Modern Day Service Learning Is Born. As Rudolph Stated,

It is also a “boundary spanning” activity in that it requires active involvement from people both within and outside of the classroom context, often resulting in participant contributors who represent a variety of generations, ethnicities, social groups, and experience levels (Billig and Furco, 2002, p.vii). Service-learning is designed to reduce the boundaries between an institutional campus environment and the community around it. It is designed to connect learning to real experience through service and reflection (Ball and Schilling, 2006; Becker, 2000). As a baseline to facilitate this development, service-learning is distinct from other types of community service and civic engagement experiences in that the service-learning experience must not only have a service and reflective component but also be clearly tied to the curriculum through learning objectives and theoretical underpinnings (Bloomquist, 2015; Pritchard, 2001). As Barbara Holland, former Director of the U.S. National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, shared, “Service-learning is all in the hyphen. It is the enrichment of specific learning goals through structured community service opportunities that respond to community-identified needs and opportunities.” (Kenworthy-U’Ren, Taylor, and Petri, 2006: 121).

Service Learning is an educational strategy set in place to enlighten students with instruction and experience, in addition to improve learning , teach responsibility, and support the community. Service learning is vital to the development of the student, given that it intertwines academic and personal development together. It is aimed to enhance a student’s learning in all aspects of life.

The benefit of service learning for the student and community is again a better inform civic minded individual who may use his experience from service learning as a launching pad for career opportunities to better serve within that community. In an article published in the College Student Journal its author noted that with service learning “students gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility" (Strange,

I highly recommend this course continue to require service learning as a component of Academic Foundations. It is never a bad idea to get the students involved on campus and get them familiar with the facilities we have located on campus. Getting involved with the community and individuals active is a positive aspect of this

Service Learning is learning through experience to gain sociological observation, concepts, and theories so I decide to do my service learning hours in one of the two high schools that is part of the Oceanside Unified School District. The name of the school is called El Camino High School. El Camino High School is a high school that is located at 400 Rancho Del Oro Drive in Oceanside, California. It has over 3,000 students currently attending. The school’s mascot is the “Wildcat” and their colors are gold and red. El Camino High School is a public school that is part of a system of free public education that is maintained at a public expense for the education of students who are part of that community or district. El Camino High School is a place is a public school where students are coming out of middle school and are

When I first arrived at the University of Michigan, I was pleasantly surprised to find out the first service event we were doing was invasive species management in the Huron watershed. Cutting down buckthorn and picking invasive species seeds were both activities very familiar to me. Growing up in Chicago, my middle and elementary school had done nearly the exact same thing every year in the Chicago River watershed. Going out into the woods and helping the often forgotten organic parts of our community was certainly a pleasant surprise for me. I initially thought going to college that almost everything I would be experiencing would be new and exciting, yet here I was coming full circle right back to where I had first started learning about community involvement. More often than not, our expectations of things do not match their true forms.

I agree that service learning breaks down segregation on campus because students get to meet and work with other people from all over the world. This can help them learn about other people's ethnicity, background, and race. Service learning is great because people will be open minded about other culture once they learn about each other by working together.

The meaning this service learning project provided me with was how important it is for us, the Hamline University, to build a meaningful relationship with Hamline Elementary. This was invoked because of the impact the students seemed to have due to us being there and working with them. The students were excited for a communal learning experience, and I think that is going to help encourage them to pursue a college career. Because I work at Hamline Elementary and have been doing so for the past 2 years, I have made strong connections with the students and faculty and think highly of them all. The experience was very similar to what I do at Hamline Elementary on a daily basis. Given this, I had a feeling that the content may have been a bit of

I found Kathleen Cahill’s presentation on service learning to be very interesting. I have always been aware of how important it is to do service for your community. In high school, I had to complete 100 hours of service over the four-year span. This increased my awareness of the importance of service, and showed me a variety of organizations the exist in Erie, PA. However, I was never aware of the high level of poverty that exists in Erie until I saw Kathleen Cahill’s presentation. I was shocked to learn that the number of those living in poverty in the City of Erie, is around 30%. This statistic made me realize even more the importance of service, especially in the Erie community.

Tulane, being the first private research university in the nation to institute a public service requirement for graduation, clearly attracts students who are similarly motivated towards civic engagement and public outreach. As an active member of the Service Council at the William Penn Charter School, I have witnessed firsthand the value of learning outside of the classroom and engaging with the world. One of the projects I am most involved with is providing meals for the hungry at the St. Francis Inn soup kitchen. As a food server at the Inn, I have learned more about mankind and interactions between people than would ever be possible in a classroom alone. Penn Charter high school, through its Quaker philosophy, has inspired me to seek out a life devoted to the common good. As a result of service learning courses at Tulane, such as Conservation Biology and Pathways to Urban Sustainability, I will be learning, applying knowledge and making an impact before I even graduate.

“Service-learning is 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” (Learn and Serve America National Service-Learning Clearinghouse). This assignment gave students the opportunity to go outside of their comfort zone, which is typically the classroom and see what the “real world” is like. As Gandhi would say “The best way to find yourself is to lose yourself in the service of others” (Gandhi). I believe that this project really allowed us to appreciate what we have because many people are not as fortunate. During this service learning project I had certain expectations going into the project, but in the end, my results were not exactly as I expected.

According to Kathleen Flecky and Lynn Gitlow, service-learning is defined as, “learning that occurs in experiences, reflection, and civic engagement” (Flecky & Gitlow, 2011). In recent years more universities are implementing service learning into their curriculum. A key concept of service learning is civic responsibility. Civic responsibility can simply be defined as your responsibilities as a citizen. As will be shown later in this paper, service learning can have many benefits not only to a student, but also to the community members

While this definition, found in Heilker’s article, “Rhetoric Made Real: Civil Discourse and Writing Beyond the Curriculum,” is both clear-cut and optimistic, community-engaged work is much more complicated than it is referred to here. Those participating in service programs frequently encounter problematic issues, many of which I discuss in this essay. These issues, including course duration and student responsibility, directly contribute to the outcomes of community-engaged projects. However, throughout my service-learning experience this semester I have identified a considerable obstacle linked to community work: communication. While the challenges addressed in literature already written about community-engaged programs are vital to a comprehensive understanding of this type of work, the problems, issues, and complications present in service-learning communication are worthy of equal

The Society for Experiential Education defines service learning as, “any carefully monitored service experience in which a student has intentional learning goals and reflects actively on what he or she is learning throughout the experience” (Staton 1). Service learning is a great opportunity to get extra learning experiences while also experiencing the community around the universities campus. “Service learning allows students to apply what they are learning from their instructors, peers, and readings to genuine tasks that occur outside the four walls of the classroom while simultaneously helping others” (Staton 1). Universities are using service learning to expand beyond the classroom and provide students with experiences that will

The term ‘‘service-learning’’ means a method (A) under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that (i) is conducted in and meets the needs of a community; (ii) is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community; and (iii) helps foster civic responsibility; and (B) that (i) is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students, or the educational components of the community service program in which the