Why try a teaching method that uses service-learning?

Pat Crain, English

"The best that can happen with a service-learning course is that it can open up and enrich your teaching, giving you many rewards.... It is going to get your students out there, they are actually going to know where they are and when they come to your classroom to think theoretically or historically, they are going to have a much richer sense of where they are planted. The worst that can happen is that it doesn't work."

Jeff Crump, Design, Housing and Apparel

"Community-based service learning helps to activate the energy and enthusiasm of students through actual experience. In many ways this pedagogical style reflects the qualitative methods I use in much of my own research. I, too, like to get out into the field and interact with the people and places that I write about."


How does the University's role in the community connect with service-learning?

Heidi Lasley Barajas, General College

"For me as a faculty member, part of Civic Engagement means we as researchers do not sit here at the University, look out at the community, do our research off of them and then offer them nothing. Part of what we need to offer our communities is to tell students...that their job is to take their education and go out there and make sure people benefit from that education. It just does not make sense to do it any other way."

Craig Swan, Vice Provost Undergraduate Education

"The University is a big member of the community. We cannot simply turn our back on the community. Like individuals, the University has a commitment to and should be concerned about the health of the community. It should be willing to contribute to making this a healthy community...if we approach community involvement from an educational perspective, I think there is an important role for the University and for its students."


What is your experience in using service-learning?

Judy Puncochar, Educational Psychology

"At the beginning, I had no idea what I was getting into, or how the service-learning component of my course would go. There were a few bumps in the road, but by the end of the first semester, my students rated their service learning experiences extraordinarily high."

John Wallace, Philosophy

"At first...I would say things like 'maybe in social work, or education, the social science disciplines.' I resisted the thought of service-learning because I did not know how to do it in philosophy.... Integrating service-learning challenged me go back to the roots of philosophy and to look at the intentions of the discipline. Once I did service-learning it wasn't so much of an academic stretch."

Dorothy Anderson, Forest Resources

"When I was a student I knew a lot of stuff, but I had no idea what to do with what I knew or how to apply what I knew to real-life situations. The way I teach today is the way I would want to be taught because I think it taps into a lot of different learning styles. If students are not applying what they are learning, if students are not using that knowledge, they will quickly forget it. I teach a senior capstone course. In this course through working with the community on important research projects, students are able to apply their knowledge, remember that knowledge, and realize the value of their work to society. They become excited when they can see that their work is actually being used to solve real problems."


What are your recommendations to faculty developing service-learning courses?

Roger Miller, Geography

"Service-learning is most effective when closely tied to your course goals and the goals of the community organization. You may have to modify and negotiate your goals to make the service-learning component effective for all participants. You will also want to ensure that both sets of goals are understood and present throughout the student's experience to emphasize the connection."