Student Benefits

Learning Outcomes

  • Improves students' ability to apply what they have learned in the "real world"
  • Improves students' understanding of the course content
  • Improves students' critical thinking and problem-solving ability

Personal Outcomes

  • Students acquire a greater sense of personal efficacy and identity
  • Students improve their interpersonal development in their ability to work well with others
  • Students gain leadersip and communication skills

Social Outcomes

  • Students reduce their stereotypical thinking and develop intercultural skills
  • Students improve their social responsibility and develop citizenship skills
  • Students engage in community service beyond the course

Career Development Outcomes

  • Students make connections with professionals and community members which provide career opportunities
  • Students begin to think about career options

Engagement and Retention Outcomes

  • Students develop stronger relationships with faculty
  • Students acquire greater satisfaction with the University
  • Students are more likely to graduate from the University

 

Faculty Benefits

  • Satisfaction with the quality of student learning
  • New avenues for research
  • Network opportunities

 

Community Benefits

  • Satisfaction with students
  • Resources to achieve community or program goals
  • Enhanced community-university relations

 

University Benefits

  • Improved student retention
  • Enhanced community relations
  • Achieve our mission by creating a learning environment where curricula are connected to societal issues through civic engagement

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Models of Service-Learning

Discipline-Based Model

In this model, students are expected to have a presence in the community throughout the semester. Students connect their community or service experiences to the course through reflection. Reflection is integrated in different ways throughout the semester. Course content is used as the basis for analysis and understanding of key theoretical, methodological and applied issues in student reflections.

Problem-Based Model

Students relate to the community much as “consultants” working for a “client.” Students work with community members to understand a particular community problem or need. This model presumes that the students have or will develop capacities with which to help communities solve a problem.

Capstone Course Model

These courses are generally designed for majors and minors in a given discipline and are offered almost exclusively to students in their final year. Capstone courses ask student to draw upon the knowledge they have obtained throughout their course work and combine it with relevant service work in the community. The goal of a Capstone is usually either exploring a new topic or synthesizeing students’ understanding of their discipline.

Service Internship Model

As in traditional internships and other types of fieldwork, students are charged with producing a body of work that is of value to the community or site. However, unlike traditional internships, service internships have ongoing faculty-guided reflection to challenge students to analyze their new experience using discipline-based theories. Service internships focus on reciprocity; the community and the student benefit equally from the experience.

Action Research Model

In this model, students work closely with faculty members to learn research methodology while serving as advocates in communities and fulfilling a community need related to program assessment or evaluation.