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Service-Learning Defined

Service-Learning Defined. 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 January 31, 2013. Introductions. Dr. April Heiselt

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Service-Learning Defined

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  1. Service-Learning Defined 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 January 31, 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 • Service-learning Pop Quiz • What is service-learning? • Benefits of service-learning • Principles and Strategies of service-learning • Examples of service-learning classes • 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/Adaptations • Learn and Serve America http://www.learnandserve.org • National Service Learning Clearinghouse http://www.servicelearning.org • National Service Learning Partnership http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ABT_index

  6. Service-Learning in K-12 As of 2011 . . . Question: How many states have adopted some type of state-wide or district service-learning policy? Answer: 35 stateshave service-learning policies that are either statewide or grant districts the ability to design their own. http://www.learnandserve.gov/pdf/factsheet_lsa.pdf

  7. Service-Learning in H-Ed As of 2011 . . . Question: What percentage of higher education institutions have adopted service-learning programs? Answer: More than 1/2 of all community colleges have adopted service-learning programs. Over 1/4 of US universities. http://www.learnandserve.gov/pdf/factsheet_lsa.pdf

  8. Service-Learning and the U.S. As of 2011 . . . Question: Which state has the highest rate of college volunteers? Which states are a close second and third? Answer: Utah has the highest rate of college volunteers (48.6%) among all states, followed by Wisconsinand Wyoming(42% and 41%).

  9. College Students and Service • In 2006, college students volunteered more than 267 million hours • Over 20,000 college students have substituted work for fun during their winter and spring breaks by traveling to the Gulf Coast to gut homes, clear debris, repair roofs, and paint buildings • The number of campus service-learning partnerships is on the rise: • Alternative breaks (offered by 77% of campuses) • Residence hall programs (63%) • Freshmen orientation projects (59%)

  10. 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

  11. 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

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

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

  14. 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

  15. What does service-learning DO . . . For STUDENTS?

  16. What Service-Learning Does for Students… (Benefits) • Hands-on use of skills and 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

  17. What Service-Learning Does for Students… (Benefits) • Opportunities for meaningful involvement in the community (local, regional, national, international) • Interaction with people of diverse cultures and lifestyles • Enhanced analytical skills and social development

  18. What does service-learning DO . . . for FACULTY?

  19. What Service-Learning Does for Faculty… (Benefits) New perspectives on learning and increased understanding of how learning occurs Connecting the community with the curriculum Becoming more aware of current societal issues as they relate to academic areas of interest

  20. What Service-Learning Does for Faculty… (Benefits) • 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

  21. for theCOMMUNITY? What does service-learning DO . . .

  22. What Service-Learning Doesfor the Community… (Benefits) • Access to university resources • 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

  23. for theUNIVERSITY? What does service-learning DO . . .

  24. What Service-Learning Does for the University…(Benefits) • Enhanced teaching, research, and outreach activities • Faculty and student engagement in local and state community issues • Opportunities to extend university knowledge and resources • Positive community relationships • Increased development and preparation of university graduates • Access to wisdom and experience of community agencies as co-teachers

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

  26. 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.

  27. 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.

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

  29. 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.

  30. 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?

  31. Service-Learning Examples MSU Day One Leadership students coordinate and promote Red Cross Day for the local Starkville Community. MSU Counseling and Educational Psychology students tutor at Sudduth Elementary School.

  32. Architecture and Service-Learning • ARCH 201: Introduction to Computer Aided Drafting • Virginia Highlands Community College • Gives overview of use of computers as applied to architectural drawing. Covers software capability of the system by generating, moving, editing, or deleting the basic elements. Includes a service-learning option where the students will go the Faith in Action building located in Abingdon, VA. At this existing structure site, the students will take measurements needed to design an addition to the Faith in Action building.

  33. Foreign Language and S-L • French 3295: Special Topics in Cajun French • Louisiana State University • Students study the particularities of the French spoken by Cajuns and Creoles in Louisiana and apply this knowledge to an authentic language documentation project. Students interview fluent senior citizen Cajun French speakers, then preserve representative samples of their French speech in their oral histories and other narratives. Students transcribe, edit and translate these samples, and incorporate them with visual support into a multimedia presentation that are presented to the Cajun speakers as a family heirloom and to the T. Harry Williams Oral History Collection as a linguistic and historic artifact.

  34. Sports Administration and S-L • KIN 4517: Sports Administration • Louisiana State University • Students participate in the management functions of planning and organizing and the human side of administration with regard to motivation and performance, the communication process and managing conflict and stress. Specifically, the service engagement will involve working with Louisiana Senior Olympic Games (LSOG) in conjunction with the annual State Games. LSOG is a non-profit organization and this work will expose students to the realities of community service (limited resources, volunteerism, etc.) and to community needs within a specific population.

  35. Concluding Thoughts • Service-learning is only as good as the class that is created • Takes time and effort, but the benefits far outweigh the challenges • It is essential to “close the loop” from beginning to end in a service-learning course. But that’s a conversation for another time…

  36. References • Eyler, J. & Giles, D.E. Where's the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA : Jossey-Bass Publishers, 1999. • Furco, A., & Billig, S. (2002). Service-learning: The essence of the pedagogy. Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc. • Heffernan, K. (2001). Fundamentals of service-learning course construction. Providence, RI: Campus Compact, Brown University. • Jacoby, B., & Associates (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. • Kolb, D.A. (1994). Experiential learning: Experience as the Source of Learning and Development. Engelwood Cliffs, NJ : Prentice-Hall. • Service-Learning Ideas and Curricular Examples (SLICE) http://www.servicelearning.org/slice

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