service-learning workshop at tri-c
DESCRIPTION
Service-Learning workshopTRANSCRIPT
Service-Learning
Dick Kinsley
Ohio Campus Compact
www.ohiocampuscompact.org
Participant Outcome:
I have few answers and many more questions. I am confused as ever, but I believe that I am confused at a higher level about more important questions.
Setting the Context
Service-Learning as a Teaching Methodology
Service-Learning Key Concepts Course Integration Resources on service-learning
John Dewey/ Kurt Lewin/ Jean Piaget “Conceptualized learning is a
process where intelligence is shaped by experience over time.”
Jean Piaget
Learning from Experience
“A man who carries a cat by the tail learns something he can learn in no other way.”
Mark Twain
“We should be careful to get out of an experience only the wisdom that is in it -- and stop there; lest we be like the cat that sits down on a hot stove-lid. She will never sit down on a hot stove-lid again -- and that is well; but also she will never sit down on a cold one anymore.”
- Following the Equator, Pudd'nhead Wilson's New Calendar
Kolb’s Learning Cycle
Experiential Learning Cycle
The Service-Learning Cycle
Service-Learning Definitions “Service-learning is an educational methodology which combines community
service with explicit academic learning objectives, preparation for community work, and deliberate reflection. Students participating in service-learning provide direct and indirect community service as part of their academic coursework, learn about and reflect upon the community context in which service is provided, and develop an understanding of the connection between service and their academic work. These learning experiences are designed through a collaboration of the community and the institution or academic unit/program, relying upon partnerships meant to be of mutual benefit. Improvement and sustainability of the experiences and the partnerships are enhanced through formal assessment activities that involve community, faculty, student and institutional perspectives.”
Source: Gelmon, Sherrill B., Holland, Barbara A., Driscoll, Amy, Spring, Amy, & Kerrigan, Seanna (2001). Assessing Service-Learning and Civic Engagement: Principles and Techniques. Campus Connect: Brown University, Providence, RI., p. v.
What is Service Learning?
The service learning instructional methodology integrates community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Service learning programs involve students in organized community service that addresses local needs, while developing their academic skills, sense of civic responsibility, and commitment to the community. Service learning is related to but does not include cooperative education, practicum, or internship programs.
What is service-learning?Service-learning is a form of experiential education characterized by all of the following:
student participation in an organized service activity
participation in service activities connected to specific learning outcomes
participation in service activities that meet identified community needs
structured time for student reflection and connection of the service experience to learning
(Abes,Jackson & Jones, 2002)
Experiential Education
What is learning?
Service-learning is embedded in a view of learning as:
• Beginning with personal connections
• Useful as its core purpose
• Developmental and incremental
• Transformative
• Foundational to citizenship in a complex society
Key Themes in Service-Learning
•Collaboration with the community (reciprocity)
•Importance of reflection
•Active learning (meaningful work)
•Development of a sense of caring
•Promotion of a sense of civic responsibility
•Impact societal problems
(O’Grady, 2000)
Service-Learning Outcomes
Moral Political Intellectual
Charity Giving Civic Duty Additive Experience
Change Caring Social Reconstruction
Transformative Experience
Types of Service ExperiencesCommunity Service
(Service learning)
Service-Learning
(Service Learning)
Internships/Practicums
(service Learning)
Primary Intended Beneficiary
Recipient Recipient AND Provider
Provider
Primary Focus Service Service AND Learning
Learning
Intended Educational Purposes
Civic and Ethical Development
Academic and Civic Development
Career and Academic Development
Integration with Curriculum
Peripheral Integrated Co-curricular/Supplemental
Nature of Service Activity
Based on a Social Cause/Need
Based on Academic Discipline
Based on on Industry or Career
Types of Service ExperiencesCommunity Service
(Service learning)
Service-Learning
(Service Learning)
Internships/Practicums
(service Learning)
Faculty Role None Classroom Instructor/Supervisor
Classroom Instructor
Agency Role Supervisor Instructor/Supervisor
Instructor/Supervisor
Benefits of Service-Learning
Benefits to Students
Hands-on use of skills and knowledge that increase relevance of academic skills
Opportunities that incorporate different learning styles I
Interaction with people of diverse cultures and lifestyles
Increased sense of self-efficacy
Analytical skills, and social development
Valuable career guidance and experience
Opportunities for meaningful involvement with the local community
Increased civic responsibility
Benefits to Faculty
Inspiration and invigoration of teaching methods
Increased student contact through emphasis on student-centered teaching
Increased understanding of how learning occurs
Connecting the community with curriculum and becoming aware of current societal issues as they relate to academic areas of interest
Identifying areas for research and publication related to current trends and issue
Benefits of Service-Learning
Benefits to the University
Enhanced teaching, research and outreach activities
Faculty and student engagement in community issues
Increased student retention
Opportunities to extend university knowledge and resources
Positive community relationships
Increased development and preparation of university graduates
Increases in the overall quality of education
Benefits to the Community
Awareness of and access to university resources
Positive relationship opportunities with the university
Awareness-building of community issues, constituents, agencies
Opportunities for contributing to the educational process
Affordable access to professional development
Short and long term solutions to pressing community needs
“Transformative potential” Ability to connect subject matter with “real-
life” experience: experiential learning Personal development, critical thinking,
sensitivity to diversity, and development of citizenship
(Eyler and Giles, 1999; Jones, 2002)
Outcomes of Service-Learning
Major learning outcomesStereotyping and Tolerance outcomes• More positive view of people with whom they work
• Growing appreciation for difference: seeing similarities through differences
• Increased capacity for tolerance
Related Program Characteristics:
Placement quality, reflection activity, application of service and subject matter, diversity
Major learning outcomesPersonal Development outcomes• Greater self-knowledge, spiritual growth, reward in helping
others
• Increased personal efficacy, increased relationship between service-learning and career skill development
Related Program Characteristics:
Placement quality, reflection activity, application of service and subject matter, diversity
Major learning outcomesInterpersonal Development outcomes
• Increased ability to work well with others
• Increased leadership skills
Related Program Characteristics:
Placement quality where students are challenged and have appropriate opportunity to take responsibility over work
Major learning outcomes
Community and College Connection outcomes• Increased connectedness to community
• Development of connectedness with peers
• Increased closeness of faculty-student relationships
Related Program Characteristics:
Strong community voice, placement quality, reflection, and application
Retention and Career Skills
First-year SL students were more likely than NSL peers to indicate they planned to re-enroll and graduate from their current institution
o Muthiah, Bringle, & Hatcher, 2002
SL participation enhances mediating variables for student retention, including students’ interpersonal, community, and academic engagement, and peer and faculty relationships
o Gallini & Moely, 2003; Bringle, Hatcher, & Muthiah, 2010
Civic engagement activities enhance students’ sense of technical competence in a variety of fields
o Langley, 2006; Vogelgesang, 2003; Vogelgesang & Astin, 2000; Astin, Sax, & Avalos, 1999; Sledge et al., 1993
The underside of service-learning
The complexities that emerge when undergraduate students engage with ill-structured, complex social issues in the community service settings typically associated with service-learning courses
The underside of service-learning
Some students just “don’t get it”
Cannot see the connections between their service work and the course content
Embark upon their service insincerely: severe consequences for service site and class
(Jones, 2002)
Diary of a Fish
Sunday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.
Monday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.Tuesday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.Wednesday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.Thursday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.
Friday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.
Saturday-Swam Around Bowl. Ate. Slept.
Student Reflection
Today I got to the nursing home at 2:00. Talked to some ladies. Passed out popcorn at the movie. Went home at 4:00.
Reflection as Key to Learning
Reflection is:
Reflection is a skill, more accurately a cluster of skills, involving observation, asking questions and putting facts, ideas, and experiences together to add new meaning to them all. Learning in this way, and instilling the practice as a habit, can allow program experiences to live on in the students’ lives in new experiences and new learning.
Dan Conrad & Diane Hedin Youth Service: A Guidebook for Developing and Operating Effective Programs
Developmental Perspective on Learning
Prior knowledge is the key to learning Prior knowledge must be activated Learners must be actively involved in
constructing personal meaning Deep understanding takes time Context reinforces learning
Effective reflection…
Facilitates learners goals and objectives Activates prior knowledge Reinforces new knowledge Identifies problems Reinforces critical questions Provides support Enhances trust and dialogue
Keys to Reflection
Continuous Contextual Challenging Connected
“How will we know when we get there?” said Alice. “Oh,” said the Cat, “You
will always get somewhere if you don’t care where you
are going.”
Principles of Good Practice: Mintz & Hesser (1996)
An effective program:
• engages people in responsible and challenging actions for the common good,
• provides structured opportunities for people to reflect critically on experience,
• articulates clear service and learning goals for everyone involved,
• allows for those with needs to define needs,
• clarifies all partners’ responsibilities,
• matches service providers and needs while recognizing changing circumstances,
Principles of Good Practice (con’t)An effective program:
• expects genuine, active, and sustained organizational commitment,
• includes training, supervision, monitoring, support, recognition, and evaluation to meet service and learning goals,
• expects that time commitment for service and learning is flexible, appropriate, and in the best interests of all involved; and
• is committed to participation by and with diverse populations.
Mintz & Hesser, 1996, pp.41-44
Essential Elements of Effective Service-Learning Practice includes:
Clear educational goals that require the application of concepts, content and skills from the academic disciplines and involves students in the construction of their own knowledge.
Having students engaged in tasks that challenge and stretch them cognitively and developmentally.
Using assessment as a way to enhance student learning as well as to document and evaluate how well students have met content and skills.
Service tasks that have clear goals and meet genuine needs in the community and have significant consequences for themselves and others.
Formative and summative evaluation in a systematic evaluation of the service effort and its outcomes.
Valuing diversity through its participants, its practice and its outcomes. The preparation of students for all aspects of their service work including a clear
understanding of task and role, the skills and information required by the task, awareness of safety precautions, as well as knowledge about and sensitivity to the people with whom they will be working.
Student reflection before, during and after service, that uses multiple methods to encourage critical thinking, and is a central force in the design and fulfillment of curricular objectives.
Multiple methods are designed to acknowledge, celebrate and further validate students’ service work.
Developing Service-Learning Courses The effectiveness of Service-Learning as a teaching approach
depends largely on the preparation phase. When designing the course, faculty need to consider several factors from preparation to implementation to evaluation. The following steps are recommended to ensure a successful experience to all constituents:
Explore how service-learning fits into your teaching philosophy Determine how service-learning experiences may facilitate learning by
drawing connections to course objectives and desired outcomes Gather resources on community needs and ideas for potential
projects Identify community partners and build a collaborative relationship Integrate information on service-learning into the course syllabus,
review logistical details and make necessary arrangements Plan how students will be oriented to service-learning Decide on strategies to connect service to learning though reflection Set-up evaluation procedures
Exemplary Service-Learning Syllabi:
Include service as an expressed goal. Clearly describe how the service experience will be measured and
what will be measured. Describe the nature of the service placement and/or project Specify the roles and responsibilities of students in the service site Define the need(s) the service placement meets. Specify how students will be expected to demonstrate what they have
learned in the placement/or project (journals, papers, presentations). Present course assignments that link the placement and the course
content Include a description of the reflective process Include a description of the expectations for the public dissemination of
student’s work.
Service-learning design matters!• High quality placements matching students’ interests and developmental readiness with opportunity for direct service
• Application/Connection between course subject matter and issues raised by service experience
• Structured reflection in the form of writing and discussion
• Diverse life experiences, view points, and ways of knowing are integral to design
• Presence and validation of the wisdom of community voice
ResourcesOhio Campus Compact
http://www.ohiocampuscompact.org
National Campus Compact
http://www.compact.org
Service-Learning Clearinghouse
http://www.servicelearning.org
Community College National Center for Civic Engagement
http://www.mc.maricopa.edu/other/engagement/