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Research on college students found limited support for Morton's (1995) hypothesis that students have a pref-erence for one distinct type of service orientation (i.e., charity, project, social change)The findings did repli-cate previous findings that college students prefer the charity paradigmA measure of integrity was devel-oped and two dimensions were identified that possessed distinct correlatesAs Morton predicted, as the degree of integrity increased the preference for a distinct type of service became blurred, suggesting that developing integrity should be an intentional educational goal and it might be aided by exposing students to all three approaches to community serviceImplications for service-learning educators are discussed.
This article presents a control group study of the influence of a partnership-centered, community-based learning program on students' academic writingThe improved writing of first-year students in the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program (CCLCP), we argue, results from the deeply situated learning that took place in the context of reciprocal, community-based relationshipsWe also argue that research on the impact of community-based learning should take into account the contemporary univer-sity's emerging paradigm of engaged learning and research, which calls for a redefinition of partnership and reciprocity.
This qualitative study includes focus group research involving 99 experienced community partners across eight California communities using community-based research techniques to capture community voices about their service-learning partnerships with different colleges and universities. Partners commented on their perspectives regarding motivations, benefits to the academic institution and to their own organization, impacts on student learning, and areas for improving partnerships. The analysis affirms the characteristics of effective partnerships of multiple well-established models of effective partnerships developed by higher education, but reveal that community partners have a specific sense of prioritization among partnership fac-tors. In addition, partners revealed a surprising depth of understanding and commitment to student learning, the Òcommon groundÓ of the service-learning experience. Community partners also voiced challenges and recommendations for their higher education partners to transform service-learning partnership relationships to bridge their Òdifferent worlds,Ó and enhance learning, reciprocity, and sustainability.
This essay advances a way of thinking about assessment that envelops both process and outcome. We assert that learning in community service learning and the assessment thereof might fruitfully be considered in com-munication with others (the students, constituents from the community, instructors, etc.). Concepts central to a social approach to learning are identified, and examples of ways to assess those concepts are advanced. Finally, methods of assessing the social dimension of learning are provided, including interviews and focus groups, the analysis of journal assignments, and the observation of videotaped interactions.
In community-based research (CBR), faculty, students, and community partners collaborate on research pro-jects. This emerging pedagogy presents numerous challenges to instructors teaching CBR courses, including: finding a disciplinary connection, building CBR into the curriculum, ensuring student readiness, and struc-turing the CBR experience (Strand, Marullo, Cutforth, Stoecker, & Donohue, 2003). In this article, these challenges are addressed by the instructor of a new CBR course for undergraduates and the instructor of an established course for graduate students. This discussion is intended to help prospective or current CBR instructors anticipate and manage the challenges of their courses.
This paper presents a service-learning approach to inner city revitalization that is grounded in a human cap-ital model for economic development. The case study demonstrates how a private university became the cat-alyst for growth in an Ôat risk' neighborhood of an urban inner city. Our ongoing service-learning project, called The Upper Albany Micro Business Incubator (MBI), brings together university faculty, students, and inner city entrepreneurs to create an environment of mutual learning, shared respect, understanding, and col-laboration. Preliminary impacts of the program are described as well as future directions and recommenda-tions for sustaining development in inner cities using such an approach.
Last Updated November 30, 2006
