The Impact of Service Learning on Student Learning

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The Impact of Service Learning on Student
Learning
Kent State University February 9, 2007 Robert G.
Bringle, Ph.D. Chancellors Professor of
Psychology and Philanthropic Studies Director,
Center for Service and Learning Indiana
University-Purdue University Indianapolis rbringle
_at_iupui.edu
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Boyers Civic Engagement

• What is needed is not just more programs, but a
  larger purpose, a larger sense of mission, a
  larger clarity of direction.
• Ultimately, the scholarship of engagement also
  means creating a special climate in which the
  academic and civic cultures communicate more
  continuously and more creatively with each other.

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IUPUI Definition of Civic Engagement

• Civic engagement is active collaboration that
  builds on the resources, skills, expertise, and
  knowledge of the campus and community to improve
  the quality of life in communities in a manner
  that is consistent with the campus mission.

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Faculty Work In the Community
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Differentiation of Terms

• Community Involvement
• Defined by location
• Occurs in the community
• Civic Engagement
• Defined by location and process
• Occurs in and with the community
• Demonstrates democratic values of participation
• Community-based Learning
• Extending learning beyond the classroom

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Community-Based Learning

• Clinical experience/ fieldwork experiences
• Cooperative programs
• Field work
• Internship
• Practicum
• Service Learning
• Student teaching/pre-service field experience

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Definition
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.
define 2
(Bringle Hatcher, 1995)
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Distinctions Among Approaches to Service
Experiential Learning
Recipient
BENEFICIARY
Provider
Learning
Service
FOCUS
SERVICE LEARNING
COMMUNITY SERVICE
FIELD EDUCATION
VOLUNTEERISM
INTERNSHIP
(Furco, 1996)
define 5
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Why Service Learning in Higher Education?

• 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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Promoting Learning for Understanding

• Active Engagement
• Frequent Feedback
• Collaboration
• Cognitive Apprenticeship
• Practical Application
• Marchese

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Service Learning Outcomes

• Academic
• Learning
• Cognitive processes
• Critical thinking
• Persistence and retention
• Achievement and aspirations
• Integration
• Life Skills
• Racial tolerance
• Cultural understanding
• Self-efficacy
• Problem solving
• Career clarification
• Leadership

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Service Learning Outcomes

• Civic and Social Responsibility
• Commitment to community
• Aspirations to volunteer
• Empathy
• Philanthropy
• Civic-minded professional
• Personal Development
• Moral development
• Self-concept
• Motives, attitudes, and values
• Personal development

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Service Learning Outcomes

• 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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• Why do we need more than a vocational education?
  In part, because we live more than a vocational
  life we live a larger civic life and we have to
  be educated for it.
• - D. Mathews

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What is Good Citizenship?

• Battistoni (2002)
• Civic Professionalism
• Social Responsibility
• Social Justice
• Connected Knowing Ethic of Care
• Public Leadership
• Public Intellectual
• Engaged/Public Scholarship

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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.
• (Howard, 1993)

course 7
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Expectations

• Course expectations on syllabus
• Number of service hours
• Scheduling information
• Liability issues
• Line of communication
• Agency expectations
• Importance of volunteers
• Organizational policies
• Liability issues
• Ethical issues
• Issues of confidentiality
• Line of communication

orientation 4
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Types of Service Learning Classes

• Optional component
• Required component
• Group service project
• Disciplinary capstone project
• Community-based action research
• Service internship

(Heffernan, 2001)
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Key Elements of Service Learning

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

define 4
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Integrating Service into Courses Reflection

• Perplexity, confusion, doubt
• Attentive interpretation of the given elements
• Examination, exploration, and analysis to define
  and clarify the problem
• Elaboration of a tentative hypothesis
• Testing the hypothesis through action to produce
  change
• Dewey, 1933

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Reflection as Cognitive Activity

• Engages students in the intentional consideration
  of their experiences in light of particular
  learning objectives.
• Reflection is both retrospective and prospective.
• Educates the students attention.

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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 semester
• Instructor provides feedback
• Includes opportunity to explore, clarify, and
  alter values

(Bringle Hatcher, 1999)
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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

(Hatcher Bringle, 1997)
reflection 10
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Journals

• Three-part journal
• Double-entry journal
• Highlighted journal
• Critical incident journal
• Free write journal
• Key word journal

(Hatcher Bringle, 1997)
reflection 11
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Criteria For Assessing Reflection

• Level One
• Gives examples of observed behaviors,
  characteristics of clients or settings, but
  provides no insight into reasons behind the
  observation observations tend to be one
  dimensional and conventional or unassimilated
  repetitions of what has been heard in class or
  from peers.
• Tends to focus on just one aspect of the
  situation.
• Uses unsupported personal beliefs as a frequently
  as hard evidence.
• May acknowledge differences of perspective but
  does not discriminate effectively among them.
• Bradley, 1995

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Criteria For Assessing Reflection

• Level Two
• Observations are fairly thorough and nuanced
  although they tend not to be placed in a broader
  context.
• Provides a cogent critique from one perspective,
  but fails to see the broader system in which the
  aspect is embedded and other factors which may
  make change difficult.
• Uses both unsupported personal belief and
  evidence but is beginning to be able to
  differentiate between the.
• Perceives legitimate differences of viewpoint.
• Demonstrates a beginning ability to interpret
  evidence.
• Bradley, 1995

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Criteria For Assessing Reflection

• Level Three
• Views events from multiple perspectives able to
  observe multiple aspects of the situation and
  place them in context.
• Perceives conflicting goals within and among the
  individuals involved in the situation and
  recognizes that the differences can be evaluated.
• Recognizes that actions must be situationally
  dependent and understands many of the factors
  which affect their choice.
• Makes appropriate judgments based on reasoning
  and evidence.
• Has a reasonable assessment of the importance of
  the decisions facing clients and of his or her
  responsibility as a part of the clients lives.
• Bradley, 1995

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Key Elements of Service Learning

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

define 4
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Selecting a Service Site

• Congruence of learning and service goals
• Willingness to collaborate
• Ability to clarify tasks
• Knowledge and skills of students
• Ability to host a number of students
• Resources to monitor students
• Transportation issues

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Management of Placements
orientation 1
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Ways To Orient Students

• Have agency personnel or former student give
  class presentation
• Use a class session to tour agency
• Ask agency to provide brochures and information
• Have students read final reports from previous
  students

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Ways To Train Students

• Role play in class
• Read volunteer training manual (if available if
  not, consider having students create one)
• Shadow another volunteer
• Have agency provide training session or training
  video
• Use service learning assistants at site

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Monitoring Students

• Seek information from students on a consistent
  basis
• Provide feedback and guidance as appropriate
• Confer with site supervisor periodically
• Gather final assessment from site supervisor and
  students

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Service Learning as a Subversive Activity

• Develops the public purposes of higher education
• Change the traditional assumptions about faculty
  work
• Change the way faculty teach
• Increase interdisciplinary work
• Contribute to the nature of first-year, honors,
  scholarships, capstones
• Promote democratic values in the academy and with
  the community
• Broaden assessment
• Broaden promotion and tenure
• Increase the salience of service in the campus
  culture
• Change campus/community relationships
• Change institutional accreditation and quality
  assurance

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• To institutionalize service-learning effectively,
  service-learning must be viewed not as a discrete
  program but as a means to accomplish other
  important goals for the campus.
• Furco Holland