Service Learning Definition

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.

Before deciding where I wanted to do my service learning, I knew I wanted to do something that had some relevance to my degree that I will be receiving in healthcare management. I was eager to gain more experience and become more knowledgeable of how an organization operates as it relates to healthcare management. I was able to secure an opportunity to volunteer at the Dallas Veterans Affairs (VA) Hospital. After completing the required VA forms, I got partnered with Mr. Alonzo Price Jr. who is a Management Analyst in Ambulatory Care, which is the department that oversees the Primary Care Providers.

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 did not know what service-learning was until I read the articles assigned for class. The articles along with going to the Harpers Ferry Job Corps orientation really showed me what it was all about. The reading and the class presentation have challenged my first thoughts by giving me a better understanding of what service learning is. Service-learning goes a couple of miles further than community service. Service-learning allows students to help the community, as well as learn about something. For example, my Education class is going to be tutoring students at Job Corps. Our class is providing the Harpers Ferry community a free service of tutoring to those who need it while hopefully my peers and I will gain a solid understanding of what it would be like to teach one-on-one. Service-learning has three main components: community service, instruction, and reflection. Those components work well together and make service-learning seem like the perfect answer to helping education grow into a more progressive way. However, students need to have a high responsibility, they have to take the initiative, as well as make choices. If students do not do that, the success of service-learning will be lacking.

1). How do you believe service learning (SL) is utilized as a tool for fostering civic engagement?

Service learning is a process of associating students with the community in significant service activities integrated with facilitated experience to their academic and personal development. College students can change the world in many ways. The best way to give back is through service-based organizations Such as, joining a cause, especially on campus, there are plenty of clubs and organizations to choose from. This assignment makes me nervous because this will be the first time I have gone to an educational event without a peer leader/instructor. Attending the senior health fair, I was most excited about meeting all the seniors and education them as much as I can. There are many things I can gain from this experience, such as communication skills and become more outgoing.

My service learning experience opened my eyes to many new ideas and supported the information that I have been learning in class. For my service learning, I went to West Elementary school and worked in an all girls first grade classroom. West is located in a very urban neighborhood right outside of East Lansing. In the beginning of my service learning, I was in culture shock due to the size of the school, make up of the students/teachers, and the social economic status of the students. All of these components were drastically different from the school I came from. At first, I didn’t know what to think of the school or students, but I eventually realized that their goals and priorities were different from the elementary school I went to. The three main concepts that stuck out to me during my service learning experience include, the social construction of gender, special and gifted education, and funding.

I believe the general purpose of service learning is to give back, to provide to others while being the change you want to see in others. It is also a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience. Sometimes service learning isn’t always about doing things you like or that interests you but it’s about giving back to the community in a meaningful way. Those who participate in service learning are definitely over achievers because service learning has to come from the heart.

In the school environment, teachers may often experience different type of students that come from poor to wealthy families. As a teacher, it is important to learn and be open-minded about students’ backgrounds. In COE 202, my plan is to volunteer for the Boys and Girls Club and learn from my experience. It is important for me to volunteer because I need to experience what my future career will be like. Service learning can help one learn new things about what one’s interested in. The Boys and Girls Club is a good opportunity for me to see what it is like working with kids from low income families.

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

In this essay, I am going to talk about my thoughts about service-learning. I will define what service-learning is, how it can be positive, and how it can be negative. I then will go into depth about my initial thoughts about it. I will also talk about the value of experiencing tutoring, what it can do and what I expect to gain from it. I will additionally talk about personal goals I have set for myself that include making a decision for what I will do with my career, what I hope to achieve for myself, as well as for those I tutor. I will conclude with sharing some challenges I expect to face and some ways to cope with them. My purpose for writing this is so I can look back at this essay at the end of the semester and see what I have learned

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

As a teacher, I will be more civically engaged by not only continue my involvement in the community, but also by teaching my students to become more involved through service learning lessons. Service learning can be an important tool as an educator because the students can learn the academic content while also participating in a service project of their own. Service learning also helps strengthen the student’s knowledge of their assignment because they can apply their knowledge to real life situations. With service learning activities, students will also discuss people in need, and what they can do as student. They learn to think creatively and come up with new solutions to

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