Exploring International Service Learning

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Exploring International Service Learning

• Susan Sutton, Ph.D.
• Chancellors Professor of Anthropology
• Associate Dean for International Affairs
• Steve Jones, Ph.D.
• Coordinator, Office of Service Learning,
• IUPUI Center for Service and Learning
• Stephanie Leslie, M.S.
• Director of Study Abroad
• Office of International Affairs

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Presentation Outline

• I. Overview of Service Learning
• II. Overview of Education Abroad
• III. Combining Service Learning and Education
  Abroad

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Part I Overview of service learning
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What is service learning and what is not service
learning?

• Service learning is 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 the service activity in such a way
  as to gain further understanding of course
  content, a broader appreciation of the
  discipline, and an enhanced sense of personal
  values and civic responsibility.

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Distinctions Among Approaches to Service
Experiential Learning
BENEFICIARY
Provider
Recipient
FOCUS
Learning
Service
SERVICE LEARNING
COMMUNITY SERVICE
FIELD EDUCATION
VOLUNTEERISM
INTERNSHIP
(Furco, 1996)
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Why should universities and colleges pursue
service learning?

• Powerful Pedagogy
• Involves Faculty Expertise
• Involves Structured Service
• Develops Civic Responsibility
• Enhances Student Development
• Student Persistence and Retention
• Supports an Expanding Role of Higher Education
• Addresses Community Issues

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What are the key elements and principles of
service-learning?

• Reflection
• Perplexity (Dewey, 1933)
• Activities to structure learning from the service
  experience
• Reciprocity
• Partnerships
• Dialogue to structure the service experience

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Key Principles

• Academic credit is for learning, not service.
• Set learning goals for students.
• Establish criteria for the selection of community
  service placements.
• Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in
  student learning outcomes.
• Maximize the community responsibility for
  orientation of the course.
• Do not compromise academic rigor.

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What are the learning objectives of service
learning?

• Academic Development
• Persistence and retention
• Achievement and aspirations
• Life Skills
• Racial tolerance
• Cultural understanding
• Civic Responsibility
• Commitment to community
• Aspirations to volunteer (Sax Astin, 1997)
• (See www.compact.org/resource/aag.pdf)

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Part II Overview of Education Abroad
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What is the philosophy of the IUPUI study abroad
program?

• Academic based
• Help students find the right program for them.
• Opportunity for all students who are prepared
  not highly selective
• Courses towards degree
• Connecting students with their host community -
  service learning is an important method
• Go early, Go often

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Types of overseas programs

• Length
• Short-term
• Semester
• Academic year
• Program structure
• Immersion programs
• Faculty-led, island programs
• Hybrid programs
• Credit
• Pre-determined courses
• Full university offerings
• Housing
• Home stays
• Other alternatives

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Current Initiatives in Education Abroad

• Health and Safety
• Curriculum integration
• Non-traditional students
• College students
• Disciplines
• Length of programs
• More comprehensive programming

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What are the learning objectives of study abroad?

• (According to the Forum on Education Abroad,
  slightly amended)
• Enhance academic learning
• Develop leadership skills
• Advance career paths
• Experience personal growth
• Improve intercultural skills
• Learn a language
• Learn about another country, its history,
  culture, way of life
• Cultivate global awareness
• Promote international diplomacy and security
• Better understand ones own cultural and national
  background

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Part III Combining Service Learning and
Education Abroad
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Types of International Service Learning Programs

• Service and learning both abroad
• Service abroad, learning in US
• Learning before and/or after service abroad
• Learning during service abroad, via web
• Placements
• Individual student
• Group placements

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What does service learning bring to study abroad?

• Speeds up process of immersion and connection
• Enhances experiential learning component of
  course
• Fits well with non-traditional, professional or
  pre-professional students
• Builds in extra measure of reflection
• Provides opportunity to practice skills of
  cross-cultural understanding and interaction
• Provides feedback from community to the
  instructor that can transform the course

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What does service learning bring to study abroad?
Continued..

• Provides additional opportunities for learning
  connected to course material
• Increases sense of connection to the local
  community
• Increases opportunities for personal friendships
• Changes role of the student from tourist and
  observer to co-worker and participant
• Enhances or introduces a civic education
  dimension, including concepts of global
  citizenship
• Intensifies awareness of relationships between
  home and host country
• Introduces another source of knowledge and
  authority into the course (from the service
  organization)

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What does study abroad bring to service learning?

• Provides unique experiences, not obtainable in
  home country
• Enhances cross-cultural learning and competence
• Expands student sense of citizenship and
  responsibility from local to global
• Broadens the net of service and partnership from
  the local to the global
• Throws social and cultural issues into bold
  relief by virtue of the great contrast between
  home and host country
• Leads students to rethink issues of power and
  wealth in home country, by virtue of comparison
  with host country
• Helps American students learn and reflect on the
  role of the United States in global affairs at
  this particular moment
• Increases student abilities to negotiate and
  comprehend cultural difference within home
  country

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Guidelines for Reflection

• Clearly links service experience to learning
  objectives
• Is structured in terms of expectations,
  assessment criteria
• Occurs regularly throughout program
• Provides feedback from instructor
• Includes opportunity to explore, clarify, and
  alter values

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Examples of Reflection Activities

• Personal Journals
• Directed Writings
• Classroom Assessment Techniques
• Agency Presentations

• Ethical Case Studies
• Student Portfolios
• On-line Techniques
• Experiential Research Paper
• Minute Papers
• Stand and Declare

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Selecting a Service Site

• Work with community leaders to identify
  possibilities
• Open your thinking to various forms of community
  service that are culturally appropriate in that
  location
• Take measures that insure these relationships
  continue over several years, even if the students
  change
• Look for congruence of learning objectives and
  service activities
• Approach the organization in a collaborative
  manner, and allow relationship to evolve and
  change over time
• Devote considerable attention to explaining what
  service learning is
• Look for organizations that are willing to
  collaborate
• Look for organizations that can identify and
  clarify tasks
• Consider the knowledge and skills of students
• Consider if the organization can host only one or
  a number of students
• Look for organizations that have the resources to
  monitor students
• Transportation, health, and safety issues

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• Successful international service learning
  requires that students be prepared for the
  cultural setting and social interactions they
  will encounter. This means
• Addressing the complexity of culture
• Preparing them to interact with those unlike
  themselves

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Sample methods for teaching about cultural
complexity

• Ten Things Everyone Should Know About Culture
• All of the pre-departure culture learning
  strategies found in Paige, Cohen, et. Al, 2002,
  Maximizing Study Abroad

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Preparing students for effective international
social interaction requires explicit attention
to

• Issues of culture shock and methods of processing
  the new beliefs and behaviors they will encounter
• Guidelines on the basic norms of politeness and
  social interaction in the host country
• Familiarity with the basics of cross-cultural
  communication, both verbal and non-verbal
• At least some rudimentary knowledge of the
  language of the host country
• Strategies for conflict resolution and management
• Discussion of the value of reciprocity, openness,
  and learning from others in the globalizing world
  of the 21st century
• Discussion of the historical and present
  relationship between the U.S. and the host country

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Sample method for preparing students for social
interaction in the host country

• Susans 12 Step Program for Dealing with
  Cross-Cultural Tensions, Annoyances, and
  Misunderstandings

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Dealing with the social and cultural issues
involved also means periodic reflection and
discussion throughout the course and after the
students return

• which can be built into the service learning
  reflections and discussions
• which can be focused both toward the specific
  host country and community, and also toward the
  general lessons that can be derived
• Which can spin off of daily experiences the
  students are having

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The Importance of Assessment

• Sample assessment created by IUPUI.

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Key Elements in Designing an ISL Course

• Academic discipline and topic of the course
• Location and duration of the course
• Learning objectives of the course
• (and which of these can be furthered by service
  learning)
• Range of teaching methodologies to be used
• Types of reflection and discussion to be used
• What preparation will you give students? How will
  you prepare yourself?
• How will you set up the service placements?
• How will you monitor the service experiences?
• How will you assess the effectiveness of the
  service learning?
• How will you assess the effectiveness of the
  cross-cultural learning?