Faculty Guide for Service-Learning

Academic Year 2011-2012

A Guide to the Service-Learning Experience

for New and Returning Faculty

Revised March 2012

Table of Contents

Message from the Office of Service-Learning 2

What is Service-Learning? 3

Service-Learning Models to Follow 4

The Role of the Service-Learning Office 5

Principles of Good Practice 6

Student Standards 8

Reflection and Dialogue Sessions 9

Getting Started 10

Course Development 11

Moving Towards Cultural Competence 12

Grievance & Incident Reporting 13

Checklist/Timeline 14

Our Code of Ethics 15

Making Service a Lifetime Commitment 16

Message from the Office of Service-Learning

Dear Faculty,

We are delighted to have you join us on this journey down the path of building a stronger and just society through committed community engagement! Your contribution is important to ensure our sustainable success and growth for the service-learning experience. We hope that you will take advantage of our services and programs we offer to ensure your experience will be a gratifying one. This handbook was developed to act as a tool for you to refer to when needed.

To those of you who are new to the service-learning experience, we extend our warm welcome. Do not hesitate to ask questions, offer suggestions, or address concerns; we want to ensure that we can all come to the table and create a dialogue to find solutions collectively together.

Thank you for your interest in taking part in the service-learning experience at The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey. The Office of Service-Learning wants to ensure that your experience with us will be a successful one that will be with you long after your time here on campus.

Enthusiastically,

Daniel Fidalgo Tome, M.Ed.

Coordinator of Service-Learning

Roni Bier

Service-Learning Program Assistant

What is Service-Learning?

For those of you who don’t know what service-learning is, let us share a brief overview on the different working definitions. Service-learning is a very diverse and versatile term that is used in a variety of ways throughout different programs. The National Service-Learning Clearinghouse defines the term as: “a teaching and learning strategy integrating meaningful service with academic study and reflective practice to enrich learning, build civic engagement, and strengthen communities.”

Sigmon (1996) describes the diversity in service-learning by playing with the graphic presentation of the two concepts that make up the term as seen in this table below:

A Service and Learning Typology:[1]

service-LEARNING / Learning goals primary; service outcomes secondary
SERVICE-learning / Service outcomes primary; learning goals secondary
service-learning / Service and learning goals separate
SERVICE-LEARNING / Service and learning goals of equal weight; each enhances the other for all participants

The Office of Service-Learning follows the goals and outcomes of the bolded SERVICE-LEARNING as it endorses the equal enhancement of both Service and Learning goals for all participants.

Different Types of Service: Direct Action, Indirect Action, and Research/Advocacy

According to Corporation for National and Community Service, service-learning projects can involve direct action, indirect action, or research/advocacy:

·  Direct service: students respond to a community need by interacting with and impacting the service recipient or site. (ie. working in a local food pantry)

·  Indirect service: students build infrastructure or capacity to respond to the community need. (ie. working in a warehouse assisting the CEO of a nonprofit)

·  Research/advocacy: students find, gather and report on information to raise awareness of a problem and/or advocate for change in the condition underlying the community need. (ie. grant writing, research)

Service-Learning Models to Follow

Another visual used to describe service-learning is also the Venn diagram models. Howard (2001) offers the following diagram to represent the elements that comprise service-learning:[2]

Clayton, et al (modified from 2005) similarly uses a set of three Venn Diagrams to define service-learning in terms of the components, learning goals, and partners that it brings together.[3]

The Role of the Service-Learning Office

The Office of Service-Learning at Stockton is here to help faculty and students adapt to the practice of service-learning in every way possible. We provide a range of services to help you in every stage of the planning and implementation processes. Some of our primary activities include:

·  Keeping faculty informed about developments in the SL program;

·  Introducing service-learning to Stockton’s newest faculty members;

·  Meeting one-on-one with faculty new to service-learning to discuss ways of incorporating the program into specific courses;

·  Assisting with course and syllabus development;

·  Providing print and web resources on course development and SL theory and practice;

·  Providing professional development workshops for faculty;

·  Providing reflection resources for faculty to use in the classroom;

·  Recommending community-based organizations (a.k.a., community partners) appropriate to the academic and civic objectives of SL courses;

·  Recruiting students from courses offering an SL option;

·  Providing orientations to all students intending to participate in SL (for classes that require SL, these orientations are provided in class to better accommodate students);

·  Meeting individually with students to match them with appropriate sites;

·  Handling all logictics (SL contracts, liability release forms, timesheets, etc.);

·  Facilitating out-of-class reflective discussions for students engaged in optional service-learning (we would also be happy to help facilitate in-class reflections for classes requiring SL);

·  Managing grievances from students, faculty, and community partners;

·  Soliciting feedback from community partners on students’ progress and reporting to faculty;

·  Maintaining records of student experiences;

·  Soliciting feedback from faculty and students regarding the service-learning experience; and

·  Offering ongoing support in any way necessary throughout the semester!

In short, faculty members are supported by the Office of Service-Learning throughout the year to ensure safe and effective learning opportunities for students. Though we ask you to remain deeply involved in every aspect of service-learning and maintain communication with the Office throughout the semester, the Office strives to handle all the administrative details so that you can focus on teaching!

Principles of Good Practice

Before you start crafting your service-learning course, there are a few things to remember about how the class should be structured. The following principles are the accepted standard for all service-learning programs and courses; they apply equally to courses that incorporate either a required or optional service-learning component.

Principle 1: Academic credit is for learning, not for service. Academic credit is not awarded for doing service or for the quality of the service, but rather for the student's demonstration of academic and civic learning.

Principle 2: Do not compromise academic rigor. Service-learning students must not only master academic material as in traditional courses, but also learn how to learn from unstructured and ill-structured community experiences and merge that learning with the learning from other course resources. Furthermore, while in traditional courses students must satisfy only academic learning objectives, in service-learning courses students must satisfy both academic and civic learning objectives.

Principle 3: Establish learning objectives. To sort out those objectives of greatest priority and to leverage the bounty of learning opportunities offered by community service experiences, deliberate planning of academicand civic learning objectives is required.

Principle 4: Establish criteria for the selection of service placements. (1) Circumscribe the range of acceptable service-learning placements around the content of the course. (2) Limit specific service activities and contexts to those with the potential to meet course-relevant academic and civic learning objectives. (3) Correlate the required duration of service with its role in the realization of academic and civic learning objectives. (4) Assign community projects that meet real needs in the community asdetermined by the community.

Principle 5: Provide educationally sound learning strategies to harvest community learning and realize course learning objectives. Careful thought must be given to learning activities that encourage the integration of experiential and academic learning. These activities include classroom discussions, presentations, and journal and paper assignments that support analysis of service experiences in the context of the course academic and civic learning objectives.

Principle 6: Prepare students for learning from the community. Faculty can provide: (1) learning supports such as opportunities to acquire skills for gleaning the learning from the service context (e.g., participant-observer skills), and/or (2) examples of how to successfully complete assignments (e.g., making past exemplary student papers and reflection journals available to current students to peruse). Menlo (1993) identifies four competencies to accentuate student learning from the community: reflective listening, seeking feedback, acuity in observation, and mindfulness in thinking.

Principle 7: Minimize the distinction between the students' community learning role and classroom learning role. Generally, classrooms provide a high level of teacher direction, with students expected to assume mostly a passive learner role. In contrast, servicecommunities usually provide a low level of teaching direction, with students expected to assume mostly an active learner role. In order to shape the learning environments so that students assume similar learner roles in both contexts, we recommend re-norming the traditional classroom toward one that values students as active learners.

Principle 8: Rethink the faculty instructional role. An instructor role that would be most compatible with an active student role shifts away from a singular reliance on transmission of knowledge and toward mixed pedagogical methods that include learning facilitation and guidance.

Principle 9: Be prepared for variation in, and some loss of control with, student learning outcomes. Instructors can expect that classroom discussions will be less predictable and the content of student papers/projects less homogeneous than in courses without a service assignment.

Principle 10: Maximize the community responsibility orientation of the course. Designing classroom norms and learning strategies that not only enhance academic learning but also encourage civic learning are essential to purposeful civic learning. Service-learning instructors should consider employing learning strategies that will complement and reinforce the civic lessons from the community experience.

Student Standards

Stockton students should conduct themselves in a manner consistent with the Richard Stockton College of New Jersey Student Handbook, In Black and White.

Please review the college’s standards for on- and off-campus behavior in addition to the following suggestions:

Reliability: Scheduling commitments must be fully honored.

  1. Fully participate for the minimum number of hours committed.

(1 hour per week per course credit, unless otherwise indicated by the professor)

  1. Record hours on the Office’s website via the timesheet.
  2. Emergencies that prevent the student from meeting his/her commitment require a phone call to the supervisor.

Professionalism: Staff at the community agency will be the student’s guide in developing a professional approach to working with community and addressing their individual needs.

  1. Follow the community partners’ policies and procedures.If students have any problems, report them to the supervisor as soon as possible.

2.  Dress appropriately at all times! The student should abide by the community partners dress policy for professional staff.

Confidentiality: In many fields, information about community members or partners is covered by strict rules of confidentiality. Supervisors know how the student’s service might be affected by obligations of confidentiality, and the student’s may be asked to submit a signed confidentiality agreement. Honor that contract, even if it’s only verbal!

Sensitivity: Be concerned about the needs and feelings of the community members in the learning experience. This project is based on the concept of reciprocal learning and respect between you and the community partner.

Safety: When in the community, students should be aware of situations and experiences that may affect their own safety. Ask supervisors to give instructions and then students should take the steps to safeguard themselves.

Service-Related Injuries and Illness: We release our community partners from any liability for you during the course of the student’s work. Make sure before beginning the assignment that the student is covered by independent health insurance or through the student insurance program at Stockton.

Education: To ensure the complete holistic experience please refer to Reflection and Dialogue sessions.

Reflection and Dialogue Sessions

Reflection and dialogue sessions serve as companions to the service-learning experience. In order to have the most impact and meaningful experience, reflections and open dialogues are necessary to open the lines of communication. Speaking about experiences with others helps with comprehension and absorption of the experiences being discussed.

Reflection Sessions

Reflection sessions are to serve as a bridge to connect the service-learning project and the class in which the project is completed. Without this important connection, the goal of SERVICE-LEARNING is not accomplished, as both the service completed in the community and the materials learned in the classroom play equally important roles to the student’s development.

Each service-learning student, in accordance with the student standards, is to attend three reflection sessions throughout the course of the semester. Preferably, students should attend a reflection session each month (one in the beginning of the project, one in the middle, and one at the end). Reflection sessions last for an hour and fifteen minutes, so please arrive on time and be prepared to stay for the duration of the session. Students are to sign up for reflection sessions prior to arrival to ensure their place in the session. Dates and times for reflection sessions are available online.

Open doors and open minds!

Dialogue Sessions

“What is the For the Greater Good Dialogue Series?” you may ask… For the Greater Good Dialogue Series is a collection of dialogue sessions which engage students, faculty, staff, and members of the community in discussions of issues which affect both Stockton and the surrounding communities. Enrich your mind and life with enlightening dialogue sessions that illuminate issues which impact our lives!

For the Greater Good Dialogue Series is open to all Stockton students, faculty, staff, and the greater south Jersey community. Topics range from education, to immigration, to charity and service work. Refreshments will be available and bring a friend! Each service-learning student, in accordance with the student standards, is to attend at least three dialogue sessions throughout the semester. Each dialogue session lasts an hour and fifteen minutes, so invite all to enjoy the invigorating conversations and interesting topics! The schedule of sessions is available online.

Getting Started

This step-by-step plan should help you through the process of successfully integrating service-learning into your course. We recommend planning at least one semester prior to the time you will implement the course, but this timeline can be adjusted to fit any schedule that is comfortable for you.