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This article presents the findings from a narrative inquiry exploring the perceived outcomes associated with a high school service-learning graduation requirement from a diverse group of college students. In particular, we were interested in participants' stories related to their experiences meeting the requirement, the meaning they made of the requirement, and the relationship between their high school experiences and college involvement. Results suggest a tenuous connection between the two because students focused primarily on completing their hours for the requirement and engaged in service primarily at their schools. Students perceived the requirement as a burden while in high school, but retrospectively understood the value of the requirement once they were in college, describing it as a "double-edged sword."
International service-learning (ISL) combines academic instruction and community-based service in an international context. Objectives of linking international travel, education, and community service include increasing participants' global awareness, building intercultural understanding, and enhancing civic mindedness and skills. Research on cross-cultural adjustment, approaches to community development, models of democratic research, and a variety of pedagogical theories are discussed as foundations upon which we can better understand the intellectual and political context for ISL and the student learning it makes possible. These literatures also provide frameworks for creating ethical ISL experiences that positively impact the communities and developing countries where we work and can inform project assessment and critique, as well as future research.
Students from seven institutions of higher education reported their preferences for different paradigms of service at the beginning of their service-learning courses. At the end of the courses, they described the associated service activities in terms of the same paradigms and also completed scales describing their learning outcomes and attitudes toward civic issues. Students who expressed positive preferences for Charity or Social Change activities or both kinds of activity showed more positive learning outcomes and attitude change when there was a match between preference and service than when they experienced a mismatch. For a group of students with limited enthusiasm for either Charity or Social Change activities, the most facilitative service involved both Charity and Social Change experiences. The implications of these findings for service-learning practice and for future research are discussed.
As the prevalence of service-learning within higher education institutions grows across the globe there is value to explore, discuss, and describe the similarities and differences between the various expressions that are emerging. Such comparative analysis can deepen understanding of service-learning pedagogy, improve practice, and create a framework for future research. This paper compares service-learning in the United States and South Africa to understand Western-oriented and Africanized expressions of this promising teaching strategy. The analysis identifies three dimensions derived from the educational theories of John Dewey and Julius Nyerere and finds there is mutual agreement as to the value of developing civic-minded graduates. However, in the U.S., service-learning is supported primarily by nonprofit associations and stakeholders within higher education, whereas in South Africa, service-learning is a part of state mandated transformations for higher education.
Save the World on Your Own Time
Stanley Fish
New York, NY: Oxford University Press, 2008
Last Updated December 2, 2008
