Service Learning

There are many benefits to incorporating service learning into your course. Service learning is a method of teaching and learning that enriches academic experiences and life-long learning by engaging students in meaningful hands-on service in the community. Key components to service learning include (Purdue Libraries, January 2021):

• Connecting service with learning: academically rigorous, meaningful service with a significant positive impact upon those involved.
• Reflection: assessment of personal and community needs, reflection on participation, and evaluation of progress.
• Reciprocity: both the student and community partner give and receive time, energy, knowledge, and creativity.
• Critical thinking: involvement in situations conducive to creative, effective problem-solving.
• Social responsibility: expansion of student's compassion, civic awareness, and desire to be engaged in the community.
• Experiential learning: use of direct experience and hands-on learning to develop skills useful in future careers, family life, and community involvement.
• Needs-based: project based on community-identified needs.

Service Learning is...

• a method of teaching and learning; a pedagogy that enriches academic experiences and life-long learning by engaging students in meaningful hands-on service in the community.
• allows students to apply what they learn in class in the community and learn while they are serving.
• meets community-identified needs.
• enhances students understanding of course learning goals.
• focuses equally on learning and service.
• benefits both the student and the service recipient.
• helps build partnerships between colleges and community-based organizations.

Service Learning is not...

• internships, clinicals, or field studies that focus on learning rather than service.
• free or convenient labor.
• work for pay.
• an "add-on."
• a stand-alone, one-time project that does not relate to the course learning goals.

• Learn from a hands-on experience.
• Gain personal and interpersonal skills.
• Develop social problem solving skills.
• Learn civic innovation and responsibility.
• Form relationships with potential employers, receive recommendations for jobs, and gain experience that will add to a resume or portfolio.
• Learn in a different atmosphere (beyond textbooks or classroom lectures).
• Become more actively involved in the community.
• Sharpen critical thinking skills through engagement with social issues.

• Call: 801.863.8840
• Text: 801.290.8123