What Is
Service-Learning?
Community Service-Learning
Rich Harris, Director
Wilson Hall 201
568-3463
harrisra@jmu.edu
www.jmu.edu/csl
What is the Difference Between
Volunteering
and
Service-Learning?
Volunteering
• Focused on the individual. The agency is
generally grateful just to have the help
• The service experience is focused on how it
makes the “volunteer” feel
• No structured learning - learning unknown
• Reflection not built into the experience
• A gateway to deeper forms of service
Service-Learning
• Reciprocity of benefits between the “servicelearner” and the agency
• Focus on benefits and learning of both the
“service-learner” and agency.
• Structured learning component that prepares
the service learner for the service experience
• Structured and guided reflection experiences
built in
Defining Service-Learning
What are the Elements of Good
Service-Learning?
JMU Service-Learning Definition
(Modified From the National and Community Service
Trust Act of 1993)
• Students learn and develop through active
participation in thoughtfully organized service
• Is conducted in and meets the needs of a
community
• Is coordinated with an institution of higher
education and with the community
• Helps foster civic responsibility
• Is integrated into and enhances the academic
curriculum of the student
• Includes structured time for the students to
reflect on the service experience
JMU Service-Learning
Educational Goals
• Link academic studies with the service
experience
• Personal growth and development for
participants
• Life long commitment to service and civic
involvement
Elements of Good Service-Learning
• Reciprocity
• Thoughtfully Organized Service Partnerships
• Enhances Academic Learning
• Structured Time for Reflection
• Fosters Civic Responsibility
Reciprocity Between the
Community and JMU
•Partnership developed and defined by the host
community and JMU
•The needs of all partners (JMU and the
community) are clearly identified to each other
•The experience meets the needs of all partners
•It is okay to say that some projects or
partnerships are not appropriate because one or
both partners needs are not being meet
Thoughtfully Organized Service
• All partners contribute to the development
of the service and partnership structure
• The expectations, roles and responsibilities
of each partner is agreed upon and defined
• The purpose, expectations and structure of
the service experience is explained to all
participants
Enhances Academic Learning
• As part of service-learning courses
• Connects co-curricular service-learning
(ASB, FWS, personal community service,
etc.) to students academic studies
Levels of Service-Learning Courses
Action Research
Service-Learning Course
Service-Learning Component
Extra Credit for Service-Learning
Structured Time for Reflection
• Reflection is the way all participants
discover, articulate and act on what they
learn from the experience
• Reflection time and structure is integrated
into the service-learning experience
• The best reflection is ongoing, allows for
different structures and builds on previous
learning and insight
Fosters Civic Responsibility
• Makes connections between current servicelearning and future actions
• This process is ongoing and takes place
over time and multiple service-learning
experiences
• Looks at causes and develops skills and
actions for change
Reflection:
The Heart of Service-Learning
Action without reflection leads to
burnout;
Reflection without action
leads to cynicism.
The Three Reflection Questions
• What? Looks at what happened. What did you/we do? What
happened? What were individual and group feelings? What relationships
were developed?
• So What? Looks at making meaning of the
experience. What impact did the experience have on you and the
group? How have you and and the group changed because of the
experience? What have you learned or what questions have been raised?
• Now What? Looks at what will be done in the future
because of the experience. Will you take any actions or
make any changes because of the experience? Will you make
plans to change others? How will this experience shape your
future? The groups future?
Cone and Harris Experiential Learning Model
(1996-Modified from Kolb 1984)
Pre-Reflection
Concrete Experience
Active
Experimentation
Reflection
Conceptualization
Mediated
Learning
The Four C’s of Reflection
• Continuous and takes multiple forms
• Connected to academic learning and life
• Challenging – pushes the student to stretch
and grow
• Contextualized – gives background
information, guided questions, connection
to learning goals, modeled by the instructor
The JMU Mission:
We are a community committed to
preparing students
to be educated and enlightened
citizens who will lead
productive and meaningful lives
Evidence of CS-L’s Impact on JMU
Mission
• Peace Corps – 2008- JMU Ranked #14 Nationally for large universities (53
active alumni). (347 total since 1962, 247 in the past eight years.)
• Model Community Based Federal Work Study Program - Connecting
Classroom Learning and Real-World Living – 2008 – Campus Compact.
• President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction
– 2007 - Corporation for National and Community Service and Campus
Compact.
• Princeton Review – 2005 – Selected as a Colleges With A Conscience: 81
Great Schools with Outstanding Community Involvement.
• U.S. News and World Reports – 2002 – JMU Ranked #24 Nationally for
Service-Learning Programs
• Break Away – 1999 Alternative Spring Break National Program of the Year
• Mother Jones Magazine, 1998 and 2003 – JMU, Top 10 Activist Schools
• Who Cares Magazine, 1997 – JMU, Top Ten Schools That Make A
Difference
The CS-L Mission Statement:
Community Service-Learning is a partnership
joining JMU students, faculty, staff and the surrounding
communities
by identifying and coordinating intentional service
opportunities
to cultivate social responsibility and life-long learning,
thereby fostering a generation of leaders committed to
positive social change.
The Service-Learning Process
Action
(Now
What)
Understanding
(So What)
Exposure
(What)
The Service-Learning Process
• Exposure
– Diversity - Different people, groups and
organizations
– Different ways of thinking
– New situations
– Feeling of perplexity or satisfaction
– Historically this has been volunteerism
The Service-Learning Process
• Understanding
– Builds on exposure
– Understanding the perspective and history of different
individuals, groups and organizations
– Multiculturalism
– Understanding causes of social issues
– Understanding the influence and effect of power and
privilege in society
– Involves both reflection and formal educational
processes
– Creates an attitude of openness and wanting to learn
more
– Historically this has been the emphasis of servicelearning
The Service-Learning Process
• Action
– Builds on exposure and understanding.
– A developmental and ongoing process that develops
over time
– Getting involved in and influencing the decision
making and change process
– Development of skills and behaviors to address
improved quality life and unmeet needs for all members
of society
– The University is actively involved in this process and
in the community.
– Nationally this is being called civic engagement