Download - Case Study #3
Case Study #3
Allison Schipma
Curriculum Development in Higher Education
Loyola University Chicago
Describe
“It’s easy to make a buck. It’s tougher to make a difference.” This quote from Tom
Brokaw, to me, is one that connects service-learning within higher education. There is a trend
within higher education where students tend to focus on the outcome. Students focus on the
outcome of their time in school by focusing on the degree they will get and how much money
they will earn after they graduate. This can be problematic when we ask ourselves, is that the
point of higher education? To me, the answer is no. The solution to this problem lies in service-
learning courses across various universities. Honnet & Poulsen in their publication, “Principles
of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning” sum this idea up perfectly by saying,
“Service combined with learning, adds value to each and transforms both.” (Honnet & Poulsen,
1998, pg.1) Sure, it is important that students are successful after they graduate, but we must
focus on how they are learning from and connecting with the community if we want students to
make an impact.
For this assignment, I chose 5 course syllabi from various institutions. I made a special
effort to choose course syllabi that came from various disciplines so that I could 1) have a more
versatile understanding of how to connect service-learning in a variety of courses and 2) identify
common themes and trends within service learning throughout a variety of subject areas. The
syllabi that I chose connect service learning with subjects such as a Chemistry In Service of the
Community course from Notre Dame University, a Modern Dance course from the Univeristy of
Utah, a Religion: Community Outreach course from Gonzaga University, a Field Botany course
from the University of Maine- Farmington, and a Business Administration: Meeting and
Conference planning course from Ohio University. Through all of these various disciplines, there
were similarities and of course differences.
The first course that I chose was a “Chemistry In Service of the Community” course. This
course has a unique type of service-learning component where students are going out into the
community to assigned houses and testing for Lead poisoning levels. The learning outcomes for
this course really focus on the professional experience piece as well as social concern. The
students begin the course with getting a general understanding of the history of lead poisoning
and in what types of communities it is the biggest issue in. From there, students are assigned
groups and those groups travel to different houses within the community to begin the testing. A
course requirement is that students must keep a journal where they reflect after each house visit.
The second course that I chose was from the University of Utah. This course is a Modern
Dance course offered to Juniors and Seniors. Since I am interested in the arts, I was excited to
learn how to connect something as obscure as Modern Dance to service-learning. Within this
course, students will select a community partner from a list provided by the instructor and then
work with that community partner to establish a semester long project of creating a program for
the community partners organization, create a contract, and them implement the program.
Throughout this time, students will meet once a week for 90 minutes as well as keep a journal
with guiding reflection questions throughout the semester.
The third course that I chose is offered at Gonzaga University and falls under the
Religion discipline at their institution. The class is entitled, “Community Outreach” and includes
a minimum of 45 service hours throughout the semester. Students in this class are able to pick
their own individual service project and conduct two interviews with professionals within
whatever organization they choose. As with the other two courses; the students in this class must
keep a journal that will highlight their experiences throughout the course as well as what they
covered within the interviews.
The fourth course that was chosen for this assignment is offered at The University of
Maine- Farmington campus. This course focuses on field botany and has students out in the
environment analyzing different plants and species that correlate with their course readings for
that week. The service-learning component comes in the form of students within the class going
to a nearby elemtentary school. Once the students are there at the elementatry school they will be
helping 4th and 5th graders with their semester long project of building a nature trail that will later
be open to the public to use. I thought it was interesting that the syllabus specifically mentioned
that this project was being funded by a grant. As with the other courses, this course also
mandated that students keep a journal that reflects on all aspects of their time within the course.
Finally, the last course is entitled “Meeting and Conference Planning” at Ohio University.
I was interested to see how the course would connect a subject that seems so cut and dry with
service-learning and community outreach. The course has the students working with 5th graders
from surrounding schools and planning a Small Group Workshop for them. This course had a
unique set up that was different from the others because while the whole class was doing the
semester long service project, the group was split up into four separate teams. One team would
focus on the individual workshop and its creation as well as the facilitation of the workshop, one
team would focus on the professional development of the small group facilitators, the third group
would focus on the logistics of the entire project, and the last team would focus on the research
for the entire project as well. This course did not have an ongoing journal grade, but it did have a
mid-term paper that would focus on reflecting on the students experience thus far in the course.
Compare & Contrast
When looking through the various course syllabi there were three common trends, as well
as well as three distinct differences among them. While each course shared similarities such as a
reflection component, and several had students’ engaging with nearby middle schools, and most
were a semester long projects; only one school connected back to the mission of the institution, a
few programs students in the class had no choice what type of service they would engage with,
and some courses had no room for creativity or development.
One of the main similarities between the course syllabi that I noticed was the expectation
that a student would maintain a journal that was grounded in reflection. I was pleased to see that
all of the courses had some type of critical reflection built in. Clayton (2009) defines critical
reflection as “The active, persistent, and careful consideration of any belief or supposed form of
knowledge in the light of the grounds that support it, and the further conclusions to which it
tends" (Clayton, 2009, pg. 2-1) Critical reflection paired with service-learning is essential
because it promotes students personal growth and connecting what they are learning within the
classroom to what they are doing outside of it.
The second similarity that I noticed amongst the course syllabi was the type of project
that students would engage with. Three of the five course syllabi had the students partnering with
local middle schools and having their college students connecting with students who were in
fourth or fifth grade. Howard (1993) talked about minimizing student’s experiences as a
community learner and a classroom learner and to me that connects directly with this type of
service-learning project. The professors were challenging students to connect what they were
learning inside the classroom in a different type of classroom setting, therefore minimizing the
difference between experiences. I also liked this type of project because it is showing how
important it is to invest back in the community via education.
The third similarity that I noticed was structural. Each course was set up so that students
were engaging in this service project for an entire semester. One of Honnet & Poulsen’s ten
Principles of good practice for combining service and learning is “An effective program expects
genuine, active, and sustained organizational commitment” (Honnet & Poulsen, 1998, pg. 2) By
providing students with an opportunity to work with the community for at least a semester, I
believe that the professor is showing the importance of genuine, active, and sustained
organizational commitment to the students. One of my biggest complaints around service-
learning is that I feel like it has the tendency to become a large one day event at the end of the
semester. By providing this type of programming, all we are doing is showing students that it is
necessary to dedicate at least one day of service to the community. By making these projects a
semester long, it is showing how valuable service can be when you truly invest in the project.
When comparing the course syllabi, however, I did notice a few distinct differences. The
first one that caught my attention relates to chapter one of Barbara Jacoby’s book, “Service-
learning in Higher Education”. One of the pitfalls of service-learning projects that Jacoby talked
about was that “Most of the programs were not integrated into the central mission and goals of
the schools and agencies where they were based.” (Jacoby, 1996, pg. 13) When reviewing the
course syllabi, I found that only one university- Gonzaga University- even mentioned their
schools mission and vision statement. Furthermore, none of the course syllabi mentioned the
mission or vision of any of the organizations that they were going to be completing the project at.
This is concerning because if we are asking students to complete service for an organization or
institution, it is important for them to know why they are going there and how what they will be
doing connects with the community at large.
The second main aspect that was different amongst the course syllabi was the motivation
of the students who would be completing the service-learning project. One of the aspects that
Jacoby speaks about in her book is the importance of reciprocity between the service-learner and
the community in which they are serving. Jacoby states that reciprocity is important because is
creates “a sense of mutual responsibility and respect between individuals in the Service-Learning
exchange” (Jacoby, 1996, p. 8) I noticed that in some of the course syllabi, the service-learning
project was very structured and it seemed as though the students’ had no choice in what type of
service they were doing, rather it was all set up and just needed to be implemented. To me, this
structure would take away the creativity portion of service learning and communicate a message
to students that instead of working with community members to create a solutions, the solutions
are already set in place and need to be acted upon. Jacboy presents this as a problem and a pitfall
of service learning by saying that a pitfall of some service-learning activities “focused on “doing
for” and “helping others” rather than supporting others to meet their own needs.” (Jacoby, 1996,
pg. 13)
In conclusion, the courses that I had selected were very different- but all shared some
commonality of reflective learning. I think that Andrew Furco’s definition of service-learning is
one that will stick with me the most as I progress throughout my journey in higher education.
Furco states that true service-learning happens when “service and learning goals of equal weight
and each enhances the other for all participants.” (Furco, 1996, pg. 2) Before taking this
curriculum class, I had always thought of service learning as a project at the end of the semester
or something that I couldn’t balance with my academics. Through these course readings I see
that it is so much more than that. Service-learning isn’t just another type of learning, it is an
experience. An experience that requires a balance of connecting what students are learning inside
the classroom with their communities; as well as encouraging students to engage in critical
reflection to make meaning of their experience.
References
Ash, Clayton, & Moses. (2009). Learning through Crtical Reflection: A Tutorial for Service-
Learning Students. Raleigh, NC.
Furco, Andrew. "Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education."
Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National
Service, 1996. 2-6.
Honnet, E.P. & Poulsen, S.J. (1998) Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and
Learning, The Johnson Foundation
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.
Notre Dame University
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/chemistry/chemistry-in-service-of-the-community/4010/
University of Utah
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/dance/service-learning-modern-dance/3802/
Gonzaga University
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/public-and-community-service-studies/community-outreach/
3926/
University of Maine- Farmington
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/biology/field-botany/3805/
Ohio University
http://www.compact.org/syllabi/business-management/meeting-and-conference-planning/3791/