Bringing Best Practices into your Classroom *
Principles of Good Practice in Community Service-Learning Pedagogy:
- Academic credit is for learning, not for service
- Do not compromise academic rigor
- Set learning goals for students
- Establish criteria for the selection of community service placements.
- Provide educationally sound mechanisms to harvest the community learning
- Minimize the distinction between the student’s community learning role and the classroom learning role
- Re-think the faculty instructional role
- Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in student learning outcomes
- Maximize the community responsibility orientation of the course (Howard)
Regarding community partnerships:
- Service-learning is more effective when students have at least 15-20 hours of service in a quarter (Mabry)
- Effective partnerships with community agencies are ones that are consistent from year to year and have direct faculty involvement (Jacoby et. al.)
Regarding reflection:
- Increased time allocated by instructor for reflection leads to enhanced student learning. Students benefit the most from weekly in-class discussion time and ongoing, summative written summative reflection (Eyler & Giles, Mabry)
- Using two types of reflection activities leads to more significant student learning (Mabry)
- Reflection is most effective when it occurs at multiple points in time: before, after and during service experiences. (Eyler/Giles)
- Students in classes where service and learning are well integrated through classroom focus and reflection are more likely to demonstrate greater issue knowledge, have a more realistic and detailed personal political strategy, and give a more complex analysis of causes of and solutions to the problem at the conclusion of their experiences than those in classes where the service was less integrated into the course or no service was done (Eyler & Giles)
Regarding course construction:
- Integrating service requires matching course objectives with assignments and evaluative criteria that use students’ service to explore the main issues of the course (Mabry)
- Facilitating learning through service includes assuring that students have:
- at least minimal exposure to interaction with the beneficiaries of their service
- in-class discussion about their service and course concepts
- opportunities to talk with their site supervisors about their experiences and perceptions (Mabry)
- Structuring a course so that students draw upon their service in challenging and analytical ways moves them beyond shallow exploration and cliché’ “realizations” to something that “really opened my eyes” (Mabry)
- Faculty members planning for service-learning need to be aware of student differences that may affect how they respond to service-learning. Faculty should consider differing levels of service experiences and cognitive development among students and vary class activities for learning styles (Elyer & Giles)
- The quality of service-learning, including application, opportunities for structured reflection, and diversity and community voice, was a predictor of reports of critical thinking, ability to see consequences of actions, issue identification, and openness to new ideas (Eyler & Giles)
Characteristics of high quality student placements:
- Students do meaningful work, have important responsibilities, have varied or challenging tasks, work directly with community partners, receive support and feedback from agency staff, and continue to serve over a sustained period of time (Eyler & Giles)
Sources cited:
Eyler, J., Giles D. E., (1999) Where‘s the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Howard, Jeffrey ed. (1993). Praxis1: A Faculty Casebook on Community Service-Learning. Ann Arbor, MI: Office of Community Service Learning Press, University of Michigan
Jacoby B., et.al. (2003) Building Partnerships for Service-Learning. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass
Mabry, Beth J. (1998). Pedagogical Variations in Service-Learning and Student Outcomes: How Time, Contact, and Reflection Matter. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 5, 32-47
Compiled by Dr. Karin Cotterman, Associate Director for Engaged Scholarship, Haas Center for Public Service, Stanford University. Used with permission.
Tenure and Promotion Considerations**
Tenure and promotion decisions are based on an assessment of teaching, research and outreach accomplishments. Evaluation decisions reflect not only what the faculty does, but also, how well they do it. Scholarship is fundamental to the role of university faculty. Service-learning can take valuable time from scholarly activities, or it can be used to advance scholarship and enhance academic contributions.
Principles for Integrating Service-Learning with Scholarship
- Structure service-learning activities to address larger questions related to instructional effectiveness and/or appropriate outreach models for specific populations
- Measure the effectiveness of service-learning and discuss the results in the contact of a broader subject matter
How to Increase Visibility of Your Effort
- Present professional papers at state, regional, and national meetings
- Publish your findings in higher education publications or in applied academic journals, particularly those that report teaching innovations
- Serve the university community by volunteering to lead discussions or giving presentations to campus-wide audiences
- Make your work visible and emphasize quality: your service-learning efforts may lead to nominations for college or university teaching awards as well as other forms of recognition
- Submit grants for external funding related to service-learning activities
- Seek publicity for you and your students’ efforts through the Office of Integrated University Communications. (Contact Tonya Ewers, Senior News Media Relations Specialist 303-315-6374 for more information)
Suggestions for Receiving Departmental Support
- Integrate service-learning with teaching goals and department, college, and university priorities
- Document the impact and outcomes of service-learning activities on student learning and community intervention
- Don't emphasize the effectiveness of service-learning by describing only the activity
- Use service-learning as a tool to refine and expand your instructional skills
- Discuss your teaching successes and challenges with departmental colleagues, soliciting their input and taking the opportunity to discuss pedagogical issues
- Don't keep your service-learning activities a secret in your department
- Experiment with different models and approaches, carefully assessing the effectiveness of each, be innovative
Adapted from the Service Integration Project of Colorado State University. Used with permission.