1Running head: MOBERG BRAUER CASE STUDY #3

10MOBERG BRAUER CASE STUDY #3

Case Study Number Three:

Exploring Five Service Learning Programs in Higher Education

Hallie Moberg Brauer

Loyola University Chicago

Exploring Five Service Learning Programs in Higher EducationAccording to the U. S. News Report, from a study conducted in the spring of 2014, there are ten universities it cites as having the most developed and well thought out programs for service-learning experiences (U.S. News Report, 2014). Five of those universities will be featured in this short exploration of service learning programs. When examining a topic for the first time, or when trying to really understand the inner workings of the philosophy and approach behind something, it only seems logical to examine those examples that stand out as stellar to the wider community. Thus examining these programs and comparing them to what theorists say service learning programs should be will help to build a clear picture of what the best forms of service learning look like in American higher education today.DescriptionButler UniversityThe Center for Citizenship and Community was founded at Butler University in 1996, with the foundational idea that it would be an, Organization that would span departments, colleges, offices, and community, with the aim ofencouraging civic mindednessandcivic engagement, (Butler University, 2015) and profit both the students being educated and the larger Indianapolis community that the university serves. Their philosophy revolves around the idea that education can help shape society for the better and that if their students leave the university as active and informed citizens they can begin to cause the social change that will bring about social justice in our world today.Butler University is so dedicated to the community in which it exists it incorporates service-learning experiences into its core curriculum. Students must each complete at least one class that qualifies as an Indianapolis Community Requirement (ICR) to be eligible for graduation. It is intended to create an environment which, Involves students in a wide range of reciprocal community partnerships wherein they can integrate classroom knowledge with active experiences in the Indianapolis community (Butler, 2015). Students can access this experience through a large variety of experiences, ranging from dance instructiontorecording oral histories, tomentoringandtutoring, to work withIraqi refugee families. The Center has very clearly outlined learning outcomes for students, and has had measureable success in the realm of integrated service-learning experiences for students (Butler, 2015).Duke UniversityAt Duke University, service-learning is defined as, A teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities (Duke University, 2015). The service learning center at Duke University has four main goals that it seeks to achieve. The first is to support students, staff and faculty in their quest to foster a desire to make a difference in the world. The second is to broaden university involvement in the community to strengthen their commitment to knowledge as it will serve society. The third goal is to use the practice of service-learning to help others understand the value of service learning at other institutions. The final goal of the center is to strengthen the engagement of the university in real-world issues of the day (Duke University, 2015).It works to enact these goals in many ways. First there are service-learning focused classes taught across thirty-six departments at the university with about seventy-eight class options being offered in total. As they continue to grow and work to spread the value of their experience across the university they seek to engage more students, support faculty who wish to teach service-learning based courses, build more community partnerships, and also build a community based language initiative to enrich the experience of students of language at Duke University, as well as build bridges to refugee communities surrounding the university community (Duke University, 2015). The service learning center and its programs at Duke University are highly developed and working towards integration across all areas of the academic landscape.Elon UniversityThe Kernolde Center for Service Learning and Civic Engagement at Elon University was founded in 1988. Since then it has had many prosperous years of growth working with students and the surrounding community to engage one with the other and learn from each other. Specifically, it states its mission as being to, Advance student learning, leadership, and citizenship to prepare students for lives of active community engagement within a complex and changing world (Elon University, 2014). This center also has four specific outcomes it seeks to achieve. The first is that seeks to foster the development of student leadership by encouraging and supporting them to get involved in both local and global government and communities. The second goal is to create and support relationships that are sustainable and collaborative between members of the university community and their community partners. The third goal is to encourage creativity in students, so that they can find creative solutions to some of the most troubling and complicating problems facing their community in the future. Their final goal is to simply build community between all stake holders in the service learning process. This could mean many people as the center has approximately thirty-two different partner agencies students can work with in the community (Elon University, 2014).

Loyola University MarylandLoyola University Maryland has a well-established service learning program based on the, Essential components of service-learning: learning and service, which enhance one another; reciprocal partnership with the community; and meaningful, structured reflection, (Loyola University Maryland, 2015). These components are intended to help students learn about the aims of justice, diversity, leadership and social responsibility. This institution is a specifically Jesuit school which embodies many of these values as central values of a students education. The University offers many different service-learning experiences to students in the form of course work, study abroad experiences, short-term immersion experiences along with one time and weekly experiences students can participate in some for credit and some are not offered for credit. This varied and diverse approach to service-learning allows for more than 1,000 undergraduate students to be involved in some sort of service learning program each year (Loyola University Maryland, 2015). The University says that it hopes that it also, Challenges students to learn first-hand about community, democracy, diversity, justice, civil society, social responsibility, leadership and critical thinking (2015). This general approach to learning goes above and beyond what students can expect to learn in classroom courses at other institutions.Tulane UniversityTulane University is another university that has instituted an academic requirement of at least one semester of service learning completed for each of their students. In 2006, as the university sought to rebuild itself and the community at large, in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina, it instituted a graduation requirement of at least one class during one semester where students would spend twenty to forty hours giving back to the community over the course of the semester. Tulane University states, Academic Service Learning is an educational experience based upon a collaborative partnership between the university and the community. Learning by doing enables students to apply academic knowledge and critical thinking skills to meet genuine community needs (2015) as the basis of the importance it places on service learning experiences.The Center for Public Service is the body on campus which administers and defines the experiences which students can count towards their graduation requirements. There is very detailed diagram which explains the difference to students between public service which relates to curricular activities which translates into service-learning credit, and what simply constitutes community service, or an extracurricular activity. This diagram is extremely helpful in understanding the difference between these three things, and how community service and volunteerism are not the same as service learning (Tulane University, 2015). This is an important distinction to draw for undergraduate students, and its visual nature makes it accessible and understandable for students to comprehend.ComparisonAt first glance, these programs look strikingly familiar. Each is based on similar ideals, to enrich the student experience, to connect important concepts of social justice and service into the academic setting. However, after studying five different programs at five different institutions, differences between them do start to emerge. All of the programs seek to connect students at the institution with communities that exist around their own community of students. They seek to connect students to communities from which they could benefit- both students and those people can benefit, it is not a one sided service proposition.However the different programs use the academy differently to support and integrate their service-learning programs. Elon University is the only institution featured here which does not offer academic credit for classes that are service learning based. It would be interesting to know if fewer students participate because of this lack of incentive for students. However, on the opposite end of the spectrum, Tulane University goes to great lengths to explain how and why service learning is not only important for students to experience, but essential to the future of the academy (Tulane University, 2015). Loyola University Maryland goes to great lengths to offer many different types of experiences for students, both for credit and not for credit, from weekly site visits to yearlong immersion programs. This type of variety serves to meet the needs of many different types of students who can all benefit from different variations of service-learning programs.Finally, it is interesting that Loyola University Maryland which places specific emphasis on the idea of reflection being an important aspect of service-learning. Placing service-learning into the classroom can certainly offer students lots of outlets for reflection, from writing critical papers to simply keeping a journal. However it is important for all institutions practicing and coordinating programs of service-learning to recognize the important learning that can happen after the service has been completed, through the lens and practice of critical personal reflection. IntegrationKnowing at the outset of this exploration that these five institutions were some that were best known for their service-learning programs, it was encouraging to see that each one used a hyphen in the term service-learning. As Barbara Jacoby points out in the first chapter of her book, Service-learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices. The hyphen in service-learning is critical in that it symbolizes the symbiotic relationship between service and learning, (1996, pg. 5). This idea that the inseparable nature of service and learning in higher education is represented in the hyphen between these two words is profound. It seems that Andrew Furco would agree when he defines service learning as, Service-learning programs are distinguished from other approaches to experiential education by their intention to equally benefit the provider and the recipient of the service as well as to ensure equal focus on both the service being provided and the learning that is occurring, (1996, pg. 6) that there are two parts of service-learning that cannot be separated. If the hyphen is this symbol, that represents the inseparable parts, then it is important when assessing the value, productivity, and efficacy of service-learning programs to ensure that both parts are present. Furco stresses it is important that both parties in the service-learning agreement benefit from each other. He is right to do so. When looking then at the five programs described in this case study, it seems that all of them are succeeding to some degree. They are highly integrated plans that allow students to experience valuable academic and service opportunities outside of the traditional classroom. Butler University focuses on serving the community of Indianapolis, requiring its students to connect with the community locally. Loyola University Maryland, as previously discussed opens the bounds that it defines as community as far as countries abroad. However all five stress the importance of this reciprocal relationship between communities, and each eludes to if not directly states this integrated nature of service-learning experiences. However, in conclusion, there is a question to pose to each of these institutions and their service learning programs. Each of the institutions here has specific goals it wants to attain for its participants, its students, its community partners, its leading faculty and other support systems. These goals all seem to align well with the missions they lay out for their programs. But the question to pose each of these programs is how comfortable might they be with the ninth principle that Jeff Howard puts forth in his 1993 chapter called Community Service Learning in the Curriculum. In it he points out, In service-learning courses, given variability in service experiences and their influential role in student learning, one can anticipate greater heterogeneity in student learning outcomes and compromises to faculty control (Pg. 4). How comfortable is Duke University with this idea that each learning experience might not be homogenous? Is it easier to accept this at Elon University where the service learning programs are not offered for academic credit? It would be fascinating to know the answer to this question about how each program works through, and if need be, corrects for different learning outcomes that may be achieved than those they specifically set out to accomplish.

ReferencesButler University. (January, 2015).Center for citizenship and community: About us. Retrieved from http://www.butler.edu/citizenship-community/about-us/Duke University. (February, 2015).Duke service-learning. Retrieved from http://servicelearning.duke.edu/Elon University. (2014, December).John kernodle center for service learning and community engagement. Retrieved from http://www.elon.edu/e-web/students/servicelearning/default.xhtmlFurco, A. (1996). "Service-Learning: A balanced approach to experiential education." Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National Service. (pg. 2-6).Howard, J. (1993).Community service learning in the curriculum. In J. Howard (Ed.), Praxis I: A faculty casebook on community service learning. (pp. 3-12). Ann Arbor: OCSL Press.Jacoby, B. & Associates. (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and Practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass. (pg 3-25). Loyola University Maryland. (February, 2015).Service learning. Retrieved from http://www.loyola.edu/department/ccsj/servicelearningTulane University. (February, 2015).Service learning courses. Retrieved from http://tulane.edu/cps/students/servicelearning.cfmU.S. News Report. (Spring, 2014).Service learning program rankings. Retrieved from http://colleges.usnews.rankingsandreviews.com/best-colleges/rankings/serving-learning-programs