Find out more about the national movement in
Service Learning
Six Models for Service-Learning
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The following is excerpted from Heffernan, Kerrissa. Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction. RI: Campus Compact, 2001, pp. 2-7, 9.
Whether creating a new course or reconstructing an existing course using service-learning, faculty should explore the appropriate model of service-learning. While one could argue that there are many models of service-learning, we feel that service-learning courses can basically be described in six categories:
1. "Pure" Service-Learning
These are courses that send students out into the community to serve. These courses have as their intellectual core the idea of service to communities by students, volunteers, or engaged citizens. They are not typically lodged in any one discipline.
2. Discipline-Based Service-Learning
In this model, students are expected to have a presence in the community throughout the semester and reflect on their experiences on a regular basis throughout the semester using course content as a basis for their analysis and understanding.
3. Problem-Based Service-Learning (PBSL)
According to this model, students (or teams of students) relate to the community much as "consultants" working for a "client." Students work with community members to understand a particular community problem or need. This model presumes that the students will have some knowledge they can draw upon to make recommendations to the community or develop a solution to the problem: architecture students might design a park; business students might develop a website; or botany students might identify non-native plants and suggest eradication methods.
4. Capstone Courses
These courses are generally designed for majors and minors in a given discipline and are offered almost exclusively to students in their final year. Capstone courses ask students to draw upon the knowledge they have obtained throughout their coursework and combine it with relevant service work in the community. The goal of capstone courses is usually either to explore a new topic or to synthesize students' understanding of their discipline. These courses offer an excellent way to help students make the transition from the world of theory to the world of practice by helping them establish professional contacts and gather personal experience.
5. Service Internships
Like traditional internships, these experiences are more intense than typical service-learning courses, with students working as many as 10 to 20 hours a week in a community setting. As in traditional internships, students are generally charged with producing a body of work that is of value to the community or site. However, unlike traditional internships, service internships have regular and on-going reflective opportunities that help students analyze their new experiences using discipline-based theories. These reflective opportunities can be done with small groups of peers, with one-on-one meetings with faculty advisors, or even electronically with a faculty member providing feedback. Service internships are further distinguished from traditional internships by their focus on reciprocity: the idea that the community and the student benefit equally from the experience.
6. Undergraduate Community-Based Action Research
A relatively new approach that is gaining popularity, community-based action research is similar to an independent study option for the rare student who is highly experienced in community work. Community-based action research can also be effective with small classes or groups of students. In this model, students work closely with faculty members to learn research methodology while serving as advocates for communities.
Exemplary Service-Learning Syllabi:
- Include service as an expressed goal
- Clearly describe how the service experience will be measured and what will be measured
- Describe the nature of the service placement and/or project
- Specify the roles and responsibilities of students in the placement and/or service project, (e.g., transportation, time requirements, community contacts, etc.)
- Define the need(s) the service placement meets
- Specify how students will be expected to demonstrate what they have learned in the placement/project (journal, papers, presentations)
- Present course assignments that link the service placement and the course content
- Include a description of the reflective process
- Include a description of the expectations for the public dissemination of students' work
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Publishing in Service Learning
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Source: Rachel L. Vaughn, Sarena D. Seifer, and Tanis Vye Mihalynuk, Community-Campus Partnerships for Health, January 2004
Service-learning is becoming increasingly prominent in higher education. Consequently, there has also been an increase in opportunities to publish and present in this field. This quick guide is intended to provide a synopsis of where and how to present and publish service-learning in higher education materials. For a more comprehensive review, refer to the NSLC fact sheet prepared earlier on this topic by Community Campus Partnerships for Health (CCPH).
When deciding what areas to conduct research, publish, and / or present on, consider the following:
- What research areas interest you?
- What aspects of your current service-learning program could be published?
- What methods-qualitative or quantitative-will you use to publish and / or present your research?
- How will your research make a significant contribution to the field of service-learning?
In terms of publishing on service-learning research in higher education, determine who will be involved, how they will be involved, authors and order of authorship at the inception of the research. Keep in mind that measures such as protecting confidentiality and rights of human subjects should also be considered. Many journals will only publish research that has been approved by the higher education institution's Human Subjects' Review Committee. Remember to carefully follow instructions for manuscript submission (formatting, word limit, electronic or hard copy, etc.). In addition to the journals presented below, one of the best places to publish service-learning research is in your own disciplinary journal. This advances and legitimizes service-learning within the field/discipline, as well as promotes your academic career.
When planning to present, be mindful of conference deadlines for submission of materials and applications. There are two annual conferences dedicated to service-learning as well as conferences that have special interest groups and workshops on this topic (see web resources below). And don't forget to submit service-learning abstracts to present at your own disciplinary meetings and conferences!
Web Resources
Presenting Service-Learning Research and Practices
- National Service-Learning Conference
http://www.nylc.org/
This conference highlights and promotes service-learning as a way of teaching and learning that builds academic and citizenship skills while renewing communities.
- International Conference on Advances in Service-Learning Research
http://www.outreach.msu.edu/slConference/conf.asp
This international research conference is sponsored by more than twenty national organizations and foundations and convenes leading service-learning scholars and researchers to present new study findings, methodological and theoretical advances, and recently completed research agendas for studying various aspects of service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education. Contact Molly Malloy (malloy@msu.edu) for information regarding the 4th Annual International Conference on Advances in Service-Learning Research.
- American Education Research Association
http://www.aera.net/
AERA hosts a special interest group (SIG) on service-learning and experiential learning. The SIG's purpose is "to bring together both researchers and practitioners to build and promote understanding of SL and experiential education for the betterment of the field." The SIG also sponsors presentations on service-learning at the AERA's annual conference.
- National Society of Experiential Education
http://www.nsee.org/pubs.htm
The National Society for Experiential Education conference is in the autumn, the call for proposals carries a January deadline. The NSEE has a SIG devoted to service-learning and it an outstanding place to present service-learning research.
Publishing Service-Learning Research and Practices
- Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL)
http://www.umich.edu/~mjcsl/
This is a national, peer-reviewed journal consisting of articles written by faculty and service-learning educators on research, theory pedagogy and other issues pertinent to the service-learning community.
- Campus Compact Reader
http://www.compact.org/reader/
Highlights the best writing on civic education and service-learning from sources around the country. Published in the fall, winter, and spring.
- The Generator: Journal of Service-Learning and Service Leadership
http://www.nylc.org/generator.htm
Published by the National Youth Leadership Council, this journal of service-learning and youth leadership provides up-to-date information on service-learning methodologies, programs and initiatives.
- Journal of Experiential Education (JEE)
http://www.wilderdom.com/journals.htm#jee
Published by the Association of Experiential Education (AEE), this is a professional, peer-reviewed journal that publishes a diverse range of articles in subject areas including service-learning.
Print Resources
This book explores the multidisciplinary dimensions of service-learning and the implications of these dimensions for the study of service-learning. Editors' introduction includes dimensions of service-learning research; and establishing norms for scientific inquiry in service-learning. (Take special note of the article by Janet Eyler entitled, "Stretching to meet the challenge: Improving the quality of research to improve the quality of service-learning.")
This book's chapters 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. There are three categories of essays: theoretical issues regarding service-learning, the impact(s) of service-learning, and methodological approaches to studying service-learning. (Take special note of the article by Janet S. Eyler and Dwight Giles entitled, "Beyond surveys: Using problem solving interviews to assess the impact of service-learning on understanding and critical thinking." )
In this report by the Carnegie Foundation, Ernest Boyer argues for a broader understanding of scholarship that takes into account the scope of faculty activity more fully than does the traditional categories of teaching and research.
- Boyer, Ernest. "The Scholarship of Engagement." Journal of Public Outreach 1, no. 1 (Spring, 1996): 11-20.
Ernest Boyer suggests that American education has moved away from its traditional commitment to public service and argues for a new commitment to service that he calls the scholarship of engagement.
- Eyler, Janet S., Dwight E. Giles, Jr., Christine M. Stenson, and Charlene J. Gray. At A Glance: What We Know about the Effects of Service-Learning on College Students, Faculty, Institutions and Communities, 1993-2000: Third Edition. Washington, DC: Corporation for National and Community Service, Learn and Serve, National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.
"At A Glance" provides an excellent summary of the findings of service-learning research in higher education over the past few years. An annotated bibliography is included. This is the place to start for an overview of where the service-learning research in higher education stands today.
- Furco, Andrew. "Research Notes: Exploring and Advancing Research in Experiential Education." NSEE Quarterly 26, no. 3 (Spring, 2000): 18-20, 25.
In this article, Andy Furco provides an overview of what is needed to advance the research agenda in experiential education, providing examples from the service-learning field.
This text offers a new paradigm for evaluating scholarship of engagement, a scholarship that better integrates the full range of scholarly activity, research, teaching and service. It includes discussion of changes in thinking about scholarship and ideas about developing criteria for evaluating a full range of scholarship and for documenting scholarly efforts. It also includes, as appendices, the Questionnaire for the National Survey on the Reexamination of Faculty Roles and Rewards and the results of that survey.
Each article is devoted to a topic related to the theme, and responds to the question: "Where does service-learning research need to go to advance our knowledge and practice bases?"
- Sandman, Lorilee R., Pennie G. Foster-Fishman, James Lloyd, Warren Rauhe, and Cheryl Rosaen, "Managing Critical Tensions: How to Strengthen the Scholarship Component of Outreach." Change 32, no. 1 (January/February, 2000): 44-52.
This article examines ways that faculty can balance the community demands for scholarship of engagement and their institution's expectations regarding teaching and research with their own scholarly interests. It also explores the different perspectives among community, institution, and scholar, which create tensions in the implementation and design of outreach scholarship programs.
- Simpson, Ronald D. "Toward A Scholarship of Outreach and Engagement in Higher Education." Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement 6, no. 1 (Fall 2000): 7-12.
This article builds on the work of Ernest Boyer in calling for a "scholarship" of outreach in which the faculty service mission is directly tied to the field of knowledge and subject to the same requirements for rigor and accountability that apply to research scholarship.
© 2004 Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse.
Photocopying for nonprofit educational purposes is permitted.
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Service Learning Links: Learn More From National Organizations
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LINKS
National Service Learning Clearinghouse
http://www.colorado.edu/vch
National Campus Compact
http://www.compact.org/resource/colleges_with_a_conscience.html
101 Ideas for Combining Service and Learning
http://www.fiu.edu/%7etime4chg/Library/ideas.html
Learn and Serve America (Corporation for National and Community Service)
http://www.learnandserve.org/
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What is Social Entrepreneurship?
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Social entrepreneurship is the work of social entrepreneurs. We believe that social entrepreneurs are those exceptional individuals who dream up and take responsibility for an innovative and untested idea for positive social change, and usher that idea from dream to reality. What enables social entrepreneurs to make lasting impact on the most difficult problems is a special combination of groundbreaking creativity and steadfast execution. Echoing Green’s portfolio of social entrepreneurs attack the root causes of critical social problems with unparalleled rigor.
As the field of social entrepreneurship has grown, new funding streams have developed to support social entrepreneurs on their pathways to change. Organizations like Skoll Foundation, Ashoka, Schwab Foundation, and Draper Richards Foundation now provide first-stage and mezzanine-level funding. Echoing Green remains committed to very early stage support of new and untested ideas of the hands of visionary social entrepreneurs .
Books on Social Entrepreneurship
How to Change the World by David Bornstein 
Forces For Good by Leslie Crutchfield and Heather McCloud Grant
 The Power of Unreasonable People
by John Elkington and Pamela Hartigan
 One Day, All Children
by Wendy Kopp
 The Search for Social Entrepreneurship by Paul C. Light 
Three Cups of Tea by Greg Mortenson
The Tactics of Hope by Wilford Welch  
Creating a World Without Poverty by Muhammad Yunus
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