Service Learning Commons^™

An Immersive Placements And Moral Growth At Barretstown: Integrating A Transformative Framework With Preservice Teachers In Marianist Teacher Education, Jeremy R. Mills, Annie Chiles, Caroline Miller, Lauren Windsor

Thomas C. Hunt Building a Research Community Day

This study examines how immersive experiential learning at Barretstown, a therapeutic camp in Ireland, nurtures intellectual, ethical, and spiritual growth in preservice teachers. Framed by William James’ four characteristics of mystical experience — ineffability, noetic quality, transiency, and passivity — and grounded in the Marianist philosophy of education, the research employs a qualitative, phenomenological design. Reflective narratives from three teacher candidates were thematically coded, revealing transformative experiences marked by ineffable joy, revelatory insight, enduring impact, and openness to grace. Findings suggest that experiential learning integrated with spiritual and communal formation cultivates educators grounded in empathy, moral awareness, and authentic presence.

Preparing Future Educators: Using Service-Learning In Mathematics Courses For Prospective K-12 Teachers, Sayonita Ghosh Hajra, Brianna Davis, Jose Alanis, James Tokunaga

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Although experiential learning is widely recognized for its benefits, its implementation in content-focused mathematics courses for prospective teachers remains limited. To address this gap, this paper explores the integration of service-learning into three distinct mathematics courses for prospective teachers, detailing how it was implemented in each course. Results highlight opportunities for learning, particularly in developing agency, a sense of belonging, competence, and enriched experience among prospective teachers.

Building Community One Structure At A Time: A Partnership Between Social Work And Landscape Architecture Students, Kenya M. Cistrunk, Elizabeth P. Tofte, Juriel A. Rogers

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Experiential learning is invaluable when promoting interdisciplinary approaches to teaching complex issues. This article reports on a five-week collaboration between undergraduate stu-dents in social work and landscape architecture courses, project impetus being a common-reading text. Students (n=54) constructed three-dimensional models of children’s playgrounds and prepared academic posters describing restorative interventions based on their service-learning experiences with community partners. Projects were displayed at university-sponsored workshops. Participation in common reading programs has promising implications for interdis-ciplinary collaboration.

Community-Engaged Learning In Liberal Arts Colleges: Developing Engaged Citizens, Vicki L. Baker, Carrie Booth Walling

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Employing an institutional case study approach, this manuscript features two high-impact learning opportunities open to Albion College students who seek to contribute to solving real-world problems in collaboration with local and surrounding communities: Albion College Community Collaborative (AC3) and Human Rights Lab. The programmatic approach to community-engaged partnerships featured sought to elevate local knowledge, promote engaged citizenship, and advance social, political, and economic change. We describe each program followed by lessons learned and critical considerations to advance the field and to inform the work of others seeking to employ a programmatic approach.

Utility Of The Global Engagement Survey (Ges) To Quantitatively Evaluate A Unique Undergraduate Community-Based Global Learning Program, Mathew H. Gendle, Amanda Tapler

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

In this preliminary study, the Global Engagement Survey (GES) was used to assess developmental outcomes in undergraduate students enrolled in a multi-year community-based global learning program. Statistically significant growth was observed on the Civic Efficacy (CE) scale of the GES (p = 0.01). The GES appears to have significant utility in the quantitative assessment of undergraduate community-based global learning programs, even when small sample sizes and pretest ceiling effects exist.

Impact Of Service Learning On Personal, Social, And Academic Development Of Community Nutrition Students, Kritika Gupta, Blake Grove, Georgianna Mann

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Service learning connects theoretical knowledge to community settings. Reflective journals were used to document student service-learning experiences in a Community Nutrition course component. Reflective journal data obtained from students (n=137) during different semesters were analyzed qualitatively. The service-learning partners included Nutrition Education, Food Provision, and Local Food sites. Positive impacts were noted on personal, social, and academic development of students for all sites. Service-learning assignments can impart transferrable skills and enhance student development.

Graduate And Undergraduate Student Development As A Result Of Participation In A Grief Education Service Learning Course, Laura S. Wheat, Arden Szepe, Nathan B. West, Melinda M. Gibbons

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Limited research exists on the role service learning can play in helping students understand loss and grief. Through semi-structured interviews with students and instructors, online surveys, and course feedback, this qualitative case study examined the experiences of 15 university students in an outreach course working with grieving K-12 students. Students self-reported gaining greater intra- and interpersonal understanding and grief processing self-efficacy. Instructors emphasized intentionality and the intertwined nature of course experiences influencing meaning making.

Enhancing Learning, Changing The World: How Service-Learning Influences The Brain, Tracey Honeycutt Sigler, Kristi Lewis Tyran

Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education

Service-learning helps students learn about course concepts through applying them in a setting outside the classroom. The experiences provided by service-learning create conditions that can lead to changes in the learner’s brain. In this paper, we provide support for this assertion from research in brain-based learning with suggestions of how to explicitly apply concepts from these areas of study to service-learning pedagogy so that we might increase learning.

Medium To Long Term Impacts On Former Participants Of The Shoulder To Shoulder Global Brigades To Ecuador, Craig Borie

Theses and Dissertations--Community & Leadership Development

Medium to Long Term Impacts on Former Participants of the Shoulder to Shoulder Global Brigades to Ecuador. International service learning and voluntourism programs in global health evoke benefits for both community and the intervener. While it is clear that the Shoulder to Shoulder Global program at the University of Kentucky provides a service to an economically resource poor community in Santo Domingo, Ecuador, what is unclear is the impact these interprofessional experiences have on the participants that travel with the four times a year health brigades. This study proposes to answer the question of what are the educational, personal and …

An Exploration Of Volunteer Experiences For Third Level Students In Ireland From A Student Volunteer And Volunteer Manager Perspective., Caitriona Mcgrattan

Dissertations

Since the establishment of Campus Engage in 2007, student volunteering and student-led activities have received more attention on a national scale. Despite this, the area remains under researched; to date there has been no nationwide review of student volunteerism. This research aimed to explore the volunteer experiences of third level students across in a number of Higher Education Institutions in Ireland. For this qualitative study, in-depth interviews were carried out with five student volunteers and three volunteer managers across a spectrum of voluntary activity. The participants were asked to discuss their personal experiences and perceptions of student volunteering. The findings …

A Critical Assessment Of Spu’S Urban Plunge: A Proposal For The John Perkins Center, Scott D. Jackson

Honors Projects

This paper is written as an organizational report on the Urban Plunge Program for consideration by the John Perkins Center at Seattle Pacific University. I review Urban Plunge offering a critique and recommendations for re-imagining the program in its future development. I argue that the program needs to be clearly defined as an educational program, grounded in a conceptual framework, given a clarified and expanded mission, and guided by informed curriculum. Beyond critique, I create a proposal for programmatic content and organization to meet these identified needs.

Ua23 Newsletter, September 2010: Progression Through Partnerships, Alive Center, Western Kentucky University, Aurelia Spaulding

ALIVE Center Publications

No abstract provided.

The Benefits Of Service Learning In A Down-Turned Economy, Theodore Peters, Mary Ann Mchugh, Patricia Sendall

Management Faculty Publications

With businesses struggling for resources during economic downturns, traditional business student internships were becoming more difficult to develop. One business school extended its experiential learning opportunities with specific management projects in community small business, healthcare, education, and non-profit organizations. The on-campus service learning center provided project development, logistical support, and assessment for forty-five business students to participate in 38 on-site, Human Resource Management projects. Means and standard deviations for self-report, end-of-semester surveys were determined for six Likert-scale items that measured the students? satisfaction with the project experience, and percentages were calculated of students who indicated specific personal and intellectual benefits …

The Legitimacy Of Experiential Learning In Research Universities, Angela E. Schmiede

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

The goal of this historical and exploratory study was to describe and analyze the spread and legitimacy of experiential learning to and within Cornell University and Stanford University. Using an institutional and political framework, this analysis focused on understanding how elements of legitimacy from the academy, the experiential learning field and the external environment intersected to shape the diffusion, forms and purposes of experiential learning within Cornell and Stanford. The constructions of legitimacy within these three different contexts shifted over time, influencing the extent to which experiential learning was adopted; and once adopted, the extent to which it was adapted, …

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.

Service Learning: Information, Examples, And Advantages, Nicholas P. Varien

Honors Capstones

Capstone submitted as a graduation requirement for the BSU Honors Program.

Integrating Service-Learning Into Watershed Management Programs: Opportunities And Challenges, Tamim Younos, Raymond De Leon, Christine Lewicki

Special Topics, General

The objective of this article is to open a dialogue on integrating service-learning into community based watershed management programs and to discuss opportunities and challenges that a service-learning program presents to universities and communities. The article presents the concept and definition of service-learning, and arguments concerning why institutions of higher education and university faculty and students should be involved with community based watershed management programs.

Service Learning In Preschool: An Intergenerational Project Involving Five-Y Ear-Olds, Fifth Graders, And Senior Citizens, Nancy K. Freeman, Sherry King

Intergenerational

Service Learning is a powerful form of experiential pedagogy that is gaining popularity in classrooms from preprimary settings through graduate school. It involves students in activities that explicitly and intentionally integrate community involvement with appropriate academic objectives. This article describes an intergenerational service learning project that brought together preschoolers, golden-agers, and at-risk elementary-aged students. Lunch Time Book Buddies-Pass It On included both direct service and indirect service and made valuable contributions to young children's developing literacy, social-emotional, physical, and cognitive abilities.

Evaluating Experiential Teaching Methods In A Policy Practice Course: The Case For Service Learning To Increase Political Participation, Cynthia J. Rocha

Higher Education

This study compares the effects of experiential learning on policy-related values, competency, and activity levels of two groups of recent MSW graduates from one university. The study group received experiential service learning in the MSW program, primarily in an advanced policy course, while the comparison group did not. The author explains experiential teaching and service learning methods, as well the activities included in the policy course. Results indicate that both groups placed a high value on political skills. However, the experiential group was significantly more likely to perceive themselves as competent policy practitioners and to perform policy-related activities after graduation.

Applying Theory To Community Service: A Boyeristic Model, Lyle Flint

Service Learning, General

In 1994 fifty faculty members, representing various departments and colleges at Ball State University, met and, for several days, discussed Boyer's (1990), Scholarship Reconsidered The result of these discussions was, A Different Dawn, a proposal seeking a reconsideration of the traditional lines of scholarly productivity. While a full implementation of Boyer's model has not yet appeared in governance documentation, particularly promotion and tenure documentation, at Ball State it has been embraced by the administration and by a large number of the faculty. Central to Boyer's model is the call for service to the community outside of the academy.

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.

Learning Adventures Middle School: Guidebook For Our Expedition Of December 1998, Learning Adventures Middle School

Project Summaries

This guide follows our expedition of December 1998, as we all worked together to make our floor reflect the values and beliefs of our program. Students created individual reports and research to help document this expedition. Portions of their writing appear here to describe our trees.

Service-Learning In South Carolina, Kathy Gibson Carter

Service Learning, General

Thousands of students across South Carolina have helped improve their communities by participating in service-learning programs while strengthening their classroom learning experiences. Service-learning is one of the work-site components of the SC School-to-Work Transition Act of 1994. This Act provides all students with opportunities to connect what they learn in school with the real world through learning experiences at a work-site. Through service-learning, students combine classroom instruction with work-based activities in a non-profit organization or community agency. Students learn valuable interpersonal skills and a strong work ethic by participating as a member of a work team with specific goals.

Effects Of Participatory Learning Programs In Middle And High School Civic Education, Simon Kim, B. Sue Parks, Marvin Beckerman

School K-12

Introduction of participatory learning program in school civic education increases student awareness and improves communication skills through active participation in community services. Citizen Education Clearing House (CECH) programs which include the election, the Missouri state government, and the metropolitan issues program, enable students to improve their basic knowledge of election procedures and awareness of youth violence. A study of students from different racial and academic backgrounds who participated in these programs, reveals that participation leads to better civic education.

Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach To Experiential Education, Andrew Furco

Service Learning, General

For over a quarter of a century, education researchers and practitioners have struggled to determine how to best characterize service-learning. In 1979, Robert Sigmon defined service-learning as an experiential education approach that is premised on "reciprocal learning" (Sigmon, 1979). He suggested that because learning flows from service activities, both those who provide service and those who receive it "learn" from the experience. In Sigmon's view, service-learning occurs only when both the providers and recipients of service benefit from the activities.

The Theoretical Roots Of Service-Learning In John Dewey: Toward A Theory Of Service-Learning, Dwight E. Giles Jr., Janet Eyler

Service Learning, General

As interest in service-learning research multiplies. there is a concomitant need fora theoretical base for service-learning. In this article the authors review aspects of John De1wy 's educational and social philosophy that they identify as relevant to the development of a theory of service-learning, including learning from experience, reflective activity, citizenship, community, and democracy. The article concludes with a set of key questions for research and theory development.

Vocational Education 5100 - Experiential Learning And Youth Development, Robert D. Shumer

Syllabi

Course objectives:

• analyze the processes by which we learn
• analyze the relationship between experience and learning
• understand the differences between traditional and progressive education
• understand the barriers/problems with experiential learning
• analyze how youth apply experience in the learning process
• understand role community-based organizations play in youth development . learn how to create a portfolio to demonstrate learning
• learn how to use journals to reflect on life experiences
• develop observation skills
• explain the relationship between experience and motivation
• understand essential elements of the experiential learning process
• evaluate the role of experience in the learning process

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 …

Reflection: At The Heart Of Experiential Learning, Robert D. Shumer

Evaluation/Reflection

Life is nothing but a series bf experiences. Many experiences pass us by, quickly forgotten. Others make an impact, for some reason, and we remember them well. How we deal with our experiences measures how much we can learn from them: whether we think or reflect on what has happened determines if an experience will be lasting and rewarding or simply slip into oblivion.

Dewey's Theory Of Experience: Implications For Service-Learning, Dwight E. Giles

Service Learning, General

Cornell’s Dwight Giles, Jr. relates John Dewey’s concept about education and experience to service-learning. Giles suggest a dialectical interaction between service and learning, which had implications for ensuring quality in service learning programs and for defining service-learning as a philosophy rather than as a type of program.