How to Use Service-Learning in the Geosciences?
Principles of Good Practice in Community Service-Learning Pedagogy
From: Jeffrey Howard, Ed. (1993). Praxis I: A Faculty Casebook on Community Service Learning. Ann Arbor, MI: Office of Community Service Learning Press, University of Michigan. More detail about the principals is available on the Campus Compact website.
- Academic credit is for learning, not for service.
- Do not compromise academic rigor.
- Set learning goals for students.
- Establish criteria for the selection of community service placements.
- Provide educationally sound mechanisms to harvest the community learning.
- Provide supports for students to learn how to harvest the community learning.
- Minimize the distinction between the student's community learning role and the classroom learning role.
- Re-think the faculty instructional role.
- Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in student learning outcomes.
- Maximize the community responsibility orientation of the course.
Steps to Incorporate Service-Learning in to a Course:
- Find service-learning resouces already available on your campus. Training in designing and delivering a service-learning course may be available from two sources:
- Your state Campus Compact office. Learn more here.
- Your own campus in an office called Community Service, Community Relations, Service Learning, Community Based Learning, Community Resource Center, or Faculty Teaching Center. If it isn't obvious who does this on your campus, the above state Campus Compact contact may have a contact at your school.
- Examine the course for potential service-learning opportunites:
- 101 Ideas for Combining Service and Learning (FL International University) lists creative service-learning ideas for classes, organized by course type.
- Use the following list of questions to structure the guide your discussion of the course design. Questions for faculty to ask when designing a service-learning class, from the University of Minnesota
- The Service-Learning Project Action Plan (Microsoft Word 25kB Aug10 05) guides you through the course design process.
- See Campus Compact and National Service Learning Clearinghousefor searchable databases of service-learning syllabi.
- Decide on the type of service required by the course.
The following are assignment models commonly used in service-learning classes
(from Melissa Kesler Gilbert):- Research-based: groups of students work to solve problems identified by the community
- One-on-one interaction: students are paired with individuals from agencies (or clients of agencies) in mentoring, shadowing and/or conversational relationships
- Direct service: students are places in agencies where they are assigned specific, daily tasks by on-site supervisors
- Project-based: groups of students work on a community project either for an agency or with the direction of the faculty leader (e.g. conference, art show, radio show, video)
- Resource development: students work individually or in groups designing resources for agencies (e.g. curricula, manuals, website, brochure)
- Teaching others: students work individually or in groups tutoring others or providing lessons to groups
- Define the role and meet with potential community partners .
- Principles of Good Partnerships
(from Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, San Francisco, CA.
- Partners have agreed upon mission, values, goals and measurable outcomes for the partnership.
- The relationship between partners is characterized by mutual trust, respect, genuineness and commitment.
- The partnership builds upon identified strengths and assets, but also addresses areas that need improvement.
- The partnership balances power among partners and enables resources among partners to be shared.
- There is clear, open and accessible communication between partners, making it an on-going priority to listen to each need, develop a common language, and validate/clarify the meaning of terms.
- Roles, norms and processes for the partnership are established with the input and agreement of all partners.
- There is feedback to, among, and from all stakeholders in the partnership, with the goal of continuously improving the partnership and its outcomes.
- Partners share the credit for the partnership's accomplishments.
- Partnerships take time to develop and evolve over time.
- See the University of Minnesota's Community Partner Guide to Service Learning for example letters, and contracts.
- Hint: When you first meet with a potential community partner it helps to ask them about "back burner" problems, projects, issues they may have that might fit into your course goals. Many good projects and solid, reciprocal relationships spring from asking this question.
- Principles of Good Partnerships
(from Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, San Francisco, CA.
- Give the Students the Tools Needed for a Successful Project
Faculty members adopting service-learning as part of one of their courses have to plan to build a learning community within their classroom, especially if group work is required. This concept is called "building community".
Key Questions about Community Building
- Do students feel safe and valued in the classroom and lab?
- Do they feel comfortable trying new things?
- Will they work effectively in teams?
- Can they speak out in class and are they able to articulate their needs? (Gordon 1999)
Approaches to Build Community
- Getting to know one another exercises
- Team building exercises
- Check-ins to monitor student comfort levels
- Written reflection as a way of having something to say in class (Gordon 1999)
- In addition, students have to acquire the skills, content, techniques, etc to carry out their projects. This is called "building capacity" or it could be called teaching.
- Traditional lectures tailored to projects
- Extensive web resources
- Each student writes a brief essay with references stating why they want to work on a specific project/problem
- Student groups write proposals with references before they begin their field work
- Early labs emphasize practicing field techniques that will be used later during project work
- "Just in Time" training
- Community Partner visits to classroom, labs, and field
- Phone/email consultation (Gordon 1999)
Build Student Capacity for Projects:
- Plan for Student Reflection. One of the key components of service-learning is the use of student reflection of their service.
- Campus Compact has an excellent website that guides educators on how to use structured reflection to enhance the learning from service experiences.
- The yellow "Rite in the Rain FieldŽ" notebook that most of us use for field data collection can be used for all types of reflection exercises. Students can be asked to monitor their understanding of the service-learning work they are performing, identify project areas that need strengthening, brainstorm problems, and relate their work to our learning objectives. Reflection is a fundamental habit of all scientists.
- Written reflection exercises prepare students to speak knowledgeably in class. Some students feel less on the spot when speaking if they can start out reading what they have written.
- Assess Student Learning. Service-learning student, Bowdoin College, photo by Ed Laine
- The following types of assessment are options used at Florida International University's Service Learning Program.
- Demonstration of a skill
- Assessment of written work
- Normal course assessment
- Agency supervisor evaluation
- Observation of student in simulation
- Assessment of a product(s)
- Personal Interview
- Oral Presentation
- Service-learning Plan/Contract
- Other
- The Aberdeen Service-Learning Project works to create links between public and private schools (K-16) and local community-based organizations. They provide a list of innovative assessment strategies for service-learning.
- Service-Learning and Assessment: a field guide for teachers is written for K-12 teachers. Some assessment strategies and rubrics may work for undergraduate students as well.
- The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse includes numerous resources to assess the effectiveness of service learning programs, if you need to assess an entire program, as opposed to individual students.
- The following types of assessment are options used at Florida International University's Service Learning Program.
- Additional Opportunities for Faculty Teaching Service-Learning Courses:
- Publishing Outlets for Service-Learning and Community-Based Research includes a listing of journals that may accept manuscripts about service-learning.
- Promotion and Tenure Resources includes information on how to include service-learning teaching in to tenure review documents.
