Service Learning: Independent Study
Honors College (HC) 396.82
1-3 Credits
Colleen Kane
DHC 015
243-5128
Colleen.kane@mso.umt.edu
Office Hours: Please call for an appointment
Purpose:
The service learning independent study provides students with an in-depth
community service experience and learning through active reflection. The independent study
is an optimum opportunity for students to explore areas of interests, potential careers, and
active citizenship. By helping to meet identified needs in the community and on campus,
students gain an understanding of social, environmental, and/or economic issues our society
faces.
Service Learning is a method of teaching and learning in which students, faculty and
community partners work together to enhance student learning by applying academic
knowledge in a community-based setting. Student work addresses the needs of the
community, as identified through collaboration with community or tribal partners, while
meeting instructional objectives through faculty-structured service work and critical reflection
meant to prepare students to be civically responsible members of the community. At its best,
service learning enhances and deepens students’ understanding of an academic discipline
by facilitating the integration of theory and practice, while providing them with experience that
develops life skills and engages them in critical reflection about individual, institutional, and
social ethics.
Objectives: The following course objectives will be achieved through the service learning
experience itself (the hours spent serving with an organization) and demonstrated in the
reflection journal and final paper.

To define and understand different concepts and definitions of citizenship, community,
volunteerism, and democracy.

To identify needs of community service organizations in the Missoula area and to
develop a plan of action to meet those needs.

To encourage students to identify their professional, personal, and academic needs
and to finds ways to meet those needs through community service.

To dispel stereotypes about groups and to help students confront the challenges
presented by an evolving multicultural environment including confronting the “isms”
and the development of empathetic human relations.

To provide students the opportunity to think critically about the meaning of service and
community within the context of the community placement.

To instill an ethic of life-long service, community participation, citizenship, and civic
responsibility in all students.
Service Placement: Students are required to identify the personal, academic, and
professional goals they would like to meet through their service experience. Students will
then identify a community or campus agency they would like to work with and arrange a
service placement. All students must serve under the direction of a supervisor at their
service site. The number of credits a student receives is contingent upon the number of
hours of service.
Service Learning Hours:
1 credit:
2 credits:
3 credits:
2 hours per week (minimum of 30 hours throughout the semester).
3 hours per week (minimum of 45 hours throughout the semester).
4 hours per week (minimum of 60 hours throughout the semester).
Required Assignments:
1.
Individual Consultations: Students are expected to meet with the instructor at least
three times throughout the semester to discuss the placement, see how things are going,
and review journal entries. Students must turn in journal entries at least one day prior to
each meeting.
2.
Service Learning Agreement: Using a form provided, students must identify learning
objectives and service objectives early in the semester and have the supervisor at your
placement sign them.
3.
Reflective Journal: The goal of the independent study is to give you time to provide
service and be able to reflect on your learning and experiences. What goes into the journal?
Include critical learning experiences and observations which you have questions about along
with the questions themselves. Avoid simple descriptions that do not show how you react to
and analyze the experience. In other words, you should focus your journal entries on what
you are learning. Reflection journal entries should demonstrate how you are achieving the
expected learning outcomes of the course (see above). Here are some questions that
students found useful in structuring their journal entries:
A.
B.
C.
D.
E.
F.
G.
What did you do in your volunteer service today? What reactions
did you have? What did you learn in your setting today?
What kinds of feelings or attitudes are you sensing within yourself
as you participate in the volunteer activity?
What connections are you seeing between your studies at the
university and your volunteer activity? What connections do you
see between your professional/academic goals and what you see
yourself doing in the future?
What connections are you noticing between what you read, see,
and hear in the media and your volunteer activities?
What would you have changed about your volunteer activity today?
What are the larger issues that are presenting themselves to you
from the specific day-to-day activities in your volunteer setting?
What are the impacts of the service you are providing on the
people you serve, other staff members, the larger organization, and
yourself?
4.
Final Paper: This assignment is a synthesis of your experience in the community and
some relevant literature. Identify an issue that you have addressed through your service,
e.g. domestic violence, literacy, or environmental degradation, and combine findings from the
literature with your actual experience addressing the issue. Submit your paper topic to the
instructor at least two weeks prior to the due date. This paper should take an in-depth look at
a specific issue or topic area utilizing the literature and your service experience. The paper
should clearly link to at least one of the course learning objectives. This should not be a
continuation of your reflection journal. The paper should be 8-9 pages in length and include
at least 4 citations from the literature. The paper should be typed, double spaced, and
include full citations of references used.
5.
Service Hours Documentation: At the end of the semester, turn in your timesheet
documenting your service hours. Your volunteer supervisor must sign your timesheet.