A Working Definition and Model of Service-Learning
By James McDonald, CMU Teacher Education & Professional Development

A conference of service-learning "pioneers" held in 1995 (Service-Learning: A Movement's Pioneers Reflect on its Origins, Practice, and the Future, Stanton, Giles, & Cruz: 1995) determined that there were two primary strands that came together in service-learning. A number of proponents saw the practice as a way of addressing issues of social and economic justice. Others saw the practice as a way of transforming our educational institutions. It is safe to say that most of the pioneers were interested in both strands and their common thread: the strengthening of democracy.

The movement grew out of the concerns and activism of the 1960's and early '70's but with some roots that ran deeper into the earliest days of the twentieth century. Educators such as John Dewey and Paulo Freire provided the philosophical underpinnings for educational reform while social activists like Martin Luther King and Cesar Chavez provided the inspiration for citizen action.

The pedagogy of service-learning was given a boost in the '70's and early '80's through the work of cognitive psychologists such as Lev Vygotsky and Jerome Bruner. These psychologists pointed out that learning involves the creation of meaning and is highly individualized. Service-learning educators have been able to point out the validity of using out-of-classroom experiences in helping students make meaning of rather abstract theories and concepts.

Beginning in the 1990's, scholars began to conduct research on service-learning as a pedagogy. While researchers struggle to design studies that can capture the multifaceted nature of service-learning practice, the over-whelming evidence suggests nevertheless that substantial effects can be derived from well designed service-learning programs. A good starting point for looking at some of the research can be found in Where is the Learning in Service-Learning by Dwight Giles and Janet Eyler (1999).

Designing Course Syllabi

We need to be absolutely clear at the very beginning of the syllabus about the role of service-learning in any particular course. What will students get from their community work that will support and enhance their readings, research and in-class experiences? There are three general ways in which community service provides support for more traditional learning:

• Participant Observation - Often students trade their services for entree into a community. If students are studying the sociology of organizations, working with an organization provides them with a first hand account of one particular organization and how it does business. If students are studying immigration, working at a school in an immigrant community will offer them some personal glimpses into the lives of immigrants.

• Practicing Newly Acquired Skills - Through their work in the community, students put to use newly acquired skills and, in so doing, deepen their understanding of the complex links between theory and practice in the work-a-day world. Students in a database course can work as teams to develop database applications for agencies that can not afford technical expertise. Students studying Spanish can use their Spanish in classes with immigrant children. Students in an environment studies class can conduct a study of pollutants in a local stream.

• Learning through Teaching - This approach is probably used the least by educators but is one of our favorites. We have seen students struggle to understand abstract concepts like the laws of supply and demand in order to teach it to children at a local elementary school. Teachers especially love our science mini-courses where teams of students teach about earthquakes, marine studies, and biology.

Whatever the approach, it is critical that students be informed through the syllabus, as well as in the opening verbal description of the course, about how service is connected to the learning of course material. The more specific this information is, the better the students will understand their responsibilities as experiential learners. Some faculty members use written learning agreements which detail the specific learning outcomes that are anticipated through community service. These are often done in cooperation with students and, in many cases, are a part of student work agreements.

Stated Course Objectives - When offering course objectives to students, faculty members will want to be very explicit about how work in the community will be connected to course content. These objectives can be:

• Performance-based (Teams of students will develop data-base programs for community agencies that are responsive to agency needs and make use of the most current data-base technologies) or

• Knowledge-based (Students will submit end-of-semester papers which analyze some specific social problem from both a theoretical and applied perspective, citing personal observations, texts, and contemporary media publications).

A Description of the Service Requirements - Once students understand why they are being asked to engage in service, they need to know the particulars about that service. This description should include the following:

• Is community service optional or mandatory? If it is mandatory, what are the options for students who cannot fit community service into their schedule? Must they drop the course or are there some alternative paths? If it is optional, is the service extra credit, does it work in lieu of a paper or some other requirement, or is it merely an alternative way of gathering data for an end-of-semester paper? (There is a continuing controversy about mandating service. Our point of view is that a faculty member who integrates a well-developed service-learning assignment into a course is not "mandating service" but an alternative way of learning. Just as they should not have to explain why they require term papers or class projects, they should not have to justify student work in the community as long as they can justify the learning that ensues.)

• What is the total number of hours of service that is required, or how many hours per week for how many weeks? If students are to make informed decisions, they must understand the commitment in relation to their other requirements. This has become ever more important as we have seen a growing percentage of students working large numbers of hours to help cover the increasing costs of higher education. The estimate should include service hours and approximation of time needed for reflection.

• What does the timeline for the semester look like? What is the deadline for finding a work site? When should community assignments be completed? When are the various reflective papers due? To the greatest extent possible, these elements should be integrated into the flow of the syllabus so that for any given week, students can see what their readings are, what their service requirements are and what quizzes and exams will be occurring.

A Concise Description of the Evaluation Structure - How is the service and the learning to be evaluated? Will reflection be graded? Who will evaluate the work done in the community? What is the relative weight of the different components? Students want and need clear information about how all of these pieces fit together if they are to accept full responsibility for them and weigh their importance with other things in their lives.

References
Eyler, Janet and Giles, Dwight E. Jr. Where's the Learning in Service-Learning? San Francisco, CA:Jossey-Bass, 1999