Information For Faculty

The Service Learning Center staff can help faculty develop and implement service learning programs in a variety of ways. We can assist you in finding appropriate community partners, sustaining relationships in the community, developing reflection activities, leading classroom presentations, finding grant resources for community projects, and advising on risk management issues.

Service-learning scholar Dr. Maureen Rubin presents an interactive
workshop on integrating Community-Based Action Research into
course design to more effectively navigate the retention, tenure,
and promotion process.
Photo by Kyana Taillon.

We offer ongoing campus-wide faculty development workshops. To see what opportunities are available, see our current events.

The Center for Excellence in Learning & Teaching is a great resorce to help design your course and provide innovative and useful pedagogical strategies to help support student learning!

We also offer an annual Service Learning Fellows program. Once selected to participate in this prestigious program, Fellows meet as a cohort to reflect on course design and develop an understanding of the theory and practice of service learning pedagogy.

We are pleased to announce the 2009-2010 call for Service Learning Faculty Fellows. Please download the application to learn more. The deadline is Tuesday, December 1st, 2009.

Faculty Interest

What is experiential education and service learning?

Experiential education is any form of teaching that utilizes direct "hands-on" experience. This can range from applying skills learned in the class to tasks in the field, to applying those skills to help meet a need in the community.

Service learning is a specific type of experiential education. There are as many different definitions of service learning as there are ways to serve; however, the key elements of the service learning pedagogy can be summed up as follows:

A service-learning program provides educational experiences.

• Under which students learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet actual community needs, and that are coordinated in collaboration with school and community;
• That are integrated into the students' academic curriculum or provide structured time for a student to think, talk, or write about what the student did and saw during the actual service activity;
• That provide students with opportunities to use newly-acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities;
• Enhance what is taught by extending student learning beyond the classroom and into the community, to help foster the development of socially and environmentally responsible citizens.

Adapted from the CSU Community Service Learning Webpage.

Benefits of Service Learning Involvement

National studies have validated the benefits of service learning for students, demonstrating that participation in volunteer service during college has widespread positive effects on students' academic and personal development. Service participation positively affects students' commitment to: their communities, helping others with difficulties, promoting racial understanding, and influencing social values. Service participation strengthens the development of important life skills, such as leadership abilities, self-confidence, critical thinking, group problem solving, and conflict resolution. Service participation also has a unique positive effect on academic development, including grades earned, degrees sought, time devoted to academic endeavors, academic self-confidence, and students' self-assessments of knowledge gained. Furthermore, service participation can translate into career advancement regardless of discipline, as is attested by the fact that HSU graduates have ranked volunteer experience as the single most important factor in gaining employment.

Essential Elements of Service Learning

An effective and sustained program:

• Engages people in responsible and challenging actions for the common good.
• Provides structured opportunities for people to reflect critically on their service experience.
• Articulates clear service and learning goals for everyone involved.
• Allows for those with needs to define those needs.
• Matches service providers and service needs through a process that recognizes changing circumstances.
• Expects genuine, active, and sustained organizational commitment.
• Includes training, supervision, monitoring, support, recognition, and evaluation to meet service and learning goals.
• Insures that the time commitment for service and learning is flexible, appropriate, and in the best interest of all involved.
• Is committed to program participation by and with diverse populations.

Adapted from the Wingspread Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning.

Integrated Reflection

Reflection is more than just journal writing and summary reports-it is making the space to draw connections between academic learning and meaningful service. Through reflection, the knowledge inherent in practice can be exposed and make concrete. Reflection should not just be done at the end of the service, but should be an integral part of the learning process throughout the course.

Some examples of reflection activities are listed below. The Service Learning Center staff can help you identify appropriate models of reflection and assist you in implementing them in the classroom.

Speaking: examples include class discussions, small group discussions, oral reports and presentations, testimony before policy-making bodies, teaching material to younger students, public speaking, or one-on-one meetings.

Writing: examples include essays, research papers, journals and learning logs, guides for future volunteers and participants, self-evaluations, or published articles.

Activities: examples include planning future projects, simulation and role playing games, recognition and celebration, recruiting peers, or training other students.

Multimedia & Performing Arts: examples include scrap books, web pages; paintings, drawings, and collages; music, theater, and dance presentations; or photo, slide, and video essays.