Service Learning Projects in Higher Education
Get Students Out of the Classroom and Into the Community
Nov 9, 2009
Service learning is a type of experiential education that combines academic curriculum and community service. While service learning activities can take place at any grade level, when such activities are incorporated into a higher education curriculum, students not only have the opportunity to serve local communities, but they can also see how sometimes abstract course concepts and ideas manifest themselves in practical, “real world” situations.
While service learning activities can have a positive impact on students and the communities in which they attend school, instructors need to make sure that their activities are well-designed and carefully implemented so that all parties involved benefit from the experience.
Activities Tied to the Curriculum
Volunteering is certainly a worthy activity; however, a service learning activity is more than simply taking students to volunteer in the local community. Service learning activities need to be expressly tied to curriculum in order to be truly considered service learning. For example, students in a Spanish class serving food at a gathering of local Spanish-speakers would not be considered a service learning activity; however, if those students were practicing their Spanish with the locals as they served the food and were helping to teach the Spanish-speakers the English names for the dishes, students would then be engaging in the curriculum-based activity of practicing their speaking, teaching, and translation skills.
Listen to Student Feedback
Student feedback before, during, and after a service learning activity is key to a successful experience for both the students and the volunteer organization. Students should be allowed to express their views on the length and logistics of the service learning assignment, and they should also be given the opportunity to offer feedback as to how they will be assessed. Constant student feedback makes instructors aware of any problems as they arise and gives teachers the opportunity to revise the assignment as it is in progress or for future semesters. Students will also be more engaged in the assignment if they feel that their opinions and concerns are being heard.
Successful Community Partnerships
Just as teachers should constantly solicit student feedback on a service learning experience, they should also maintain open communication with the volunteer organization/service learning site in order to ensure that all parties are getting something positive from the experience. The community organization should be included in the planning aspect of the project as well as offering feedback once the project is complete. As teachers may not always be able to be present when students undertake service learning assignments, maintaining channels of communication with a community organization will allow the organization to contact teachers if something goes wrong with a student at a volunteer site.
Reflection on Service Experience
Teachers should ask students to reflect on the service learning experience so that they are able to connect the experience to their learning experience in the course. Reflecting (though writing and/or class discussion) before the experience begins allows students to explore any preconceived notions they may have about the service learning project, while reflection during and after the experience allows students to think about their impact on the community organization and what impact the community service is having on them as students and citizens.
Assessment of Student Progress
In addition to designing assessments to measure students’ progress throughout the service learning experience, teachers should allow community organizations to assess the experience as well, toward the goal of improvement of the service learning experience for the organization and future students. Student reflections are one form of assessment for students in the course; these reflections could be combined and expanded with research into a longer course paper or project.
Help with Service Learning Connections
Instructors should not feel that they are alone when designing a service learning project for students. Many colleges and universities have an Office of Service Learning, whose function is to assist teachers in finding and maintaining partnerships with community organizations. If an instructor’s campus does not have a Service Learning office, instructors may be able to find assistance through the student activities office.
Although they involve careful planning on the part of instructors, service learning activities can be valuable for students and for the community organizations that participate in the project. Community organizations can receive some often much-needed assistance, and students have the ability to participate in a meaningful learning activity that will stay with them longer than a lecture on course material.
Additional Information:
Successful Service Learning in K-8 Schools
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