No Trivial Pursuit: Implementing Service-Learning in Your Curriculum

1. No Trivial Pursuit:Implementing Service-Learning in Your Curriculum Dr. April Heiselt Associate Professor and Director Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE) Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology Center for Teaching and Learning Workshop April 24, 2013

2. Introductions • Dr. April Heiselt • Associate Professor & Student Affairs Program Coordinator • Director of the Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE) • Courses taught with service-learning pedagogy: • Introduction to Assessment, Administration of Student Personnel Services, Student Affairs in Higher Education, Literature of Student Affairs, Internship in Student Affairs, Day One Leadership Community

3. Brief Program Overview • CASLE Description • What is service-learning? • Selected service-learning benefits • Guiding principles of service-learning courses • Six models of service-learning coursework • Ten steps to implementing service-learning in the curriculum • Examples of service-learning courses • Question and Answer Period

4. Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence • Learn, Serve, Become. • Learn. – The Light Bulb • Students are able to learn more, with more depth, and critical thinking than in a typical classroom setting • Serve. – The Hand • Students give their time to help, assist, provide knowledge, and to in essence “give a hand” to an entity who needs it. • Become. – The Infinite Arrow • Students will take this knowledge with them throughout their experience at MSU and into the future as independent, critical thinkers, who (ideally) will want to become civically engaged, active citizens.

5. References • Learn and Serve America http://www.learnandserve.org • National Service Learning Clearinghouse SLICE (Service-Learning Ideas and Curricular Examples) http://www.servicelearning.org/slice • Northwest Service Academy Reflection Toolkit http://bennioncenter.org/documents/faculty/Reflection_Toolkit.pdf

6. What is service-learning?

7. Service-learning is NOT • One-time volunteering experience • One sided (only the student or community benefits) • Logging community service hours in order to graduate • Service assigned as a form of punishment • An “add-on” to other assignments

8. What is Service-Learning? Service-learning is a pedagogy . . . A method of teaching and learning linking meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to… • Meet the needs of a community organization • Enrich the learning experience and enhance student understanding of course material • To teach civic responsibility and critical thinking • Strengthen communities

9. What’s the difference between community service and service-learning?

10. Community Service Example • Students removing trash from a city streambed. • Valued, one-time service that helps a community and is important.

11. Service-Learning Example • Students remove trash from a city streambed • Take trash back to campus and analyze what they found • Go into the community and share their results with residents of the neighborhood • Provide suggestions for the future…like ways to reduce pollution • The students continually reflect and critically think about their experience

12. Service-Learning Benefits

13. Some Student Benefits… • Hands-on use of knowledge that increases relevance of academic skills and deepens understanding of core academic concepts and theories • Increased sense of self-efficacy • Valuable and competitive career guidance and experience • Increased sense of civic responsibility

14. Some Faculty Benefits… • New perspectives on learning and increased understanding of how learning occurs • Opportunities to tap into expertise of community agencies as co-teachers • Identifying areas for research and publication related to current trends and issues • Feel a renewed sense of connection to their work • Connecting the community with the curriculum

15. Some Community Benefits… • Builds partnerships between the university and other organizations • Engages parents and adults in supporting student learning • Creates short- and long-term solutions to pressing community needs • Development of a pool of potential employees

16. Some University Benefits… • Enhanced teaching, research, and outreach activities • Faculty and student engagement in local and state community issues • Positive community relationships • Increased development and preparation of university graduates • Access to wisdom and experience of community agencies as co-teachers

17. What do I need to know when designing a service-learning class?

18. Four Guiding Principles for Service-Learning • Engagement • Reflection • Reciprocity • Public Dissemination

19. Engagement • Does the service component meet a public good? How? • How have school-community boundaries been negotiated and how will they be crossed? MSU Day One Leadership students work with the Starkville in Motion community group for “Walk to School Day” promoting exercise and healthy habits for children and their families.

20. Reflection • Ever wonder why there is a hyphen in service-learning? • Eyler and Giles (1999), state that reflection is what facilitates a student’s making connections between their service and their learning experience. • The hyphen in “service-learning” represents this connection. • Reflection is key in service-learning. • Encourages students to link their service experience to course content and to critically think about and reflect upon why the work they are doing is relevant.

21. Misunderstanding Reflection • Confusion about how to conduct reflection • Not an “emotional” process • Not enough to “plant” a student in a service-learning setting with the hope they will blossom and grow and come away with something they’ve learned. • On-going process that when done carefully yields deeper and more meaningful growth for students.

22. Expanded based on Kolb’s Cycle of Experiential Learning (1984) Adapted from: http://www.servicelearning.org/instant_info/fact_sheets/he_facts/he_reflection/

23. Reciprocity • Everyone involved in service-learning acts as both a teacher, and a learner. • Participants are perceived as colleagues, not as servers and clients(Heffernan, 2001). MSU Architecture students present designs to Starkville Area Habitat for Humanity board members and homeowners.

24. Public Dissemination • Is service work presented to the public or made an opportunity for the community to enter into a public dialogue? • For example: Do oral histories that students collect return to the community in some public form? • How is information made public? To whose advantage?

25. Six Models of Service-Learning Heffernan, K. (2001). Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction. Providence, RI: National Campus Compact, Brown University. Price: $62.00

26. 1. Pure Service-Learning • What is looks like: • Students are sent into the community to serve. • These courses have as their intellectual core the idea of service to communities by students, volunteers, or engaged citizens. • They are not typically lodged in any one discipline.

27. 2. Disciplined-Based Service-Learning • What it looks like: • Students are expected to have a presence in the community throughout the semester • Students reflect on their experience regularly • Students use course content as a basis for their analysis and understanding

28. 3. Community-Based Action Research • What it looks like: • Students work closely with faculty to learn research methodology while serving as an advocate for the community partner. • The results of the research are communicated to the community partner so that the information can be used to address community identified needs. • Projects can support the ongoing community-based research of faculty.

29. 4. Service Internship • What it looks like: • More intense than typical service-learning courses. • Students work 10-20 hours a week in a community setting. • Students produce a body of work that is of value to the community or site. • Students maintain regular, on-going reflective opportunities that help them analyze their new experiences using discipline-based theories.

30. 5. Capstone Course • What it looks like: • These courses build upon students’ cumulative knowledge in a specified discipline and demonstrate the integration of that knowledge with real life issues. • Upper-class students can explore ways their disciplinary expertise and competencies translate into addressing community needs.

31. 6. Problem-Based Service-Learning • What it looks like: • Students or teams of students act as “consultants” working for a “client” (the community). • The students determine a particular community need or problem. • This model presumes students have some knowledge they can draw upon to make recommendations to the community or develop solutions to the problem.

32. Work in Progress… • Grab a piece of paper and a pen • Start brainstorming as we move through the steps • Feel free to ask questions as we move through the process • Be ready to share/discuss ideas at the end of the workshkop

33. Ten Steps to Implementing Service-learning in the Curriculum

34. 1. Brainstorm the ways you could add service-learning to your class. A. Service-learning can be effectively used in every academic discipline. (Really!) B. Think about how your course content connects with the community. C. Consider what kinds of volunteer opportunities might be available at the linkage point.

35. 2. Identify community partnerships. A. Choose the best opportunities with the most potential for your students. B. How many partners are needed? This depends … • 25 students might use a single school that provides an array of programs • Determining the number of sites is based on the capacity of the community partner

36. Visit the Sites and Meet the Representatives • Opportunity to get a first-hand look at the site • Ask: • What is your mission? • What population is served? • What mission-related needs could be met through student effort? • What community issues does/will the project address?

37. Talk with the Community Partner about your class… • Discuss learning objectives • Share your syllabus • Describe the students’ level of knowledge and skill • Discuss start dates, semester breaks, and last date students will perform service

38. If It’s A Good Fit…Ask… • How many students can the partner accommodate? • What days and times can the students come to the site? • Who from the organization will supervise the students? • What resources will be provided for the students?

39. Create A Written Agreement • Expectations of student behavior • Service start date and ending date • Identify a Communication Plan • Students with site supervisor • Site supervisor and instructor • Contingency plans – what if the site needs to close? • Role of community partner in evaluation of the student

40. Written Agreement • Articulate problem-solving techniques followed by all parties • Contact information for site supervisor, and instructor • Signatures of student, site supervisor, and instructor • Copies provided and original kept on file

41. 3. With service site(s) in mind, consider your goals and motives in using service-learning. A. What are you trying to accomplish for your students, yourself, and the community? B. Review your course objectives and list two or three specific and measurable service-learning goals and objectives.

42. 4. Based upon your goals and objectives choose a service-learning model. A. Decide how you will incorporate community service into your course. B. One time service project? Service-learning throughout the course?

43. 5. Alter your syllabus to reflect the change. A. To be successfully integrated the service experience must be more than just as an add-on to an already full syllabus. B. How will you allocate class time for discussion of the experience?

44. Tips In Developing A Syllabus • Service-learning is directly related to course goals and objectives • Explain role of service in the course • What the service entails • Expectation of service outside of class • Rule of thumb: • A 3-credit hour course = 2 to 3 of hours of service outside of class per week (this can be changed at the discretion of the instructor)

45. Exemplary Service-Learning Syllabi . . . • Include course assignments that link the service activities and the course content • Describe reflection activities • Articulate professional expectations (confidentiality, professional dress) • Provide students with opportunities to be both teacher and learner (via presentations, etc.)

46. Exemplary Service-Learning Syllabi . . . • Address liability issues • Risk Management • Student Travel Insurance • Provide alternative sites (students need a choice of sites in case the site provides moral, religious, or other concerns)

47. 6. Explain and promote the ideas behind including service-learning in your class. A. Explain the benefits to the students and the community partner. B. Make your commitment clear and encourage students to take advantage of the opportunity for both the personal and academic growth that service affords.

48. 7. Develop specific service-learning objectives for student experiences. A. Done as a class, or faculty can create the objectives up-front. B. Example: In a Psychology course, the objective might be understanding the dynamics of group formation or gender roles and their functions in a project.

49. 8. Teach students how to harvest the service experience for knowledge. A. Students need to be taught to focus on these objectives and related questions as they participate in the service setting. B. Example: The Math student is working on a Habitat for Humanity project. She thinks about the algebra or geometry used in developing the architectural plans.

50. 9. Link the service experience to your academic course content through deliberate and guided reflection. A. Reflection is what links the learning to the service. B. The nature and type of reflection determines its outcome. C. There are a variety of ways for students to reflect. Consider what will work best for your objectives.