Service-Learning: Procedures
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"The challenge of social justice is to evoke a sense of community that we need to make our nation a better place, just as we make it a safer place." Marian Wright Edelman |
- Eligibility Requirements
- Program Enrollment and Academic Exchange
- Reflection
- The Service-Learning Course
- Grading and Evaluation
Eligibility Requirements
To be eligible for service-learning students should:
- Have a 2.0 or better GPA
- Have a willingness to serve while actively reflecting upon the service
- Be open to learning in new and unexpected ways
- Be enrolled in a course that offers service-learning
- Design a one or two credit service-learning independent study with a faculty member and a Cahill Center staff member
Program Enrollment and Academic Exchange
Service-Learning is offered primarily through existing courses. Faculty members choose to integrate service-learning into their courses either as an option or as a requirement. Service-Learning, then, becomes a major component of the course in which it is offered. Faculty members who require service-learning have built it into the course along with other requirements such as research papers, examinations, etc. As an option, service-learning is usually offered as one of a choice of a few assignments such as a research paper or project.
Students enroll in service-learning, whether performing it as an option or a requirement, only after meeting with the service-learning staff in the Cahill Center and moving forward with registration procedures. The staff then works with students to develop appropriate service-learning placements. Students must meet the following requirements in order to be placed and remain in good standing with the Service-Learning Program:
- Complete the Participant Profile
- Complete the Participation Contract
- Attend an Orientation session
- Obtain the Learning Agreement, Timesheet, Calendar
- Determine learning objectives with the service-learning faculty member
- Understand clearly the academic assignment that will be given in conjuction with the service-learning placement
- Complete the Learning Agreement and return it to the Cahill Center
Reflection
"the capacity for reflection is what transforms experience into learning." (Hutchings and Wutzdorff) Reflection is an integral component of the service-learning process.
All students who are enrolled, either as an option or a requirement, in service-learning whether they have been placed through the Cahill Center or have secured their own placements (conversions), must attend scheduled reflection sessions during the semester they are placed. The sessions are planned and facilitated by Cahill Center staff. From time to time, faculty members, community partner representatives and student aides help facilitate the sessions.
The Service-Learning Course
Students who have signed up for service-learning as an option within their respective courses will then be enrolled in the Service-Learning Course (ZINT 010-01). This course carries zero (0) credits and is graded pass/fail. This course will appear on the formal academic transcript.
Grading and Evaluation
As the service-learning placement nears completion, the following evaluations take place:
- Students are evaluated by their supervisor at the community partner organization.
- Students' academic assignments (done in conjuction with service-learning) are evaluated and/or graded by their course professors.
- Students complete the Participant Assessment of the community partner organization including the responsibilities they held.
