Service-Learning: The ‘Trim-Tab’ of Undergraduate
Accounting Education Reform
by
Curtis L. DeBerg
Professor of Accounting
College of Business
California State University
Chico, CA 95929-0011
Phone: (916) 898-6463
Fax: (916) 898-4970
E-mail: cdeberg@oavax.csuchico.edu
Lynn M. Pringle
Director, Master of Accountancy Program
College of Business Administration
University of Iowa
Iowa City, Iowa
Phone: (319) 335-0910
Fax: (319) 335-1956
E-mail: lynn-pringle@uiowa.edu
Edward Zlotkowski
Senior Associate
The American Association for Higher Education
One Dupont Circle
Washington, DC 20036
Phone: 508 693 4262
Fax: (508) 693 4262
E-mail: ezlotkowski@bentley.edu
Curtis L. DeBerg is a professor of accounting at California State University, Chico. He
has served as Co-director of two FIPSE grants to reengineer introductory accounting.
Also, he was the Academic Fellow for the California Society of Certified Public
Accountants from 1993-95.
Lynn M. Pringle is the director of the Master of Accountancy Program at the University
of Iowa.
Edward Zlotkowski is the founding director of the Bentley Service-Learning Center at
Bentley College. He currently serves as a senior associate at the American Association for
Higher Education (AAHE) and as series editor of AAHE’s 18-volume set on servicelearning in the disciplines.
Service-Learning: The ‘Trim-Tab’ of Undergraduate
Accounting Education Reform
The “ship of higher education” is in the midst of a storm. Instead of gusting
winds and shifting currents, universities are faced with other unpredictable forces.
Examples include technological innovation, distance learning, workplace preparedness,
global competition, roles of faculty in faculty/student interaction, collaborative learning,
multiculturalism, experiential learning and service-learning, a relatively unknown within
business colleges. All of these elements are shifting the course of the mammoth ship,
which many believe to be out of control. While this article directly addresses servicelearning from an accounting perspective, it has profound implications for many of the
other aforementioned issues currently faced by higher education.
Barr and Tagg (1995) described a shift from what they call an “Instruction
Paradigm” (traditional, passive lecture-discussion format) to a “Learning Paradigm”
(interactive, experiential, and “holistic” format) as the trim-tab of the “huge ship” of
higher education. A trim-tab is a little rudder attached to the end of a larger rudder.
Applying a very small force to turn the trim-tab left moves the larger rudder to the right.
The force applied to the larger rudder turns the ship left. Barr and Tagg envisioned a set
of structures and processes that are starkly different from today’s Instruction Paradigm,
and suggest that it will take decades to work out many of the Learning Paradigm’s
implications.
Unquestionably, technological advances are changing both how education is
delivered and, in many cases, the content of what is being taught. This is especially true
in professional disciplines such as accounting, management information systems, and
computer science. The ship of business education, once firmly anchored to the traditional
Instruction Paradigm, is now beginning to move. Unlike Barr and Tagg, we believe that it
will take a much shorter time to shift to a Learning Paradigm because the prevailing
winds, i.e., the market forces unleashed by technology, require change at a quicker pace.
This change of pace is related to Zemsky and Massy's (1995, 49) conclusion: “To survive
and prosper in an age of enterprise, colleges and universities will have to be more
1
responsive to the changing market for research and learning, more willing to make
service their mark of quality, and more successful in differentiating among separate
functions like teaching and research.” [emphasis added] 1
Radical organizational change driven by market demands related to service is not,
of course, a new idea. Halal (1990) noted that:
"Even a casual scanning of current events during the past few years leaves one
gripped by the troubling impression that business, government, and all other social
institutes are in a state of upheaval. This upheaval seems to constitute nothing
less than a managerial revolution."
Halal also identified two issues especially critical to this revolution: (1) the need to
develop more flexible, entrepreneurial organizations and (2 ) the need to adopt a more
participative form of leadership. Translated into the language of Barr and Tagg’s
Learning Paradigm, these two needs speak to programs (1) skillfully structured around a
variety of pedagogical strategies and (2) deliberately inclusive of students as coconstructors of knowledge and meaning. Implementation of such programs is necessary
to prepare students for the changing demands of today’s business environment.
There have been numerous calls to right the ship. Porter and McKibbin (1988), in
their AACSB-sponsored study of the state of business education, noted graduates who are
narrowly focused and "often...unwittingly insensitive to...factors other than the ‘bottom
line.’” The Bedford Committee Report (AAA 1986), the Big 8 White Paper (Andersen et
al. 1989), the AECC (1990), and the AAA (1995) second the findings of Brigham Young
University’s (?????) accounting faculty that “of the 27 expanded competencies needed by
future accounting professionals only four are related to direct knowledge of accounting
and only three are related to a study of the business environment.” These other
competencies include “[s]olving unstructured problems in unfamiliar settings,”
“[u]nderstanding economic, social, and cultural forces,” “[w]orking effectively with
diverse groups of people,” and “[u]sing data, exercising judgment, evaluating risks, and
solving real-world problems.”
Clearly, then, many business education leaders do not regard “business
(education) as usual” as a prescription for future success. And yet, it is precisely such an
assumption that Porter and McKibbin (1985, 85) found evident in many business
2
education institutions. As they tactfully put it, “[we] were somewhat surprised that
[striking a balance between discipline-specific specialization and breadth of knowledge]
did not seem to be as salient an issue as we thought it should be.” Or, as Hogner (1996)
more bluntly stated: “Deep inside management and other departments in our respective
schools, we continue as if untouched by the extraordinary changes in understanding
taking place ‘outside.’”
In order to change the direction in which the ship of business education is headed,
we need to move the rudder that is faculty acceptance of a broader range of competencies
for business students. And in order to affect this rudder, we need to identify as its trim-tab
a concrete strategy that will allow business faculty to introduce this broader range of
competencies into their actual pedagogical practice. Here, Guskin (1994) calls on faculty
to move away from traditional, in-class information transfer and to serve instead as the
skilled designers of student learning environments—environments that maximize
essential faculty-student interaction, integrate new technologies fully into the student
learning process, and enhance student learning through peer interaction.2 As for the actual
design strategies that can create such environments, Guskin is silent. However, we
believe—on the basis both of our own experience and of that of an increasing number of
our colleagues—that the answer lies in faculty and student involvement in academicallybased service.
Academically based service for students, i.e., service-learning, and a closely
related concept, professional service for faculty, are topics whose time has come.
Zlotkowski (1996a) argues that service-learning, as a potentially transformative
component of business education, not only enhances many of the “soft” skills needed by
contemporary business professionals but also provides invaluable opportunities for
hands-on technical learning. As for faculty professional service, Gamson (1995) and
Hirsch (1996) have called on faculty to expand their service horizons by going beyond
internal university service to develop external forms of service that draw upon their
disciplinary and professional expertise. Gamson calls on academic leaders to promote
greater interest in such external service because it addresses three key issues: the social
role of higher education, rethinking faculty work, and institutional restructuring. Hirsch
3
(1996, 9) concurs, and like Zlotkowski (1996b), emphasizes that efforts must be made to
link both faculty and student outreach to the internal change process of the academy:
“The aim of service proponents must be to relate [service], whether in curricula or
through field projects, to what drives the university: teaching and learning, research, and
the dissemination of knowledge. The challenge is to weave service into the fabric of how
faculty organize their work.”
The remainder of this article focuses on service-learning as a concrete pedagogical
change strategy. It begins by reviewing a useful definition of the concept; links servicelearning to the accounting education reform movement; details constraints and barriers
faculty must overcome in order to implement effective service-learning programs; and
presents five case studies of successful service-learning projects currently in effect at two
(STATE) universities. Each case “fits” into a new, seamless fabric that gives service a
more prominent place in faculty work. The article concludes by offering
recommendations to help make service-learning a more valued part of faculty scholarship
in a restructured approach to business education.
SERVICE-LEARNING DEFINED
Bringle and Hatcher (1996, 222) offer a useful general definition of servicelearning. They describe it as:
a credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an
organized service activity that meets identified community needs and
reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain a further
understanding of course content, and an enhanced sense of civic
responsibility. Unlike extracurricular voluntary service, service learning is
a course-based service experience that produces the best outcomes when
meaningful service activities are related to course material through
reflection activities as directed writings, small group discussions, and class
presentations. Unlike practica and internships, the experiential activity in a
service-learning course is not necessarily skill-based within the context of
professional education.
Bringle and Hatcher come very close to our own understanding of service-learning.
However, their definition should be supplemented and/or clarified in three areas. First, we
need to specify further what we mean by “community.” Does it include on-campus as
well as off-campus service? Does it include work with for-profit as well as non-profit
4
organizations? Our answer to both of these questions is “yes.” While, on the one hand,
the “service” in service-learning is provided primarily to segments of the population
underserved by our market economy, such a focus does not exclude the needs of
disadvantaged populations on campus nor does it exclude collaborations with the forprofit sector that result in more than proprietary advantage.
Second, the qualification “credit-bearing” must be understood to apply both to
courses where service is in fact the main objective and to existing courses whose primary
purpose is the furthering discipline-based knowledge and skills. In the latter case, for
example, service activities may be recognized in the form of bonus points or as one of
several possible project tracks. Indeed, we can even envision less-structured situations
student organizations and club-based activities engage in service-learning.
Third, the faculty role in service-learning projects needs to be more fully
addressed. In most cases, faculty should be rewarded extrinsically as well as intrinsically
for their service involvement. In other words, the design and implementation of service
projects represents a valid—and increasingly important—form of what Boyer (1992) has
called the “scholarship of teaching.” As such, it needs to be documented, evaluated, and
recognized in the same way in which other forms of scholarship and innovative teaching
are recognized. Indeed, projects where students and faculty actually serve together are to
be encouraged. Such joint ventures not only make possible projects of greater complexity
and higher quality; they also open the door to what was referred to earlier as faculty
professional service, a concept Boyer identified as the scholarship of application.3
SERVICE-LEARNING AND ACCOUNTING
EDUCATION REFORM
At the most fundamental level, criticism centers on the excessive attention
presently given by accounting curricula to rule-based and procedural-oriented knowledge.
As a result of this narrow focus, capabilities that are deemed to be highly significant in
achieving success in the profession have been inadequately developed or ignored
altogether. These deficiencies include the inability to solve unstructured problems and to
make reasoned, value-based judgments, the lack of interpersonal skills required to work
5
effectively in groups, the lack of writing and oral skills required to communicate
effectively with others, and inadequate computer skills.
Leading accounting practitioners and educators have been making the case for
reform in accounting education for over a decade now, starting with the Bedford
Committee (1986, 178). This led to the White Paper issued by the (then) Big 8 public
accounting firms (Andersen et al. 1989), followed by the creation of the Accounting
Education Change Commission (1990). All have called for major reforms in course
content and pedagogy in order to produce graduates capable of success in the 21st
century.
For example, the White Paper stated that the successful practitioner requires
general knowledge that covers a number of factors:
·
An understanding of the flow of events in history and the different cultures in
today's world.
·
The ability to interact with diverse groups of people and at the highest levels
of intellectual exchange.
·
A sense of the breadth of ideas, issues and contrasting economic, political and
social forces in the world.
·
Experience in making value judgments.
Similarly, the AECC called for coursework that enhances communication skills,
intellectual skills, and interpersonal skills. This includes the ability to work effectively in
groups and to provide leadership when appropriate.
Not only has course content been challenged; so, too, has course delivery. The
Bedford Committee, for example, questioned the effectiveness of traditional teaching and
learning methods. It also suggested that more emphasis should be given to student
development:
The ability to apply accounting knowledge requires that students develop
pertinent skills and attitudes regarding, for example, how to become aware
or sensitive to the needs of others, how to listen, how to understand
management requirements, how to negotiate, and how to relate to the
information requirement of the general public. At a minimum, current
teaching methods need to be supplemented with discussion of concepts.
The White Paper concurred, and encouraged faculty to deliver courses in an integrated,
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"learning by doing" manner rather than experiencing isolated courses. Teamwork is
encouraged across course and departmental lines.
Service-Learning and Accounting Reform
How does service-learning "fit" into the calls for reform described above? We
believe that well-designed service-learning projects, with a component for student
reflection, can help overcome many of skill deficiencies described above. Servicelearning can provide students with valuable opportunities to serve on real projects outside
the classroom and, together with faculty, students can have a direct hand in planning,
implementing, and assessing the projects.
Given that service-learning activities are encouraged in the missions of most
universities, the time is right to make service-learning an important part of the
undergraduate accounting curriculum. This was articulated by E. Eugene Rice, Director
of the Forum on Faculty Roles and Rewards for the American Association for Higher
Education: “Service-learning is gathering steam around the country because it is
congruent with a key mission of our institutions; whets the imaginations of students,
faculty, and community participants; is pedagogically effective; and meets important
community needs” (Zlotkowski 1998, xiii).
CONSTRAINTS AND BARRIERS
Faculty members who are committed to service-learning must overcome several
obstacles if their goal is to make service-learning an integral part of their scholarly
activities. Zlotkowski (1996a, 1996b), Gamson (1995), Hirsch (1996), and Ehrlich (1995)
are among those who have discussed the barriers to implementing service-learning on a
larger scale. Perhaps the primary barrier can be summarized as a failure to see how
service-learning can be linked with discipline-based course objectives. Because of their
own education, many faculty believe that service-learning is intrinsically extrinsic to their
own discipline’s concerns – concerns they can only frame in terms of traditional research
and in-class teaching. Or, as Zlotkowski (1996b) noted, “…many faculty express an
attitude of general approval...but personal disinterest (that’s just not what I teach).”4
Among the other reasons given by faculty for their reluctance to explore servicelearning, the following are especially common:
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

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courses already contain too much content; hence, there’s no room for anything
new;
faculty themselves don’t have the expertise to lead such projects;
it is difficult to match undergraduate skill levels with project requirements;
service-learning is difficult to assess;
service-learning seems to be still another pedagogical/social demand to be
placed in a long queue with other such demands (e.g., diversity, ethics);
service projects naturally raise cross disciplinary considerations and crossdisciplinary collaboration is extremely difficult.
Without in any way wishing to minimize the importance of such concerns—or
their power to nip interest in the bud—we nonetheless maintain that such concerns are not
nearly so daunting. There is, to be sure, a genuine learning curve attached to servicelearning projects. However, the early efforts required are no more challenging than those
required by many new technologies—and unlike most technologies, servive-learning does
not require major updating on a regular basis.
Furthermore, the service-learning movement has advanced enough whereby
excellent course and program models can be easily obtained and used to lay the
foundations for new ventures. As Hirsch (1996, 9) noted, “One of the best ways [to
promote faculty development in this area] is to collect lively cases of faculty professional
‘public work,’ or service, especially that which is connected to teaching through servicelearning applications and to research through publication.” Many such cases in business
programs are featured in Zlotkowski (1996a). Indeed, Zlotkowski echoes—specifically in
a business education context—Hirsch’s call for a central repository of successful projects:
By linking technical skills and community needs, by bringing together
concrete action and guided reflection, individual initiatives such as these
begin to constitute an invaluable resource for business education as a
whole. When, moreover, one adds to these models a number of other,
more consulting-type efforts focused on inner-city needs, it becomes clear
that the time has come to begin developing a national network of businessschool educators able and willing to share both methods and results. We
need to create a resource database capable of developing ever more
effective business school-community agency partnerships.
The next two sections of this essay seek to add to such a “resource database” in
the accounting arena by describing service-learning projects implemented at ABC
University and at XYZ University. These projects have been made possible because
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“intrapreneurial” faculty members have had the support of institutional leaders. Many of
the concerns identified above will be implicitly addressed in the framework of these
concrete projects. Those that are not will be addressed at the essay’s conclusion.
ABC UNIVERSITY
The first of three interrelated service-learning projects at ABC University consists
of a program that emanated from a three-year grant starting Fall 1992 from the Fund for
the Improvement of Postsecondary Education (FIPSE). The project was entitled
“Reengineering Elementary Accounting.” While the FIPSE grant did not originally
include a service-learning component, one service-learning project was a natural outcome
because of the new approach taken with introductory students. To see this, it is helpful to
understand that the overall goal of the project was for the Department of Accounting
faculty to reengineer its two introductory accounting courses by introducing students to
decision-making processes involving financial data, helping students to become business
and computer literate, and developing students' problem-solving skills. The new courses
focused on developing students’ knowledge, skills, and values that form the foundation
for a lifetime of professional success.
The strategy of the new courses was to move away from the traditional rule-based,
procedure-oriented mode to a more dynamic, interactive learning mode. The new mode
views the learner as an active information processor who uses data, exercises judgments,
evaluates risk, and solves real-world problems. In moving to the new mode, much more
pressure was put on faculty, many of whom were not adept at teaching many of the new
concepts and skills. Also, with a new emphasis on collaborative learning, the course
became much more labor-intensive with respect to grading in-class and outside-of-class
assignments. As a result, the faculty looked to its outstanding senior accounting students
for help.
Service-Learning Project 1: The Senior Leadership/Mentorship Class
As a result of the FIPSE grant, a senior-level service-learning course was created.
Since Spring 1993, accounting “mentors” have been selected from a pool of all senior
accounting majors with outstanding academic credentials. The objectives of the mentor
program are to:
9

Build teamwork, communication, and leadership skills;

Provide introductory accounting students with peer assistance; and

Provide introductory accounting students with role models that exhibit
qualities desired of individuals who are about to enter a profession.
Mentors receive three units of graded credit and are required to fulfill a specific set of
responsibilities during the semester. Each mentor is assigned to one faculty member’s
class, and must:

Become familiar with computer spreadsheet software and provide assistance
to students learning to use spreadsheets during the first three weeks of class

Read and understand student handout and group assignments, prepare
solutions for handouts and group assignments, attend class sessions, and
prepare and deliver one or two interactive lectures

Meet with other mentors and the faculty coordinator weekly

Meet with students on a regular "office hours" schedule to discuss handouts
and small group assignments

Conduct review sessions prior to the midterm and final exams

Conduct exit interviews of a random sample of introductory students

Summarize mentor experience in an essay submitted to the faculty at the end
of the semester.
The mentor program breaks from the traditional teaching model, where upper
division students have little or no contact with lower division students. Moreover, it
provides a much richer environment for faculty/student interaction. To date, the program
has received very positive response ratings from introductory students and senior
mentors.
This is the type of environment that Astin (1993) believes universities should be
working harder to create. Astin found that it is the environment created by faculty and
students that really seems to matter; and that the single most important environmental
influence on student development is the peer group. By judicious and imaginative use of
peer groups, any college or university can substantially strengthen its impact on student
learning and personal development.
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In order for service-learning to have a more valued voice at the academic table,
projects need to be linked to the discipline so as to enhance academic learning.
Furthermore, they must include time for students to reflect on the service experience. The
mentor program accomplishes both goals. The end-of-semester essay ensures that
students spend time reflecting on their experiences. Moreover, these essays provide
faculty with valuable insights about the overall effectiveness of the FIPSE project and the
mentor program itself. For example, consider the opening comments in a typical essay
turned in at the end of Spring 1996:
Many students ask why I chose to take the accounting mentor class
when I could have taken a more “beneficial” class like corporate tax
accounting? The answer seems obvious when looking back on it all -- the
mentor class helped me to discover a passion for teaching I never knew I
had. In addition, by being forced to explain accounting theories to
students, I understand the material much better. Before the mentor
program, I wasn’t even comfortable doing an indirect cash flow statement,
but now it is second nature. The mentor program gave me an opportunity
to help others, and most important, an opportunity to teach.
Helping other students with accounting is very rewarding. One of
the biggest challenges the mentor program presented was the need to
change student opinions with regard to accounting. A profession in
accounting is often viewed as boring, monotonous, and very difficult, but
all of these preconceived ideas are false. Accounting provides individuals
with a very in depth understanding of business, and after all, accounting is
the central aspect of any business.
In summary, the senior mentor program is an example of an internal servicelearning project linked directly to an academic discipline. This view of service-learning is
unique, because almost most of the service-learning literature describes service-learning
in external terms That is, the service-learning projects are completed off campus to
benefit a community organization.
Students are compensated for the service via graded credit hours. Faculty
compensation has been in the form of satisfaction created by designing and implementing
a service-learning project that is a win-win situation for the mentors, mentees, and
faculty. In addition, ABC University's mentor program has been implemented at five
other as a result of a second grant under FIPSE’s Disseminating Proven Reforms
program.
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Before describing the next project, it is important to note that not all servicelearning activities must be pro bono. Economic reality is such that many students who
would otherwise like to serve simply do not have the time because it would jeopardize
their planned graduation date. The senior mentor program is an example where students
can serve, but the compensation is in the form of academic “currency”—graded units.
Service-Learning Project 2: Optional Bonus Points
While the above project is internal to the university, a second, external servicelearning project has spawned from the FIPSE grant. This project gives participating
students an opportunity to participate in one of two tracks: a non-business “civics/values”
track, or a business-related track directed by an entrepreneurial student group called
Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) under the supervision of a faculty adviser. To earn 10
percent bonus points in the professor’s course, students must document at least 30 hours
of community service with one or more of the programs directed by a campus volunteer
organization called Community Action Volunteers in Education (CAVE), or actively
participate in SIFE’s primary community service project. Examples of CAVE projects
include literacy programs, programs for the elderly, and programs for the handicapped.
SIFE’s main project has been modeled, in large part, after the senior accounting
mentor program. Here, the faculty adviser trains teams of university students to deliver a
series of business and computer literacy lessons to students enrolled in “alternative” high
schools. Most of these students are at-risk of not graduating.
Under both tracks, students who complete the service are required to write a
summary paper describing what they did and what they learned from the experience. The
summary paper provides input in awarding the bonus points. This type of service-learning
program differs from most others in that students who wish to serve are identified early in
the semester. Students who do not serve are not forced to do so.
Has the program been effective? From the participating student and faculty
perspective, yes. For example, in Spring 1996, 115 students were enrolled in three
courses where the service-learning option was available. Of these, 27 students (23%)
chose to complete a CAVE project, while 6 students (5%) chose the SIFE track. Again, to
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get an idea of how students have reflected on their experience, consider the comments of
one of the SIFE students in her end-of-semester essay:
My original motive for volunteering for the SIFE mentor program
was not noble and altruistic. I wanted extra credit and it seemed like it
would be simple since I had a lot of experience counseling junior high
kids. In retrospect, the program has been challenging, frustrating,
humiliating, and a lot of other things but it was anything but easy. Would I
do it again? In a heart beat.
I would do it because all my life I have wanted to make a
difference, to be a leader. This program has made that possible. I have
been able to experience real numbers, real school, real students, real
satisfaction, and real frustration. Mentoring has taught me patience, the
importance of measuring what you say before you say it, and most
importantly, how to listen. I look for the faces where the eyes tell me this
young person wants to know what I have to say in spite of the lack of
respect my fellow mentors and I occasionally get from many of her peers.
And I mentor to her, just her. When I do that others in the class know I am
serious and they begin to pay attention. I feel as though I can only reach a
few of them in this short time, but maybe one or more of them will be
stimulated by math and accounting and end up wanting to go on to college,
and perhaps even to major in business.
One last indicator of success is that about 50% of the students who receive the bonus
points continue to serve the following semester, even though they receive no bonus points
or course credit.
Service-Learning Project 3: Business and Computer Literacy in the Community
Students from any discipline, at all levels, can earn three units of credit/no credit by
signing up for an independent study entitled “Internship and Cooperative Education.”
While this course historically has been used to accommodate internships, it also permits
credit for students who wish to gain practical experience with organizations that give
students a chance to study policy, control, and decision-making in a specialized work
environment. The supervising faculty member determines a student’s performance
requirements, assignments, and methods of evaluation prior to undertaking the project.
This course provides the avenue for a faculty member to further a service-learning agenda
in his or her discipline.
Students completing this project are required to complete at least 50 hours by
participating in SIFE over the course of two semesters. Founded in 1975, SIFE is a non13
profit educational organization that works in partnership with business and higher
education, providing college students the leadership experience of establishing free
enterprise community outreach programs that teach others how market economies and
business operate. Currently, the SIFE organization consists of about 30,000 students at
over 350 colleges and universities.
One of the most unique aspects of the organization is the annual regional and
national contests to recognize the best community service and business development
projects organized by colleges and universities. Competition against other teams has lead
to dramatic increases in overall quality of projects during the past three to four years.
Another beneficial aspect is the added exposure to potential recruiters, given that many of
the judges for the competitions are leaders from industry. For example, judges at the 1998
national competition included the CEOs of Radio Shack, Kinko’s, Hallmark, American
Greetings, and Wal-Mart. Also judging was the Executive Director of the KPMG
Foundation. Criteria used in judging, and competencies addressed, include:
Judging Criterion
1. How effectively did the students document their
activities in their presentation to the judges?
2. How effectively did the students document their
activities in their written annual report?
3. How creative, innovative, and effective were the
students in teaching others an understanding of how
market economies work?
4. How well did the students teach others how
businesses operate, how to identify market need for a
product or service and how to meet that need; how to
produce that product or service; how to make a profit,
what to do with that profit; and the ethical obligations
businesses have to their customers and community?
5. How successful were the students in teaching others
the skills and motivation needed to survive in the
global market? These skills might include teaching:
technology, communication, social, attitude, personal
responsibility, business ethics and moral conduct,
and entrepreneurial spirit.
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Main Competencies
Addressed
Oral Presentation Skills;
Teamwork Skills
Writing Skills; Desktop
Publishing Skills
Oral Presentation Skills;
Teamwork; Community
Relations; Time Management
Oral Presentation Skills;
Teamwork; Community
Relations; Time Management
Computer Skills; Oral
Presentation Skills;
Teamwork; Community
Relations; Time Management
6. Did the students quantify the results of their
educational programs, and did they ensure the
continuation of their successful SIFE programs in the
future?
7. How successful were the students in utilizing their
resources, which included but were not limited to
their Business Advisory Board, (2) college students
and faculty from non-business disciplines, and (3) the
mass media available (taking into consideration the
size and location of their community)?
Accountability; Leadership
Interpersonal Skills; Public
Relations Skills
The students on the ABC University team have created five major project areas
where members may serve: teaching at-risk K-12 students; tutoring ‘at-risk’ students
from economically disadvantaged homes, technology infusion (on- and off-campus),
public relations, and fund raising. As noted above, one of the team’s main projects has
been the high school project. A key feature of the program is that high school students,
under the mentorship and consultation of the SIFE team, start real-life “mini-businesses.”
The lessons emphasize the application of math in problem-based approaches, using
technology available at the schools and at the university.
To get a better idea of this project, consider the technology infusion program.
Here, students have acquired state-of-the-art laptop computers and video display
projection systems by authoring grants within and external to the university. Starting Fall
1996, the lessons at the high schools were delivered using PowerPoint presentations and
motion graphics. Another program involves the SIFE team’s emphasis on public relations
and dissemination. In addition to producing a documentary that aired on the local PBS
television station, members of the team have traveled to Washington, D.C. the past three
years to participate in the American Association for Higher Education’s national
conference on school/college collaboration.
In summary, this project is unique in several respects. First, it has elements of
both external service-learning and internal service-learning for students. Second, the team
is multidisciplinary. Third, the team’s evaluation is externally-based, according to
specific and measurable criteria. Fourth, it is very easy to create a SIFE team on any
campus, and veteran teams are encouraged to adopt rookie teams. Fifth, the faculty
adviser’s work can be compared to that of a baseball manager. The adviser oversees all
15
aspects of the organization, with student leaders directing specific project areas. And
while most of the students specialize in one or two areas, they all depend on one another
to maximize team performance at the competitions. Sixth, the project provides ample
ideas and data to improve a faculty member’s teaching and research.
One of the most beneficial aspects of this project lies in its potential to contribute
to a seamless education. Taking the baseball analogy one step further, university and
community college students can be viewed as the major league players, high school
students as AAA players, middle school students in the instructional league, and so on. In
fact, the SIFE team’s motto is “Students Helping Students.” All players have a common
goal: to serve and to succeed. How each team performs together, in a competitive setting,
provides an independent measure of success. As Barr and Tagg (1995, 20) indicate, "The
Learning Paradigm prescribes no one 'answer' to the question of how to organize learning
environments and experiences. It supports any learning method that works, where 'works'
is defined in terms of learning outcomes, not the degree of conformity to an ideal
classroom archetype."
XYZ UNIVERSITY
Two service-learning programs at XYZ will be described. Both are external
projects (i.e., they address community needs) involving both students and a faculty
member. The projects link course content (e.g., cash flow analysis) with practical, “real
world” settings. As the students develop one-to-one relationships with the poor and
disenfranchised, they become more aware of and sensitive to issues of social justice and
inequity.
Service-Learning Project 4: Money Management Workshop at the Julian Street Inn
The Julian Street Inn is the only shelter for the homeless mentally ill in City,
State’s third largest metropolitan area. It houses 49 men and 20 women who have been
diagnosed with diseases such as paranoid schizophrenia, manic depression and post
traumatic stress disorder. In addition to meals and lodging, the shelter provides linkages
with mental health facilities, crisis intervention, case management, and other vital
community services. Typically, the maximum length of stay at the shelter is 90 days. The
goal of the money management workshop (from the students’ perspective) is to encourage
16
the residents to save by working with them on banking and budgeting skills. Without
savings, most homeless have little hope of finding some form of permanent housing.
During the first week of the quarter, Intermediate Accounting I students meet
agency staff and tour the facility. A staff person who will help coordinate the workshop is
determined and importantly, a regular weekly two-hour meeting time that will foster
attendance is scheduled. Students also draft a confidentiality agreement to be signed by
the staff coordinator, a student, and the resident being served. The remaining weeks are
devoted to basic remedial math (e.g., fractions and percentages are explained in the
context of purchasing merchandise on sale), basic banking skills (e.g., how to use an
ATM card), and personal budget development (e.g., buying in bulk results in a lower cost
per unit). In addition, residents of the shelter are asked what supplemental topics they
would like to cover. For example, in past workshops we have talked about the expenses
associated with automobile ownership and the dangers associated with credit card usage.
Student participation in the project was mandatory and comprised 10 percent of a
student’s grade. The assignment also required students to keep a personal journal
recording their experiences at the shelter and to submit a two-page summary reflection
paper at the end of the quarter. Guskin (1994, 24) noted that “linking experiential learning
in real-life settings with student reflection through written reports and presentations,
while faculty act as mentors/advisors, is learning in its broadest sense.” In other words,
experience without critical reflection becomes doing or acting without learning.
In addition to critical reflection, the notion of reciprocity is another essential
concept of service-learning. Hogner (1996) noted that “many students do, indeed, get ‘it’,
i.e., that the service activity has its greatest impact on students and not on the
community.” Writing in his journal, one student reflected that “the people there have
honestly taught me more than I ever imagined possible. The realities I have been exposed
to over the last few weeks have affected my emotions like few things around the
university can.” This student had experienced a reversal of roles. He had initially
expected to teach the homeless; instead, it was the wisdom, experience, and values of the
homeless that guided this student to a broader, deeper, and more accurate understanding
of human experience.
17
In addition to providing a vehicle for guided reflection, the journal and summary
paper requirement enhances students’ writing skills. Structuring the money management
workshop and developing personal, one-to-one relationships with the residents also hones
students’ critical thinking, teamwork, speaking and listening, and problem-solving skills.
Students become active rather than passive learners as they take initiatives and become
more productive, authoritative, and independent.
The service-learning project also benefits shelter residents. Representatives from
Great Western Bank attended one of the workshop sessions and opened several bank
accounts, requiring an initial deposit of only $1. Prior to having an account, many
residents would cash their Supplemental Security Income (SSI) checks at a liquor store or
convenience market which often charged a service fee ranging from five to ten percent.
Direct deposit of SSI checks was set up for some of the residents. They were also taught
how to use ATM cards. Both of these measures kept cash out of their pockets, making it
more possible to adhere to budgeted expenditures and to save—the mechanism needed to
get off the streets and into some form of permanent housing.
A problem with the money management workshop is that it terminates with the
end of the ten-week quarter. Many of the homeless require reinforcement of the concepts
that have been covered and new residents are constantly moving into the shelter. The
desire to provide greater continuity of services was the impetus for the service-learning
project described next.
Service-Learning Project 5: Accounting Assistance Program Pilot Project
During fall 1994, one of the authors was contacted by a supervising attorney for
the City Community Law Center. The center, founded by a group of XYZ law students,
provides free services to low-income people in the areas of employment and immigration
law. The Community Law Center was representing Rafael Vasquez, an immigrant from
Zamora, Michoacan, Mexico, who had been unjustly fired after nearly ten years of service
as a head baker. The supervising attorney wanted to know if XYZ University could help
Mr. Vasquez open his own bakery. This project became the pilot for an accounting
assistance program at XYZ.
18
In addition to conducting money management workshops at various community
agencies, the purpose of an accounting assistance program would be to assist low-income
people with small business development. XYZ alumni and other professionals working
for area CPA firms would supervise XYZ accounting students. The program would also
be an interdisciplinary effort, with XYZ law students negotiating contracts and Spanish
students from the College of Arts and Sciences serving as interpreters.
In the Fall 1994 quarter, a sign-up sheet for the bakery project was circulated in
two senior auditing classes. Twenty-seven of the sixty-two enrolled students expressed an
interest in participating. Four students, two male and two female, were selected using
subjective criteria and on the basis of information provided in their Student Profile
Forms. A manager at Frank Rimerman & Co., a CPA firm with two offices in the City
Area was then contacted (he was an XYZ accounting advisory board member). This
manager, along with another manager of the firm who was an XYZ alumnus, agreed to
supervise the students.
Several meetings were held to gather information for a business plan and a small
business administration (SBA) loan application was obtained. A potential site for the
bakery was visited and discussions were held with the property manager. One XYZ law
student asked many questions regarding the lease and a Spanish student interpreted for
Mr. Vasquez. Using software at the City office of Frank Rimerman & Co., students
completed the business plan for the bakery to be named.
The business plan and completed SBA application were presented to MNO
National Bank. Although the assistant vice president of the SBA department was very
impressed with the business plan, the loan was turned down due to “derogatory credit”
and “insufficient collateral for level of debt requested.” The City Community Law Center
continues to assist Mr. Vasquez in efforts to clear up his credit record.
Because financing was not obtained and the bakery has not yet opened its doors
for business, one might assume that this pilot project was not successful. Zlotkowski
(1996a), however stated that “when one thinks of an integrated approach to business
education, it is hard to imagine a more effective combination than business students
working with business professionals on technically relevant community-based projects!”
19
Students gained valuable experience in this collaborative effort and developed a better
appreciation of their professional responsibilities, which include reinforcement of moral
and civic values inherent in serving others.
The original four students who worked on the bakery project have since graduated
(one now works for Frank Rimerman & Co.). New students have not taken over the
project. For an accounting assistance program to succeed in the long run, it must operate
within an organizational framework similar to the Bentley Service-Learning Project
(BSLP) (described in Kenworthy (1996). The BSLP has collaborated with the Accounting
Assistance Program of the Support Center of Massachusetts to offer accounting majors
the opportunity to work with accounting professionals in providing services to nonprofit
organizations. As described in the next section, such endeavors face many obstacles
without institutional support.
CONCLUSION: OVERCOMING OBSTACLES
Of course, without the support of institutional leaders, faculty who wish to lead
the way in making service-learning an important part of their campus culture will likely
become frustrated. They will either continue to support service-learning because of their
commitment to this teaching pedagogy or, as Zlotkowski (1996b, 22) said, their waves of
interest will “recede with the tide to the next idea wave that comes along.” Institutional
support can come in many forms, but there are three necessary conditions that are
essential. First, upper administration must directly link service-learning to the mission
and goals of the institution. Second, in order for faculty to see how and where they can
implement service-learning into their courses, administration must provide an
infrastructure to help them change from the Instruction Paradigm to the Learning
Paradigm. This includes finding a central location where service-learning advocates can
meet regularly to exchange ideas, receive training, and foster a sense of community across
disciplines. Also, this includes providing seed money to fund promising projects. Third, if
administrators really believe service-learning can help them move to the new paradigm,
they must actively seek out change agents and support them politically. Political
protection is important, as evidenced by a recent departmental review of one of our
20
colleagues: “The Committee believes it is an inappropriate grading policy to raise
students' grades in accounting classes for volunteering in community affairs.”
For the most part, the authors have had support from the president down to the
department chairs. While the support has been strong enough to make our service
programs successful, much more must be done if service-learning is to become an
integral part of campus culture, especially within the schools of business. At ABC
University, for example, the president and provost have linked service-learning to the
mission and strategies for the future, and they are putting their money where there mouths
are. Under their leadership, the Center for Excellence in Learning and Teaching (CELT)
was created in Fall 1994. CELT is committed to rewarding and promoting the ability of
faculty to teach well, to finding way to improve the learning process, and to providing
support, training, and mentoring. Part of the CELT structure is to make monetary awards
to support curriculum development and innovative teaching, including the development
of interdisciplinary courses and the creation of courses that support the general education
program. The SIFE team was fortunate to receive funding to acquire the video display
projector for its technology program. Also, starting in 1995, CELT began sponsoring a
two-day fall conference for faculty, students, and staff. Service-learning projects have
been a prominent part of the program all three years. The conference provides a forum
where liberal arts faculty, professional program faculty, and staff from CAVE can come
together with the common goal of improving student learning.
At XYZ University, a Jesuit institution, the school philosophy supports
community service. Integration of service-learning projects into the curriculum is
facilitated by the Eastside Project which was founded in 1985. The Project’s Handbook of
Information states that the major goals “set for the project envision the establishment of a
mutually beneficial partnership between the university and the community that will
ultimately fix the concern for justice firmly within the university’s curriculum.” The
Project coordinates placement of students at community agencies where they generally
spend two hours per week for eight weeks. During an academic year, over 100 classes
send more than 1300 students to approximately 30 community agencies. In addition to its
21
student placement program, the Eastside Project offers faculty development workshops,
brings in lecturers, organizes conferences, etc.
It is our opinion that undergraduate institutions that survive and prosper will boast
a collegial group of faculty dedicated to student-centered learning, not instructor-centered
convenience. If administration provides the rationale, structure, and incentive for faculty
to implement service-learning projects, then the constraints and barriers that faculty must
overcome will become less foreboding. Faculty will see that it is in their own best interest
to link service-learning to disciplinary course objectives and to create service-learning
opportunities across disciplines.
Our extended definition of service-learning pertains equally to students and
faculty, internally as well as externally. The Wingspread Group (1993) ’s described why
service-learning should be an integral part of one’s education: “There is no substitute for
experience. Academic work should be complemented by the kinds of knowledge derived
from first-hand experience, such as contributing to the well-being of others, participating
in political campaigns, and working with the enterprises that create wealth in our
society.” We believe this is true for everyone’s life-long education, including faculty.
In conclusion, the current ship of higher education can continue its slow-drift
approach. But the danger here is that the ship will lose control, succumbing to the tugboat approach of government intervention or the sinking-ship alternative brought about
by outside threats. To maintain control, a proper force must be applied now to the trimtab of higher education. If such a force can be applied, the shift to the Learning Paradigm
described by Barr and Tagg will occur much more quickly than they imagined. Without
these changes, the ship might very well sink shortly after the dawn of the next
millennium.
22
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American Accounting Association. 1995. Intentional learning: A process for learning to
learn in the accounting curriculum.
Astin, A. W. 1993. What Matters in College? Four Critical Years Revisited, San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Barr, R. and J. Tagg. 1995. From teaching to learning: A new paradigm for undergraduate
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Boyer, E.L. 1992. Scholarship reconsidered: Priorities of the professoriate. Issues in
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Kenworthy, A. L. 1996. Linking business education, campus culture and community: The
bentley service-learning project,” Journal of Business Ethics (January): 121-131.
23
Learning by Doing: Service-Learning and Accounting Education. Forthcoming, 1998.
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New York, NY: Doubleday.
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-----------------, 1996b. Linking service-learning and the academy: A new voice at the
table?. Change (January/February): 20-27.
------------------, 1998. Successful Service-Learning Programs: New Models for
Excellence in Higher Education, Boston, MA: Anker.
1
Zemsky and Massy (1995) dichotomize the university into two broad categories: the core group
advocating constancy and the perimeter group which is more entrepreneurial and committed to reform.
During the 90s, the perimeter has grown with the advent of new degree programs, etc. while the core
(liberal arts, student government, intercollegiate athletics, central administration) has contracted due to
declining federal support, diminished state appropriations, and reduced tuition revenue. As competition
increases for students and research money, colleges and universities must address how to preserve the
traditional core.
Preservation of the core must involve change. Zemsky and Massy offer three change perspectives
which we correlate with the ship/anchor/trim-tab analogy. First is the laissez-faire perspective, whereby
colleges and universities let the market for higher education wave its invisible hand to extract the necessary
changes from and for the core. Consumers (employers, parents, students, policy makers) will vote with their
actions in pursuing their own self-interests in a free enterprise economy. This perspective currently
pervades, one that we call the slow-drift approach.
24
A second perspective is for government to intervene in the name of consumer protection. Here,
colleges and universities would no longer be responsible for their own self-assessment; rather, they would
be subject to the rules and regulations mandated by the state. We call this the tug-boat approach.
The third and most radical perspective is an accelerated version of the slow-drift approach. Here,
higher education will sit passively while a few entrepreneurs, mostly from outside the university, “bet that
the new technologies will allow them to compete for higher education’s core business.” These change
agents believe that there are other, more effective ways to deliver the services and goods of higher
education given today’s technology. Large lecture, seat-based modes of delivery will be replaced by
asynchronous, individualized, high-speed modes of learning. In effect, these change agents will successfully
“pirate” the current ship of higher education using new “weaponry.” Therefore, we call this approach the
sinking-ship approach.
One resolution to the current dilemma, as offered by Zemsky and Massy, is for colleges and
universities to choose their own alternative to the three perspectives described above. Under this alternative,
colleges and universities would remain both institutions and enterprises, but with a much stronger form of
partnership between the core and the perimeter. The partnership must recognize that a better costaccounting system is needed so that costs can be better associated with functions (i.e., accountants call this
activity-based costing). Furthermore, the entrepreneurial perimeter group must be willing to share their
financial successes with the core group which, in turn, must recognize the necessity of reducing the costs of
its core functions.
2
In a chapter of his highly influential book The Fifth Discipline: The Art and Practice of the
Learning Organization (1992), Peter Senge makes precisely this point in a broader business context. The
new leader, Senge maintains, serves neither as captain nor as navigator nor as chief engineer of his/her
company’s ship. Instead, he/she must function as its designer.
3
What are the rewards for faculty who champion the service-learning agenda? Intrinsically,
service-learning can bring excitement and vitality into the classroom; and it can also contribute to increased
student interest in the subject. Extrinsically, it can mean in the short-run release time, summer stipends, or
travel money. In the long-run, it may mean survival if, indeed, service-learning becomes a key component,
the trim-tab, of a restructured university.
4
This attitude is slowly beginning to change. Programming at conferences such as those of the
Academy of Management and publications such as Learning By Doing: Service-Learning Concepts and
Models in Accounting (1998) help traditionally educated faculty begin to make the connection between their
discipline’s intrinsic concerns and the learning opportunities latent in service-learning. The Learning by
Doing monograph provides theoretical essays and implementation approaches. These approaches include
service-learning cases in a wide range of accounting courses, including principles of accounting,
intermediate accounting, tax accounting, accounting information systems, and capstone business courses.
25