Service Learning

A collaborative partnership between the Department of Communication Studies
at California State University, Northridge and Grant High School.
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What is Service Learning?

From the experts on Service Learning (Campus Compact, (http://www.compact.org/):

"Service, combined with learning, adds value to each and transforms both."

Jane Kendall & Associates, Combining Service and Learning. Raleigh, NC: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education (Now National Society for Experiential Education), 19

"Service learning relies on an innovative method of teaching and learning that integrates community service activities into academic curricula. Within service learning, classroom studies complement service within the community and enable students to reflect upon and lead to addressing local and national problems. Service learning curricula enlarges the learning arena of students from the classroom to the community. Coordinated and thoughtful activities encourage students to prepare and reflect on issues in ways that permit them to use their academic skills to deliver effective service to the community allowing service learning to transform students from passive learners of information into active learners and community members whose responsible actions and service efforts renew and change the landscape of their communities. Service learning not only changes the way students learn, but it changes society's view of education and service. In this sense, service learning is a philosophy of education and service to the community."

Karley Ausiello - Massachusetts Campus Compact, Tufts University

A service-learning program provides educational experiences:

bulletUnder which students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with school and community;
bulletThat is integrated into the students' academic curriculum or provides structured time for a student to think, talk, or write about what the student did and saw during the actual service activity;
bulletThat provides a student with opportunities to use newly-acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities; and
bulletThat enhances what is taught by extending student learning beyond the classroom and into the community and helps to foster the development of a sense of caring for others."
From the Commission on National and Community Service (now the Corporation for National and Community Service). In Richard J. Kraft and James Krug, "Review of Research and Evaluation on Service Learning in Public and Higher Education," Chapter 24 of Richard J. Kraft and Marc Swadener, Building Community: Service Learning in the Academic Disciplines. Denver, CO: Colorado Campus Compact, 1994.

"Service Learning is a process through which students are involved in community work that contributes significantly: 1) to positive change in individuals, organizations, neighborhoods and/or larger systems in a community; and 2) to students’ academic understanding, civic development, personal or career growth, and/or understanding of larger social issues.

This process always includes an intentional and structured educational/developmental component for students, and may be employed in curricular or co-curricular settings. Even with an expanded vision for the field, service-learning will undoubtedly continue to play a critical role in campus-community collaboration."

From Charity to Change Minnesota Campus Compact

"Students participating in service-learning develop:
 

A reduction of negative stereotypes and an increase in tolerance for diversity
Greater self knowledge
Greater spiritual growth
Increased ability to work with others
Increased leadership skills
Increased feeling of being connected to a community
Increased connection to the college experience through closer ties to students and faculty
Increased reported learning and motivation to learn
Deeper understanding of subject matter
Deeper understanding of the complexity of social issues
Increased ability to apply material learned in class to real problems"
 

Janet Eyler and Dwight E. Giles. Where’s the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. 1999

 

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Last modified: 01/20/05