The Experience of Faculty Participants in an Instructional Development Seminar on Service-Learning
Timothy K. Stanton,
Stanford University
(Copyright 1994 by Timothy K. Stanton)

This article summarizes a dissertation study undertaken to examine the experience of twelve postsecondary education faculty and administrators during and after a faculty development seminar on service-learning pedagogy. The seminar, entitled "Connecting Service Experience with Classroom Instruction: Theory and Practice in Service-Learning Curriculum Design, " was developed to (a) stimulate faculty interest in connecting student public service with academic study and (b) to provide participants with the knowledge and resources necessary to design courses that implement this pedagogy. Data were gathered from participants' seminar learning plans and assessments, through interviews conducted more than one year following the seminar, and through follow-up reports. The study was intended both to build upon and elaborate research on instructional improvement efforts related to service-learning pedagogy, and on faculty development initiatives generally.

Advocates of service-learning have long urged greater integration between service and academic study, yet little attention has been paid to those faculty who utilize servicelearning. This study, conducted as a part of the author's dissertation, presents preliminary findings from a survey of Michigan faculty who have incorporated service into their courses. The paper focuses on faculty motivation, satisfaction, and the intersection of the two.

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University students in two advanced introductory classroom-based courses in psychology were offered the opportunity for simultaneous enrollment in a content-related section of a large community service learning course. Students selecting the option did not substantially differ demographically from students who did not select it. Participating students rated the experience as being significantly more valuable than did non-participating students. Students did not differ either in their reports concerning gains in personal development or general mastery of course concepts, or in final course grades received, but participants did report an enhanced ability to apply concepts outside of the classroom. Differences in reports between students in the two courses highlighted the complexity of community service learning experiences. Implications of the findings for community service learning experiences at the university level and future research are discussed.

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A recent study utilizing qualitative methods of inquiry, including content and semantic analysis of documents, papers, and journals, and individual and focus group interviews, revealed that the theme of civic responsibility/civic participation/citizenship is the most frequently articulated intended student outcome at the national level, for both national policymakers and a national organization. In contrast, college students, faculty, staff, and administrators barely mentioned notions of citizenship in describing the outcomes of service-learning projects. If an enhanced sense of civis responsibility is indeed a priority, we cannot assume that students automatically connect their service participation to concepts of civic participation and citizenship.

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The contradiction inherent in "teaching empowerment" is that students need to learn specific, empowering ways to understand and interact with community people while at the same time feeling empowered, themselves, by the way the service-learning course is designed and taught. This requires a delicate balance between "starting wth students where they are" and insisting they confront issues that make them uncomfortable. The author describes her attempt to do this in a new community service learning seminar for freshmen focusing on empowerment education.

This article provides a brief overview of service-learning and the rationale for transforming a traditional course into a service-learning course. Several small group techniques are presented that not only teach principles of small group problem solving but also increase the success of group service-learning projects. Selected insights from 15 years of service-learning and empirical results from selected studies in other disciplines indicate that involvement in service-learning enhances both scholastic learning and the quality of life within the community. When the theoretical insights of classroom education are applied to the challenges of particiapting in service-learning projects, bona fide group communication occurs in small groups.

This article describes an undergraduate psychology internship program and how it integrates sevice and learning. Personal, professional, and curricular goals of the course are outlines and details of the internship program are discussed. An important element of the internship is the classroom component which, through written and oral assignments, helps the student integrate academic and experiential learning.

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As interest in service-learning research multiplies there is a concomitant need for a theoretical base for service-learning. In this article the authors review aspects of John Dewey's educational and social philosophy that they identify as relevant to the development of a theory of service-learning, including learning from experience, reflective activity, citizenship, community, and democracy. The article concludes with a set of key questions for research and theory development.

Historically, higher education has cast training in citizenship as part of its mission. In this paper, the author discusses the rejuvenation of the campus community service movement in the context of its potential to explore the meaning of citizenship in a democracy. He argues that civic education ought to be an integral part of a liberal education, and that community service holds much promise for preparing students for their role as ctizens. A program model from Rutgers University illustrates how service and citizen education can be effectively tied to the academic curriculum.

Recent proposals for the inclusion service-learning in teacher education have emphasized the power service-learning to challenge preservice teachers' assumptions about traditional modes of schooling and to serve as a vehicle for education reform The present paper argues that there is also a need to involve preservice teachers in service-learning projects centered around the needs of children and youth. Doing so will enable preservice teachers to construct practices which are both sensitive to recent changes in the demographic and social contexts of schooling and that are consistent with principles of care as developed by Noddings. The paper also discusses the effects of just such a youth-oriented service-learning project on preservice teachers conceptualizations of the teacher's role.

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Just beneath the surface of the prevailing wave of public service enthusiasm is a cross-current of educational concern capable of swamping community service advocates with a storm of academic criticism. Do community and public service really enhance a university's academic mission or are they misplaced efforts to heal a sagging social conscience? This paper explores the issues related to this question and urges practitioners to commit to scholarly documentation of outcomes for students who participate in community service and servicelearning.

With the passage of the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993, national service volunteers will be joining forces with community-based organizations to work with under-served populations and under-met needs. This infusion of volunteers will create many challenges. This paper reviews the community agency perspective on some of the anticipated challenges, some possible responses, and how the Wingspread "Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning" can serve as a guide as national service workers are assimilated into the day to day operations of community agencies.

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How do we interest faculty in incorporating community service into their academic corrses? This paper reviews one faculty member's set of guidelines for encouragingfaculty involvement with service-learning These guidelines have been extrapolated from the author's personal journey from a more traditionally oriented pedagogy to one that embraces service-learning. The guidelines largely revolve around providing support and opportunity for the faculty to make connections between community service and scholarship in their field.

A great deal of criticism has been leveled at both K-12 education and teacher training programs. In this paper the author identifies three assumptions upon which all education today rests, and proposes changes that would precipitate both K- 12 and teacher training reform. Service-learning's as role in encouraging and sustaining these educational shifts is also discussed.