Integrating Service Learning
Online
F. Brockmeier J.D., Ph.D.
Faculty, Northern Kentucky University
Practitioner Faculty, University of Phoenix
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Service Learning is a course-based, credit-bearing
educational experience in which students (a)
participate in an organized service activity that meets a
community need and (b) reflect upon their service
activity as a means of gaining a deeper understanding
of course content, a broader appreciation of the
discipline, an enhanced sense of civic responsibility,
and/or a greater interest in and understanding of
community life.
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Definition adopted by NKU SHAPE committee and presented to NKU community in
January 2006. Adapted from Bringle, R. and Hatcher, J. A Service Learning
Curriculum for Faculty. The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall
1995, pp 112-122; and Student Action for a Change <www.actionforchange.org>.
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For a course to be designated as a service learning course at
NKU, it must:
 Directly and explicitly link the service experiences to the course
learning objectives
 Engage students in reflection aimed at connecting lessons from the
service experience(s) to course content and life experience
 Assess the learning that occurs as a result of the service
experience(s)
 Require the service experience of all students enrolled in the
course (assessment of student learning for the course includes
completion of service learning activities)
 Demonstrate reciprocity between the students in the course and the
community agency or population being served
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Student philanthropy
 A teaching strategy that provides students with funds to
learn about and invest in nonprofit organizations.
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Service learning has four component parts:
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(1) preparation,
(2) action,
(3) reflection, and
(4) celebration.
Integrating Service Learning Online
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Preparation
 Learning activities may take place prior to the service
 Students understand expectations
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Preparation components:
 Identifying the problem
 Selecting a project that is either direct, indirect, or
advocacy
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Action is the service
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Criteria:
 Be meaningful
 Have academic integrity
 Have adequate supervision
 Provide for student ownership
 Be developmentally appropriate
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Reflection enables students to critically think about their
service experience.
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Students reflect on their
 experiences,
 feelings, and
 insights, and
 share them with others.
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Students learn from the experience and transfer
learning to new situations.
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Three questions are important in reflection :
 What?
 So What?
 Now What?
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Celebration
 recognizes students for their contributions
 provides closure to an ongoing activity.
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Ways of providing recognition are:
 Certificates of Recognition
 Joint celebration with service providers
 Recognition at special assemblies
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Using a constructivist theory of education, online is
now past the threshold of acceptance with the
Academy (Ravai, Ponton, & Baker 2008).
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The learning that occurs is equivalent to that of faceto-face courses (Zhao, 2005).
Integrating Service Learning Online
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Best practices in online delivery involve self-discipline
with respect to all participants in the learning.
► The instruction is Socratic in facilitation and
► active engagement in learning by the student requires
discipline in undertaking and accomplishing the work
with little if any deadlines and verification of progress
by the leader.
► Learning is the responsibility of the learner. and is
imposed from the learner’s internal motivation, not an
external loci, imposes commitment and dedication.
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The major accommodation to online work has to do
with the asynchronous aspect and the
► necessity for frequent contact and
► prompt feedback (Bernard, 2008). Since much online
communication occurs in written form, the
► written communication encourages the use of
composed and thought-out communications.
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The multi-media availability enhances the communication process
(Zhang, 2005). There is likewise a
technological capability for synchronous, face-to-face
communication through media of Webcams and television. There
is also
streaming video with the added effect that the video can be
reviewed sufficient number of times to allow for refreshing of
information and recording of decisions to satisfy the needs of
individual learners. The discussions can also be archived for
future reference. There is available
freeware, for example: WiZiQ, e-mail with expanded capacity, and
SharePoint.
Podcasts can be created and delivered on smart phones.
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While a computer-generated search has revealed 43 articles
dealing with the topics of service learning and online
environment, only six of those articles deal with the use of the
online learning environment in a service learning project[1] (Skill
& Young, 2002; Watts, 2003; Trait & Sauer, 2004; Poindexter, 2009;
Burton, 2003; Bennett, 2001). Two were calls for the promotion of
service learning via online instruction (Bennett, 2001; Trait &
Sauer, 2004). The call was echoed in a chapter of a recent book
expressing future considerations for service learning (Strait &
Lima, 2009). Three of the articles described face-to-face service
learning courses in which communication was done online as an
enhancement and add-in in a hybrid mode. The final article
focused on a variable credit, first-year course that required
students complete two hours per week working for an agency in
the community and report that work through the online media
(Watts, 2003).
[1] Using keywords “service learning” and “online course,”
databases searched were Academic Search Premier, PsychINFO,
Teacher Reference Center, and ERIC for books or monographs..
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It is the learning that is the primary objective
IT’S THE LEARNING, STUPID
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FOUR PHASES
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Preliminary Phase
Initiation Phase
Execution Phase
Assessment Phase
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PRELIMINARY PHASE
 Institutional Review Board
 Student buy-in for Service Learning and relationship to
Los
 Type of Agency Partner
 Conflicts of Interest
 Project chunks
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INITIATION PHASE
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Written statement, agreed upon by all stakeholders
Build and maintain community online
Communication regularly
Trust
Alternative forms of communication established
Conflict Resolution process
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EXECUTION PHASE
 Asynchronous
 Communication norms:
► Subject
of the email,
► Purpose of the communication,
► Content of the communication, and
► Specific individual responsibility
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ASSESSMENT PHASE
 Progress of the Project
 Satisfaction of Stakeholders
► Reflection
► Logs
– Individual and Team
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Identify areas for more concentrated work on the
Learning Objectives
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TECHNOLOGY ENHANCEMENT
 Multiple User Virtual Environments (MUVE)
 Skype
 Wiki
 Freeware
► WiZiQ
► Dimdim
► VoiceThread
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Journal
 Self Reflection
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Celebration
 Agent of Change
Integrating Service Learning Online
Blog
Integrating Service Learning Online
NKU in Second Life
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Interest in Course
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Your functional life skills (communication,
assertiveness, problem solving).
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Critical Thinking
 Investigation
 Analysis
 Analogies
 Synthesis
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Learning Outcomes/Objectives
 Team Work
 Leadership
 Cultural Diversity
 Communication
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Final Product
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Future
 Additional evaluation
 Leadership Development
 Succession Planning
 Organizational Culture Assessment
 Strategic Planning
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Examples:
 BRAC
 Afghan Institute of Literacy
 The Citizens Foundation
Integrating Service Learning Online
BRAC is a development organization dedicated to alleviating poverty
by empowering the poor to bring about change in their own lives.
Integrating Service Learning Online
The Global Service Practicum service learning project to provide to the
Afghan Institute of Learning (AIL) a plan to "figure out a way to bring the
message of need” by the AIL Learning Center students who want to
learn how to grow their own food, use medicinal plants, and revitalize
the natural beauty of their surroundings. In furtherance of that end, AIL
has asked us to help them create a method and procedure to bring that
need to the attention of the people in the United States communities
and seek financial contributions to help Those students.
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The Citizens Foundation was started by Pakistani
businessmen concerned about their country, and it
builds terrific schools for needy children there. We’re
seeing American- Pakistani relations spiral downward,
and billions of dollars in American military aid to
Pakistan haven’t accomplished much. The best way I
can see to moderate Pakistan and defeat extremists is
to bolster secular education. When I travel in Pakistan,
I see radical madrasas built by Wahhabi Muslim
fundamentalists from Saudi Arabia and other
countries, offering free meals to entice students.
Fundamentalists donate because they understand the
power of education to change a country. And we don’t
even compete. Information is at
thecitizensfoundation.org.
Integrating Service Learning Online
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