Service-Learning High-Impact Practice Mini-Grant Program
Service-Learning High-Impact Practice Mini-Grants are designed to provide funding for courses incorporating service-learning. Service-learning is defined as a method of teaching that includes experiential learning, classroom instruction, and reflection. Typically service-learning courses work in cooperation with a community partner and students engage in at least 15 hours of service during the semester.
Service-learning is considered a “high-impact practice” (HIP), or “an investment of time and energy over an extended period that has unusually positive effects on student engagement in educationally purposeful behavior” (Kuh 2010: vi). A HIP is effective with students because it allows them to interact with faculty and peers about substantive matters; increases the likelihood that students will experience diversity; provides frequent feedback about their performance; offers opportunities for students to see how what they are learning works in different settings, on and off campus; and brings students’ values and beliefs into awareness, helping them to better understand themselves in relation to others and the larger world (Kuh 2008: 14-17).
Some common outcomes of service-learning are higher grades, persistence rates, and levels of academic engagement; academic gains (including application of course learning); increases in critical thinking and writing skills; greater interaction with faculty; greater levels of civic behavior, social responsibility, understanding of social justice, and sense of self-efficacy; gains in moral reasoning; greater tolerance and reduced stereotyping; and greater commitment to a service-oriented career (Brownell and Swaner 2010: 48).
Best practices for implementing service-learning as a high-impact practice include:
§ Create opportunities for structured reflection.
§ Ensure that faculty connect classroom material with the service experience.
§ Require enough service hours (i.e., 15-20 hours) to make the experience significant.
§ Focus on the quality of the service, ensuring that students have direct contact with clients.
§ Oversee activities at the service site. (Brownell and Swaner 2010: 3)
Purpose
Service-learning HIP mini-grants are to be used for actual expenses associated with service-learning incurred by faculty, community partner, students, and/or a department. Service-learning HIP grant funds may not be used to purchase food or to fund travel for presenting research. The maximum amount allowed for expenses will generally be capped at $500. (Additional funds may be available in some circumstances.)
Service-learning HIP mini-grant recipients may also be awarded a $250.00 stipend. Awardees are eligible for the stipend if students enrolled in their courses complete a pre survey at the beginning of the course and a post survey at the completion of the service project, and the faculty member completes a short course report as well. The stipend will be disbursed after the course ends and the course report along with pre/post student surveys have been submitted to the OCEP.
Criteria
Service-learning HIP mini-grant recipients must be USF faculty or doctoral students teaching a service-learning course. In making awards, preference will be given to applicants who have not already received a service-learning HIP mini-grant during the previous two semesters. Service-learning projects must have an identified community partner whose support is indicated in a letter submitted with the application. The following criteria must be present for a course to be designated as service-learning and funded through this program:
§ Syllabus must have clearly stated course learning objectives that connect with the service-learning project.
§ Service performed by students must meet direct community need and result in a reciprocal learning relationship with community partner.
§ Faculty must provide structured opportunities for students to reflect on their service experiences in order to help them connect service with the learning objectives of the course.
§ Require enough direct contact service hours (i.e., 15-20 hours) to make the experience significant.
§ Faculty or graduate assistant must provide adequate oversight or supervision of activities at the service site.
§ Applicant must show why grant funds are crucial to the successful implementation of the course’s service-learning component.
Deadlines
For Fall 2015 semester: Monday, August 10, 2015 by 5:00pm.
For Spring 2016 semester: Monday, November 30, 2015 by 5:00pm.
For Summer 2016 semester: Monday, April 18, 2016 by 5:00pm.
A maximum of 15 mini-grants will be awarded during the 2015-16 academic year.
Service-Learning High-Impact Practice Mini-Grant Application
Faculty/Instructor Name:College & Department:
Email: / Phone Number:
Course Name, Prefix, & Number:
Semester & Year of Course: / Amount Requested: $
Community Partner Name and Contact Information:
You may answer the following questions on this sheet, or attach a sheet with your answers:
1. What are the learning outcomes for your course and how will the service-learning component help you achieve these outcomes?
2. Explain how the requested funds will be used, and why these expenses are crucial to the delivery of your course.
3. Please indicate with a “yes” or “no” your willingness to do the following:
a. Administer a brief survey to students so we can document the impact of service-learning: yes / no
b. Ensure that your department’s scheduler has identified your course as “service-learning” when scheduling information is given to the Registrar: yes / no
c. Provide material (such as quotations from students and/or community partners; digital photos; video recordings; news stories; press releases) from your class so we can feature it on our website/in our newsletter: yes / no
d. Include the following acknowledgement in scholarly works resulting from this grant: “This work was supported, in part, by funds provided by the University of South Florida Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships”: yes / no
e. Make a best effort in seeking other support to sustain the service-learning course in future semesters (e.g., consider adding a course fee to cover expenses associated with service-learning): yes / no
□ Please include with your application a copy of your syllabus and the letter of support from your community partner.
All applications, with course syllabus and community partner support letter, must be submitted electronically to by 5:00 pm on the deadline date.
Service-Learning High-Impact Practice Mini-Grant Budget
Item Category / Item Description / Quantity / Cost / Total / Funding Requested from OCEP:Supplies
Equipment
Travel
Other
Total project budget:
Total funding requested from OCEP (not to exceed $500[1]): / 0
References
Kuh, George D.
2008 High-Impact Educational Practices: What They Are, Who Has Access to Them, and Why They Matter. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
2010 “High-Impact Practices: Retrospective and Prospective.” In Jayne E. Brownell and Lynn E. Swaner, Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion, and Quality. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Brownell, Jayne E., and Lynn E. Swaner
2010 Five High-Impact Practices: Research on Learning Outcomes, Completion, and Quality. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
Service-Learning Attribute in OASIS/BANNER
What is service-learning? According to the Florida Campus Compact’s Faculty Guide to Service-Learning, service-learning (also called “community-based” or “community-engaged” learning) is the process of integrating volunteer community service combined with guided reflection into the curriculum to enhance and enrich student learning of course material. Here at USF, we have adopted a working definition of service-learning: it is a method of teaching that includes experiential learning, classroom instruction, and reflection. Typically, service-learning courses work in collaboration with a community partner, and students engage in at least 15 hours of service during the semester.
Service-learning builds on a tradition of activism and volunteerism, which was popular in the sixties and saw a rebirth in the late eighties as cultural, educational, and civic leaders challenged higher education to fulfill its historic mission to promote civic responsibility. Many colleges have accepted this challenge and created a support network, the Campus Compact, to develop and promote service-learning as a pedagogical strategy. Service-learning is now a national movement and is utilized in the majority of colleges and universities in the United States.
Service-learning provides multiple benefits. Community stakeholders benefit from student service projects; students benefit from hands-on learning experiences. Case study and large-scale research show that students who participate in service-learning courses often have more successful college careers and become more engaged citizens after graduation. Here at USF, faculty and students are encouraged to participate in service-learning courses. The Office of Community Engagement and Partnerships (OCEP) offers workshops and mini-grants to faculty, and has many service-learning resources available on its website.
To help identify and track such courses, the OCEP has partnered with the Registrar to create a service-learning attribute. Courses designated as service-learning courses will be noted with this attribute, allowing students to search for service-learning courses through OASIS. With this attribute, students can find and get credit for enrolling in such courses. Moreover, the identification of service-learning courses allows Engagement staff to document and monitor the progress of engaged learning opportunities on campus, which is helpful when we seek recognition or accreditation through such institutions as the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching.
At present, the service-learning attribute is added to a course when departmental schedulers notify the Registrar’s Office by emailing the CRNs of service-learning courses to Louis Gray (), Academic Services Administrator.
Unfortunately, not all faculty and not all departmental schedulers are familiar with this new attribute, and many service-learning courses continue to go unreported. We therefore continue to reach out to faculty and academic departments to ensure that they help us properly identify service-learning courses as they are scheduled.
Below are the criteria that we use for identifying service-learning courses in the strictest sense of the term. However, we are a bit flexible, and we rely on departments to self-report.
§ addresses an identified community need (campus, local, regional, global)
§ service has a public purpose or results in a benefit to the community
§ service activity meets one or more course objectives
§ demonstrates a clear connection between the service activity and the course content
§ involves reciprocity between course and community that results in students’ increased civic engagement
§ involves structured student reflection
§ involves collaboration with an appropriate agency or community representative
§ involves at least 15 hours of student service to the community
§ all students in the course are required to engage in S-L experiences, or a suitable alternative
§ grade will be given for achievement of course objectives through the S-L activity, not just for completing a set number of hours work with the community partner
Service-Learning Course Development and
Partnership Building Action Plan Checklist
Planning (two months before semester)
o Consult the OCEP’s Service Learning Resources webpage and FAQ
o Review the service-learning course criteria
o Schedule a service-learning course consultation with the OCEP
o Meet with OCEP and community partner(s)
o Determine plan for ongoing communication
o Visit community partner project site, if possible
o Determine course goals and objectives
o Develop partnership agreements
o Determine appropriate service-learning course structure
o Plan reflection activities
o Plan evaluation/assessment strategies
o Determine course/project timeline
o Determine grading strategy
o Create syllabus
o Consider liability issues
o Prepare course materials (reflection activities, partnership agreements, liability waivers)
Implementation (beginning and during semester)
o Introduce service-learning project on first day of class
o Introduce community partner
o Conduct exposure and capacity building activities (if needed)
o Assign service-learning project
o Conduct student orientation and training with community partner
o Engage in ongoing evaluation and student accountability measures
o Engage in ongoing reflection activities
o Maintain ongoing communication with community partners
o Invite community partner to student presentations
o Final presentation/project
o Conduct student and community partner service-learning evaluations
Wrap Up (end of semester)
o Collect time logs/final products from students
o Meet with community partner and the OCEP for debriefing
o Complete faculty evaluations
o Discuss future partnerships opportunities with community partner, if appropriate
o Send community partner thank you letter/e-mail
Questions for community partners to consider while developing a service-learning course:
Begin by thinking about the work of your organization and breaking it down into concrete tasks.
· How much time does each task take? What are the required skills to do the work? What additional assistance, skills, and knowledge does your organization currently need? How could service-learning students help to fill this gap?
· How many students can the organization adequately manage, and in what roles?
· What will the students do, specifically, for the organization (e.g., type of direct service, desired deliverable, etc.)?
· What kind of pre-service training or orientation will be provided for the students? Who will provide it? What special skills are required of the students, if any? What information about the organization and/or project needs to be included in that training?
· How much on-site training and supervision are the students likely to require? How many hours per week will the staff have to mentor service-learning students?
· What other kinds of assistance could the organization use to more effectively manage service-learning students?
· What will students learn from their service experiences at the organization?
· What are the intended short- and long-term goals of the service-learning project for the organization?
· How can the service-learning project further the organization’s mission?
· How will the organization implement the recommendations, use the research findings, or sustain the service after the service-learning project ends?
· How can the organization build on the service-learning project with another service-learning course in the future?
· How else could the organization contribute to the class (e.g., guest lecture, attend or host student class presentations, assist with student/project evaluations), and vice versa?
Questions for university faculty to consider while developing a service-learning course:
Begin by thinking about the goals for your course.
· What do you want your students to learn? What might students learn in a community context that they are unlikely to learn in a classroom? What kind(s) of service-learning assignments are most likely to accomplish these learning outcomes? Do these projects lend themselves to individual or group work?