Service Learning Commons^™

20 Exemplary Service-Learning Projects, Chicago Public Schools Service-Learning Initiative

Project Summaries

In 1998, Chicago Public Schools became the largest school district in the country to require that students do service to their community as a graduation requirement. Since that time, hundreds of thousands of students have provided millions of hours of service to Chicago's neighborhoods and communities.

Learn And Serve America Year (3 Progress Report For Period Of September 6,2008 - June 30, 2009), Learn And Serve America

Project Summaries

At the end of Year 3, there were a total of 1,748 economically disadvantaged youth beneficiaries and 502 college students who were served through the LSA supported activities as reported through our LASSIE data. These figures both exceed our annual targets. Our cumulative figures to date are as follows: Disadvantaged youth beneficiaries, Year 1: 1334 and Year 2: 1775 and Year 3: 1748 for a total of 4857.

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.

"From Troubled Ground To Common Ground": The Locust Grove African- American Cemetery Restoration Project: A Case Study Of Service-Learning And Community History, Steven B. Burg

Project Summaries

This article chronicles a movement to restore Shippensburg, Pennsylvania's Locust Grove Cemetery, a historic African-American burial ground. The cemetery faced persistent troubles exacerbated by changing demographics in the surrounding neighborhood, its caretakers' limited resources, and the community's history of racial discrimination. Beginning in 2003, Shippensburg University applied history students assisted with research, grant writing, and interpretative materials. By 2005, a community coalition formed that built on the students' efforts, ultimately mobilizing the resources needed to finish the restoration. This case study illustrates the complex dynamics of a community preservation campaign and ways Public History programs can support such efforts.

A Tobacco-Free Service-Learning Pilot Project, Sherry Bassi, Janet Cray, Lois Caldrello

Higher Education

This pilot project was a collaboration between a public university school of nursing in New England and an elementary school in southeastern Connecticut, with 450 student participants. The school was selected because of the presence of poverty, health disparities, and single-parent homes in the population. Eighteen nursing students participated as part of a service-learning project. The nursing students provided tobacco-use education. Fourth and fifth grade students were taught components of the pro-health tobacco education program, the Tar Wars curriculum. Other age-appropriate strategies targeted grades pre-kindergarten through 3. One hundred percent of fourth and fifth grade students achieved the learning objectives; …

Service Statistics 2008: Highlights And Trends From Campus Compact’S Annual Membership Survey, Campus Compact

Higher Education

The following pages summarize the findings of Campus Compact’s survey of member colleges and universities. This survey is conducted each year to gauge various measures of campus-community engagement and to assess current trends. Of the 1,190 Campus Compact members in 2008, 627 responded to the survey, a response rate of 53%.

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,

Strategies For Becoming A Nation Of Service, Servicenation

School K-12

Strategies for Becoming a Nation of Service represents a vision, endorsed by more than 110 ServiceNation coalition members, to unleash the energy of citizens on our most pressing social challenges by strengthening and increasing community and national service opportunities. This policy agenda proposes meaningful opportunities for service at every key life stage, and for every socioeconomic group, from kindergarten through the post-retirement years. These proposals will help instill a culture of service at an early age and provide opportunities for Americans to continue serving throughout their lifetimes. The policy proposals aim to make service a defining ethic of what it …

University-Community Engagement: What Does It Mean?, Jenny Onyx

Partnerships/Community

I want to reflect on the nature of Community-University engagement, its role, challenges and achievements. In this I start with 'engagement' and what that might mean in the context of a university-based research centre. There are, of course, many forms of engagement, but I wish to focus specifically on engagement as coproduction of knowledge. In this, our partner in the co-production of knowledge is the community, or rather civil society. I re-examine the nature of community, and the role of civil society in today's society. The article then outlines one significant research programme that emerged from the work of a …

Doing What We Know We Should: Engaged Scholarship And Community Development, Bruce Muirhead, Geoff Woolcock

Partnerships/Community

Community Engagement has become a familiar term in the Australian higher education lexicon in recent years. Professor Sir David Watson (2007, p. 1) from the University of London claims that now 'hardly any university, anywhere in the world, would dare not to have a civic engagement mission. The question is: how real, and how effective are these?'. A vital strategy to building and sustaining democracy lies in the unique constellation of intellectual, social and financial capital existing within the modern university. The key lies in the expertise embodied within the university, the socialisation role of mass higher education and the …

Just Forms, Brevard Community College

Curriculum

This document includes: Assessment, Community Partner Forms, Credit Hour, Employee Service Project (ESP), Faculty, Marketing, Recognition, Student, and Assessment.

Spirit Of Giving Teacher Resource Guide, Volunteer Center Orange County

Curriculum

Spirit of Giving is a non-denominational, multi-faceted Service-Learning experience that will provide your 1st and 2nd year students with the unique opportunity of "feeling the joy and elation of receiving" that translates into the spirit of volunteerism and giving back to others. This project will enhance and support academic curriculum.

Community-University Partnerships: Achieving Continuity In The Face Of Change, Linda Silka, Robert Forrant, Brenda Bond, Patricia Coffey, Robin Toof, Dan Toomey, David Turcotte, Cheryl West

Partnerships/Community

A challenge most community-university partnerships will face after having established themselves is how to maintain continuity in the face of change. The problems besetting communities continually shift as new issues bubble up. Similarly, the goals of the university partners often fluctuate. And the partners themselves shift: people working in non-government organizations often move in and out of positions and university partners may change with tenure or shifts in university priorities. In light of all of this flux, can stable community-university partnerships be built and, if so, how?

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 …

Factors Influencing Faculty Members' Motivation In Integrating Service-Learning Into Their Syllabi, Bonnie Finsley Satterfield

Higher Education

The purpose of this presentation is to share the results of a study which was conducted in 2006-2007 for a dissertation titled "Factors Influencing Faculty Members' Motivation in Integrating Service-Learning into Their Syllabi." Four research questions were addressed in this study: 1.) What are the factors which motivate faculty to integrate service-learning into their courses? 2.) Are student learning outcomes a significant motivator to faculty for including service-learning their courses? 3.) Can prior knowledge and research in service-learning be communicated to the studied faculty in such a way to engage their participation? 4.) What characterizes faculty who have incorporated service-learning …

Preparing Students For Lives Of Responsible Citizenship: A Higher Education Civic Blueprint For The State Of New Jersey, Andrew P. Frederick

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

This thesis develops a working civic education blueprint for New Jersey's public colleges and universities and proposes concrete steps the State, particularly the governor and the Commission on Higher Education, can take to support their efforts. Civic education must be strategically integrated into the campus culture, the co-curriculum, and most importantly, the curriculum of higher education institutions hope to foster an ethic of service that diffuses across campus and reaches all students. Two overriding objectives should guide higher education in its civic mission: 1) providing students with multiple pathways, both curricular and co-curricular, that support their development as citizens across …

Reflection In Service Learning, Glenn Bowen

Evaluation/Reflection

Reflection describes the process of deriving meaning and knowledge from experience and occurs before, during, and after a service-learning project. Effective reflection engages both faculty and students in a thoughtful and thought-provoking process that consciously connects learning with experience. It is the use of critical-thinking skills to prepare for and learn from service experiences. (Glossary, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse)

Being In Another World: Transcultural Student Experiences Using Service Learning With Families Who Are Homeless, Roberta J. Hunt, Paula Swiggum

Special Topics, General

Developing skills in cultural competence is a recognized theoretical strategy in schools of nursing. Nursing faculty know that students need to be sensitized to the concept of diversity; however, many are struggling with the best way to teach cultural competence. This article describes transcultural experiences from service learning clinical rotations at a family homeless shelter, described by students as being in another world. Student narratives provide valuable information about structuring clinical learning activities to promote understanding of cultural differences and similarities. Clinical experiences using a traditional model versus those using service learning, the role of reflection, and teaching strategies promoting …

Community Voices: A California Campus Compact Study On Partnerships (Executive Summary), Marie Sandy

Higher Education

This study grew out of a conversation among service-learning practitioners at a retreat hosted by California Campus Compact. “What do our community partners think about service-learning? We think they are benefiting, but how do we know? Why do they choose to partner with us in the first place?” While reciprocity of benefits for the community has long been an intended hallmark of service-learning practice (e.g., Ferrari & Chapman, 1999; Honnet & Poulsen, 1989, Sigmon, 1979, Waterman, 1997), service-learning practitioners often do not know if, when and how this is achieved.

Community Voices: A California Campus Compact Study On Partnerships (Final Report), Marie Sandy

Higher Education

This study grew out of a conversation among service-learning practitioners at a retreat hosted by California Campus Compact. “What do our community partners think about service-learning? We think they are benefiting, but how do we know? Why do they choose to partner with us in the first place?” While reciprocity of benefits for the community has long been an intended hallmark of service-learning practice (Ferrari & Chapman, 1999; Honnet & Poulsen, 1989; Keith, 1998; Sigmon, 1979, Waterman, 1997), service-learning practitioners often do not know if, when and how this is achieved. To help its member campuses begin to answer these …

Community Voices: A California Campus Compact Study On Partnerships - Executive Summary, Marie Sandy

Partnerships/Community

This study grew out of a conversation among service-learning practitioners at a retreat hosted by California Campus Compact. "What do our community partners think about service-learning? We think they are benefiting. but how do we know? Why do they choose to partner with us in the first place?" While reciprocity of benefits for the conmmunity has long been an intended hallmark of service-learning practice (c.g .. Ferrari & Chapman, 1999; Honnet & Poulsen, 1989, Sigmon, 1979, Waterman, 1997), service-learning practitioners often do not know if, when and how this is achieved.

Brief 20: Graduate Education And Civic Engagement, Kerryann O’Meara

New England Resource Center for Higher Education Publications

Across the country, new attention is being paid to graduate education and civic engagement (Applegate, 2002; Bloomfield, 2006). For decades college campuses have worked diligently to connect undergraduate academic study with public service in order to enhance learning and meet community needs, a connection often referred to as service-learning or civic engagement. Given that over 1,000 institutions have joined Campus Compact, a national organization of college presidents and institutions committed to this work (www.campuscompact.org), the widespread success of the service-learning movement is undeniable. As a further testament, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching now has a classification focused …

Linking Community Service, Learning, And Enviromental Analytical Chemistry, Joesph A. Gardella Jr., Tammy M. Milillo, Gaurav Sinha, Gunwah Oh, David C. Manns, Eleanor Coffey

Higher Education

In 1994, during a tour of the then-new natural sciences building- a $43 million teaching and research complex fully equipped with the latest in technology and instrumentation for chemistry and geology courses-a member of the Buffalo Public Schools Board of Education asked, "How can the community [that paid for it] have access to this teaching and research equipment?" That question triggered the effort reported here - a program to better link teaching and research to community service.

Improving The Human Condition: Leadership For Justice-Oriented Service-Learning, Marilynne Boyle-Baise, Betty Bridgewaters, Leslie Brinson, Nancy Hiestand, Beverly Johnson, Pat Wilson

Diversity

The Banneker History Project (BHP) reconstructed the history of the Benjamin Banneker School, which operated as a segregated school for African Americans from 1915 to 1951. It was a project in social justice education with community service as its base. Here, the authors provide an insider perspective of group dynamics among core leaders for the BHP. Building relationships, working for social justice, and confronting racism are key themes for the group. Leaders recall moments of discomfort, particularly related to issues of race and racism, and describe ways they worked through them. Based on their wisdom of practice, authors offer suggestions …

Community Service Learning: Tenth Anniversary Edition, California State University

Higher Education

Beginning in the 1990s, the CSU started to recognize the power of service learning as a vehicle that would meet the state's changing educational needs while also imparting vital civic skills and knowledge. In the past decade, service learning has become a widely accepted and effective way of enhancing the in-class academic experiences of students with the real-world, out-of-class benefits of serving the community.

2007 Service Statistics: Highlights And Trends Of Campus Compact’S Annual Membership Survey, Campus Compact

Higher Education

Campus Compact’s latest annual member survey reveals strong campus commitment to service and civic engagement. Nearly one-third of students on member campuses participated in campus-organized service and service-learning projects during the 2006–2007 academic year, contributing $7 billion in services to their communities. At an average of 5 hours per week, students are increasingly committed to community work.

Justice-Learning: Service-Learning As Justice-Oriented Education, Dan W. Butin

Special Topics, General

"Justice-learning" lies at the intersection of service-learning and social justice education. Specifically, I argue for a distinctive form of community-based learning ("antifoundational service-learning") that fosters a justice-oriented framework ("anti-anti-social justice") that makes possible the questioning and disruption of unexamined and all too often oppressive binaries of how we view the struggle toward equity in education. The linkage of service-learning and social justice education in this manner offers a "weak overcoming" that strengthens experiential learning toward justice while avoiding the dilution and radicalization faced by both movements. I, thus, trace the linkages between service-learning and social justice education; explicate the potential …

We Know It's Service, But What Are They Learning? Preservice Teachers' Understandings Of Diversity, Courtney A. Bell, Brian R. Horn, Kevin C. Roxas

Diversity

A great deal of research on multiculturalism looks at different approaches to multicultural education and visions of multicultural teaching and learning. Though some research theorizes about how preservice teachers might learn about race or gender, there is very little work that helps teacher educators understand what learning about diversity more broadly, might look like. This study uses the conceptual framework developed by Paine to raise questions about and illuminate differences in the learning outcomes of preservice teachers who participated in two similar yet notably different service-learning experiences. Through examinations of writing tasks we find that teacher learning did indeed depend …

An American Mosaic: Service Learning Stories, Carol Lester, Gail Robinson

Higher Education

The goals of Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, supported by the Learn and Serve America program of the Corporation for National and Community Service and administered by the American Association of Community Colleges, are to build on established foundations to integrate service learning into the institutional climate of community colleges and to increase the number, quality, and sustainability of service learning programs in colleges nationwide.

Service learning combines community service with classroom instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking as well as personal and civic responsibility. Service learning programs involve students in activities that address local needs while developing …

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.