Promise and Practice of Service-Learning (original) (raw)
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Implementing Service Learning in Higher Education
The Journal of Higher Education, 1996
In a recent article, "Creating the New American College," Ernest Boyer challenges higher education to reconsider its mission to be that of educating students for a life as responsible citizens, rather than educating students solely for a career. By doing so, the "New American College" will take pride in connecting theory to practice in order to meet challenging social problems, particularly those faced by universities in urban settings. As Ira Harkavey of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Community Partnerships has noted, "Universities cannot afford to remain shores of affluence, self-importance and horticultural beauty at the edge of island seas of squalor, violence and despair" [5, p. A48]. Emphasizing service has the potential to enrich learning and renew communities, but will also give "new dignity to the scholarship of service" [5, p. A48].
International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, 2021
Articles in Volume 9, Issue 1 of the International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (IJRSLCE) respond to the need to unpack community engagement experiences to better understand their impact on campus and in the community. Moreover, articles demonstrate research that emphasizes the impact of community–campus partnerships amid challenges currently facing higher education. In this regard, their authors share research findings that confirm transformative experiences and outcomes for community and campus stakeholders alike. Through the work of community-engaged researchers and practitioners, higher education institutions are proving their value. The research findings analyzed, lessons shared, and suggestions made demonstrate excellent work that exemplifies the transformative effects of community engagement.
The Limits of Service-Learning in Higher Education
The Review of Higher Education, 2006
The service-learning movement has become a major presence within higher education. More than 950 colleges and universities are Campus Compact members, committed to the civic purposes of higher education. Tens of thousands of faculty engage millions of college students in some form of service-learning practice each and every year. Major federal and private funding sustains and expands an increasingly diverse K-16 servicelearning movement. The substantial spread of service-learning over the last ten years mirrors a larger development in the academy-namely, higher education has begun to embrace a "scholarship of engagement" (Boyer, 1990; Shulman, 2004), be it manifested as experiential education, service-learning, undergraduate research, community-based research, the scholarship of teaching and learning movement, or stronger relationships with local communities. A scholarship of engagement is seen to link theory and practice, cognitive and affective learning, and colleges with communities. Such a paradigm of teaching and
Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 2005
A convergence of internal and external factors has challenged the institutional identity of Indiana State University and presented an opportunity for strategic evolution toward a campus better able to address student learning and serve the needs of the community and region. External drivers, such as fiscal shortfalls, declining population, and a re-envisioning of the roles of state institutions by the legislature, have compelled ISU to examine the academic and demographic composition of its enrollment base and to refocus its mission. Results from the National Survey of Student Engagement suggested that, despite long-standing perceptions of student academic preparation held by faculty and administrators, and supported by entrance data, ISU undergraduates were not adequately challenged within the existing system. In this article, we discuss how ISU decided to address student needs and constraints imposed by the state through a concerted program of experiential learning and community engagement.
Civic Engagement and Service Learning: Implications for Higher Education in America and South Africa
Education as Change, 2007
In a recent article, "Creating the New American College," Ernest Boyer challenges higher education to reconsider its mission to be that of educating students for a life as responsible citizens, rather than educating students solely for a career. By doing so, the "New American College" will take pride in connecting theory to practice in order to meet challenging social problems, particularly those faced by universities in urban settings. As Ira Harkavey of the University of Pennsylvania Center for Community Partnerships has noted, "Universities cannot afford to remain shores of affluence, self-importance and horticultural beauty at the edge of island seas of squalor, violence and despair" [5, p. A48]. Emphasizing service has the potential to enrich learning and renew communities, but will also give "new dignity to the scholarship of service" [5, p. A48].
The Relationship Between Service-learning And Civic Engagement In The 2-year College
2013
This study examined the relationship between service-learning and civic engagement in the 2year college and also investigated specific differences between service experiences to determine whether those differences moderated the relationship between service participation and civic engagement outcomes. The study yielded 110 matching pre-and post-Student Civic Engagement surveys from service-learners in five different course subject areas at a large southeastern community college. The findings of the paired-samples t tests suggest that students experienced significant gains in four of the seven dimensions of civic engagement after participating in service. Students in comparable courses in subject matter but without service-components were also surveyed, yielding 117 matching pre-and post-surveys. A comparison of the mean differences between pre-and post-responses of the non-service-learners and service-learners suggests that the service-learners had a higher tendency than the non-service-learners to participate in the majority of assessed civic engagement activities. The data were sorted by subject area to allow for an analysis of the service-learners and the non-service-learners in comparable courses. Those results, however, were inconclusive, and no clear trends emerged. ANOVAs and independent-samples t tests were used to determine the relationship between gains in civic outcomes and select variables. The findings suggest that the type of service-learning activity, the duration of the service experience, the participant-perceived quality of the service experience, the amount of required student reflection, and the teacher's frequency of use of active and passive instructional strategies significantly moderate the relationship between service participation and a number of measures of civic engagement. iv I dedicate this dissertation to my loving and patient partner, Dona, who has not only put up with years of my whining and worry, but has also gently lured me off of the metaphorical ledge more times than I can count. Because of this dissertation, she had a terribly lonely Christmas in 2012. Dona has been my savior in so many more ways than I can express here, and I owe her one very good Christmas. v ACKNOWLEDGMENTS This dissertation would not have been possible without the supervision and support of my chair and adviser, Dr. Randall Hewitt, who will forever have my gratitude and respect. Dr. Hewitt's sincere interest in helping his students, unwavering enthusiasm for his discipline, and stalwart dedication to the common good will continue to serve as reminders to me to diligently protect that flame which is my passion for teaching and my desire to make a difference. I also would like to make a special reference to Dr. Kay Allen, who was not only a member of my dissertation committee, but also my program adviser for seven years, my professor, and my advocate. I would have never completed this daunting task without Dr. Allen's invaluable guidance, support, and encouragement.
Review Essay: Engaging Higher Education; Purpose, Platforms, and Programs for Community Engagement
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
As I opened Engaging Higher Education: Purpose, Platforms, and Programs for Community Engagement, I found myself wondering, as I did when I began writing my own Service-Learning Essentials (Jacoby, 2015), whether we really need another book on community engagement. It did not take much in the way of reflection to conclude that, yes, we still do need them in general and Marshall Welch's book in particular. We need them in very different ways from the ways we needed them when I started up community service learning at the University of Maryland (UMD) in 1992. What a difference a quarter century makes! Then, at least in my experience, there was not much in the way of intentionality. We were not terribly clear about the real, ultimate purpose of our work, the platforms we needed to put in place so we could go about it, nor what programs we should be implementing. My story is a case in point. Take yourself back for a moment to the spring of 1992, when the first Clinton-Bill-was running for president. He was talking about a program that would engage college students and young adults in community service in return for an educational stipend. The program, of course, became AmeriCorps. This prompted the then-President of the University of Maryland, William E. Kirwan, to ask the then-Vice President of Student Affairs (my boss, the venerable William L. "Bud" Thomas, Jr.) whether there was any of this "community service" going on at Maryland. Bud responded that he didn't think there was much, and they both concluded that we should be doing "something." As for me, I was the Director of the office of Commuter Affairs, running the campus bus system, helping students find off-campus housing, and organizing multiple programs to engage students in campus life. one morning in May, 1992,