Service-Learning Faculty Institute
Ithaca College
Dr Edward Zlotkowski
May 12-13, 2015
THE SCHOLARSHIP OF ENGAGEMENT
I am convinced that…the academy must become a more vigorous
partner in the search for answers to our most pressing social, civic,
economic, and moral problems, and must reaffirm its historic
commitment to what I call the scholarship of engagement.
The scholarship of engagement means connecting the rich resources
of the university to our most pressing social, civic, and ethical
problems…Campuses would be viewed by both students and
professors not as isolated islands, but as staging grounds for action.
The scholarship of engagement also means creating a special climate
in which the academic and civic cultures communicate more
continuously and creatively with each other.
Ernest Boyer (1996), The Journal of Public Service and Outreach
Circle of Higher Education
Civic Engagement Initiatives
Organizational Policies
& Sustainability
Shared Resources
Extension Services
& Non-Credit
Programs
Faculty Public
Research & Service
Volunteerism
Internships & Practica
Civic Awareness &
Deliberative Dialogue
Service-Learning
IC Service Learning Definition
Service Learning at Ithaca College is a coursebased, credit- bearing educational experience in
which students participate in an organized service
activity that meaningfully addresses communityidentified needs and then critically reflect on this
service activity to further understand course
content, more broadly appreciate the academic
discipline, and significantly enhance their sense of
civic responsibility.
(Ithaca College)
IC Service Learning (SL) Designation
1.
Should adhere to the Institution’s recognized service learning definition.
2.
Disciplinary Skills are Applied and Practiced: The experience involves the application of
concepts and knowledge learned in the students’ regular coursework, in a real-world
environment.
3.
Faculty mentoring is consistent: The experience involves significant, on-going mentoring
by faculty throughout the experience.…
4.
Learning is purposeful and measurable: The experience is purposeful, designed in
advance with clear goals and explicit, measurable learning outcomes….
5.
Critical reflection is an essential component: The experience provides opportunities for
reflection about what and how the student is learning....These opportunities for reflection can
enhance students’ ability to apply knowledge, and to evaluate their intellectual growth,
metacognitive understanding, and implications for future experiences.
6.
Student responsibility moves beyond a course grade in a way that can be measured: The
experience requires students to be responsible for more than a course grade, and to be
responsible to people other than the professor. That is, the outcomes of these experiences
should have a life outside the context of the course.
7.
Community voice and perspective must be integrated into each criterion: The quality and
longevity of service learning necessitates ongoing and responsive inclusion of community
partners’ perspectives and voices throughout the processes of design, execution, and outcome
assessment.
(Ithaca College)
Service-Learning Characteristics
• Meets assessable learning objectives (2, 3, 4)
• Involves structured reflection or analysis (2, 3, 5)
• Is based upon principles of campus-community
partnership and reciprocity (6, 7)
•Involves experience with a community-based
organization or group suitable for promoting
civic learning (1, 6)
Public Engagement
Personal Contact
& Direct Service
Problem-solving
/Asset-creating
Projects
Research as
Resource
Service-Learning’s Academic Value
•
•
•
•
•
•
Promotes the Utilization of Skills
Promotes Probing of Theories and Concepts
Balances Deductive and Inductive Inquiry
Stretches the Moral Imagination
Provides an Opportunity for Engaged Research
Helps Answer the “Why do I?” Question
What the Research Shows
“The method people naturally employ to
acquire knowledge is largely unsupported by
traditional classroom practice. The human
mind is better equipped to gather information
about the world by operating within it than by
reading about it, hearing lectures on it, or
studying abstract models of it.”
The Santa Fe Institute, The Mind, the Brain and Complex Adaptive Systems (1995)
What We Know About Learning
• The learner creates his or her learning actively & uniquely
• Learning is about making meaning for each individual
by establishing and reworking patterns & connections
• Every student learns all the time, both with us & despite us
• Direct experience decisively shapes individual understanding for each
learner
• Learning occurs best when people are confronted with a
compelling and identifiable problem
• Beyond stimulation, learning requires reflection
• Effective learning is social and interactive
Peter Ewell, “Organizing for Learning,” AAHE Bulletin, Dec. 1997
Faculty & Students
“Colleges and universities today show an
increasing disparity between faculty and
students…What suffers as a consequence is the
learning process itself - an observation that
pervades in numerous national
reports…Unfortunately, the natural differences in
learning patterns exhibited by new students are
often interpreted by faculty as deficiencies. What
may be happening, then, is a fundamental
‘mismatch’ between the preferred styles of
faculty and those of students.”
Charles Schroeder, “New Students – New Learning Styles,”
Change (Sept.-Oct. 1993)
Even At Harvard
“…I assumed that most important and memorable
academic learning goes on inside the classroom,
while outside activities provide a useful but
modest supplement. The evidence shows that
the opposite is true: learning outside of classes…is
vital.
…Those students who make connections between
what goes on inside and outside the classroom
report a more satisfying college experience.”
Richard Light, Making the Most of College (2004)
The Difference
That Service-Learning Makes
“There is an empirical fit between our goals
for students and the outcomes of servicelearning. If we want students who are lifelong
learners, can use what they know, and have a
capacity for critical analysis, then programs
like service-learning, which help them
construct knowledge from experience and
reflection, should form the core of their
educational experience.”
Eyler & Giles, Where’s the Learning in Service-learning? (1999)
How Service Learning Affects Students:
HERI 2000 Principal Findings
• “Service participation shows significant positive effects on
11 outcome measures: academic performance (GPA,
writing skills, critical thinking skills), values…, self-efficacy,
[and] leadership...”
• “Performing service as part of a course … adds significantly
to the benefits associated with community service
…”(original emphasis)
• “Qualitative findings suggest that service learning is
effective because it facilitates four kinds of outcomes: an
increased sense of personal efficacy, an increased
awareness of the [surrounding world], an increased
awareness of one’s personal values, and increased
engagement in the classroom experience.”
Service-Learning and Retention
“…participation in service-learning
courses affects students’ plans for
continued study, and…the academic
aspects of the service-learning course are
important in accounting for this effect.”
Gallini & Moely, “Service-Learning and Engagement, Academic
Challenge, and Retention,” MJCSL (Fall 2003)
The Four Quadrants of Service-Learning Program Design
Student-Centered
Structured Learning
Faculty
Academic
Expertise
Focus
Institution
Students
Service-Learning
Common Good
Focus
Community Partners
Community-Centered
Unstructured Learning
Faculty Challenges
• Choosing an Appropriate Project
• Designing Multi-Level Reflection
Strategies
• Turning Service Activities into Scholarship
• Making a Personal Commitment
Student Roles in Service-Learning Learning:
A Pyramid of Engagement
Level of Intellectual Engagement
Students
as Engaged
Scholars
Faculty-Student Course
Collaboration
Students as Project Leaders
Routine Operational Responsibilities
Student Empowerment and Democratic
Practice
“On a more theoretical level, service-learning is a
pedagogy that emphasizes democratic
development…and thus is a natural fit with a
course that employs a democratic learning
process from course creation through
implementation. The goals of both servicelearning and democratic development are met to
a greater extent when the two are employed
together in the same course than when employed
individually.”
Bunn, Elansary & Bowman, Students as Colleagues (2006)
Faculty
and
partner(s)
discuss/design
projects
Possible
projects
identified
On-site
Orientation
(possible
project contract)
Project
implementation
and
ongoing reflection
Project
completion
(product delivery)/
presentations and
post-service
reflection
In-class
introduction
of projects/
student preparation
and
pre-service
reflection
Faculty-partner
debriefing and
project
assessment
Project portfolio
created and filed
SERVICE-LEARNING PARTNERING ROLES
1. Initial identification of possible projects
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
5. During the project’s implementation
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
2. Project design
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
6. Upon completion of the project
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
3. Project introduction and student preparation
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
7. Upon completion of the course
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
4. On-site orientation
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
8. Creating a project/course portfolio
Faculty Role:
Partner Role:
Service-Learning Center Role:
Civic Engagement
“Civic engagement means working to make a
difference in the civic life of our communities and
developing the combination of knowledge, skills,
values, and motivation to make that
difference….A morally and civically responsible
individual recognizes himself or herself as a
member of larger social fabric and therefore
considers social problems to be at least partly his
or her own…”
Thomas Ehrlich, Civic Responsibility and Higher education (2000)
EXAMPLES OF CIVIC COMPETENCIES
•
•
•
•
•
Eloquent listening
Non-abrasive argumentation
Suspending judgment
Building consensus
Organizing for action
Reflection Tools
• Journals
• Reflective papers
• Integrative research papers
• Integrative exam questions
• Focused in-class discussions
• Oral presentations (group and individual)
• Electronic contributions: blogs, wikis, blackboard
Evaluation & Assessment
1. Evaluation of the quality of student work
(i.e., “Grading”)
2. Assessment as a diagnostic tool and as
research
3. Assessment as institutional measurement
Yes
Graded
RUBRIC TO ASSESS ACADEMIC SERVICE-LEARNING REFLECTION PAPERS
Adapted from Rubric Developed by Dr. Barrett Brenton, St. John’s University (NYC) and Campus Compact
Dimensions of Quality (Criteria)
AWARENESS OF PURPOSE OF SERVICE
Yes
CRITICAL THINKING
APPRENTICE
[Grade Range C]
PROFICIENT
[Grade Range B]
DISTINGUISHED
[Grade Range A]
Student demonstrates
limited awareness of
the purpose of service and
obtaining AS-L credit.
Student expresses
awareness of the purpose of
service and a one-on-one
connection with the
experience, but it is not
applied.
Student accepts most
things at face value,
as if most opinions were
created equal.
Opinions are stated
with limited argument.
Student expresses
empathy and/or awareness of
personal role in service and
applies it to a connection with
solutions and the bigger
picture.
Student begins to argue
for conclusions based on
objective evidence that
express concrete arguments.
Student expresses and acts out
personal role in service and applies
the experience to developing
solutions.
Student does not apply the
academic knowledge base and
objectives of the course to the
service experience.
Student expresses some
connection between the
academic knowledge base
and objectives of the course
and the service experience.
Student demonstrates
a limited awareness of
personal responsibility
to community.
Student expresses
very limited or no connection
between service and self.
Student expresses insight
into community issues
pertinent to the service
project and integrates a
personal sense of
responsibility to
participating in a solution
but does not apply that
knowledge.
Student expresses a
connection between service
and self.
Student develops a
perspective built upon the
academic knowledge base
and objectives of the course
that is linked to the service
experience.
Student acknowledges a
responsibility to community
regarding issues pertinent to
the service and expresses a
commitment to working
towards specific
solution(s).
Student demonstrates
a limited connectedness of the
service experience to [institutional
values]
Student expresses some
connection between
[institutional] values and
service.
Student accepts
things at face value,
as if all opinions were
created equal.
Opinions are stated
without argument.
Yes
APPLYING THE AS-L EXPERIENCE TO THE
ACADEMIC KNOWLEDGE BASE AND
OBJECTIVES OF THE COURSE
NOVICE
[Grade Range F – D]
Optional
Optional
RESPONSIBILITY TO COMMUNITY
IMPACT ON STUDENT’S
PERSONAL LIFE
[INSTITUTIONAL VALUES AND MISSION]
Student expresses an abstract
level of responding which requires
objective evidence. They
demonstrate awareness of
different perspectives, and
weigh evidence to successfully argue
for a conclusion/opinion.
Student creates their own academic
perspective infused with the
knowledge base and objectives of the
course and applies it to the service
experience beyond the curriculum.
Student acknowledges a
responsibility to community
regarding issues pertinent to the
service and expresses a commitment
to working towards specific solutions.
In addition, student gets others
involved.
Student expresses how
they could change as a
result of the service.
Student expresses change(s) in self
because of the service.
Student expresses
empathy and awareness of
personal role in [public
engagement and problemsolving as related to
institutional mission].
Student fully incorporates the
[institution’s mission of public
leadership] through application of
reflection on the service experience
and creates their own perspective
based on both theory and experience
Next-Century Learning
“…today, people worldwide need a whole series of
new competencies…but I doubt such abilities can be
taught solely in the classroom, or be developed solely
by teachers. Higher order thinking and problemsolving skills grow out of direct experience…they
require more than a classroom activity. They develop
through active involvement and real-life experiences
in workplaces and the community.”
John Abbott, “The Search for Next-Century Learning,” AAHE Bulletin (March 1996)