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SERVICE LEARNING PEDAGOGY
As an excellent introduction to service learning, you may wish to read the following article:
Furco, A. (1996). Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education. Expanding Boundaries: Serving and Learning 1, 2-6. http://www.urmia.org/library/docs/regional/2008_northeast/Service_Learning_Balanced_Approach.pdf
Key elements of service learning
include:
PREPARATION: Successful service
learning links the objectives of the course to the service
activity. There is a rationale for the service in the context
of academic learning. Faculty and staff from ISL prepare students
by discussing class goals, creating opportunities to learn
about the service activity and introducing students to the
placement setting and staff.
MEANINGFUL ACTION: Learning is
most valuable when the service activities are appropriate
to the goals of the course and also serve an identified community
need. Action is meaningful when it is based on a realistic
assessment of student expertise and on the requirements of
the community partners. When students know they are helping
to meet a genuine need or solve a real problem, their learning
is engaged and creative.
REFLECTION: The process of critical
reflection is an essential element of service learning. It
enhances student learning by connecting the service and the
academic experiences. It links theory with practice, knowledge
with action and campus with community.
ASSESSMENT AND EVALUATION:
Assessing service learning is as important as establishing
goals, and an evaluation plan is built into the service learning
experience. Evaluation provides feedback on the student's
experiences and offers faculty and staff a way to expand their
own research. It also helps to identify additional community-based
learning and research opportunities.
Ten principles of good practice
in service learning
The service learning course should be rigorous and challenging.
1. Academic credit is for learning, not for service.
2. Do not compromise academic rigor.
3. Set learning goals for students.
The service experience should enhance student learning.
4. Establish criteria for the selection of service placements.
5. Provide educationally-sound mechanisms to harvest the service-learning.
6. Provide supports for students to learn how to harvest the
service-learning.
7. Minimize the distinction between the student’s service-learning
role and the classroom learning role.
Teaching a service learning
course offers new opportunities for faculty.
8. Re-think the faculty instructional role.
9. Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in student-learning
outcomes.
10. Maximize the community responsibility orientation of the
course.
From: Howard, Jeffrey (1993).
Community Service Learning in the Curriculum, Praxias, I,
A Faculty Casebook on Community Service Learning, Ann
Arbor; MI OCSL Press
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