Loyola University Chicago- Information for Faculty

Information for Faculty

The Service-Learning Program at Loyola

CEL's Service-Learning Coordinator and program staff are always willing to work with faculty, community partners, and students seeking support for course design, collaboration implementation, and project creation.

Academic Benefits of Service-Learning

Research has demonstrated that participation in service-learning offers significant academic and personal benefits for students.

When combined with reflection on their experiences, a service-learning course design can increase students’ academic learning and enhance their understanding of the subject matter.
Community-based experiences strengthen students’ ability to apply what they have learned to “real world” settings.
Working in the community enhances students’ personal development, e.g. sense of personal efficacy, personal/communal identity, social responsibility, and moral development.
Concrete engagement in community service also increases students’ social responsibility and citizenship skills.

Components of Service-Learning

Research supports the importance of each of the following components for an effective service-learning course experience. Whether faculty members are cooperating with the Center for Experiential Learning or implementing a service-learning course design on their own, they should guarantee that each of these elements is present in their course(s).

Preparation: Students must be "set up for success" in their experiential learning venture. Preparation includes setting objectives for the skills to be learned both in the classroom and in the community placement, explaining the community aspect of the course to students before they begin their service placement, and making sure students have an orientation or training with their service organization(s).

Action: CEL, based on current research, recommends that students spend a minimum of 20-25 hours/semester engaging in the service work that is required in the course.

Reflection: Learning is accomplished, not simply by doing, but rather by reflecting on what one has done. Reflection requires taking time after the service work is completed to actively think about/write about/process the experience in terms of personal insights, community issues, and the academic objectives of the course.

Evaluation: The first principle of service-learning pedagogy (see below) is that academic credit be given for learning, not simply for completing "service hours." That learning is assessed through students' oral and written reflection on service work, and through students' integration of their service experiences into other course assignments, projects, and discussions.

10 Principles of Community-Service-Learning Pedagogy

The following 10 principles should be kept in mind in implementing a service-learning pedagogy in an academic course.

Academic credit is for learning, not for service
Do not compromise academic rigor
Set learning goals for students
Establish criteria for the selection of community service placements
Provide educationally sound mechanisms to harvest the community learning
Provide supports for students to learn how to harvest the community learning
Minimize the distinction between students' community learning role and the classroom learning role
Rethink the faculty instructional role
Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in student learning outcomes
Maximize the community responsibility orientation of the course

(Jeffrey Howard, Ed. Praxis I: A Faculty Casebook on Community Service Learning. Ann Arbor, MI: Office of Community Service Learning Press, UMI, 1993)

Resources and Supports for Faculty

The Center for Experiential Learning serves as a resource for faculty, students and community partners in all aspects of the service-learning experience. CEL stafff and the Service-Learning Program can directly provide the following services/supports:

Assist faculty with service-learning course development
Assist faculty with re-design of traditional courses into service-learning courses
Suggest relevant and appropriate community service sites for service-learning courses
Facilitate campus/community partnerships with community service organizations
Promote and publicize service-learning courses to students
Present service-learning program and/or potential service sites to service-learning classes
Support students seeking community service sites with one-on-one advising and data
Conduct pre-service evaluations of service-learning students
Provide ready-to-use service-learning course forms (e.g. learning contract, hours log)
Coordinate community partner site visits, orientations and trainings
Facilitate student reflection on service experiences (in-class, “virtual class”, workshops)
Publicize student service activities and service-learning projects
Conduct post-service evaluations of student service learners and service sites
Assist faculty with post-course evaluation, analysis, and re-design
Support faculty service-learning-based engaged/action research and publication

CEL has collected many of its most important resources for faculty in its "Service-Learning Resource Manual for Faculty" (PDF). This manual contains a faculty-focused explanation of service-learning and its benefits, a collection of resources for service-learning course and project design, eRecruiting instructions, and copies of important documents used by the Service-Learning Program at Loyola.

Contact CEL's Service-Learning Coordinator to inquire about cooperating with CEL on a new or already-existing service-learning course
List of current Loyola service-learning courses (Fall 2008) and community partners
Online resources related to service-learning and experiential education
Take ACTION! Community Partner Resource Guide