Loyola University Chicago

"The fundamental proposition underlying Jesuit education is that faith, knowledge and service are not three separate and independent aspects of education, accidentally or arbitrarily juxtaposed alongside each other, but rather that they form a triad in which each term is dynamically related to the others, and any one term is incomplete without the other two.  This integral philosophy of education is what makes Loyola, together with the other Jesuit colleges and universities, truly distinctive." 

- Dan Hartnett, S.J., "Service Learning and Justice" (PDF, Loyola 2000)

Service-learning is a method of teaching and learning that combines service in the community with academic learning in the classroom. Although there are many definitions of service-learning, it is commonly defined as a course-based, credit-earning educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets community-defined needs. Students reflect on the service activity in order to increase their understanding of course content, to appreciate the discipline, to engage social justice issues and to enhance their sense of civic responsibility. Structured reflection activities in the course provide meaningful opportunities for students to connect their learning in the community with their learning in the classroom.

The Center for Experiential Learning serves as a resource for faculty, students and community partners for the service-learning experience. CEL staff help students connect with community-based organizations relevant to their service-learning course requirements. As a resource to faculty, the staff helps identify relevant community-based organizations, foster relationships with those organizations and provide service-learning course development and support, as well as other support services as needed. The Center provides outreach to community-based organizations to ensure that partnerships with Loyola meet community needs.

To contact CEL's Service-Learning Coordinator, click here.

• Fall 2009 Service-Learning Courses at Loyola
• Spring 2010 Service-Learning Courses at Loyola 
• General Guidelines for Service-Learning
• How is Service-Learning Different from Community Service?
• Information for Community Partners
• Information for Faculty
• Information for Students
• Take ACTION! Community Partner Resource Guide

   General Guidelines for Service-Learning

Service-learning courses at Loyola generally require students to complete a minimum of 20-25 hours of unpaid service at a community agency during the semester.  Students' service experiences complement their academic coursework; ongoing academic reflection on those experiences enhances their understanding of course material and sharpens their capacity for informed, critical analysis of future experiences.

Ideally, the service-learning experience:

• Provides meaningful work experiences for the student related to course objectives and meeting a community-defined need
• Is academically rigorous, including clear learning goals for the student and explicit community learning goals from the service experience
• Establishes guided critical reflection opportunities (oral, written, artistic, audio/visual, electronic, and/or group processing) in the course
• Provides the student with a mentor (resource) at the community partner organization to enhance student learning and student development
• Includes orientation, training, supervision, monitoring, and evaluation to meet service and learning goals
• Intentionally explores the relationships between power, privilege, prejudice, oppression, root cause of inequity, social justice, the service in which the student is engaged, as well as the academic content the student is studying
• Provides formal and informal evaluations throughout the experience and a final assessment from both the student and organization/mentor
• Supports the academic experience of the student, while rooted in the curriculum, the Jesuit mission, and the core values of Loyola University Chicago

Practically speaking, the following basic suggestions can help students, faculty, and community partners to optimize their service-learning experience, thus bringing it as close to the above-stated "ideals" as possible:

1. Clearly establish the community learning goals with the community partner organization.
2. Establish clear expectations of service performance, dress, and work environment.
3. Set expectations for service hours and establish a schedule for work (e.g., 25 hours during the semester, requires 5 hours a week for 5 weeks).
4. Recognize the community partner(s) as co-educators in this learning experience.
5. Schedule times for periodic reflection on the service work and a final evaluation of performance. Feedback and reflection is essential to this learning process.

   How is service-Learning Different from Community Service?

Both service-learning and community service involve students committing time and energy to meeting the needs of the broader community.  However, there are some nuances that separate academic service-learning (as promoted by the Center for Experiential Learning) from community service programs (e.g. Ministry's "Loyola4Chicago" program).  Most importantly, service-learning activities are always course-based, and include a deliberate dialogical element:  that is, students' service experiences are reflected upon (both in and out of class) in light of the course's academic content, which in turn becomes a lens through which students analyze their experiences on the service site.  Service-learning projects thus always fulfill an academic objective in addition to meeting a real community need.

The following examples might help to clarify this distinction further.  In both cases, students are doing approximately 4 hours of service per week with the same agency, Ladder Up's Tax Assistance Program (TAP), which recruits financial professionals to run free tax preparation clinics for low-income Chicago families.

Marta is working with TAP as part of a community service program.  She chose to work with TAP because their mission interests her, because she has skills (e.g. fluency in Spanish) that are particularly needed by their program, and because their schedule (tax clinics on Saturday mornings) fits well with hers.  Marta gathers monthly with other students in her community service program; at those gatherings, they reflect on the personal and life lessons they are learning by doing service, and also discuss the social justice issues that are raised by their experiences.

Maria is an accounting student, working with TAP as one of the requirements of her Concepts of Taxation class (service-learning).  She chose to work with TAP because her experiences on site would offer her "real world" examples of the concepts that are being discussed in her class.  Her professor devotes part of each class to student reflection on their service experiences, inviting students to share stories from their community work to illustrate the points of that week's lecture and/or readings; this counts towards their class participation grade.  Students also journal about their service experiences; the assignment for these written reflections (which are graded) instructs students to focus on the broader, ethical implications of tax policy in light of their personal acquaintance with low-income families and their struggles.