|
Service-Learning Center |
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
CONSIDERING . . . "Tell me, and I forget, |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| So you wanted to know? Because you have expressed interest in academically based service-learning, we offer this brief outline of our program at Calvin College. Here you will find something of the philosophy and history informing our efforts, something of the why that shapes our interest in involving students in community service. Furthermore, you will find the practical side here in a look at the way the process works. We discuss the elemental hows of setting up a project, from the various options available to faculty to the role of the center in assisting faculty. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| You'll get ideas here about how you might begin to use service-learning in a course, what resources are available to you through the Service-Learning Center, how you might evaluate student participation in a course project, how you might lead students in reflection on their project. None of what follows should be seen as a substitute for conversation. You should feel free to speak with the directors of the Service-Learning Center, the faculty director of Academically Based Service-Learning, and the student staff as well as those of your colleagues who have been involved in service-learning in the curriculum. | ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
What is it? Service-learning is a method whereby students learn through participation in organized service to the community. Such education is generally coordinated between community service agencies and educational institutions. The intent is to foster civic responsibility and enhance the students' grasp of classroom theory as well as offering direct help to people in need. Part of the experience includes a time of structured reflection and assessment to enable students to consider the importance of their service experience and to allow instructors to consider the depth of the learning that has taken place. |
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
Why Academically Based Service-Learning? Given the commitment to the Christian faith at the very roots of Calvin College, service to the community has always been an integral part of this college's mission. Since 1964 the importance of service opportunities for students has been underscored by the Service-Learning Center. Our students and faculty have served this community through a variety of projects as well as serving other communities through spring break trips and interim projects. |
 |
|||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In 1993 the Calvin faculty, upon the recommendation of the Educational Policy Committee, approved guidelines for the integration of service into the academic curriculum. Many professors, of course, have long used various service projects as a part of their classes. Only recently, through the creation of a specific program for academically based service, have we begun a systematic attempt to build service into our academic curriculum while maintaining our commitment to extra-curricular service projects. Simply put, academically-based service refers to service opportunities that are related to and integrated into a college course. Thus the service project becomes a pedagogical tool to meet the academic goals of a course as well as a source of ministry to various communities and individuals. We believe academically based service offers faculty a method toward relevance-making, a way to connect theory and practice. Calvin College has long emphasized lifelong Christian service as close to the heart of how we view our educational mission. Service learning offers a powerful strategy for the achieving of such a goal. Many professors have reshaped their courses to take advantage of the possibilities inherent in involving their students in service. These few examples represent something of the potential educational resources that emerge as we become involved with community agencies through service. A Basic Christian Ethics course, for example, includes the opportunity to perform voluntary service and write a reflective term paper as an alternative to the traditional library paper. An Accounting course gives students practical experience by involving them in voluntary advising in tax return preparation. A Computer Science course allows students the opportunity to write programs for non-profit groups. An American Literature course requires students to spend two hours each week in tutoring at an after school program in a largely Hispanic elementary school. Students in a course on Decision Making propose solutions for problems in community agencies. Engineering students help design equipment for a local recycling group. These few examples represent something of the potential educational resources that emerge as we become involved with community agencies through service. Good Idea? Therefore, we see academically based service as a strategy that will enrich our teaching and enhance a student's learning. It is not a replacement for traditional modes of classroom teaching, and it is not, of course, appropriate for every course and every professor. Nonetheless, academically based service is one more strategy to make our course more effective. As we provide concrete experiences related to the themes and aims of a course along with opportunities for reflection and discussion, students' thinking, as well as their lives, can be transformed. And all of this is obviously related to the understanding of the Christian life that informs the mission of this college. Academically based service takes into consideration a variety of learning styles. It appeals especially to many of our students who are more experientially oriented, but those students with an analytical bent also benefit from opportunities to test theories via active experimentation and reflection. Thus academically based service is another vehicle for attending to diverse gifts and approaches to learning. Furthermore, we see an obvious affirmation of Calvin College's interest challenging the provincialism of some of our students and faculty through this practical experience of getting beyond the walls of our classrooms and outside the comfort zone of our campus and our community. Our own experiences in academically based service learning and the national studies on this emerging strategy show a clear growth for students in many areas. Students in service: are more curious and motivated to learn grow in their notions of civic responsibility and social involvement respect other cultures more and are more understanding of cultural differences learn how to work collaboratively on real problems become more committed to addressing the systemic issues behind social problems understand how institutional decisions affect people=s lives develop a habit of critical reflection make connections between their classroom studies and their daily lives realize that they can make a difference If all education is finally education in character, we believe academically based service is a tool worthy of our continued consideration. To that end, the staff of the Service-Learning Center invites you to consult with them about potential projects for your students. We can help too in considering ways to evaluate students' involvement and in creating strategies for reflection on the projects you choose. As professors and students become involved in this experiential component of the learning, we think everybody benefits. The work doesn't become magically easier; it does perhaps become infinitely richer. What am I getting into? Faculty who choose to use service-learning as a course component have several options. Some faculty choose to include service-learning as an option in place of another requirement for the class such as a paper. In these cases, the faculty have minimal personal involvement with the project. The students select an organization (from the faculty-approved list of possible service-learning placements), and are responsible for completing the work and connecting their experience to the course content. In an introductory political science class, for example, class members are given an opportunity to choose service-learning in place of a policy paper. The advantage of this approach is that it does not impact greatly on a faculty member's work load or schedule. However, the learning rewards for the students may not be as great as it is more difficult for students to connect their service-learning to the course content. (In other words, students often need more help integrating their service-learning experience with course content.) Some faculty choose to include service as an option and in addition become personally involved in a project along with the students. An English class, for example, has been structured around writing oral histories of residents of a local retirement home. The professor is, herself, involved in the project. If opportunities are provided for the students' structured reflection, either outside of class, within class discussions or through journals, student learning is often increased. This requires a greater commitment of the faculty member's part, but students gain by observing and working closely with faculty who can assist students to connect theory with practice. Other faculty have made service-learning a requirement for a particular course and they may or may not be personally involved in a project with the students. These faculty clearly relate the service-learning to specific course objectives and expect students to do certain things in their service-learning experience to fulfill course requirements. In these classes, service-learning is integral to the instructional aim of the course. In a Computer Science class on database management, for example, the whole class works together on designing a database system for a community non-profit. The advantage of this is that students often see the connection (and "usefulness") of theory to real world experience beyond the walls of the classroom as the service experience is a primary vehicle through which students learn course material. The challenge for some faculty is the time it takes to "re-fit" the syllabi, be involved with students in critical reflection, and demonstrate the integration of service-learning within the curriculum. What Does it look like? After you have thought about the major goals of your course and considered some of the ways a service-learning setting might enhance your course, call us at 526-6455. You will be referred to a staff member who will help you match your course needs with appropriate community service agencies. In this way, the Service-Learning Center functions as a clearing house. The center will then assist in the implementation of the project. This may mean that someone from the center helps orient your students to the work, and the center may play a role in keeping records and evaluating the results. You will need to be very clear about the role of the service-learning project when your course meets on the first day of the semester. As the course progresses you will want to be especially insistent on integrating the classroom content with the service project. This necessary student reflection will only occur via your own modelling of service-learning. The Service-Learning Center maintains a resource library and is able to help by making available books, professional journals and sample syllabi in a variety of disciplines. There is a fair amount of literature written on how to handle student assessment and how to encourage structured reflection. Feel free to use these resources. And Finally . . . The Service-Learning Center of Calvin College is the hub for student and faculty involvement in the community. Service-learning refers to activities which are designed to both contribute to the meeting of community and individual needs and to increase the knowledge and understanding of the service giver. Although students learn in a variety of areas through service-learning, the Service-Learning Center encourages three broad learning goals for all participants:
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
|
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||
 |
||||
|
Apply Financial Aid Visit Campus Request Info. |
About Calvin Giving to Calvin Hekman Library Contact Calvin |
Majors & Minors A-Z Index People at Calvin Calvin's website |
slc@calvin.edu |
