SERVICE-LEARNING MODELS

As you consider integrating service-learning, one way to think about the project is to consider the service-learning model. No one model of service-learning is right for every course; the community need, the goals of the course, and the philosophy of the instructor should dictate what form the service-learning model takes.

The examples below are adapted from Barbara Jacoby’sService-Learning Models for Inclusion into Classrooms:

  • Service-learning course: All students in the course are involved in service-learning, perhaps in small groups, as a class on one common project, or as individuals. Reflection is integrated throughout the course and linked to learning outcomes.
  • Field work service-learning: Students in professional programs, such as teacher education, nursing, or human services work in the community, often several times throughout their coursework for increasingly lengthy periods of time. For field education to be considered service-learning, reciprocal partnerships, reflection, and intentional integration with academic content are critical.
  • Community-based research: Under the supervision of a faculty member, students engage in research with the community, designed to benefit all partners. Community members are involved in every stage of the research process.
  • Service-learning capstone: A service-learning capstone course is a culminating experience that enables students to integrate their learning from throughout their college experience, to make meaning of it, and to think about how they will use it in the future. They often involve a research project or substantial service experience with critical analysis and a final written paper and/or presentation.
  • Dean's Seminars and First-Year Development Courses: Service-learning can often be integrated into these seminars or courses for an active, more critical experience, to introduce first-year students to the concept of service-learning, to the community in which the university is located, and to help students build skills in writing, critical thinking and/or a content area through active learning.
  • Service-learning internship or independent study: Can allow students in any major to work in the community for more substantial amounts of time, attend class (often a minimum of hours), and engage in on-going reflection and intentional application of academic learning.
  • International service-learning: Takes many forms, including a course that involves an alternative spring break, a 3-week winter break, or a summer experience in an international setting. Often these courses involve service in a local community that is related to the work the students are doing abroad.
  • Course sequencing: A series of courses are taken in order, each one building on the work of the previous, with the service and the reflection becoming deeper and more critical. Students may partner with the same or different community agencies throughout the sequence. This can involve a multidisciplinary approach.
  • Optional/4th credit: Students in a course choose from 2 or more options for achieving course goals, including service-learning, case studies, research papers, or other projects. Reflection may be different for students engaged in the service option and those who are not. OR students negotiate a learning contract with a faculty member in any course in which the faculty member is willing to work with the student to design a service-learning component to supplement the basic course. The service-learning component includes intentional reflection; the credit is awarded for demonstration of learning, not for the service alone.

Within these models of service-learning, courses can have different structures that include one or more of the following elements:

Type of Service Experience / Description / Example
Direct Service / Students serve individually or in groups at the site; similar to internships or work-study placements / Students in a University Writing course perform client intakes at human services agencies while researching topics related to the issues they witness
Indirect Service / Students work as consultants, often only meeting occasionally with a supervisor or staff person at an agency to perform a specific, organizational task; they do not work directly with clients. / Students in a women’s studies course revise employee handbooks to address textual gender bias.
Group Projects / Students work collaboratively in one or more groups. This service may be rendered to one or more agencies or to an entire community as a project with a tangible deliverable or as a structured activity. / Students in a Marketing course interview an agency and learn more about agency needs through agency visits. Based on their experience, students design marketing materials (brochure, flyer) for the agency’s use.
Individual Placement / All students in the course are required to individually fulfill the service component for course completion. Students work at service sites from a menu of placements and meet the commitment as determined by each agency and the instructor and/or student. Assignments are designed to facilitate learning skills or subjects. / Students in a Death and Dying course provide needed services at health care agencies, assisted living centers, hospice and more. The diverse range of experiences is brought back into the classroom for reflection and discussion.
Community Based Research / Students learn research methodology while serving as advocates for communities. Community agencies play a critical role in identifying issues to be researched. Students then research these issues to gain a better understanding, while providing current data and research for community agencies. / Students in a Biology class test pollution levels in the Anacostia River periodically throughout the term. Students work with community partners such as the Anacostia Watershed Society to gather data and compile results during class time. The resulting report is shared with the Society to better guide their work.
Independent Study / One or more students are involved in a service experience related to a discipline or topic area. The students meet regularly with a faculty member to discuss and reflect on the experience. / The bulk of the time in this model is not spent in class, but in service. It is typical of a service-learning independent study for students to spend as much as 100 hours in service. Students write a research paper at the conclusion.