Question

in your own words what do service learning ideas mean to you?

Answer 1

Service-learning is learning that actively involves students in a wide range of experiences, which often benefit others and the community, while also advancing the goals of a given curriculum.

Community-based service activities are paired with structured preparation and student reflection.

Service-learning provides students with opportunities to develop civic engagement skills. By working with community members, students can enhance their group, organizational and interpersonal skills.

They also can gain important experience working with diverse members of their communities.

6 qualities of service-learning

1. Integrative
2. Reflective
3. Contextualized
4. Strength-Based
5. Reciprocal
6. Lifelong

1 Integrative:  

• The service-learning experience goes beyond traditional ideas of classroom learning, practicum training or off-campus volunteering.
• Service-learning holistically integrates class learning objectives, faculty guidance, as well as community perspective and priorities

2 Reflective:  “

• core component
• . Structured opportunities for reflection can enable learners to examine and form the beliefs, values, opinions, assumptions, judgments

3 Contextualized:

•   Service-learning provides students a unique opportunity to access knowledge and expertise that resides in the context of community.
• There is opportunity to connect the knowledge of a discipline, as explored in class, to the knowledge in practice, as evidenced in communities.  

4 Strength-based:

• Service-learning draws upon existing community strengths and resources, and honors community members and organizations as co-educators of students
• . Communities are never built from the outside in.\
• A strength-based approach focuses on the capacity and expertise that exist in every community, rather than on what is absent.

5 Reciprocal:

• Students give time, talent and intellectual capital in order to gain deeper understanding of course material and the service-learning relationship offers all parties involved some measure of benefits; it is a two way street. ture of social issues.
• Course instructors modify their teaching practice to include service-learning and are rewarded with deeper student
• Community members and organizations invest time as co-educators and in turn accomplish more toward their mission and goals through the work of students.engagement of course material.

6 Lifelong:

• Service-learning is learning that sticks.
• By synthesizing theory and practice, this educational method provides a distinctive, meaningful and influential life experience.
• Students build relationships, solve problems, value a sense of community and gain self-awareness.