable, and the elderly. In carrying out this purpose, the Corporation for National and Community Service shall utilize to the fullest extent the programs authorized under this chapter, coordinate with other Federal, State, and …

Clarifying And Measuring Community, Service, And Citizenship, Rutgers University

Service Learning, General

The working group met for the first time at Rutgers University November 22 to 24, 1992 for critical discussions of issues concerning community, service, and learning in the context of education-based service learning programs. The working group's 31 members included representatives from universities, service organizations, foundations, and community activists. Participants worked closely over the two days, meeting in three discreet sessions dedicated specifically to the theory of community and citizenship, the practice of service-based learning, and--with particular reference to service learning-- the measurement of civic outcomes.