St. Ambrose University

April 6, 2015

Susan and Rob Shumer

Service-Learning:Defining, Describing and Doing

Introductions

Rob and Susan Shumer

Participants:

Name, Department/Title, Experience with S/L and one question you would like addressed

Goal for the Day

Review the workshop agenda

Our Goal for the Workshop

to begin a dialogue providing background and understanding of service-learning (describing)

discussing what service-learning is (defining)

and how it is designed, developed and implemented in a university setting (doing)

Proposed Agenda

9:00 - 9:30 Brief History and Defining Service-Learning

9:30 - 10:45 Nuts and Bolts of Service-Learning Course Development

10:45-11:00 Break

11:00 - Noon The how’s and whys of service-learning course developmentSmall groups exercise

Noon - 12:15 Reflection on morning activities; Q and A

12:15 - 1:00 Lunch

1:00 - 1:30 Assessment and Accountability

1:30 - 2:00 Assessing Today’s Workshop

2:00 - 2:30 Reflections on Activities/Service-Learning programs; Q and A

Service-Learning:A Brief History

1903 Cooperative Education began at the University of Cincinnati

William James (1910): The Moral Equivalent of War – national service efforts to promote peace…and education for all citizens

History - 1930’s

George Counts: Dare the Schools Build a New Social Order -

The Progressive Education movement: John Dewey and others

History - 1960’s

•President Kennedy’s call to service•Martin Luther King “…everyone can serve”•Southern Region Educational Board popularized service-learning internship model – integration of the accomplishment of a public task with conscious educational growth.

University Year for Action - 1972 Robert Sigmon defined service-learning as an

experiential education approach that is premised on "reciprocal learning" (Sigmon, 1979). He suggested because learning flows from service activities, both those who provide service and those who receive it "learn" from the experience. In Sigmon's view, service-learning occurs only when both the providers and recipients of service benefit from the activities.

History– 1970’s

History – 1970’s and 1980’s

National Society for Internships and Experiential Education-NSEE (1971–name change in 80’s)

Association for Experiential Education (AEE) Council for Adult and Experiential Learning (CAEL) Campus Compact (1985) Campus Outreach Opportunity League (COOL) Youth Service America (YSA) Fund for the Improvement of Post-Secondary

Education Points of Light Foundation (Bush, 1989)

History – 1990’s

National and Community Service Act (1990) National and Community Service Trust Act

(1993): – created Corporation for National and Community

Service– developed National Service (AmeriCorps) and

Learn and Serve America (service-learning efforts in schools and institutions of higher education)

1990’s History Continued…

Wingspread Conference on Creating a Research Agenda for Service-Learning (1991) (involvement of AERA)

Created state level system in every state for Funding for Learn and Serve America

National Service-Learning Clearinghouse Creation of service-learning listservs (K-12,

higher education, community-based programs)

History – 2000’s

International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference (IARSLCE)

American Democracy Project (ADP)

End of Learn and Serve America at CNCS

(2011)

Current Efforts

Campus Community Partnerships for Health (CCPH) National and State Campus Compact International Association for Research on Service-

Learning and Civic Engagement (IARSLCE) National Society for Experiential Education (NSEE) AAC&U and AASCU American Democracy Project (ADP) Education Commission of the States (ECS)

The History goes on…Resources

A Movement’s Pioneers Reflect on its Origins, Practice and Future, (Stanton, Giles, & Cruz, 1999)

Where is the Learning in Service-Learning, (Giles an Eyler,1999)

Combining Service and Learning (NSIEE, 1991)

Annual International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement Conference

Why Service-Learning?

Because service-learning is an educational effort to connect theory and practice; combine experiential education with academic learning

Because principles of service-learning are consistent with mission, vision and values of St. Ambrose University

Focus on meeting community needs Focus on empowering students and communities to learn

to solve social/community problems Goal of service-learning is to promote social justice

 

Principles of Good Practice

Academic Credit is for Learning, Not for Service Do Not Compromise Academic Rigor Establish Learning Objectives Establish Criteria for the Selection of Service

Placements Provide Educationally Sound Learning Strategies to

Harvest Community Learning and Realize Course Learning Objectives

Prepare Students for Learning from the Community

Principles Continued…

Minimize the Distinction Between the Students’ Community Learning Role and Classroom Learning Role

Rethink the Faculty Instructional Role Be Prepared for Variations in, and some Loss of

Control with, Student Learning Objectives Maximize the Community Responsibility Orientation

of the Course

Excerpted from Howard, Jeffry, ed., Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning’s Service-learning Course Design Workbook, University of Michigan: OCS Press, Summer 2001

Service-Learning or Community Service

Community Service…The primary emphasis is on the service being provided and the primary intended beneficiary is clearly the service recipient. It is a co-curricular activity and completely voluntary.

Service –Learning…is distinct because it is curriculum based, meaning the community or public service activity is intricately connected to and enhanced by an academic course for credit.

Cleaning up a river bank is an example of “service”

Taking a science class and looking at water samples under a microscope is an example of “learning”

Science class students taking samples from local water sources, then analyzing the samples, documenting the results, presenting the scientific information to a pollution control agency, and reflecting on the impact these results may have on future pollution control issues is an example of “service-learning”

Explaining the Difference to Community Members

Mission & Vision

CommunityConnection

Civic Engagement

CommunityImmersion

Community-BasedLearning

University-CommunityService

Service toCommunity

Community-UniversityPartnership

Circle of Engaged LearningMetropolitan State University

Visualization of Metropolitan State University’sEngaged Campus Initiative

St. Ambrose University’sMission and Vision

Mission…independent, diocesan and Catholic – enables its students to develop intellectually, spiritually, ethically, socially, artistically and physically to enrich their (students) own lives and the lives of other

Vision…will be recognized as a leading Midwestern university rooted in its diocesan heritage and Catholic Intellectual Tradition. Ambrosians are committed to academic excellence, the liberal arts, social justice and service

Catholicity

Catholic Intellectual Tradition: welcomes inquiry and deeply encourages critical thinking

Knowledge and action to serve

Catholicity is service-learning

Service-Learning is a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities

that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities

intentionally designed to promote student learning and development.

Jacoby, 1997,2003

St. Ambrose University's working S/L definition

Nuts and Bolts:Some Beginning Ideas for

Course Development

Service-learning: courses/programs designed to include academic learning as part of an effort by educational institutions to provide meaningful service to specified communities

Can be developed from two origins:

1) designed to integrate learning from a particular course with learning/activities in a community setting;

2) designed to identify specific needs of a community and to construct courses/learning activities that meet the specific needs identified

Essential Components of a Service-Learning Course

EngagementCritical ReflectionReciprocityAssessmentPublic Dissemination

Course and Syllabus Development

Identify Course Objectives (with a clear connection between the academic content and the service component)

Identify Course Format (is the service optional or mandatory?, number of hours, nature of the work, etc.)

Clear Requirements for Reflection (how often, what format, oral or written?, feed-back process)

Concise Description of the Evaluation Structure (what will be evaluated an how will service-related evaluation be weighted with the rest of the course?

Best Resource for Syllabi Examples

www.compact.org/category/syllabi

Course Examples

Sociology Immersion Quarter: University of California, Los AngelesCombines three courses (undergraduate level): Sociology of Juvenile Justice, Introduction to Social Science Research, Intensive WritingStudents spend 15 hours/week in a community agency studying their work with youth agencies—learn to do ethnographic study, learn about juvenile justice system, learn to write research reportsProvide service to community agencies, learn to work with youth in those agencies, and also study role of youth serving agencies in providing assistance to youth and their familiesStudents learn academic theories and principles of youth justice systems; also learn how to serve youth involved in those systems.Service is provided to the youth and to the agency; students learn theories of youth social programs

15 MINUTE BREAK

Small Group Exercise

For each community partner examples discuss and determine:

What courses might offer a service- learning opportunity for students?What activities would be designed for the student learning outcomes?How do the activities meet the needs outlined by the community?Describe how reflection integrates the activity into the course.

Reflection on the Morning…

Did we cover questions from introductions?

Questions to address in the afternoon…

Q and A

LUNCH BREAK

Assessment and Accountability

From Punishment to Assessment

Ensuring there is evidence service and learning are occurring

From “Punishment” to Assessment

Evaluation theories and practices have developed over the past 40 years

From focus on quantitative/experimental design, to utilization focused evaluation, to qualitative approaches involving empowerment/participatory evaluation, to mixed methods designs, to critical theory, to developmental evaluation, to focus groups ……

Lots of theories and approaches

Some Basic Issues

Definitions: what are we evaluating? Process: how are we evaluating “it”? Who is involved in the evaluation process (evaluation

expert, participants, outside groups, ????)? How are data collected? When? Why? How are data analyzed? Reported? How is the evaluation used? What changes occur as result of the evaluation?

Puns As Preview

Sometimes it is fun to use puns to help us think critically about evaluation.

So….here goes. Evaluate the following puns, determining which one of the four is best.

Think of this process as……you guessed it…..

PUNISHMENT

Here Come the Puns…

Numero Uno: A good pun is its own reword. Number 2: When the smog lifts in Los

Angeles UCLA Number 3: War does not determine who is

right, it determines who is left. Number 4: Man who leaps off cliff, jumps to

conclusion

Discussion

What is a pun?? “the humorous use of a word or phrase so as to emphasize or suggest its different meanings or applications, or the use of words that are alike or nearly alike in sound but different in meaning; a play on words”

Using this definition, how did you evaluate the four puns. Which one was best….based on what criteria?

Developing Criteria for Evaluation

If we had to pick 3 areas to evaluate a pun, what would they be?? Discuss……

Criteria are: 1 2 3

Using these criteria, let’s evaluate 3 more puns to see which one is the best….

The Test Puns

Number 1: When fish are in schools, they sometimes take debate.

Number 2: Police were called to a day care Center where a three year old was resisting a rest.

Number 3: What do you call a short fortune teller who escaped from prison??? (think about it…I’ll provide the answer)

Discussion About Evaluation

So, which one was the best? 1, 2, or 3. Explain why

What does this have to do with evaluation?

Issues for Evaluation

What is the goal and purpose of doing the evaluation? How do we develop common understanding of what

we are evaluating? What measures do we use to create an evaluation

plan? Who is/should be involved in developing the

evaluation? What data are necessary, who should collect it, and

how should it be collected?

Issues for Evaluating Service-Learning Programs

What are the goals and purposes of the service-learning?

What academic outcomes do you expect? What community impact outcomes do you expect? What does the program look like? What will students

do? What do you expect community members to do? What evidence will you need to show that students

are learning academic content?

More Issues…

What evidence do you need to show service is being delivered?

What evidence do you need to show there is impact on the community?

What evidence do you need to show the community members are learning to take power and control over their programs?

What evidence do you have that the evaluation is being used?

What evidence do you have to show that high quality service-learning has occurred/is occurring?

Evaluating Service-Learning at St. Ambrose

Let’s discuss what you’ve learned about the evaluation process (or already know) in terms of a course or two at St. Ambrose.

What is the course, what are the academic goals and anticipated community outcomes….and how did the evaluations go??

Challenges of Evaluation

What are the primary challenges in conducting evaluations on service-learning programs?

Time to develop the plan? Agreeing on goals and objectives….and methods of

evaluation and sources of data? Coordination with all those involved? Monitoring the process and ensuring there are

meaningful results….

Reflection and Assessing Today’s Workshop

What has been the value of today’s workshop?

What are the key learning points that will guide your creation of a service-learning course?

What should we do next to promote service-learning at St. Ambrose?

THANK YOU

Are there any questions or comments?

Contact Information

Rob Shumer, Ph.D. Susan Spring Shumer rshumer@umn.edu shumersu@hotmail.com 651-336-7777 651-983-3243