Service-learning as Evidence for Program-level Assessment
By Denise Webster, Curriculum and Assessment

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities (link). According to Eyler & Giles (1999), service-learning is

a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students work with others through a process of applying what they are learning to community problems and, at the same time, reflecting upon their experiences as they seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves.

If the above statement provides the "conceptual description" of service-learning, the potential to gather evidence about student learning is tremendous.

Where should program faculty begin? Before faculty can decide if evidence from a service-learning experience is meaningful for program-level assessment, a critical step should be accomplished: The faculty should agree on the learning outcomes for the program. Once the learning outcomes have been agreed upon, a review of the curriculum will determine which activities are already being conducted or in which students participate and whether these activities could be used to provide evidence of learning at the program level. A course that incorporates a service learning activity can be a source of either direct and/or indirect measures of student learning.

For example, faculty may decide the development of critical thinking, problem-solving and social skills that apply across the field of knowledge are key program learning outcomes. Embedded assignments that elicit evidence of students’ performance on these skills within a service-learning course or project could provide valuable evidence of student learning. A number of assignments are often associated with a service learning course, such as journaling, reflection essays, a research report and/or oral presentation, supervisor evaluation or a portfolio. Any one of these has the ability to provide authentic evidence of learning.

The challenge for faculty is to devise an instrument which can be applied to gather this evidence. A scoring guide or rubric that addresses the assignment as it relates to a program-level student learning outcome is an example of such an instrument. For these to address program, rather than a course-level outcome (i.e. a grade), it requires that rubric to address program outcomes. The following is an example from a possible service-learning activity for an entrepreneurship course.

EXAMPLE: Entrepreneurship Service-learning Activity

Can service-learning activities be part of a program-level assessment plan? An embedded assignment associated with a service-learning course has the potential to provide an excellent source of authentic evidence and provide meaningful information for the purpose of program assessment.

Resources:

National Service-learning Clearinghouse. http://servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/he_facts/index.php (link)
http://servicelearning.org/welcome_to_service-learning/service-learning_is/index.php (link)

IUPUI Center for Service Learning
http://www.iupui.edu/~ctrsl/docs/tipsforslclass.pdf (link)

Conners, K & Seifer S D. (September 2005). Reflection in Higher Education Service-Learning. http://servicelearning.org/resources/fact_sheets/he_facts/he_reflection/

Eyler, J and Giles, D.E. (1999). Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco , CA : Jossey-Bass Publishers.