DePaul UniversityTeaching & Learning Certificate Program

“Learning Through Community Engagement”

Service-Learning:Conceptualization, Models, and Resources

Charles Strain (cstrain)Professor of Religious Studies

Jeffrey Howard (jhowar15)Director of Faculty Development, Steans Center

Steans.depaul.edu/faculty/

3.7/8.12

Workshop Outcomes

1. Distinguish service-learning from other forms of student community-based learning

2. Identify the resonance between service-learning and Vincentian social justice values

3. Acquire service-learning pedagogical skills and resources applicable to other courses

4. Know where to find additional resources

Workshop Plan• Introductory Activity (10 minutes)• About Service-Learning (15 minutes) (Jeff) • Service-Learning and Social Justice (15 minutes)

(Charles)• Q/A and Discussion (Round 1)• Christina’s Reflection Excerpt (8 minutes) (Charles)• Service-Learning Activity Applicable Across

Pedagogies (15 minutes) (Jeff)• Service-Learning and Social Justice Activities

Applicable Across Pedagogies (7 minutes) (Charles)• Q/A and Discussion (Round 2)

Introductory Activity (10 minutes)

What Kind of College Graduate?Discuss with a tablemate.Share a few thoughts.What’s the relevance of this for service-learning?What are you doing in your class(es) to increase the

chances you contribute to such a graduate?Service-learning may contribute to preparing graduates

with a Vincentian perspective/worldview.

Contextualizing Service-Learning

Defining Service-Learning

• A pedagogical model that intentionally integrates community service, academic learning, and civic learning.

• Aiming for a win-win: the community benefits from student involvement and the student benefits from the community involvement (mutually beneficial)

Conceptualizing Service-Learning

Service-learning is not synonymous with community service.

Distinguishing Service-Learning from Other Forms of Student Community Involvement

Relevant and Meaningful Service

with the Community

Enhanced Academic Learning

Purposeful Civic

Learning

Volunteering/ Community Service Yes No No

Co-Curricular Service-Learning

Yes No Yes

Internships Yes YesNo

(instead, advance student’s learning

or socialization into a profession)

Academic Service-Learning Yes Yes Yes

Alignment(p. 21)

Academic and Civic Learning Objectives

Learning Strategies

Learning Assessment

Alignment Examples (pp. 32 and 49) Reflection

Goal Categories

Specific Learning Objective

Classroom Strategy

Student Assignment

Method for Assessing Learning

Academic:

Course-Specific Academic Learning

(1 of 5 academic learning

categories)

Students will deepen their

understanding and application of course theory

Class discussion time devoted to applying theory to community

service and vice versa

Final paper focused on

making connections

between course theories and community

service experience

Student’s demonstration of

deep understanding and application of course theory

to community service(Rubric)

Civic:

Diversity Learning

(1 of 7 civic learning

categories)

Students will understand the

concept of “privilege”

“Privilege Walk” activity, followed

by class discussion

Journal assignment describing

relevance of privilege walk discussion to

experience in the community

Quality of connections

made by student in journal entry

(Rubric)

SERVICE LEARNING AND SOCIAL JUSTICE

CHARLES R. STRAINDEPAUL UNIVERSITY

TEACHING AND LEARNING CERTIFICATE PROGRAM

Transformative Learning

[T]ransformative learning is about thinking about things in a new way and moving in new directions … Community experiences that challenge student assumptions coupled with thoughtful reflection may lead to fundamental changes in the way the student views service or society.”

Eyler and Giles, Where is the Learning in Service Learning, p. 17

[Traditional] education [is] an act of depositing, in which the students are the depositories and the teacher is the depositor. Instead of communicating, the teacher issues communiqués and makes deposits which the students patiently receive, memorize, and repeat. This is the “banking” concept of education. . . .

P. Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed

In problem-posing education, men develop their power to perceive critically the way they exist in the world with which and in which they find themselves; they come to see the world not as a static reality, but as a reality in process, in transformation.

P. Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed

Types of Learning and Transformation Fostered by Service Learning

• Personal and Interpersonal Development• Understanding and Applying Knowledge• Engaged, Reflective Learning• Critical Thinking• Perspective Transformation• Engaged Citizenship

Personal and Interpersonal Development

• Greater self knowledge• Increased sense of personal efficacy• Enhanced ability to work well with others• Increase in tolerance for diversity• Increase in leadership skills

Eyler and Giles, p. 92

Understanding and Applying Knowledge

“We learn these theories and ideas in school, but until we really apply them or see them in action, they’re not real. And we come out of school--if we haven’t done something like [service learning]-- not understanding.”

Student in Eyler and Giles, p. 69

Engaged Learning

“Cognitive scientists agree with experiential learning theorists … that the most powerful learning takes place when situated in complex contexts. One avoids the inert knowledge problem by involving students with real problems in the real world.”

Eyler and Giles, p. 92

Creative Thinking Skills

• Students have a basis in experience with which to test the adequacy of theories

• Through carefully chosen reflective exercises students are forced to examine the root causes of social problems

• Students’ assumptions and stereotypes are challenged.

Creative Thinking Skills (2)

• Students are encouraged to examine the human consequences of technical solutions

• Students are led to examine how their field, discipline or profession may contribute to the betterment of society

• Students are forced to examine their own values

Perspective Transformation

• Ability to walk in another person’s shoes• Systemic understanding of causes and

solutions to social problems• Increased sense of importance of social

justice and need to change public policiesEyler and Giles

SERVICE LEARNING AT DEPAUL

Vincent’s Option for the Poor

• In what ways will the learning facilitated in my class serve to help the least advantaged in our society and globally?

DEPAUL’S STRATEGIC PLAN

• [DePaul will] develop programs for faculty, staff and students to deepen their understanding of the Vincentian tradition and values of social justice, charity and equality.

EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL JUSTICE

Education for social justice is a form of transformative learning that seeks to develop engaged citizens who recognize the systemic causes of many of the problems that we face as a society and who are committed to some forms of social change that address those problems.

BABIES IN THE RIVER

• How not to think about social justice

Types of Service

• Direct Service -- Charity• Direct Service -- Empowerment• Project Development• Community Based Research• Social Change -- Asset Based Community

Development• Social Change -- Political Organizing and

Advocacy

Service-Learning Activities Relevant to Other Pedagogies

1. Christina’s reflection excerpt (Charles)2. Evaluating a journal assignment and a

student’s journal excerpt (Jeff) 3. Three social justice activities (Charles)

Christina’s Reflections• Work along several vectors simultaneously• Integrate cognitive, moral, emotional and

interpersonal dimensions• Integrate each of the moral components

Sensitivity Judgment Motivation Character

• Are aware of the ambiguities of direct service AND public policy grounded social change

• Stress interdependence of self and social transformation

• Provide evidence of a multilinear development

Evaluating a Reflection Assignment and Evaluating a Student’s Response

Journal excerpt from a student working at a home for victims of domestic violence as part of an introductory community psychology course

Assignment: How are the clients treated at your organization and what are your thoughts about that treatment relative to what we have been reading about?

It would be very hard for me as an adult to be restricted like that. The women are put on restriction for not smoking far enough away from the building, for having things other than water to drink in their rooms, talking to the opposite sex other than the pastors that come to (name of organization), and not keeping up with their chore list. I know they have these rules for a certain reason. I am not certain how it fits into the entire transformation process for each woman. How are these women going to learn to make decisions on their own when they are watched very closely and everyday is mapped out for them? Right now I am having a hard time seeing how this is helpful to their growth. When you tell a child not to do something, it is a green light for them to explore the possibilities. This is kind of what I see here. They are given a good home and people around them who care, but a list of rules a mile long. Some days I can see why they test the waters and push the limits.

1. Evaluate the reflection journal assignment.2. Evaluate the student’s work: What about it answers the assignment and what about it doesn’t?3. What feedback would you give to this student for this paragraph?

Experience

Theory/ConceptualClarification

ReflectionApplication

The Purpose of Education

“The purpose of education is to put people in possession of their powers.” John Dewey

Visions of a Just Society

• CBO CBO

Initial student Class theories

IMAGINE THE FUTURE

Take-Aways

What are you taking away from this workshop?

What questions do you have?

National Service-Learning Resources• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse

Published and unpublished material related to service-learningwww.servicelearning.org

• Campus CompactMany syllabi by discipline, conference announcements, lost of publications friendly to service-learningwww.compact.org

• Imagining AmericaConcerned with community engagement in the humanities, arts, and design fieldswww.imaginingamerica.org

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Healthcomprehensive resources targeted for but not limited to health professionswww.ccph.info

• Service-Learning in the Disciplines24 discipline-specific monographs

• International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement – annual conference (September 2012 in Baltimore)www.researchslce.org

• Michigan Journal of Community Service Learningwww.ginsberg.umich.edu/mjcsl/

Possible Next Steps

• Consult the web resources on the prior slide• Read and do the worksheets in the “Service-Learning

Course Design Workbook”• Consult with Jeff or Charles• Send your syllabus to Jeff for feedback

(jhowar15@depaul.edu)• Review materials and resources at the faculty

resources section of the Steans Center Webpage (www.steans.depaul.edu/faculty)

Next Steps with TLCP

• Read about the TLCP on our website: Depaul.digication.com/TLCP

• Join Us!Attend a session on “Building Your Teaching

Portfolio in Digication” during Spring Quarter

• Create a page (component) in your Teaching Portfolio following reflection on this session.

• Spring Workshops (details to come)