Andrea Adolph, Faculty Associate

Service Learning 2006-2007

Service-learning is, according to Robert Bringle and Julie Hatcher, “a course-based, credit-bearing educational experience in which students (a) participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and (b) reflect on service activity as a means of gaining a deeper understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.” Solid service-learning classes or course components integrate the academic needs of students and the learning goals of the course with ways to meet real community needs that have been identified by community partners. The relationships between faculty, students, community partners, and the institution as a whole should be reciprocal: service-learning strikes a balance between the altruism of volunteerism and the practical academic goals of an internship or practicum. True service provides what is most important for the recipient, and sound practice ensures that those who benefit from the service provided by students and faculty have a voice in the outcomes of service-learning projects.

Students come to deeply appreciate and understand course content when they are able to experience that content in real time. When students are confronted with relevant and meaningful experiences, they are able to comprehend course material in ways that traditional teaching and learning methods can rarely access. Whether students are tutoring children in local elementary schools, designing and building playgrounds, collecting oral histories, or analyzing data for a non-profit service agency, they not only get to put the theories of a discipline into action, but they also are able to explore issues of civic engagement that are not always evident in traditional learning activities. Service-learning is a way to help students to see how different aspects of their academic courses can impact the world around them, and in turn students can interrogate their own roles as citizens who can impact their communities.

email: aadolph@kent.edu

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