Service Learning at Valencia Community College
Proposal Draft
Definition:
Service Learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community
service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic
responsibility, and strengthen communities.
Vision: Service Learning creates opportunities for Valencia students, faculty, and staff to learn
in partnership with the community and to develop competencies that relate to course content and
promote the advancement of a socially responsible citizenry.
Mission: Service Learning at Valencia Community College is an integral and enriching aspect
of a student's education that fosters engagement with the larger community that furthers the
academic and public purposes of the college.
Learning Outcomes:
1. Students
a. Skills
i. Develop critical and creative thinking
ii. Develop teamwork/cooperative skills
iii. Communicate with people from diverse backgrounds
iv. Relate societal issues to course content
b. Attitudes
i. Develop moral ethical, civic, and social responsibility
ii. Gain empathy and multicultural understanding
iii. Increase self awareness, self efficacy, and appreciation of talents
c. Behaviors
i. Develop a project to meet a community need
ii. Implement the project
iii. Increase civic engagement
2. Faculty
a. Skills
i. Link societal issues to curriculum
ii. Facilitate students’ service and reflection
b. Attitudes
i. Value SL as an academic tool to reach and surpass course outcomes
c. Behaviors
i. Use SL in a course
3. College
a. Skills
i. Reach out community members
b. Attitudes
i. Value importance of community partners
c. Behaviors
i. Incorporate community partners in campus activities
4. Community
a. Skills
i. Partner with the college
ii. Communicate needs to partners
b. Attitudes
i. Value the college as a partner
c. Behaviors
i. Participate in college activities
Service Learning Program Components
1.
A free standing course SLS 2940
a. Students register from 1-4 credit hours, each credit equals 50 hours of service
b. Supervised by a faculty advisor
c. Evaluation—reflective journals and evaluations sheet developed by the
internship placement office. Faculty member and placement agency conduct
the evaluations
2. Part of an Existing Course
a. Optional for students in the class
i. Students choose between a writing a paper and doing the service
learning program
b. Faculty member teaching the course sets requirements
i. Number of hours
ii. Reflective component
c. Evaluation—Faculty member sets criteria based on course goals and outcomes
3. A Face-to-Face Lecture Community Involvement Course
a. Curriculum to be approved by curriculum committee and assigned a course
number
i. The course would combines theory and practice of service
4. Service Learning hours recorded on student transcript
a. Faculty advisors of SLS 2940 and faculty teaching a course with a service
learning component will monitor, collect, and turn in the forms for each
student with total hours of service that semester to be recorded on the
transcripts.
b. Students can use the transcript to count hours toward scholarships,
applications at universities etc.
c. At 300 hours of service, students will receive special recognition (cord or
similar) at graduation.
Levels of Service Learning
1.
Local Service Learning
a. Students will serve the immediate community surrounding the college
b. Often implemented from a list of local agencies who have expressed an interest in
having college students work with them, but may be initiated by faculty or
students.
c. Usually done during the semester
2. State/National Service Learning
a. Students may travel to another part of the Florida or another state to serve.
b. May be coordinated through national organizations
c. Usually done during the breaks
3. International Service Learning
a. Students may travel to another country to serve.
b. May coordinated through service abroad organizations or directly with the host
country.
c. Usually done during breaks
Recognition
1. Students
a. Students who complete 300 or more hours of service learning will be recognized
at graduation by wearing a special chord and announced as being a service scholar
2. Faculty
a. Faculty will be recognized at Academic Assembly and Learning Day for their
projects
b. Faculty can apply for sabbatical and endowed chairs to carry out their service
projects
3. Community Partners
a. Community partners will be invited to events to celebrate the partnership
4. Valencia Community College
a. VCC will be recognized by the community for its desire to give back to the local,
state, and international community
Rationale for Implementing Service Learning at Valencia:
Service Learning Aligns with Valencia’s Vision, Mission, and Values
Valencia’s vision states that Valencia:
1. Transforms lives. Service learning opens the mind of student to a whole new level of
understanding of the community. The new level of understanding transforms the lives of
the students.
2. Strengthens the community. Service learning is one of the best ways to strengthen the
community because it meets the needs of the community and empowers the community
to meet their own needs.
3. Inspires individuals to excellence. Service learning inspires students to the best that they
can to help the community. By taking the learning outside of the classroom, students
gain a whole new motivation to excel.
Valencia’s mission states that Valencia
1. provides opportunities for academic, technical, and lifelong learning in a collaborative
culture…Service learning epitomized a collaborative culture. The students work together
with each other and with the community through service to meet the goals and outcomes
of a particular course or to meet personal goals through independent service learning.
2. is dedicated to inquiry, results, and excellence. Service learning opens the doors to a real
world type of inquiry that is not possible in the classroom. Students identify the needs in
the community and develop solutions to meet those needs. The results are beneficial for
the student and the organization served. Excellence is the end result.
Valencia values
1. Learning. Service learning is committed to each of the core competencies (see below)
and develops student learning at the highest level.
2. People. One of the best ways to show how Valencia values people is to serve others in
the community and to create rich opportunities for growth the service for the students.
3. Diversity. Through service learning, students learn to appreciate diversity as they work
with people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. They develop an
understanding of the different situations and build relationships with these people and
organizations.
4. Access. Service learning is a great way to reach out to the community, increase
awareness of Valencia’s services and invite others to learners to participate in learning.
5. Integrity. Service learning not only respects the ideals of freedom, civic responsibility,
and courage to act, it embraces and promotes these ideals. Through service students
value freedom, participate in civic responsibility, and act to help community members.
Service Learning Aligns with the Strategic Plan
Goal 2, Objective 2.1 Learning Outcomes
1. Through service learning, students will have the opportunity to engage in authentic
learning by applying the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to the community
as it exits around the college and around the world. This type of experience will enhance
learning and engage students beyond anything that is possible within the confines of the
classroom.
Goal 2, Objective 2.5 Close Achievement Gaps
1. Research (list here) has shown that engaging in service learning helps to close the
achievement gaps between students.
Goal 4, Objective 4.3 Community Engagement
1. Through service learning, Valencia Community College will increase documented
engagement with community organizations and business. Through service learning,
Valencia Community College will contribute to meeting the community needs. The first
step in service learning is identifying the community needs, followed by collaboration
community members to meet those needs. The possibilities are endless.
2. Through service learning, the community will be aware of Valencia Community College
as an active contributor to the community. Organizations that may not have had contact
with Valencia will learn about the mission and services provided by the college, which
will raise our profile in the community.
Goal 4 Objective 4.3 Workforce Development
1. Through service learning, many students undergo a shift in career plan as a result of the
new experiences. Students become aware of new career options and begin to prepare for
the new career through courses at Valencia. When they graduate, they are satisfied that
Valencia has prepared them for the workforce.
Service Learning Supports General Education Outcomes
1. Cultural and Historical Understanding: Demonstrate understanding of the diverse
traditions of the world, and an individual’s place in it.
a. International service learning fosters genuine understanding of diverse traditions
of the world.
b. Local service learning develops understanding of the different cultures in the area.
c. Both types of service learning foster civic responsibility to meet the needs of the
global and local community.
2. Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning: Use processes, procedures, data, or evidence to
solve problems and make effective decisions.
a. Service Learning includes identifying a community need and through the analysis
of data and evidence to devise a project to meet the needs of the community
through problem solving.
3. Communication Skills: Engage in effective interpersonal, oral, written communication.
a. Through service learning, student need to communicate with community partners
in both oral and written form.
4. Ethical Responsibility: Demonstrate awareness of personal responsibility in one’s civic,
social, and academic life.
a. The foundation of service learning is to invoke the sense of civic and social
responsibility.
5. Information Literacy: Locate, evaluate, and effectively use information from diverse
sources.
a. Because of the nature of service learning, student need to use various resources to
identify the nature of the problem. They use interviews, technology, and print
materials in the research stage of service learning.
6. Critical and Creative Thinking: Effectively analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply
information and ideas from diverse sources and disciplines.
a. In a service learning project, students need to meet community needs through the
development of a service project. In order to identify the problem and possible
solutions, students must analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply information and
ideas from diverse sources and disciplines.
Service Learning Aligns with the Core Competencies
Think
Service learning requires students to analyze the ideas, principles and perspectives of the people
and organizations they are working with and integrate ideas from the different disciplines in
order to draw conclusion and come up with solutions to meet the community needs.
Value
Through service learning, students are exposed to new situations and begin to recognize the
values of others and begin to distinguish personal, ethical, and cultural values. Students gain
different cultural perspective on elevate their valued to incorporate a global or universal
perspective.
Communicate
Through service learning, students learn to communicate with different audiences and for
different purposes.
Act
Through service learning, students act purposefully, effectively, and responsibly. Students
implement effective problem-solving, decision-making, and goal-setting strategies to meet the
needs of the community. They learn to respond appropriately to their changing circumstances.
Requirements
Coordinator Position to
a.
b.
c.
d.
e.
f.
g.
h.
i.
j.
k.
Next Steps:
Visit existing sites to ensure a safe, productive, learning environment
Develop new sites within the community
Train faculty
Train students through class presentations
Train community members about expectations/roles
Serve as liaison between community needs and faculty to develop projects
Develop materials
i. Faculty handbook to include sample syllabi, projects…
ii. Community agreement and handbook
iii. Student handbook
iv. Compile list of locations from Volunteer Office, Internship Office, and
SAGE
v. Compile list of teachers doing SL
Report to State
Develop and maintain recognition/appreciation system for students, faculty,
and community
Collect, verify, and upload student service hours
Develop the SOW course
1.
2.
3.
4.
5.
Train faculty to incorporate service learning in their existing courses through
Professional Development and Destination
Promote service learning to the students.
Include Service Learning in the catalog
a. Alternative Ways to Earn Credit—Under the existing Service Learning heading,
add the option to do service learning as part of a course and refer to the new
description under Alternative Methods of Instruction
b. Alternative Methods of Instruction—Add Service Learning as a possible part of
a course. Explain that the hours will be accumulated on transcript for a special
honor at 300 hours at the graduation.
Set up Banner to record service learning hours
Seek funding from grants organizations. See
http://www.floridacompact.org/programs/impact.html and
http://www.learnandserve.org/for_organizations/funding/index.asp
http://www.wkkf.org/default.aspx?LanguageID=0
http://www.statefarm.com/about/part_spos/grants/cogrants.asp