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Service-Learning

Service-Learning. Salt Lake Community College Elisa Stone | 2007-2008 Service-Learning Faculty Mentor. What to expect. Defining service-learning Integrating service with learning outcomes Integrating learning outcomes with community partners Tying everything together with reflection

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Service-Learning

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  1. Service-Learning Salt Lake Community College Elisa Stone | 2007-2008 Service-Learning Faculty Mentor

  2. What to expect... • Defining service-learning • Integrating service with learning outcomes • Integrating learning outcomes with community partners • Tying everything together with reflection • Constructing the service-learning syllabus • Our ultimate goal: personal civic responsibility

  3. Opportunity & Obligation “Institutions of higher education have both the opportunity and obligation to cultivate in their graduates an appreciation for the responsibilities and rewards of civic engagement, as well as to foster the capacities necessary for thoughtful participation in public discourse…” Thomas Ehrlich. Civic Responsibility in Higher Education. Oryx Press, 2000.

  4. Why it matters... ”The scholarship of engagement means connecting the rich resources of the university to our most pressing social, civic, and ethical problems, to our children, to our schools, to our teachers, and to our cities. Ultimately, the scholarship of engagement also means creating a special climate in which the academic and civic cultures communicate more continuously and more creatively with each other, helping to enlarge what anthropologist Clifford Geertz describes as the universe of human discourse and enriching the quality of life for all of us.” --Ernest Boyer

  5. Defining Service-Learning What it is... and what it is not.

  6. Volunteerism “The act of engaging in service that addresses immediate social needs, but does not necessarily address the conditions from which those needs emerge. This may be contrasted with service that actively seeks to foster social change and community cohesion.” Langseth and Troppe. "So What? Does Service-Learning Really Foster Social Change?" Expanding Boundaries, Vol.2, Spring 1997.

  7. Service-Learning “Service learning combines community service with academic instruction, focusing on critical, reflective thinking, and personal and civic responsibility.” “Service learning programs involve students in activities that address community-identified needs, while developing their academic skills and commitment to their community.” American Association of Community Colleges

  8. Service-Learning: Is based on the experience of meeting needs in the community. Incorporates reflection and academic learning. Contributes to students’ interest in and understanding of community life. Bringle, Robert and Julie Hatcher. “A Service Learning Curriculum for Faculty.” Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2.

  9. Service-Learning vs. Volunteerism • Volunteering your time to build homes with Habitat for Humanity is service. • Studying the process of solar energy is learning. • Architecture students partnering with a local design firm and a clean energy campaign to create alternative construction plans for an ecologically-sound housing complex is service-learning.

  10. Service-Learning vs. Volunteerism • Volunteering your time to clean up public hiking trails with the Sierra Club is service. • Studying the process of democracy and voter education initiatives is learning. • Political science students partnering with the Sierra Club and the League of Women Voters to create voter information guides on green policy and eco-friendly candidates is service-learning.

  11. Examples of Service-Learning • Accounting students work with the local VITA organization, preparing taxes for low-income citizens. • Technical Writing students edit, or create, brochure text for a non-profit community organization. • Math students tutor elementary school students. • Chemistry students work with the Bureau of Land Management to assess health of streams and soil. • Group Brainstorm…

  12. IntegratingService-Learning

  13. Fully Integrated Experience • Service work should not be in addition to all existing course work. • Carefully consider adjusting the workload of students. • Identify assignments that can be replaced or re-focused, integrating the service experience.

  14. Learning Objectives • Determine which course learning objectives students will address through service work in the community. • Consider both concrete and abstract objectives that can be achieved through service work. • Implied: Community needs must be identified and then linked to appropriate course objectives. • The syllabus should explicitly tell students how the assigned service work meets course learning objectives and fulfills a need in the community.

  15. Community Partnerships “The necessary organizing principle in service-learning” (Pickeral 2003)

  16. Organizing Principle • Community partners are tied to course learning objectives. • Working to address the community need will teach students what they would otherwise learn in the classroom.

  17. Things to keep in mind... • Match course learning objectives to the mission, the clientele, and/or the projects of a community organization. • Work with the community organization to structure the service experience. • Community partners are co-educators. Involve them in reflection sessions, group presentations, in-class orientation days, evaluation and assessment, etc. • Consider partnership agreement forms, signed by students, partners, and you as the instructor.

  18. Selecting Your Partners • Match the skills of your students to an un-met, community identified need. • Match the knowledge of your discipline to an un-met, community identified need. • Match learning outcomes with an experience in the community that meets those outcomes. • For example: • Course objective: Students will understand the immigrant experience. • Community partner: The International Rescue Committee resettlement program.

  19. A Variety of Activities • In partnership with the community organization, dialogue about what they need and about what you want for your students. • Determine the specific projects, activities, and/or experiences in which students will engage. • Consider different forms of service: • Indirect service • Direct service • Advocacy Work • Research and Consultation

  20. Ensuring a QualityAcademic Experience Critical Thinking & Structured Reflection: The learning in service-learning

  21. Reflection is the Key • Without critical reflection activities, the students’ experience in the community is exclusively volunteering. • Service-learning courses must present opportunities for students to reflect critically on their service experience and time spent in the community. • Structured reflection guides students to make meaningful connections between their service experience and course content. • Critical reflection is what puts the learning in service-learning. Without reflection, it’s volunteering.

  22. Structuring Reflection “Structured” reflection means the instructor guides students both in the syllabus via well-formulated assignments and in class discussions. Through reflection assignments, students must: • Examine important issues related to their service-learning project and experience. • Connect the service experience to course content. • Find personal relevance in the work. • Enhance the development of civic skills and values; in other words, develop a global perspective.

  23. Framework for Reflection WHAT? • Discuss the service experience in very literal terms. SO WHAT? • Connect the service experience to course content. NOW WHAT? • Connect the service experience and the new-found knowledge to a larger context of civic responsibility.

  24. Reflection Continuum A.B.C & 1.2.3 Affect (feelings) Behavior (actions) Cognition (course content & perspective) Level 1 - Ego (self-focused) Level 2 - Empathic (the “other”) Level 3 - Global (systemic view)

  25. Reflection is On-Going • Frame the experience or social context before service work begins. • Process during the service experience. • Reflect after the experience is complete. • Allow reflections to progress and deepen as the semester goes on.

  26. Methods of Reflection • Honor the different learning styles of students and structure a variety of reflection assignments. • For example: a linguistic learner enjoys writing, whereas a spatial learning prefers to draw or build.

  27. Small Group Discussion

  28. Constructing the Syllabus

  29. Civic Responsibility

  30. What is Civic Responsibility? “Active participation in the public life of a community in an informed, committed, and constructive manner, with a focus on the common good.” American Association of Community Colleges

  31. Additional Resources • Campus Compact (compact.org) • National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (servicelearning.org) • American Association of Community Colleges (aacc.nche.edu) • Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (umich.edu/~mjcsl) • “Constructing a Service-Learning Syllabus” document

  32. QUESTIONS?

  33. Contact Information Elisa Stone 801.957.4836 elisa.stone@slcc.edu

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