As an added value, the book describes and provides contact information for national organizations that support service-learning and resources that are useful in helping students make postcollege service and career choices. Service-Learning in Higher Education is an invaluable resource for all campus professionals - including faculty members, student affairs practitioners, and senior academic leaders who are interested in advancing the goals of student learning and development while simultaneously making a unique contribution to the community.
Loads of learning takes place in the classroom, but it is by no means the only place for students to gain knowledge and experience. This innovative resource introduces service learning and why it can be such a helpful tool for students, the elderly, and the larger community. Successful service learning projects are described throughout the book, which highlight how they work as well as the benefits of getting to know the often overlooked senior population within our communities. Forthright discussions of the challenges and benefits highlight why service-learning projects can be a satisfying, fun, and memorable way to learn.
This fifth book in the Advances in Service-Learning Research series continues to expand the discussion of service-learning research and practice. The chapters were selected through a refereed, blind-review process from papers presented at the 4th Annual International K-H Service-Learning Research Conference held October 2004 in Greenville, South Carolina. The chapters focus on topics that address a variety of issues in higher education and teacher education and are organized into four sections.
The Advances in Service-Learning Research book series was established to initiate the publication of a set of comprehensive research volumes that would present and discuss a wide range of issues in this broad field called service-learning. Service-learning is a multifaceted pedagogy that crosses all levels of schooling, has potential relevance to all academic and professional disciplines, is connected to a range of dynamic social issues, and operates within a broad range of community contexts. In terms of research, there is much terrain to cover before a full understanding of service-learning can be achieved. This volume, the first in the annual book series, explores various themes, issues, and answers that bring us one step closer to understanding the essence of service-learning. The chapters of this volume focus on a broad range of topics that address a variety of research issues on service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education. Through a wide-scoped research lens, the volume explores definitional foundations of service-learning, theoretical issues regarding service-learning, the impacts of service-learning, and methodological approaches to studying service-learning. Collectively, the chapters of the book provide varying and, at times, opposing perspectives on some of the critical issues regarding service-learning research and practice.
This edited collection will stand as the first volume that specifically describes service-learning programs and courses designed as part of teacher education programs in the fields of literacy education, secondary English education, elementary language arts education, and related fields. The contributing authors describe the programs they have developed at their universities and/or in their local communities, providing information about the rationale for their initiative, the design of the course, the outcomes of the experience, and other matters that will help literacy educators develop similar courses and experiences of their own. Additionally, this edited collection will fill a great gap in the field’s knowledge of alternative forms of teacher education. It will provide descriptions of service-learning initiatives that have been field-tested with demonstrable results. Thus far the field has produced widely scattered articles in journals covering a variety of disciplines, but no definitive collection of papers in which service-learning designed to promote literacy instruction is housed in a single volume edited for cross-referencing and thematic categorization. The two editors have developed courses and received grants to support service-learning initiatives at their universities and believe that others might develop similar programs if they had better understandings of their value and design. Their intention with this volume is to promote service-learning more broadly among literacy educators.
Interest in and research on civic engagement and service-learning have increased exponentially. In this rapid growth, efforts have been made to institutionalize pedagogies of engagement across both K-12 and higher education. As a result, increased positive attention has been complemented equally by well-founded critiques complicating experiential approaches’ claims and questioning if institutional, financial, and philosophical commitment is warranted. A key complaint from these critical voices is the tightly woven, protective insular core in the field of service-learning. This claim is not unfounded, nor necessarily bad. Initial efforts to legitimize service-learning and other forms of community-based education required group cohesion. The concern, however, is that the initial group cohesion has led to groupthink wherein group members have avoided critical analysis and evaluation. This book aims to prevent groupthink within the field of service-learning by allowing for the examination of effective alternatives by new voices who can serve as “critical evaluators” from within the field itself. Myriad perspectives are offered, including empirical, theoretical, practical, and community perspectives. Authors challenge preconceived notions of service-learning, who is benefited by this pedagogy, outcomes of participation and implementation, and most importantly the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological lenses through which service-learning is even considered. The book allows servicelearning’s major criticisms to be examined, challenges to be voiced, and research agendas to be laid. This book parallels service-learning’s presence and popularity across various disciplines/fields. Chapters are written from broad perspectives and are aimed to inform service-learning researchers and educators, community organizations, and policy makers who consider service-learning as a means to address civic responsibility. Authors expose theoretical and philosophical concerns circulating in the field, and often still occupying spaces on the fringe of discourse, action, and research. The book raises fundamental questions for undergraduate and graduate courses with social justice themes by considering the implications that pedagogies of engagement have on learners and communities.
The service-learning field is 50 years old in the United States. Much has been developed over that time in the fields of K-12 schooling, higher education, and community organizations. People who have been involved in the movement have worked individually and collaboratively to include servicelearning as an effective pedagogy and program in educational settings. They have created opportunities for students, teachers, faculty, and community members to learn about academic content and personal commitment to serving others for social change and community impact. In this book we hear from individuals who have been involved in the effort for more than 30 or 40 years about what they have learned from their experiences and what wisdom they can share with others who will be involved for the next several decades. Their experience, insight, and understanding will hopefully help younger people to improve and expand on the movement and place service-learning and community engagement as a regular part of American education. “Robert Shumer has been a stalwart of the service learning movement for decades. He’s a practitioner, a researcher, an experimenter. This book gives valuable perspective for all of us going forward.” ~ Paul Loeb, Author of Soul of a Citizen “At a moment when many are asking how higher education can better serve our democracy, Robert Shumer’s book reminds us that we still have much to learn from those who built the movement for community engagement through service learning. As befits the field, the chapters in this book derive wisdom from experience and, in so doing, give us insight and inspiration for identifying the way forward.” ~ Andrew J. Seligsohn, President, Campus Compact “This book provides a strong foundation for promoting discussions on how the service-learning movement has evolved over the past 30-40 years. Rob Shumer has pulled together several key leaders in the service-learning movement to share their stories and experiences. This book will be useful to a younger generation of service-learning practitioners and faculty who will continue to build the field that these pioneers so generously cultivated.” ~ Elaine K. Ikeda, Ph.D. Executive Director, California Campus Compact
Linking research and educational practice for the benefit of both is not a new idea. If practice such as service-learning is a bold departure from the status quo, however, research is not just beneficial, it is critical. If schools are to become laboratories of democracy and entrepreneurship, and if students are to become engaged as partners in renewal of their communities, a research case must be made for service-learning. Does learning take place? Will other kinds of learning suffer? What kinds of practice are most effective? Clearly, solid research is essential if this transforming way of teaching and learning is to be fully integrated into American schooling and youth development institutions. The National Youth Leadership Council (NYLC) took a first step toward joining service-learning practice with research in 1983. In 1991, NYLC created a center which initiated and encouraged program evaluation, formative research that informs and improves practice, and summative studies that measure results. This volume grew out of a National Service-Learning Conference--an annual event convened by the NYLC. A day long research seminar at the conference brought together researchers to discuss the latest developments among themselves and with practitioners. Impressive in their range and rigor, their papers offer documentation and analysis useful to an emerging research knowledge base. It is a starting point for the evidence needed to firmly establish service-learning for K-12 age people as a widely accepted way of teaching and learning.
Service learning can help students develop a sense of civic responsibility and commitment, often while addressing pressing community needs. One goal of literary studies is to understand the ethical dimensions of the world, and thus service learning, by broadening the environments students consider, is well suited to the literature classroom. Whether through a public literacy project that demonstrates the relevance of literary study or community-based research that brings literary theory to life, student collaboration with community partners brings social awareness to the study of literary texts and helps students and teachers engage literature in new ways. In their introduction, the volume editors trace the history of service learning in the United States, including the debate about literature's role, and outline the best practices of the pedagogy. The essays that follow cover American, English, and world literature; creative nonfiction and memoir; literature-based writing; and cross-disciplinary studies. Contributors describe a wide variety of service-learning projects, including a course on the Harlem Renaissance in which students lead a community writing workshop, an English capstone seminar in which seniors design programs for public libraries, and a creative nonfiction course in which first-year students work with elderly community members to craft life narratives. The volume closes with a list of resources for practitioners and researchers in the field.
Service learning brings together students, academics and the community whereby all become teaching resources, problem solvers and partners. In addition to enhancing academic and real-world learning, the overall purpose of service learning is to instil in students a sense of civic engagement and responsibility and work towards positive social change within society. Embedding Service Learning in European Higher Education promotes service learning as a pedagogical approach that develops civic engagement within higher education. It both describes and assesses the most recent developments and contextual positioning of service learning in European higher education and considers if and how the pedagogy is responding to European Union policy and the strategy of higher education institutions and towards engagement with broader societal issues. With case studies from 12 universities across Europe, this book draws on existing practice, shares knowledge and develops best practice to provide conceptual and practical tools for teaching, researching and practising service learning. This book: exposes service learning as a key approach in terms of embedding a culture of political and civic literacy within higher education; considers service learning in Europe, an area of growing research in service learning practice; explores the issue of university social responsibility; presents chapters from leaders in the service learning movement at a national and international level. Practical and engaging, Embedding Service Learning in European Higher Education is a fascinating read for anyone working in service learning as well as those working at universities with an interest in social and civic engagement and institutional reform.
