DePaul University
Teaching & Learning Certificate Program
“Learning Through Community Engagement”
Service-Learning:
Conceptualization, Models, and Resources
Charles Strain (cstrain)
Professor of Religious Studies
Jeffrey Howard (jhowar15)
Director of Faculty Development, Steans Center
Steans.depaul.edu/faculty/
3.7/8.12
Workshop Outcomes
1. Distinguish service-learning from other forms of
student community-based learning
2. Identify the resonance between service-learning and
Vincentian social justice values
3. Acquire service-learning pedagogical skills and
resources applicable to other courses
4. Know where to find additional resources
Workshop Plan
• Introductory Activity (10 minutes)
• About Service-Learning (15 minutes) (Jeff)
• Service-Learning and Social Justice (15 minutes)
(Charles)
• Q/A and Discussion (Round 1)
• Christina’s Reflection Excerpt (8 minutes) (Charles)
• Service-Learning Activity Applicable Across
Pedagogies (15 minutes) (Jeff)
• Service-Learning and Social Justice Activities
Applicable Across Pedagogies (7 minutes) (Charles)
• Q/A and Discussion (Round 2)
Introductory Activity (10 minutes)
What Kind of College Graduate?
Discuss with a tablemate.
Share a few thoughts.
What’s the relevance of this for service-learning?
What are you doing in your class(es) to increase the
chances you contribute to such a graduate?
Service-learning may contribute to preparing graduates
with a Vincentian perspective/worldview.
Contextualizing Service-Learning
Experiential Learning
Community Engagement
Service-Learning
Defining Service-Learning
• A pedagogical model that intentionally
integrates community service, academic
learning, and civic learning.
• Aiming for a win-win: the community benefits
from student involvement and the student
benefits from the community involvement
(mutually beneficial)
Conceptualizing Service-Learning
Service-learning is not synonymous with community service.
Distinguishing Service-Learning from Other Forms of
Student Community Involvement
Relevant and
Meaningful Service
with the
Community
Enhanced
Academic Learning
Purposeful
Civic
Learning
Volunteering/
Community Service
Yes
No
No
Co-Curricular
Service-Learning
Yes
No
Yes
Internships
Yes
Yes
Academic ServiceLearning
Yes
Yes
No
(instead, advance
student’s learning
or socialization into
a profession)
Yes
Alignment
(p. 21)
Academic and
Civic Learning
Objectives
Learning
Strategies
Learning
Assessment
Alignment Examples (pp. 32 and 49)
Reflection
Goal
Categories
Specific
Learning
Classroom
Strategy
Student
Assignment
Method for
Assessing
Learning
Final paper
focused on
making
connections
between course
theories and
community
service
experience
Student’s
demonstration of
deep
understanding
and application
of course theory
to community
service
(Rubric)
Objective
Academic:
Course-Specific
Academic
Learning
(1 of 5 academic
learning
categories)
Students will
deepen their
understanding
and application
of course theory
Class discussion
time devoted to
applying theory
to community
service and vice
versa
Civic:
Diversity
Learning
(1 of 7 civic
learning
categories)
Students will
understand the
concept of
“privilege”
“Privilege Walk”
activity, followed
by class
discussion
Journal
assignment
describing
relevance of
privilege walk
discussion to
experience in the
community
Quality of
connections
made by student
in journal entry
(Rubric)
SERVICE LEARNING AND SOCIAL
JUSTICE
CHARLES R. STRAIN
DEPAUL UNIVERSITY
TEACHING AND LEARNING CERTIFICATE
PROGRAM
Transformative Learning
[T]ransformative learning is about thinking about
things in a new way and moving in new directions
… Community experiences that challenge student
assumptions coupled with thoughtful reflection
may lead to fundamental changes in the way the
student views service or society.”
Eyler and Giles, Where is the Learning in Service
Learning, p. 17
[Traditional] education [is] an act of
depositing, in which the students are
the depositories and the teacher is the
depositor. Instead of communicating,
the teacher issues communiqués and
makes deposits which the students
patiently receive, memorize, and
repeat. This is the “banking” concept
of education. . . .
P. Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
In problem-posing education, men
develop their power to perceive critically
the way they exist in the world with which
and in which they find themselves; they
come to see the world not as a static
reality, but as a reality in process, in
transformation.
P. Freire, The Pedagogy of the Oppressed
Types of Learning and Transformation
Fostered by Service Learning
•
•
•
•
•
•
Personal and Interpersonal Development
Understanding and Applying Knowledge
Engaged, Reflective Learning
Critical Thinking
Perspective Transformation
Engaged Citizenship
Personal and Interpersonal Development
•
•
•
•
•
Greater self knowledge
Increased sense of personal efficacy
Enhanced ability to work well with others
Increase in tolerance for diversity
Increase in leadership skills
Eyler and Giles, p. 92
Understanding and Applying Knowledge
“We learn these theories and ideas in
school, but until we really apply them or
see them in action, they’re not real. And
we come out of school--if we haven’t done
something like [service learning]-- not
understanding.”
Student in Eyler and Giles, p. 69
Engaged Learning
“Cognitive scientists agree with experiential
learning theorists … that the most powerful
learning takes place when situated in complex
contexts. One avoids the inert knowledge
problem by involving students with real
problems in the real world.”
Eyler and Giles, p. 92
Creative Thinking Skills
• Students have a basis in experience with
which to test the adequacy of theories
• Through carefully chosen reflective
exercises students are forced to examine
the root causes of social problems
• Students’ assumptions and stereotypes are
challenged.
Creative Thinking Skills (2)
• Students are encouraged to examine the
human consequences of technical solutions
• Students are led to examine how their field,
discipline or profession may contribute to the
betterment of society
• Students are forced to examine their own
values
Perspective Transformation
• Ability to walk in another person’s shoes
• Systemic understanding of causes and
solutions to social problems
• Increased sense of importance of social
justice and need to change public policies
Eyler and Giles
SERVICE LEARNING AT DEPAUL
Vincent’s Option for the Poor
• In what ways will the
learning facilitated in
my class serve to help
the least advantaged
in our society and
globally?
DEPAUL’S STRATEGIC PLAN
• [DePaul will] develop
programs for faculty,
staff and students to
deepen their
understanding of the
Vincentian tradition
and values of social
justice, charity and
equality.
EDUCATION FOR SOCIAL
JUSTICE
Education for social justice is a form of
transformative learning that seeks to
develop engaged citizens who recognize
the systemic causes of many of the
problems that we face as a society and
who are committed to some forms of
social change that address those
problems.
BABIES IN THE RIVER
• How not to think about social justice
Types of Service
•
•
•
•
•
Direct Service -- Charity
Direct Service -- Empowerment
Project Development
Community Based Research
Social Change -- Asset Based Community
Development
• Social Change -- Political Organizing and
Advocacy
Service-Learning Activities Relevant to Other
Pedagogies
1. Christina’s reflection excerpt (Charles)
2. Evaluating a journal assignment and a
student’s journal excerpt (Jeff)
3. Three social justice activities (Charles)
Christina’s Reflections
• Work along several vectors simultaneously
• Integrate cognitive, moral, emotional and
interpersonal dimensions
• Integrate each of the moral components




Sensitivity
Judgment
Motivation
Character
• Are aware of the ambiguities of direct service AND
public policy grounded social change
• Stress interdependence of self and social
transformation
• Provide evidence of a multilinear development
Evaluating a Reflection Assignment
and Evaluating a Student’s Response
Journal excerpt from a student working at a home for victims of domestic violence as
part of an introductory community psychology course
Assignment: How are the clients treated at your organization and what are your
thoughts about that treatment relative to what we have been reading about?
It would be very hard for me as an adult to be restricted like that. The women are put
on restriction for not smoking far enough away from the building, for having things
other than water to drink in their rooms, talking to the opposite sex other than the
pastors that come to (name of organization), and not keeping up with their chore list. I
know they have these rules for a certain reason. I am not certain how it fits into the
entire transformation process for each woman. How are these women going to learn to
make decisions on their own when they are watched very closely and everyday is
mapped out for them? Right now I am having a hard time seeing how this is helpful to
their growth. When you tell a child not to do something, it is a green light for them to
explore the possibilities. This is kind of what I see here. They are given a good home
and people around them who care, but a list of rules a mile long. Some days I can see
why they test the waters and push the limits.
1. Evaluate the reflection journal assignment.
2. Evaluate the student’s work: What about it answers the assignment and what about
it doesn’t?
3. What feedback would you give to this student for this paragraph?
Experience
Application
Reflection
Theory/Conceptual
Clarification
The Purpose of Education
“The purpose of education is to put people in
possession of their powers.” John Dewey
Visions of a Just Society
• CBO
Initial student
CBO
Class theories
IMAGINE THE FUTURE
Take-Aways
What are you taking away from this workshop?
What questions do you have?
National Service-Learning Resources
•
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse
Published and unpublished material related to service-learning
www.servicelearning.org
•
Campus Compact
Many syllabi by discipline, conference announcements, lost of publications friendly to service-learning
www.compact.org
•
Imagining America
Concerned with community engagement in the humanities, arts, and design fields
www.imaginingamerica.org
•
Community-Campus Partnerships for Health
comprehensive resources targeted for but not limited to health professions
www.ccph.info
•
Service-Learning in the Disciplines
24 discipline-specific monographs
•
International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement – annual conference (September 2012 in Baltimore)
www.researchslce.org
•
Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
www.ginsberg.umich.edu/mjcsl/
Possible Next Steps
• Consult the web resources on the prior slide
• Read and do the worksheets in the “Service-Learning
Course Design Workbook”
• Consult with Jeff or Charles
• Send your syllabus to Jeff for feedback
(jhowar15@depaul.edu)
• Review materials and resources at the faculty
resources section of the Steans Center Webpage
(www.steans.depaul.edu/faculty)
Next Steps with TLCP
• Read about the TLCP on our website:
Depaul.digication.com/TLCP
• Join Us!
Attend a session on “Building Your Teaching Portfolio in
Digication” during Spring Quarter
• Create a page (component) in your Teaching
Portfolio following reflection on this session.
• Spring Workshops (details to come)