Research Guides: High-Impact Educational Practices: Service Learning/Community Based Learning

Service Learning/Community Based Learning

In these programs, field-based “experiential learning” with community partners is an instructional strategy—and often a required part of the course. The idea is to give students direct experience with issues they are studying in the curriculum and with ongoing efforts to analyze and solve problems in the community. A key element in these programs is the opportunity students have to both apply what they are learning in real-world settings and reflect in a classroom setting on their service experiences. These programs model the idea that giving something back to the community is an important college outcome, and that working with community partners is good preparation for citizenship, work, and life.

A Professor’s Lessons Learned in Community-Based Research and Service-Learning
University faculty are challenged to engage students in the classroom as well as to engage in scholarship and service. In the following case, I explore my experience of combining research, teaching, and service in a community-based research and service-learning venture within undergraduate communication research methods courses, including lessons learned. I consider ways in which the case could have avoided some of the challenges and issues that occurred and how students may better engage with such work in their research experiences.

Combining Service and Learning in Higher Education, Summary Report by Maryann Jacobi Gray; Elizabeth H. Ondaatje; Laura Zakaras
ISBN: 0833027573
Publication Date: 2000-07-11
This volume summarizes the final report (MR-998-EDU) on RAND's three-year evaluation of the Learn and Serve America Higher Education (LSAHE) program. It discusses the major activities and accomplishments of the LSAHE-supported programs; the impacts of LSAHE on students, communities, and institutions; and the returns on the public assessment in LSAHE. It also presents the main conclusions of the evaluation: that LSAHE was highly successful in serving communities and had mixed success in promoting student development and institutional change, and that even though expenditures exceeded the value of LSAHE to communities, value increased each year, suggesting that long-term positive returns may occur.
Learning Through Serving by Christine M. Cress; Peter J. Collier; Vicki L. Reitenauer
ISBN: 9781579229894
Publication Date: 2013-07-10
This substantially expanded new edition of this widely-used and acclaimed text maintains the objectives and tenets of the first. It is designed to help students understand and reflect on their community service experiences both as individuals and as citizens of communities in need of their compassionate expertise. It is designed to assist faculty in facilitating student development of compassionate expertise through the context of service in applying disciplinary knowledge to community issues and challenges. In sum, the book is about how to make academic sense of civic service in preparing for roles as future citizen leaders. Each chapter has been developed to be read and reviewed, in sequence, over the term of a service-learning course. Students in a semester course might read just one chapter each week, while those in a quarter-term course might need to read one to two chapters per week. The chapters are intentionally short, averaging 8 to 14 pages, so they do not interfere with other course content reading. This edition presents four new chapters on Mentoring, Leadership, Becoming a Change Agent, and Short-Term Immersive and Global Service-Learning experiences. The authors have also revised the original chapters to more fully address issues of social justice, privilege/power, diversity, intercultural communication, and technology; have added more disciplinary examples; incorporated additional academic content for understanding service-learning issues (e.g., attribution theory); and cover issues related to students with disabilities, and international students. This text is a student-friendly, self-directed guide to service-learning that: * Develops the skills needed to succeed * Clearly links service-learning to the learning goals of the course * Combines self-study and peer-study workbook formats with activities that can be incorporated in class, to give teachers maximum flexibility in structuring their service-learning courses * Promotes independent and collaborative learning * Equally suitable for courses of a few weeks' or a few months' duration * Shows students how to assess progress and communicate end-results * Written for students participating in service learning as a class, but also suitable for students working individually on a project. Instructor's Manual This Instructor Manual discusses the following six key areas for aligning your course with use of Learning through Serving, whether you teach a senior-level high school class, freshman studies course, or a college capstone class: 1. Course and syllabus design 2. Community-partner collaboration 3. Creating class community 4. Strategic teaching techniques 5. Developing intercultural competence 6. Impact assessment This Manual is free and available for download in PDF format by clicking on "INSTRUCTOR MANUAL" on the upper left side of this webpage.
Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? by Janet Eyler; Dwight E. Giles; Alexander W. Astin (Foreword by)
ISBN: 0787944831
Publication Date: 1999-05-07
"It is hard to overstate the importance of this book to the field. The research presented here should contribute significantly to those responsible for improving program effectiveness or advocating for this kind of pedagogy. The careful research and thoughtful commentary provide a wealth of insights about service-learning and how best to do it." -Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning "A groundbreaking book that unearths what all service-learning researchers and practitioners need to know." -Andrew Furco, director, Service-Learning Research & Development Center, University of California at Berkeley This timely volume is the first to explore service-learning as a valid learning activity. The authors present extensive data from two groundbreaking national research projects. Their studies include a large national survey focused on attitudes and perceptions of learning, intensive student interviews before and after the service semester, and additional comprehensive interviews to explore student views of the service-learning process.

Pursuing a Purpose: The Role of Career Exploration Courses and Service-Learning Internships in Recognizing and Developing Knowledge, Skills, and Abilities
The purpose of this study was to describe the knowledge, skills, and abilities (KSAs) undergraduate psychology students were able to articulate while engaging in a career preparation seminar with an embedded service-learning internship. Results from the students’ reflective journals indicated students were able to describe a wide range of KSAs used and gained in their service-learning internship: communication skills, interpersonal skills, and working effectively with diverse populations. Although students were initially apprehensive about the time commitment, ultimately they found it was manageable and worthwhile; they reported enjoying helping others, gaining necessary workplace skills, increasing their knowledge of diversity, and learning more about the value of their psychology degree.
Service-Learning in Theory and Practice : The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education
This book offers a comprehensive rethinking of the theory and practice of service-learning in higher education. It also provides a cutting edge analysis of the rise and expansion of the community engagement movement in general and the service-learning field in specific. Democratic and community engagement are vital aspects of linking colleges and communities, and this book critically engages the best practices and powerful alternative models in the academy. Drawing on key theoretical insights and empirical studies, the author details the limits and possibilities of the future of community engagement in developing and sustaining the engaged campus.
Studying Service-Learning : Innovations in Education Research Methodology
This volume represents a breakthrough discussion of the research issues surrounding innovative pedagogies. Using service-learning as its focus, it explores ways in which researchers and evaluators can study a teaching and learning approach that has multiple goals, including both academic and affective development. The chapter authors show how to study a topic that is multilayered, complex, and involves the ways in which individuals make meaning of their experiences. Seven challenges that researchers need to grapple with in studying service-learning are identified and addressed: defining service-learning; basing service-learning research on strong theoretical foundations; refining service-learning research design and methodology; interpreting service-learning results; disseminating service-learning research findings; improving service-learning practice; and building funding to support service-learning research. In addition, practical recommendations are provided for professionals involved in doing research on service-learning and more broadly on any form of experiential education, community service and development, or educational reform. Studying Service-Learning: Innovations in Education Research Methodology is an essential resource for researchers who are interested in studying innovative teaching and learning strategies and for students who are learning about a range of research methodologies.

Shaw Center
The Shaw Center provides institutional leadership for experiential learning through community engagement in order to enhance academic learning objectives, research and the student experience.