Grading Service-Learning
Projects
Brenda Marsteller Kowalewski
Community Involvement Center
Weber State University
Presentation Topics
 Purpose of Grading/Assessment
 Connecting to course objectives
 What is actually being graded?
 How are these assignments graded?
 Determining the weight of the service-
learning project
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Purpose of Grading/Assessment
 To provide faculty with a measure of what
was learned.
 To provide feedback to students on what is
expected of them, what they have done well,
what they need to improve on and how.
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Connecting to Course Objectives
 Grading is the act of measuring student
learning outcomes.
 Student learning outcomes are derived from
course objectives.
 Worksheet on five general academic learning
goal categories in which service-learning can
enhance academic learning.
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Worksheet 1: Establishing Academic
Learning Objectives
 Course-Specific Academic Learning

Understanding specific course concept - cultural capital
 Generic Academic Learning

Critical thinking skills
 Learning How to Learn

Learning how to apply academic knowledge in the real world
 Community Learning

Learning about a particular social issue
 Inter- and Intra-Personal Learning

Learning how to work collaboratively with others
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What is Actually Being Graded?
 NOT the service. The learning.
 The strategies you use to teach the academic
learning objectives you just identified.
 What activities in the classroom will enable
students to meet academic learning objectives?
 What assignments outside of the class will enable
students to meet academic learning objectives?
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Activities in the Classroom
 Small group discussions
 One-minute reflection papers
 Poetry and metaphors
 Presentations
 Collage
 On the Fence, Off the Fence
 Tapped into Citizenship
 Others?
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Assignments Outside the Class






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Integrative papers
Structured journals
Reflective interviews
Scrapbook or collage
Video
Portfolios
Participation and performance at the service
site
 Others?
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How are these Assignments Graded?
 Literature on assessment lacks best practices
for grading service-learning projects.
 Assessment literature – assessing impact of
service-learning on students based on their
self evaluation.
 Bibliography in handouts
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How are these Assignments Graded?
 Difficult but the more structure provided in the
assignment, whether it be in class or out of
class, the better.

Gives you the ability to evaluate first if they
addressed what was assigned.

Then you can evaluate the quality of the
response to the assigned question.

Rubrics helpful here
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How are these Assignments Graded?:
Rubrics
 Often times used for journals or portfolios (two very
popular assessment strategies in service-learning)
 Some very general – example from Rubrics handout
(in packet)
 Some very specific – article by Marchel (in packet)
 There is no magic rubric. Design your own to fit your
specific learning objectives and service-learning
project.
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How are these Assignments Graded?
 Site Supervisor Evaluation
 Faculty aren’t always in the field on site to
observe students when they are actually
engaging in service.
 See example in packet
 Student Self Evaluation
 Gives the faculty member insight into how the
student would rate themselves in the project.
 See example in packet
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Other questions about grading
 Do all assignments have to be graded?

Not necessarily.

Participated in an in-class reflection exercise, then they got the
points for being there.
 Do we grade the level of participation in the assignments?

Sometimes evaluated on a scale or again, using a rubric.

Participation in class or small group discussion
 Do we grade the level of participation in the service project?

What if a student does not complete the required number of
hours?


Could reject all service-learning assignments because hours
were not fulfilled.
Could adjust the scores on completed s-l assignments to reflect
the percentage of hours completed.
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Determining the Weight of the
Service-Learning Project
 What percentage of the course objectives are
being taught via the service-learning
assignment?


What assignments teach these objectives?
Weight accordingly
 What percentage of the course objectives are
being taught via other teaching strategies?


What assignments teach these objectives?
Weight accordingly
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