eService-Learning: Teaching, Learning, and Serving Online
Service-learning has evolved since the early twentieth century. What began as philosophy is now a formally researched practice widespread in U.S. education. Community colleges embrace this pedagogy for its inherent ability to connect teaching and learning with the communities they serve. Yet Waldner, McGorry, and Widener argue, “The pace of growth of service learning offerings online has not kept pace with the growth of the online student population” (2012, p. 125).
Distance learning enrollment within community colleges, as examined by Inside Higher Ed (2016, Straumsheim), has risen, declined, and now leveled. No matter the trends, eLearning is an integral part of two-year colleges. As Fred Lokken, member of the Instructional Technology Council’s board of directors confirms, “From the inception of online learning, the community college movement embraced the value of online education to the fullest. [They] recognized the intrinsic value of this mode of instruction -- greatly improved access to higher education” (2016, qtd. in Straumsheim).
Accessibility for online learners needs to include experiential learning as well. The innovations of eLearning, however, remain out of sync with those of eService-Learning. Course studies and discourse are sparse; therefore, faculty and civic engagement staff need more extensive methods and resources to construct frameworks. Even practicing traditional service-learning instructors need guidance because the virtual form poses unique challenges--but also unique benefits.
eService-Learning makes transcendence of physical and time-related boundaries possible--ideal for not only online students but any student bound by work schedules, childcare commitments, transportation, and/or disabilities. Online Service-Learning creates broader access through technology for students in remote locations, as well as the 17% single parents and 12% students with disabilities currently enrolled in community colleges (2016, American Association of Community Colleges).
There are multiple models to incorporate eService-Learning into any course delivery mode as revealed in the practical resource eService-Learning: Creating Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement Through Online and Hybrid Courses (Strait & Nordyke 2015). Through the Central Piedmont Community College (CPCC) Fellows Program, I was able to apply one such model of eService-Learning into a fully online general education course, ENG 111 “Writing and Inquiry.”I was able to help colleagues brainstorm and create their own possible eService-Learning approaches through professional development sessions and conference workshops. Some example responses follow:
●Fully online nutritional science class formulates .pdf-printable recipes for food pantry clients that utilize and maximize commonly donated, but uncommonly used food items.
●Hybrid statistics class receives, analyzes, and transmits data about populations served by a museum for grant application use.
●Fully face-to-face performing arts class records volunteer training videos to streamline the volunteer coordinator’s job at a sizeable, state-level nonprofit with multiple branches.
●Fully online graphic design class holds a competition among several sections to develop the most compelling logo for startup literacy agency’s branding campaign.
●Fully face-to-face nursing, fully online sociology, and hybrid language classes collaborate to create multilingual, educational pamphlets for Project Life as a campus effort to enlist more students from underrepresented populations.
Challenges & Considerations
Cyber Liability – CPCC Service-Learning staff, Enterprise Risk Management, and I collaborated to modify an existing MOU (Memorandum of Understanding) for an electronic version students can “sign” through electronic submission directly in the LMS (learning management system). The document widened the scope of agreement to address matters of online communication and usage of intellectual property for the many products designed as service to agencies. As instructor, I remained compliant with the Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA) by finding ways to communicate with partners outside of the LMS and without revealing grade information on student papers exchanged for agency feedback.
Credit Hours - Tracking face-to-face service is typically done via on-site logged hours, verified by agency rep signoff. In online service, this has to be achieved differently. One way is for the instructor to estimate hours earned by completing the tech-based service or service deliverable. For example, I estimated at least four hours would be necessary during the inquiry phase for students to research and compose advocacy essays for the informative writing unit.
Student Reluctance - I added a section to the course syllabus to clarify what the eService component entailed. The verbiage explained that their fully online class would not require any on-site service, how we would achieve such a goal, and ways they would earn credit hours. Officially coding a course as service-learning in any form is good practice. Coding allows the Service-Learning Center to track the course, the academic division to add the course to the college catalog in a transparent way for registration, and students to contact the instructor ahead of time with any concerns they might have.
Instructional Design -Planning before executing will yield a more successful experience. Discovered through my project’s trial and error, these ten questions can help produce a more effective project:
- What are this course’s learning outcomes?
- How can outcomes relate to a service or product that addresses a need?
- How can students provide service or create products from a distance (fully or partially)?
- What course mode (delivery style? duration?) is ideal to achieve this goal?
- Should this project be carried out in one or more class assignments?
- Should I collaborate with other courses (within my discipline and/or across the college)?
- Which nonprofits might be a good partnership? Are they already part of our Service-Learning network?
- How will I evaluate assignments and measure service? When and how will reflection occur? Do I want the partner(s) involved in providing student feedback? How will this process occur?
- What are the technical abilities for all involved? Which technology do I need to use for this experience? Which technologies will we use for communications? Do I need to seek or offer any training beforehand?
- Have I let Service-Learning staff know I would like to try eService-Learning? Have I consulted with the staff to ensure compliance involving accessibility and cyber liability?
Benefits Abound
Faculty: My commitment to eService-Learning led to a fellowship. What I learned--starting with help from Tallahassee Community College’s Lindsey J. Smitherman-Brown and Patrick McDermott (2015)--turned into research sharing at conferences and professional development trainings. In carrying out the English curriculum, I expanded my awareness of community causes and honed technical abilities from basic to advanced: camcorder, WebEx, Panopto, and YouTube auto-captioning. As typically happens with research, I discovered the need for an online readiness assessment so that I would not overwhelm students new to eService-Learning who may struggle with eLearning itself. The assessment yielded fascinating data as to what students do and do not know about eLearning. The tool is now being studied and used for a wider college initiative involving an eLearning student orientation. Exploring eService-Learning can prevent stagnation and promote growth in teaching professionals.
[caption: CPCC Instructor Shannon Blair interviews LIFESPAN’s Christopher White and Marley Cunningham (2015) for online students to view in their LMS via Panopto as part of their pre-writing and research process. LIFESPAN empowers children and adults with intellectual and developmental disabilities by providing education, employment, and enrichment opportunities to live, work, and play in their communities.]
Staff: This project was possible because of staff support. Together, we discovered new ways of meeting students’ needs. CPCC’s Dr. Pat Hendrickson in professional development first saw eService-Learning as a fitting research project; further down the line, she helped me exchange knowledge with colleagues through internal professional development sessions. Internet Technology Services and Instructional Development aided me in creating the online readiness assessment, and media services helped me make practical decisions about learning technology tools. Librarians, Mark Coltrain and Amy Burns, built a robust research bank for my students containing quality sources related to community issues we were studying: documentaries, online simulations, e-books, and database articles/reports. Enterprise Risk Management provided consulting and helped draft documents the Service-Learning Center can continue to use moving forward. The Service-Learning staff connected me with promising partners and moved me from traditional to online models of service. They are now actively building a database of eSL opportunities by encouraging community partners and faculty to think differently about needs and ways of incorporating students from a distance.
Agencies: The nonprofit agencies willing to try eService-Learning through my project cultivated student awareness and advocacy for their missions, learned new perspectives of their causes, gained free-of-cost written copy to use as desired, and received contemporary research about online activism in students’ papers from our library subscription database sources. The commitment was minimal: 1) answer instructor questions during a pre-recorded interview for student viewing 2) reply via email to student questions that followed 3) read and comment upon 3-5 student papers assigned to their agency. As instructor, I reviewed composition elements and assigned grades. One partner commented to a student about her persuasive writing assignment, “Not only do you convey passion, but you support your position with sound logic and research. Could you submit this as an editorial on [our agency’s] behalf?”
Students - Research data, as shown in the below table, revealed slightly higher grade performance and retention in the eService-Learning class section but a lower sense of improvement in writing and research skill, along with less reported coursework satisfaction. A possible explanation for the discrepancies is that online service-learning assignments require students to apply learning objectives to real-world contexts, which demands higher level critical thinking. In the end, eService-Learning students still appeared to have a more satisfying online learning environment experience on the whole and considered themselves more likely to become civically engaged. They earned twelve service-learning credit hours without physically being on site and enhanced their professional network; moreover, some students studied topics from their majors on a deeper level, such as criminal justice students who wrote about Life Connections, an organization combating recidivism and provide life skills for at-risk youth.
Table: Course End Enrollment, Performance, and Anonymous Survey Results
Criterion / Control Section –Spring 2016 / eService-Learning Section – Spring 2016
Course End Enrollment / 20 of 25 students enrolled / 23 of 25 students enrolled
Course End Performance / 82 of 100% grade average / 85 of 100% grade average
I felt isolated in this online learning environment. / 85.71% disagreed-strongly disagreed / 86.55% disagreed-strongly disagreed
I considered dropping this class. / 82.14% disagreed-strongly disagreed / 86.55% disagreed-strongly disagreed
I will take another online course in the future / 92.86% agreed-strongly agreed / 97.37% agreed-strongly agreed
My writing skills improved from where they were at course entry. / 96.43% agreed-strongly agreed / 80.70% agreed-strongly agreed
My research skills improved from where they were at course entry. / 67.86% agreed-strongly agreed / 45.32% agreed-strongly agreed
This course had real-world relevance beyond the classroom. / 85.71% agreed-strongly agreed / 94.74% agreed-strongly agreed
I am more likely to become active with community needs as a result of this course. / 21.43% agreed-strongly agreed / 73.39% agreed-strongly agreed
I was satisfied with the course instructor quality. / 92.86% agreed-strongly agreed / 92.11% agreed-strongly agreed
I was satisfied with the coursework quality. / 92.86% agreed-strongly agreed / 78.36% agreed-strongly agreed
Beyond numbers, here is how some eSL students reflected on their eSL experience:
“I really enjoyed working with my community partner. It gave me another look at why grammar and writing are so important and how they can be used to help people.”
“Through writing about MYM I have become more aware of a serious [sex trafficking] problem in our city and am now able to have educated discussions on the issue...I can use my skills as a writer to help any cause, or relay any thought.”
Looking Ahead
When trying eService-Learning, starting small and seeking help are imperative. I have decided to scale back what I tried in my online eight-week sessions to only one assignment or to offer all three assignments but over a full sixteen week term. I am currently trying eService-Learning in my face-to-face classes. My curiosity remains as I exchange ideas within and beyond my college’s faculty. And, of course, I continue to “share” online and in person all I learned and continue to learn about the important work my nonprofit partners are doing in the community.
References
American Association of Community Colleges. (2016, February). “Fast Facts from our Facts Sheet”. Retrieved from
Strait, J.R., & Nordyke, K. (Eds.). (2015). eService-Learning: Creating Experiential Learning and Civic Engagement Through Online and Hybrid Courses. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.
Straumsheim, C. (2016, April 13). “Stopping Stop-Outs”. Retrieved from
Waldner, L.S., McGorry S. Y., & Widener M. C. (2012). E-Service-Learning: The Evolution of Service-Learning to Engage a Growing Online Student Population. Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 16(2), 123-150.