FAQ
The questions and answers below have been compiled from a variety of university service-learning programs facing the same issues and concerns. Some information has been adjusted to reflect the specific situations facing Northeastern University students and faculty.
- Academic Rigor: Is this another feel-good excuse to water down academic standards?
- Competence in application of the strategy: Will I be able to apply the strategy successfully?
- How can I fit something new into an already cramped curriculum?
- Most of our students work in addition to their school attendance. How can they fit service-learning experiences into their already busy schedule?
- What if something happens to my students or their actions result in damages to someone else?
- How are students evaluated or graded for their service?
- What happens if a student can't or doesn't fulfill a service commitment?
- What should students do if they feel their service placement is not working out?
- How do students get to the community organizations to perform service?
- Should I arrange to reimburse my students for their travel expenses?
- How can involvement in service-learning strengthen my professional research?
- Promotion and Tenure Considerations
Academic Rigor: Is this another feel-good excuse to water down academic standards? This is an important matter for all who are concerned with quality higher education, and it is the focus of much of the past and current research on service-learning. Academic credit should never be given for service, only for learning. Therefore, if applied properly, this pedagogy is actually more rigorous than the traditional teaching strategies. Students are not only required to master the standard text and lecture material, but they must also integrate their service experience into that context. This is a high level skill requiring effective reflection techniques designed to accomplish academic as well as affective outcomes. It is important to emphasize that incorporating service-learning does not change what we teach, but how we teach it. With this change comes a new set of challenges for both the student and the teacher.
Competence in application of the strategy: Will I be able to apply the strategy successfully?
Trying anything new is a risk, and it challenges our competencies. Most practitioners report a steep learning curve with confidence developing fairly rapidly once the strategy is allowed to work. Relinquishing full control of the classroom is hard for many of us to do, but once we move from being the “sage on the stage" to the "guide on the side," we find that students can and will play an active role in their learning if given the right structure. The path to becoming effective in using the service-learning strategy is not always clearly marked. We often find ourselves "making the road by walking." Fortunately, you are not alone on the road. There is considerable literature on the subject, and many people right here at the University can assist you. Conversing with some of your colleagues who are currently using this pedagogy and attending a few workshops and seminars dealing with service-learning will provide an opportunity for more active exploration of some of the skills and philosophy of the pedagogy.
How can I fit something new into an already cramped curriculum?
Service-Learning is not an add-on to your current course requirements. It does not change what we teach; it only changes how we teach it. Some of the traditional classroom content or assignments may be replaced or enhanced with more dynamic information processing activities. Students’ service experiences are intended to act as a “text” from which they can draw upon during class or out of class assignments to express what they have learned. Therefore, some out of class time students might have otherwise been reading additional text or working on a broader research papers might be spent in meaningful action and involvement in their service environment.
Most of our students work in addition to their school attendance. How can they fit service-learning experiences into their already busy schedule?
In fact, the majority of students say the workload in their service-learning course was manageable because their placements options offered opportunities for students twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. As faculty, you must identify appropriate partnerships for the content, but also ones with a variety of service options that can accommodate students with varying availability. However, in order to create a schedule acceptable to our community members, we recommend requiring of your students a minimum of 2 hrs/wk of service from the designated start date through the last week of class. And depending on the model you implement, not all service activities of our students have to happen “on site,” some models provide for students to facilitate the majority of their service related work on their own time, in their own rooms, using their own resources. We can discuss if these options work with your course and partners needs.
What if something happens to my students or their actions result in damages to someone else?
There is an inherent risk in any out-of-classroom activity. All service-learning students should be fully informed about their placement and knowingly consent to undertaking any risk associated with the placement. In most cases, the agency or site that provides the service-learning experience will be responsible for the acts of students assigned to it and also assumes responsibility for the student. However, due care and judgment must always be exercised to assure that we do not place student in situations fraught with danger or unreasonable risk. We must also use any information or knowledge we have which might disqualify a student from engaging in certain activities to protect either the student or the public.
How are students evaluated or graded for their service?
Students should not be evaluated or graded for the service performed if they are serving in a traditional volunteer capacity and not required to produce a specific tangible outcome for the organization. The expectation is that the students fulfill their service commitment, and that their service is satisfactory to the community organization. The community organization determines whether or not the service is satisfactory based on the standards they use for their volunteers or the evaluation given to them by the Center or instructor. Particular courses may choose to evaluate the service more directly, but these will be exceptions, and the criteria should be spelled out before the course begins. Faculty should evaluate and grade the students based on their academic performance in the class, which includes their ability to express through each assignment how the service experience connects to and informs them of the course contact.
What happens if a student can't or doesn't fulfill a service commitment?
Students are required to complete their service commitments. If they know they will miss a commitment, they are expected to give advance notice to a staff member at their community organization, and to reschedule if appropriate. If a student's absence is chronic, we ask the community partner to contact the Professor or other designated NU contact with whom they are working. The faculty of the course should then decide whether or not the student can complete the course altogether because if implement properly, the service-learning component should not be seen as an add on that the student can “work around.” Instead, the service should be fully imbedded in the expected learning outcomes therefore preventing a student from “opting out.” The organization will decide whether or not the student can continue in accordance with their service. An organization should never be asked to accommodate a student they would prefer not to work with in order for the student to fulfill his/her course requirements.
What should students do if they feel their service placement is not working out?
The first option is to talk with their Professor and/or appropriate contact to discuss the problem(s). Students may be reluctant to do this for many reasons, most commonly they do not understand the difference between a regular challenge and a real problem, and they want to appear competent. These barriers are lowered if the students know who they can ask for help, and if they are encouraged to ask for help early on. It can help, as well, to tell the students in advance about problems common to the service they will be doing. Reluctance to talk about on-site problems is among the most common reasons students "disappear" and do not complete service commitments.
If discussing the problem with the community-based organization supervisor is not possible, or if doing so does not produce a satisfactory resolution of their concerns, the student should talk to the staff contact at the Center of Community Service or their professor. The Center will help to resolve the problem(s) if possible, or will advise the student on a range of options. All discussions are considered confidential, and the student raising the concerns must approve their communication to any party.
How do students get to the community organizations to perform service?
The Center and/or faculty member should chose to work with community partners located within close proximity to the University. Organizations within walking distance or within a reasonable bus or T ride away are appropriate. Students are asked to consider transportation when choosing a service placement.
Should I arrange to reimburse my students for their travel expenses?
No. Students need to view the service-learning experience as equivalent to the expectation to purchase 4 verses 3 books for the course; a request they would not question because that is a traditional expectation for them of a professor.
How can involvement in service-learning strengthen my professional research?
Professional academic associations now include sessions on experiential education at national as well as regional conferences. Other associations such as the National Society for Experiential Education and the American Association of Higher Education hold annual conferences and provide opportunities to present papers on service-learning and the scholarship of engagement. Involvement in service-learning can augment and redirect one's professional research interests, especially when a strong partnership is created with the community agency. Service-learning can contribute to research by engaging students in action research and applied research projects.
Promotion and Tenure Considerations
Tenure and promotion decisions are based on an assessment of teaching, research and outreach accomplishments. Evaluation of these areas reflect not only what faculty do, but also how well they do it. Scholarship is fundamental to the role of university faculty. Service-Learning can take valuable time from scholarly activities, or it can be used to advance scholarship and enhance academic contributions.
http://www.wwu.edu/depts/csl/faculty_promotion.shtml
Western Washington University Center for Service Learning