Quarterly Service-Learning
A publication of the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center
What’s New in the VSLC? The Volunteer and Service-Learning Center (VSLC) recently convened a group of community partners to discuss standards of quality service-learning practice. Partners reflected on their personal experiences—both rewarding and challenging—with service-learning students and faculty from ECU, and developed a working list of standards for future collaborative efforts. Community partner standards included recommended practices for faculty, students, partners, and the VSLC. Partners indicated the need for standards related to communication, management, evaluation, reciprocity, and more. Throughout fall semester the VSLC will convene groups of service-learning faculty and students for the same purpose. The overall goal of these discussions: is to create a set of common, easy-to-implement standards inspired by the voices of all service-learning constituents. We don’t expect these standards to create a fail-proof recipe for quality service-learning, but we do aspire to provide recommendations that lend to better service-learning over time. If you are interested in participating in an upcoming faculty or student discussion of service-learning standards please contact Jessica Gagne Cloutier at gagnej@ecu.edu or 328-2735. Resulting documents will be posted to the VSLC Web site in 2011.
Community Partner Spotlight The Pamlico-Tar River Foundation (PTRF) is a private, nonprofit organization dedicated to protecting, preserving, and promoting the environmental quality of the PamlicoTar River and its watershed. PTRF monitors and protects the river through: • education of individuals and groups, • advocacy for enforcement of exisiting laws, • the development of new legislation, and • conducting research that monitors and evaluates the health of the river. A full-time RIVERKEEPER® provides scientific expertise, responds to the public’s environmental concerns, monitors pollution response, collaborates with the community to monitor the waterway, and educates the public. On October 2, 2010, PTRF will sponsor the annual Big Sweep. This event brings the community together in an effort to preserve the quality of the river by removing waste and recyclables. In past years Big Sweep volunteers removed more than 7 tons of trash from the Pamlico-Tar River. To get involved in this year’s Big Sweep or other PTRF activities, visit their Web site at www.ptrf.org. Next Spotlight: GO-Science
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Spotlight on Service-Learning Course Designation/ Upcoming Deadlines
Hot Topic Quarterly Reflection Activity
Call for Papers Grants & Funding Opportunities Conferences & Events
East Carolina University
Upcoming Deadline
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“To look backward for a while is to refresh the eye, to restore it, and to render it more fit for its prime function of looking forward.” ~Margaret Fairless Barber
Service-Learning Course Designation Faculty members interested in obtaining the service-learning designation for courses are invited to submit service-learning course proposal forms and syllabi to the University Service-Learning Committee to review. Courses approved for the “SL” designation will be listed as such in the university catalogs. The deadline to submit proposed course submissions for spring semester is October 15, 2010. Why get an SL Designation? • Many students consider service-learning a transformative way to learn and grow while others may want the credits to satisfy requirements proposed for the leadership and service certificate or portfolio, or the honors program. Students find that this documentation also helps when they seek employment and/or apply to graduate school. The SL designation will be recorded on student transcripts. • Faculty members who are familiar with service-learning serve as a peer review committee for servicelearning course submissions. The committee reviews proposals and syllabi to ensure they meet the five criteria listed below, and also offers suggestions and constructive input as needed to make the servicelearning experience a positive one for all involved. • The SL designation helps ECU collect information and report and recognize the important contributions that our faculty make to the community. How to Apply for an SL Designation: Submit the SL Designation Course Application Form and the SL Designation Course Questionnaire, available at www.ecu.edu/cs-studentlife/volunteer/service-learning-designation-form.cfm, with your syllabus to the University Service Learning Committee by the appropriate deadline. The form should be sent to: Jessica Gagne Cloutier, 1604 Old Cafeteria Complex, or to gagnej@ecu.edu. The Committee will review your forms and syllabi to make sure they meet the criteria listed below. Service-Learning Course Criteria: • Integrates the service with course content. The service component should support the academic focus of the course. • Involves students in service that meets community needs. The Volunteer and Service-Learning Center can help you find community placements for students. • Provides structured opportunities for reflection such as writing assignments, discussions, presentations, or journals. • Provides a clear explanation (in the syllabus) of both academic and service expectations and how the performance in the course will be graded. • Clarifies that while service is an integral part of the course academic credit is for demonstrated learning. What is Service-Learning? Service-learning is a method of instruction that has the benefit of meeting academic course objectives and helping students develop a sense of engagement and social responsibility. All volunteer hours and community service hours are not service-learning. Faculty interested in learning more about service-learning at ECU or the designation process can visit the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center, Old Cafeteria Complex, 252-328-2735.
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Hot Topic
Publications of Interest
Recording Indirect Service-Learning Hours
Free Resources on the Web:
In the past year many service-learning courses that traditionally required students to complete a set number of service hours have instead adopted a project-based approach. As a result students are increasingly engaged in indirect service— activities like research and planning that take place in computer labs, study rooms and homes, rather than at community partner sites. The big question however, is, “who signs the time sheet to verify hours a student completed at their home?” There’s no perfect answer to this question, but the VSLC recommends the following: • Provide students with a benchmark based on the project scope • Explain the consequences for academic dishonesty • Evaluate the quality of the work against the reported hours • Continue to require community partner signatures for direct hours
Faculty Toolkit for Service-Learning in Higher Education servicelearning.org/filemanager/download/HE_ toolkit_with_worksheets.pdf.
The VSLC will record indirect hours with approval/signatures from faculty or community partners.
Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle
Phase 1. Concrete Experience Ask students to describe a detailed but objective account of a service experience or event including facts, dates, places, and observed behaviors. Phase 2. Reflective Observation Students should next provide a personal reflection of the experience or event including relevant thoughts and feelings, perceptions of others’ thoughts and feelings, and thoughts about how this event affected individuals in their service setting.
Enriched and Inspired: Service Pathways to College Success www.aacc.nche.edu/Resources/aaccprograms/ projectreach/Documents/enriched_inspired.pdf. An Inventory or Your Service-Learning Partnership depts.washington.edu/ccph/pdf_files/Kara.pdf
Phase 3. Abstract Conceptualization Students should next describe relationships between their service experience and course theories. For example, students might describe theories or concepts that helped them effectively explain their experience, how theory helped them navigate the experience as it occurred, or positives and challenges of the applied theories. Phase 4. Active Experimentation Finally, students should describe how their combined experience and learning might relate to future experiences. Students can also discuss how they might act or respond differently should they find themselves in a similar situation in the future. Kolb’s learning cycle is often combined with the What? So What? Now What? model of reflection. For a more detailed description of that model, or for a lengthier outline of a reflection based upon Kolb’s cycle, contact the Volunteer and Service-Learning Center.
Quarterly Reflection Activity
Effective reflection is both structured and guided. Because reflection serves as a means for faculty to assess student learning and performance the quality is paramount. Kolb’s learning cycle provides a model particularly effective in making student reflections less superficial and more insightful.
Creating a Climate for Service Learning Success www.aacc.nche.edu/Resources/aaccprograms/ horizons/Documents/creatingaclimate_082010. pdf.
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Call for Papers The Journal of Public Scholarship in Higher Education
Grants and Funding Opportunities
This cross-disciplinary journal provides a forum for scholars to share examples of academic service-learning projects that demonstrate a high level of engagement and reciprocity with the community at the same time as they demonstrate scholarly inquiry. The journal welcomes diverse manuscripts, from empirically-based examinations to critical reflection pieces, and research designs.
The National AIDS Fund, in collaboration with the Ford Foundation, is offering grant support through the Southern REACH (Regional Expansion of Access and Capacity to Address HIV/AIDS) initiative. The overarching goal of this initiative is to protect and advance the health, human rights, and dignity of persons most affected by HIV/AIDS in the Southern U.S. One-year grants of up to $100,000 are available, along with technical assistance.
Submission Deadline: February 1, 2011
For more information, go to: www.aidsfund. org/2010/08/17/southern-reach/
The full call for abstracts is available at: servicelearning.org/sites/default/files/download/ JPSHE_CFP_VOL_I.pdf
Application Deadline: October 15, 2010
Conferences and Events Mark Your Calendar Fall Service-Learning Designation Application Deadline October 15, 2010 E-mail complete applications to Jessica Gagne Cloutier, gagnej@ecu.edu Learn more at ecu.edu/vslc
Race, Ethnicity, and Community Engagement in Higher Education October 17-20, 2010, Overton Hotel and Conference Center, Lubbock, Texas cms.educ.ttu.edu/conferences/race-ethnicity-and-communityengagement-in-higher-education/default. 10th Annual International Research Conference on Service-Learning and Community Engagement International Perspectives: Crossing Boundaries through Research October 27-30, 2010, Crowne Plaza at Union Station, Indianapolis, Indiana www.researchslce.org/_Files/Conference_Sites/ 2010Conference/Conference_Main.html. North Carolina Campus Compact Student Conferences October 30, NC Wesleyan College, Rocky Mount, North Carolina November 6, Johnson C. Smith University, Charlotte, North Carolina org.elon.edu/nccc/events/2010Conferences.html.
Volunteer and Service-Learning Center Old Cafeteria Complex 252.328.2735 (phone) 252.328.0139 (fax) www.ecu.edu/vslc • vslc@ecu.edu Judy Baker, Institutional and Community Development Consultant Jessica Gagne Cloutier, Service-Learning Coordinator Michael Loeffelman, Volunteer Coordinator Shawn Moore, Community Partner Coordinator Alice Tyson, Office Manager Katie Winn, AmeriCorps*VISTA
Fall Edition 2010