Service Learning Commons^™

Designing Meaningful Projects That Meet Community Needs, Johnny Irizarry

Special Topics, General

Taller Puertorriquefio is a community-based cultural center, located in a North Philadelphia neighborhood rich in history. Poverty has taken hold of the area as the collapse and flight of industry and work opportunities has occurred. With so many needs in our area. Taller has to make careful program choices. This is not easy when the needs are so great. In our 22-year history, our mission has been for the arts and culture to be at the core of what we do. Our guiding question in assessing community needs is "How can Taller best influence the overall well-being of the community …

A Study Of The Effects Of A Service-Learning Experience On Student Success At An Urban Community College, Judith Sheryl Berson

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

The purpose of this study was to explore the effects of a service-learning experience on student success as measured by class attendance course completion, final course grades, and end-of-term evaluation data.

Though many outcomes of service-learning experiences have been studied. including ethical values, self-esteem, student personal development, and career preparation, relatively few studies have been conducted on the effects of such experiences on academic achievement, and the studies that have been done have primarily studied students at traditional, four-year, residential universities.

Service Learning: A Step-By-Step Guide, Hoover Zariani

Guides

There are no hard and fast rules about how to create a service learning project for your class. The experience of instructors and students has helped us put together the information in this guide to help you clarify many questions and create an exciting learning tool for your students.

Building Character, Trust, And Leadership: Service Learning Offers Positive Pathways To Adulthood, Kathy Checkley

School K-12

Ebony Sandusky admits it was sheer peer pressure that initially led her to participate in her school's service learning programs. Now, she says, "community service is in my blood." Sandusky, a senior at Romulus High School in Romulus, Mich., has worked on a myriad of service projects throughout her high school years. She helped organize educational symposiums on such topics as domestic violence and multiculturalism and, most recently, led the effort to provide education about safe sex to a community concerned about the growing number of teen pregnancies and sexually transmitted diseases. "When I see something that needs changing, I …

Universities As Citizens Summer Planning Institute, Universities As Citizens Summer Planning Institute

Conference Proceedings

Table of Contents: General Information; Developing and Action Plan; Institutional Change; Resources; and Selected Readings

Welcome To The Tvi Service-Learning Program, Mary Prentice, Rudy M. Garcia

Project Summaries

We are delighted that you have agreed to participate in this exciting opportunity for TVI faculty and students to become involved in Service-Learning!

The concept of service-learning is not new, of course, but in the past decade, many higher education professionals have taken the lead in promoting this as an essential dimension of the college experience. Campus Compact, for example is a consortium of over 500 college presidents who have mandated integrating service programs into their institutions. Simultaneously, the American Association of Community Colleges has recently awarded 15 grants to community colleges to create Learn and Serve Program, to develop …

Reading Together: California Campuses And Communities Connect Through America Reads, America Reads

Project Summaries

Reading Together provides an in-depth look at how America Reads is working in California. It describes how America Reads operates in schools and communities and offers insight into what makes for strikingly successful programs.

As the data and case studies show, America Reads programs are doing great things throughout this state. Since the spring of 1998, more than 9,300 California college students have worked as America Reads tutors in more than 900 schools. Because of America Reads, almost 25,000 California elementary school children have so far received the extra help they need to learn to read and their numbers will …

Service-Learning In Health Professions Education Bibliography, Community-Campus Partnerships For Health

Bibliographies

The following list of resources will provide direction and useful information as you develop your servicelearning or community service program. Please note that some resources are listed with telephone or contact information for ordering a particular book or article. The list is not intended to be exhaustive, but reflects a compilation of materials recommended by Community-Campus Partnerships for Health. If you have a recommended resource to add to this list, please contact us at [email protected].

The Work Of Citizenship And The Problem Of Service-Learning, Harry C. Boyte, James Farr

Civic Engagement

The debates about service learning are not merely internecine squabbles between educators over methods and manners of out-of-class instruction. Or at least they don't have to be. For they reflect and are implicated in broader debates about community service and civic education more generally, as well as about citizenship, public policy, and even our understandings of American democracy and history. Take a couple of snapshots of these broader debates, now and then.

Getting Started: Growing A Service-Learning Curriculum, Kathryn E. Dewsbury-White

Curriculum

The Michigan K- 12 Service-Learning Center is a part of the School of Education at the University of Michigan. Supported in part by the Michigan Department of Education with funds from the Corporation for National Community Service and the W.K. Kellogg Foundation, the Center is dedicated to the promotion of service-learning as an effective strategy for educating young people from diverse communities.

The Center provides assistance, consultation and clearinghouse services to school districts, community organizations and universities in the state of Michigan and surrounding states in the Great Lakes region. The focus of the Center is to assist in infusing …

Massachusetts Service Alliance Site Visit Monitoring Tool, Massachusetts Service Alliance

Evaluation/Reflection

Site Visit Monitoring Tool

Popular Education: Adult Education For Social Change, Sandra Kerka

Partnerships/Community

Popular education is a form of adult education that encourages learners to examine their lives critically and take action to change social conditions. It is "popular" in the sense of being "of the people." Popular education emerged in Latin America in the 1960s-1970s; Paulo Freire is its best known exponent. However, its roots may be found in the French Revolution, in workers' education of the 1920s-1930s, and in such movements as the Highlander Folk School in Tennessee (Beder 1996; Jeria 1990). The goal of popular education is to develop "people's capacity for social change through a collective problem-solving approach emphasizing …

Third Generation Of Service-Learning Research Yields More Thorough Data, Dale A. Blyth, Peter C. Scales

Service Learning, General

The first and second generations of studies on service-learning, encompassing an era from the 1960s to the early 1990s, can be said to have consisted largely of:

1. research on experiential learning and community service in general (but not service-learning as we define it today); and

2. research conducted specifically on servicelearning programs, but having numerous methodological shortcomings.

Trends In Volunteerism, Georgean C. Johnson-Coffey

Service Learning, General

Discusses four national trends affecting volunteerism: service learning, family volunteering, influence of corporations, and welfare reform. Discusses the impact of these trends on volunteer programs within libraries. Offers examples of how library staff can utilize the skills of volunteers who are allied with these trends in order to provide high levels of quality service to library patrons.

Service Learning: What Is It? Can We Use It?, Terri Feldman Barr

Service Learning, General

I used to work for a Big Eight (now Big Six) Accounting firm. In addition to a tremendous amount of pro bono work that we did, the firm required all of its staff accountants, managers, and partners to become involved with one of the many not-for-profit organizations in the Cincinnati area.

The rationale was that each employee had an obligation to the greater community, to give something of himself or herself to others. And while I also heard that the "real" purpose of this requirement was "practice development" (translate marketing), there were certainly more likely places to network for "paying" …

Organizational Context And Young Adult Education In An Urban Service Corps, Robert A. Pence

Thesis, Dissertations, Student Creative Activity, and Scholarship

As a medium-sized, state-supported youth corps, the Wisconsin Conservation Corps (WCC) is an established institutional expression of a service corps model that has potential to address some of the educational and economic needs of marginalized young adults from "at-risk" environments. The WCC is a "second chance" work experience program that attempts to prepare 18 to 25 year-old unemployed young adults for employment or continuing education while they complete useful conservation work throughout the state. It is largely a white, male, rural-based program that maintains some crews in the black and Hispanic urban core of Milwaukee. This case study critically examines …

Internships: Academic Learning Outcomes, Regina Grantz, Marilyn Thomas

Higher Education

Proponents of experiential learning have long recognized the learning benefits students can achieve through internships, service-learning experiences, and co-ops. There are others, however, who see those experiences as "career exploration," "good for the resume," but not integral to academic learning and so, not valid for the earning of academic credit. Even if internships are viewed as a valid component of the learning cycle (Kolb), what do we expect students to learn? How do we articulate outcomes that relate to a student's discipline major or to a liberal arts curriculum? Finally, how can we assess whether a student is meeting the …

Community Service Learning As Democratic Education In South Africa And The United States, Meta Mendel-Reyes, Jeremy Weinstein

International Service Learning & Community Engagement

This paper describes the development of the first community service learning program for democratic education in South Africa. The Democracy Education Project, which is based on Swarthmore College's innovative Democracy Project, was designed and implemented by a Swanhmore College student working with a high school in a Black community near CapeTown. This case study demonstrates that the successful transposition of a model of community service learning from one country to another requires recognizing the complex relationships among history and culture, and theories and practices of democratic education. It is also crucial to involve the new community as an equal partner …

Service-Learning In One State: Results Of The North Carolina Service-Learning Inventory, Diane C. Calleson, Lani G. Parker, Robert C. Serow

Service Learning, General

Recent years have seen greatly expanded interest in service-learning among educators at both the K-12 and college levels. By most accounts, the initiation of service-learning programs and courses has come about in response to a recognized need to provide more effective citizenship education and to do a better job of preparing young people to be active members of their communities (see, for example, Barber). What is less clear, however, is the overall shape and substance of these programs. Because service-learning usually has a strong local component, not very much is known of the broader patterns and trends at the national …

Serving In One's Own Community: Taking A Second Look At Our Assumptions About Community Service Education, Marie Kennedy, Molly Mead

Higher Education

What difference does it make if the students in a comm.unity service education project are from the communities being served? On the basis of over 20 years of experience, the authors warn that superficial conclusions about who the students are can easily interfere with effective teaching of such projects. They also develop their approach to community service education: community empowerment through action research. Those most affected by the conditions being researched must be involved in posing the research questions, determining how the results of the research will be used, and mobilizing for change-oriented action.

Naming And Framing Service Learning: A Taxonomy And Four Levels Of Value, James Robertson Price Iii, John S. Martello

Higher Education

Service learning draws upon some of the noblest intentions of American higher education: its goal is to develop an educated and engaged citizenry willing and able to address society's ills. This idea of service learning resonates deeply with the felt needs of our time, and perhaps nowhere more keenly than in the urban locations of metropolitan colleges and universities. Consequently, service learning is perhaps the fastest growing and the most promising movement within higher education today.

Origins, Evolution, And Progress: Reflections On A Movement, Goodwin Liu

Higher Education

This article traces the evolution of the community service movement on college campuses over the past 10 years. The author also analyzes the development of the movement through three conceptual strands -- student leadership, institutional support, and service learning -- weaving them into a narrative of the recent decade.

A College-Community Service Program To Improve Student Reading, Antonio M. Eppolito, Stephanie Burt Pelcher, Jim Wright

Higher Education

Service learning at LeMoyne College extends the learning of undergraduate students in teacher education beyond the college classroom while fulfilling an education department's practicum requirement by assisting in the improvement of elementary students' reading comprehension skills. A partnership created among Blue Cross-Blue Shield Insurance Company of Central New York-whose corporate sponsorship covers the cost of transporting tutors from the college campus to the elementary school Elmwood Elementary School of The Syracuse City School District, and Le Moyne College (BEL) provides a tutoring program for third graders who have been judged by their teachers to be less-skilled readers than many of …

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.

Project Northland: Outcomes Of A Communitywide Alcohol Use Prevention Program During Early Adolescence, Cheryl L. Peny, Carolyn L. Williams, Sara Veblen-Mortenson, Traci L. Toomey, Kelli A. Komro, Pamela S. Astine, Paul G. Mcgovern, John R. Finnegan, Jean L. Forster, Alexander C. Wagenaar, Mark Wolfson

Project Summaries

Adolescent drinking and other drug use remain major public health problems in this country, despite some encouraging declines in the prevalence of use.^1-7 Alcohol use among adolescents is widespread (e.g., 88% of 12th graders reported any lifetime use in 1992), even though drinking is illegal for essentially all high school students.³ Motor vehicle crashes are the leading cause of death for adolescents,⁸ with one third to one half of such crashes involving alcohol.⁹ Furthermore, early onset of alcohol and tobacco use is a risk factor for progression to more serious forms of drug use.¹⁰

Helping Younger Students: A Cross-Age Tutorial Program, Sandra Harris

Project Summaries

The faculty in Castle Hills Baptist School, with an age-diverse population-225 high school students, 125 middle school students, and 350 elementary students-in three adjoining buildings, became interested in starting a cross-age tutorial program. After reviewing the literature, the faculty recognized the need for careful planning (Rosenshine and Furst 1969); high intensity instruction (Cohen, Kulik, and Kulik 1982); and a structured program ( Graesser and Person 1994). Believing that cross-age tutoring could benefit teachers, younger children, and older students, teachers looked to tutoring to further academic growth and increase interest in academic subjects (Fitz-Gibbon 1977; Yacc and Cannon 1991; Cochran 1993; …

Community Service Throughout A School System, Anne Bishop

Service Learning, General

Teachers crave moments when student interest is high, questions flow freely, and learning is vivid enough to be retained. One such moment occurred when an elementary student in an environmental service project with wetlands volunteers said, "I learned that there are different types of wetlands and ours is a freshwater wetland that we are helping to stay fresh." These moments happen more often when students actively engage in experiences that involve helping others than during lecture, pencil and paper exercises, or assigned reading. Combined, service and learning become uniquely powerful (Kendall 1990). Facts learned in the classroom become a springboard …

Communal Participatory Action Research As A Strategy For Improving Universities And The Social Sciences: Penn's Work With The West Philadelphia Improvement Corps As A Case Study, Lee Benson, Ira Harkavy, John Puckett

Higher Education

As the 20th century closes, a key question is: What can the social sciences do to help solve the problems of our society and world? The authors identify the principal causes of the crisis in the university and the social sciences to be intellectual fragmentation and a structural contradiction that is built into the American research university. They then propose a radical reorientation of American universities toward helping solve real-world problems-particularly those in a university's local community. The authors suggest that such an orientation can be achieved through communal participatory action research projects designed to help change society. This research …

In The National Interest: Community College And Their Community Service Are Vital To Democracy, Hugh Baily

Higher Education

Let me get right to the point and give you a sense of why the Corporation for National Service sees Community Colleges as such critical partners in our effort. Your students across the country have been engaged in community service for many years. Indeed, during the past decade we have seen a resurgence of grassroots activity that helped catapult the issue of service onto the national agenda. Now we are asking institutions of higher education and their students to continue their leadership and involvement.

Reflection Activities For The College Classroom, Julie A. Hatcher, Robert G. Bringle

Evaluation/Reflection

As educators committed to strengthening the integration of service into academic study, we have provided this booklet of reflection activities as our first attempt to consolidate the collective wisdom on reflection activities that can be used in college classrooms.