Preparing Your Course for Service Learning
“I read Spanish picture books to little children. It was such an honor to participate
and actually feel like I made a kid smile. The experience makes me want to participate
more in the community and try harder to make more of a difference.”
What are the components for service learning?
- Determine the objectives, concepts and skills that have application to experience-based
learning.
- Identify and connect Essential Learning Outcomes (See Appendix).
- Determine a project that meets the objectives identified and incorporates a community
service to be performed.
- Find a community partner or partners that will provide mutually beneficial outcomes.
- Determine an agreed upon method for implementing the project with the community partner.
- Utilize risk-management resources depending on the nature of the partnership. These
include
- Partnership Agreement
- Student-Faculty Agreement
- Field Trip Form
- Model Consent
Please contact the Office of Experiential Learning to implement these documents.
(See Appendix)
- Determine how students will demonstrate learning and reflection from their service
experience.
- Prepare a description of the service-learning component in your course syllabus.
- Designate your course as an Experiential Learning course by contacting Director of
the Office of Experiential Learning.
- Build anticipation in the classroom with preplanning through orientations and teambuilding.
- Build mutual trust and understanding with the community partner throughout the course
of the project.
- Showcase the project through photos, press releases, and other media sources with
the assistance of the Office of Experiential Learning.
- Provide students with award opportunities available through the Office of Experiential
Learning.
- Include a plan for assessing student outcomes of experiential learning using the campus-wide
experiential learning survey.
- Measure the effectiveness of the project and its impact on the community through
partnership and faculty surveys.
