Information compiled by Deidre Hughes and Tamara Trujillo

 

 

WHAT IS SERVICE LEARNING?

 

 

Service learning is the process of integrating community service, combined with active guided reflection, into the curriculum to enhance and enrich student learning of course material. Service learning is now a national movement and is utilized in the majority of colleges and universities in the United States.

Service learning builds on the tradition of activism which was popular in the 1960s but which greatly subsided during the 1970s and 1980s. The tradition of volunteer service saw a rebirth in the late 1980s as cultural, educational, and civic leaders challenged higher education to fulfill its historic mission to promote civic responsibility. Many colleges accepted this challenge and created a support network (Campus Compact) to develop and promote service learning as a pedagogical strategy.

The philosophical antecedent and academic parent of service learning is experiential learning. As in all types of experiential learning such as cooperative education, internships, and field placements, service learning directly engages the learner in the phenomena being studied with the hope that richer learning will result. The critical difference and distinguishing characteristic of service learning is its twofold emphasis on both enriching student learning and revitalizing the community.

To accomplish this, effective service learning initiatives involve students in course-relevant activities which address the real human, safety, educational, and environmental needs of the community. Students’ course materials such as texts, lectures, discussions, and reflection inform their service, and the service experience is brought back to the classroom to inform the academic dialogue end the quest for knowledge. This reciprocal process is based on the logical continuity between experience and knowledge.

The pedagogy of service learning represents a substantial change from the traditional lecture driven, content based, and faculty centered curriculum. Despite the fact that research has shown that we remember only 10% of what we hear, 15% of what we see, and a mere 20% of what we see and hear, these remain the basic sense modalities stimulated in most educational experiences. Service learning strategies recognize that we retain 60% of what we do, 80% of what we do with active guided reflection, and 90% of what we teach or give to others. It views empty vessels waiting to be filled. In a culture characterized by information overload, effective education as a process of living, not a preparation for life. It also rejects the notion that students are teaching must encourage information processing as well as accumulation. In a complex society, it is almost impossible to determine what information is necessary to solve a particular problem. All too often the content students learn in class is obsolete by the time they’ve finished their degree. With this in mind, it seems much more important to “light the fire” than to “fill the bucket”.

Service learning does this by providing students with real-life, meaningful experiences that, by their very nature, force critical thinking. In service, students encounter events that may conflict with their assumptions. They deal with issues or incidents that challenge their competency or understanding. These experiences create perplexity or dissonance, which is often the beginning of learning.

In service learning courses, real life comes tumbling into the classroom as students’ service experiences provide the content for purposeful dialogue leading to real understanding of academic concepts. Unlike most pedagogy which are deductive, relying on presenting theory and then encouraging application to specifics, service learning is more inductive, using experience provided by students to lead to conceptual or theoretical understanding.

Service learning is best understood in the context of a continuous learning cycle where meaning is creating through concrete experience, reflection or assimilation, abstract conceptualization or theory building, and active experimentation or problem solving.

Learning is not a predictable linear process. It may begin at any point in the cycle. Students may have to apply their limited knowledge in a service situation before consciously setting out to gain or comprehend a body of facts related to that situation. The discomfort experienced from the lack of knowledge may encourage further a accumulation of facts or the development or changing of a personal theory for future application. To assure that this kind of learning takes place however, skilled guidance in reflection on the experience must occur. This facilitation of reflection is the critical responsibility of the service learning teacher.

Based on the belief that learning is the constant restructuring of experience, service learning exemplifies the continuity that exists between experience and knowledge. By providing students the opportunity to have a concrete experience and then assisting them in the intellectual processing of this experience, service learning not only take advantage of the natural learning cycle, but also allows students to provide a meaningful contribution to the community. This twofold emphasis on both learning and civic responsibility is the overall objective of the strategy, and our success in meeting this objective leads to the fulfillment of the general mission of higher education.  

 

WHY DO IT?

 

The only justification for any activity in an institution is its effective contribution to the fulfillment of that institution’s mission. The historic mission of higher education in this country, beginning with the establishment of Harvard to the founding of our own college, has been to help individuals responsibly and intelligently achieve satisfaction in their lives and to promote effective citizenship. Our own mission and accompanying goals are consistent with this historic mission.

 

The 1999-2000 Fullerton College Catalog states that one of the purposes of general education at Fullerton College is to “Develop an understanding of and commitment to…an awareness of our obligations in a global environment” and that, as an institution, Fullerton College will “develop collaborative connections with local and international communities.” The following are listed among the College’s strategic goals: to “continue to build partnerships across disciplines and throughout the College”, to “enhance the image and reputation of the College” and to “increase cooperative and collaborative partnerships with the larger community”.

 

Service learning leads to the fulfillment of these goals by effectively and efficiently taking advantage of the reciprocity that exists in the learning partnership between the community and the college. Effective application of the service learning pedagogy benefits the student, the community, the College and the faculty practitioner as follows:

Benefits to Students     C

 

·       Service learning enriches student learning of course material by moving them from the margin of the classroom experience to the center. It “brings books to life and life to books.”

 

·       It enhances critical thinking skills and broadens perspectives.

 

·       Students come to see the relevance and importance of academic work in their real-life experience.

 

·       It improves interpersonal and human relations skill which are increasingly viewed as the most important skill in achieving success in professional and personal spheres.

 

·       It provides guidance and experience for future career choice.

 

·       It enhances students’ self-esteem by allowing them to “make a difference” through their active and meaningful participation to their communities.

Benefits to the Community      B

·       Service learning initiatives provide the community with substantial human resources to meet its educational, human, safety, and environmental needs. The talent, energy and enthusiasm of our college students are applied to meet these ever-increasing needs.

 

·       Community agencies gain the opportunity to participate in an educational partnership.

 

·       Service learning creates a spirit of civic responsibility that replaces the current state of dependence on government programs and altruism by the experts. It results in a renewed sense of community and encourages participatory democracy.

 

·       Many students commit to a lifetime of volunteering after this experience, creating a democracy of participation.

 

Benefits to the College      C

·       Service learning supports the Fullerton College mission, philosophy, and strategic goals, especially those relating to the development of partnerships with the larger community and the promotion of public relations and community development.

 

·       Service learning improves student readiness for transfer and/or employment.

 

·       The tracking of students who participate in service learning programs shows an increase in student satisfaction and retention.

 

Benefits to Faculty Members      B

·       Service learning changes our role from the expert to the resource, and with that change we enjoy a new relationship with our students and a new understanding of how learning occurs.

 

·       As we connect the community with the curriculum, we become more aware of current societal issues as they relate to our academic areas of interest.

 

·       Service learning enriches and enlivens teaching by helping students move from being passive recipients of information to those who are actively engaged in the learning process by helping students master course content, and by increasing course retention rates.

 

·       We identify new areas for research and publication and thus increase our opportunities for contribution to the profession.

 

 

 

SERVICE LEARNING REDEFINES

THE CLASSROOM PARADIGM

 

 

From the concrete product of Å-------------------------Æ To a continuous circle of traditional silos of activity                                   learning that integates key

spheres of influence & activity

 

Ç

From

 

To

È

 

 

HOW TO DO IT

 

Ten Steps to Developing and Executing a Service Learning Strategy

 

1.     Consider the courses you teach and determine how community service might be helpful in enriching learning in that discipline. Service learning can be effectively used in every academic discipline. Some applications require a little more imagination than others, and often the best are not immediately obvious. At this point, don’t worry about whether they will work. Just brainstorm about the application potential to your course. Think about how your course content connects with the community, and what kinds of service opportunities might be available.

 

2.     Consult the Online Agency Directory to identify community placements that offer activities that are relevant to your course. With over 100 possible placements, you will probably succeed in finding a number of sites. Then, compile a list and think about which site might provide the best opportunities for service to your students. It might also be a good idea to make phone calls to particular agencies that seem like good possibilities to inquire more about that agency.

 

3.     With service sites or activities in mind, consider your goals and motives in using the application. What are you trying to accomplish for your students, yourself, the College, and the community? Review your course objectives to determining those that can be linked to service. Before going further, list two or three specific and measurable service and learning goals and objectives for your initiative. Be clear at this point of your desired outcomes.

 

4.     Based upon your motives, goals, and objectives, choose a course service option. Decide how you will incorporate community service into your course. Course service options can range from a one-time special project (Habitat for Humanity, Special Olympics, etc.) to a twenty-hour plus service commitment to an agency.

 

5.     Once you have chosen how service will be incorporated, review and alter your syllabus to reflect the change. This does not require a change in course curriculum. To be successfully integrated, the service experience must be more than just an add-on to an already full syllabus. Identify some readings that might tie the service to specific objectives.

 

6.     On the first day of class, explain and promote the ideas behind including service learning in your class. Explain the threefold benefits to the student, the community, and the College. Make your commitment very clear and encourage the students to take advantage of the opportunity for both the personal and academic growth that service affords. Provide specifics on the locations, hours, and length of commitment of each service option. Have student handbooks and handouts available to describe service learning and opportunities available. For those offering more extensive term-long projects, be sure to get your students placed in service early.

 

7.     Work with students to develop specific service and learning objectives for their service experiences. Students must be guided in their development of these objectives so that they are clearly linked with the academic objectives of your course. Most students are not skilled in developing objectives and are not familiar with your  specific course learning objectives or how to link them to a seemingly non-academic experience. Typically, students will develop more affective objectives (improve self-esteem, feel better about the community) or general non-course related objectives (improve the community, learn more about hospice care, learn to build a house). To improve fulfillment of your courses’ academic goals, you must help link the service experience to specific course objective. In a business course, students working with Habitat For Humanity might learn about managerial communication, or “just in time” supply strategies. For a psychology course, the objective might be understanding the dynamics of group formation or gender roles and function in a project. In some cases you may wish to delay this step until after students have been oriented to their volunteer placements so that they have some idea of what kinds of service they will be doing. In other cases, where your are familiar with the placement, you can have them do this prior to the service. Some faculty prescribe the learning and service objectives for the entire class. Establishing these student learning objectives up-front is a critical step in assuring the effectiveness of the service learning in enriching student learning of course material. This step requires creativity and focus, but success here will lead to better learning.

 

8.     Teach students how to harvest the service experience for knowledge. Experiential learning requires that we learn where we are. We can learn a variety of things in many different situations depending on the questions we are asking. Many of our students are not skilled in this practice. With their learning objectives in mind, students must be taught to focus on these objectives and related questions as they participate in the service setting. While the math student is working for Habitat For Humanity project, he/she thinks about the algebra or geometry used in developing architectural plans. The business student may listen to workers’ communication patterns and draw conclusions about the managerial structure as he/she helps patients into the pool at the rehabilitation center. Because many students lack experience and confidence in learning in nontraditional, non-classroom environments, we must teach them these skills. One word of paradoxical caution here. While we do want our students prepared and oriented to service, we must be careful not to over prepare them for their service experience. We all enjoy the adventure of discovery and we can destroy that for our students by telling them exactly what to expect, turning their experience from an adventure into a comparison.

 

9.     Link the service experience to your academic course content through deliberate and guided reflection. The practice of reflection is what combines the learning with the service. We cannot assume that learning will automatically result from experience. Like us, our students may not learn from their experience. They may even learn the wrong thing or reinforce existing prejudices. Reflection helps prevent this from occurring. Reflection can be in the form of journals, essays, class presentations, analytic papers, art, work, drama, dialogue, or any other expressive act. The key to effectiveness is structure and direction. The nature and type of reflection determines its outcome. An unstructured personal journal or group discussion is a great way to elicit affective disclosure. More specific academic outcomes will result from structuring these exercises with specific curriculum related questions. See the section on reflection for more information.

 

10. Evaluate your service learning outcomes as you would any other academic product. Remember that students are being graded on the academic product, not on their hours of service. Many of us feel uncertain when it comes to evaluating or assessing the outcomes of experiences we did not completely structure or present. By designing flexible measures, however, you can use the same standard used in evaluating any other written or oral presentation: Did the student master the course material? This is the only way to assure academic integrity of the strategy.

YOUTH SERVICE:

A PARADIGM SHIFT

 

 

Traditional Student View

 

n  Utilize Resources

 

nPassive

 

nConsumer

 

nNeeds Help

 

nRecipient

 

nFollower

 

nIn  Need

 

nPerceived Less Positive

 

 

 

 

Service Learning Student View

 

­Act as Resource

 

­Active

 

­Producer

 

­Offers Help

 

­Giver

 

­Leader

 

­Asset

 

­Expected to Contribute