much exceed twenty-five in number forbest reslts1 A fexible school schedule should be setup to provide loger periods of time (twocls periods or morte) during a givenschoo day for oring on onmmnity

S r _icto-comnity projects shouldbe consided part of the school curric-alum and conducted as part of the regularcla work.I For many activities.such as surveys andfood preservation, small comittees work-

mg toy~ is the most edicint form¶ The o rg aton form should be shifted1 The o pgurizrtsr fonrl should be shifted

durigh the execuion of the project tofacilitate the workldng out of the problemad to increase the growth of the pr-

I Tc~blebk resuls should be sought assoon s possible in t least a few phes ofthe project.¶ Educators should guard students aainstthe exploiation sometimes involved m theuse of their services in community'projects.I Evaluation itechniqes should be workedout in terms of individual and group ob-ectives agreed upon by the- patcpants

and utilized in process as well as at thecompletion of the service-to-communityactvty.

aoiat e&ment e( 9gAoau Ufidy _HAROLD R. BOTTRELL

A college whih is an integral part of community life in ontrast to one whidch erelyexists within thm eane of a aommunit is th gial of many intitution today. Harold

ettell, director, urrall Community Service Projeets, Stephon Collee, Columbia, Mo.writ bor on group projects and ommunity servie based on his own resesrdh and

THE COMMUNITY as a learninglaboratory implies ways in which theconmmnity may. be used to this end.Ways of providing community experi-ence for youth develop in practice intoorganized patterns of activities and ex-periences. They are cooperative patternsand, at their best, are jointly supportedby a school and the community. Groupprojects are considered here as onesuch pattern of student participation inservice to the community in juniorcollege

Community service can be seenclearly only in terms of field ex-perience and field data, for the activitiesand experiences have sharpest meaningand greatest reality where they happenand where they visibly connect withthe life of the community. It is to be

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understood, in this connection, that thisarticle is based on the professional ex-perience and research of the writer inthe field of community service in juniorcolleges.

Community service is defined here asresponsible, directed student participa-tion in the services and activities oflocal community agencies, organiza-tions, and groups, organized and super-vised -by the college through themedium of cooperative working ar-rangeents between the college and thecommunity. Group activity, as con-sidered here, has social structure andoperating design within which thefunctions of community service arerelated and its processes are carried on.

Community service efforts using themedium of group projects provide or-

Educatioal Leaderaip

ganizational structure, tested groupprocesses, trained supervision, and co-operative arrangements with com-munity agencies. As an organizedpattern, community service throughgroup projects is characterized by con-tinuity in functions, time, and personnel.

Generally, the student group is or-ganized around the project and the serv-ices provided to the communitythrough it. The services are the pri-mary and continuing fact and the stu-dents the operating resource. The rolesand functions of participants are clearand manageable and the recognition ofwork and learning outcomes corre-spondingly direct and specific. Oppor-tunities for student self- direction andleadership under guidance are widelyand responsibly available in well oper-ated group projects. At their best, groupprojects bring the college and the com-munity functionally together and affordthe participating student evaluated ex-perience in the interaction occurringbetween the two groups.

Group projects require an operationalblend of three factors-a student group,a cooperating community agency, anda pattern of organization and operation,including supervision. Fact-finding andfact-facing are involved at all times ingroup projects.

Group Work Is Scarce

Group experience and group tech-niques are shortage areas in moderneducation. Although it is normal be-havior for man to work in groups,school programs are often sadly lackingin this area of experience. Perhaps thisaccounts, in part at least, for the tend-ency to define leadership in terms ofstatus and personal characteristics and

February 1947

to think of participation as resultingfrom individual volunteering.

Leadership is a function of the socialsituation and a leader is one who canenable the group to achieve its collectivepurposes, one who can weld unity anddirection out of the diverse interests andabilities of the individuals composingthe group. Leadership, then, is de-veloped through experiences in manysituations in which sensitivity to per-sons, functions, and relationships is exer-cised and appraised.

Participation is a social, rather thanan individual, activity. It involves beingwithin the group and within the pro-cesses through which the group seeksto achieve its purposes and fulfill itsfunctions.

Is lack of such opportunities onereason why college graduates are notcommunity leaders-why they are pas-sive more often than contributing mem-bers of groups? When the volunteeringprinciple is supplemented by guidedgroup experiences, cooperative pro-cesses, group techniques, and leadershipabilities are rooted and nurtured in aproductive social setting, interest andcompetence are interwoven and goalsfor development and progress emergenaturally and responsibly.

The aim is to put together the serv-ice needs of the community and theinterests, abilities, and resources of stu-dents. This is a personnel job involvingspecific information about students andclearly defined services and activities incooperating community agencies. Selec-tion of participants and careful choicesby participants are facilitated by acentralized campus source of informa-tion and by available interview andcounseling processes. Interview-counsel-

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ing may be provided by student leaders,staff supervisors, cooperating com-munity personnel or any combinationof the thre. Qualifications to be metby- participants assure competence toperform the services involved and en-able students to appraise their readinessto undertake these services. In any case,the information made available to stu-dents on the service opportunities, onproject organization, and on the opera-tiou of the group project must be first-hand, accurate, and specific.

Services to the community do notalways require high orders of skill andprevious experience. When they do,responsibility for .providing trainingand preparation should be specificallylocated, either in courses or in resourceofferings, either pre-service or in-serv-ice. At present the preparation offeredis entirely too general and unrelatedto the actual situations involved.

Community service activities are pro-vided by colleges in order to affordstudents experience in community par-ticipation and community life. Appro-priately, all opportunities awilable forthe exercise of student leadershipshould be utilized. Clear definition offunctions and responsibilities maximizesleadership opportunities for students.With the situations involved made de-scriptively and understandably clear tostudents, they can undertake responsi-bility for many delegated functions,first under guidance, later on a largelyself-directed basis. They can serve asproject leaders, as chairmen of projectsubdivisions, as on-the-spot supervisorsof students at work in the community,as liaison with community agencies andpersonnel The variety of activities pos-sible provides opportunities for dif-

ferentiation of responsibilities in termsof participant needs and abilities and interms of their developing interests andincreasing competence.

Community Agenies Cooperate

The available evidence indicates thatcommunities are often more interestedin utilizing the services and resources ofjunior colleges and their students thanthe colleges are interested in obtainingand utilizing opportunities for studentsto engage in services to the community.It is important to consider ways inwhich this interest by the communitymay be drawn upon in group projects.

Opportunities for comm-nity serviceby students may initiate in the com-munity as requests for services, as in-vitation to participate in communityevents and projects, or as possibilitiesfor the college to investigate. They mayalso initiate in the college through in-ventories of services that can be providedand resources that may be used. Theymay arise, as a third way, through jointcollege-community efforts to surveyand study the community situation interms of needs that can be met andservices that can be provided throughgroup projects. In each instance, theintent should be to discover opportuni-ties that afford services to the com-munity and educative experiences foryouth. When location of service oppor-tunities is systematically pursued, it isvaluable to establish criteria that maybe applied to them to determine theirsignificance and feasibility.

As has been pointed out, groupprojects need clarity of structure anddefiniteness of function. Continuity intime is highly desirable. To these ends,it is helpful for the college and the com-

Eduestioaa Ledership

munity agency to work out togethera cooperating arrangement setting forththe services to be undertaken, the alloca-tion of guidance and supervisory re-sponsibilities, and the principles ofoperation to be followed. It is well forthis agreement to be put in writing andkept available for reference. To do sogives increased assurance of the projectbeing continued from year to year,despite probable turnover in college andagency personnel

In general, colleges have not givenadequate thought to the role of agencypersonnel in community service proj-ects. Their interests, abilities, and ex-perience should be recognized by thecollege, staff supervisors, and par-ticipating students. They should beutilized as consultants and co-super-visors. Their functions should properlybe correlative to that of college staff.Agency personnel are in a position toexercise teaching-counseling functionswith reference to members of theproject group. Particularly soughtshould be their cooperation in practicalevaluation and in ways to improve theproject and aid growth and develop-ment of participating students.

Set a Realistic Pattern

Effective operation of group projectsrequires coordination within the col-lege, within the project group, and inrelationships with the community. Thepattern of organization should be real-istic with reference to each of thesethree areas.

The college and its students can notbe expected to proceed any considerabledistance beyond the administrativesupport given to community serviceand student participation in the com-

February 1947

munity. The extent to which the col-lege provides budget, trained super-vision, and time for staff and studentparticipation exerts determining in-fluence upon the quantity and qualityof community service undertakings.College support should also be ex-pressed in designated channels of com-munication between the college and thecommunity. The personnel responsiblefor administrative decisions on com-munity service should be clearly identi-fied. Nothing so irritates cooperatingcommunity agencies and personnel asdoes duplication of effort, indecision onlocation of responsibility, and vagueallocation of functions.

It is not always necessary to formnew student groups to obtain projectgroups. Group projects may be anintegral part of courses. Student clubsand other campus organizations mayutilize community service projects. Inother instances, community servicemay have an identity of its own andrecruit directly from the student bodythe personnel for the projects com-posing its program. Or the college itselfmay operate a community service bu-reau or center that serves as the meansof selecting participants and organizingproject groups. Whatever the organiza-tional base of group projects may be, itis important that the service to the com-munity be recognized as the primaryconcern and the students viewed as theenabling resource. Ideally, the servicesprovided the community and the learn-ing experiences of students are cor-relative values. Finally, in order forstudents to participate effectively andfreely in group projects, the collegemust accept responsibility for providingtime for them to work together as

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groups both on and off the campus, andon bases equivalent to other educativeopportunities afforded them.

Students should have responsible free-dom to plan and organize within theproject group. Here they have a gen-uine opportunity to experience co-operative processes and group tech-niques firsthand. In so doing, it is neces-sary for them to know and to makedecisions in terms of the actual personsand the actual situations confrontingthem. They can obtain a sense for thefact that problems belong to the grouprather than to individual members, arealization that considered consensus ispreferable to voting, an awareness thatthought and action have practical con-sequences. Within the project group,therefore, there should be understand-ing of the job to be done, of thepersons to do the job, and of theprocesses most appropriate to the jobto be done.

The executive functions of the proj-ect group can be undertaken by astudent leader or project council. Theproject may be organized in terms ofgroups of its operations and functions.Specialized activities can be the respon-sibility of those most qnualified. Theorganization within the project shouldtake into consideration three principles:first, the actual situation defines theorganization needed; second, the or-ganizational pattern should be as sim-ple as possible and yet provide ade-quate social structure and effectivedivision of labor; and, third, the mem-bers of the project group are respon-sible to the group as a whole and reportregularly to the project group as awhole.

It is important that student leaders

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meet regularly to appraise their work,to formulate their plans, and to evaluatetheir experiences. Similar opportunitiesshould be afforded the project group.Of special importance in the programof a project are some service situationsin which the total group can work to-gether, for they provide social cementfor group unity and cohesiveness andfoster realization of the service con-tribution of the group as a whole.Finally, it is desirable that students par-ticipate regularly in community service,week by week if possible and preferablythroughout the school year.

Group projects require supervisionthat is primarily coordination and con-sultation. It is important that super-vision be face-to-face and in terms ofactual community service situations andexperiences. Therefore, staff membersresponsible for supervision must beconcerned with more than makingarrangements for student participationin the community. They must engagein field visitation of students at workserving the community. To do this thecollege, in turn, has to assume respon-sibility for providing staff members withadequate time and resources to do aneffective job of supervisory visitation,field consultation with cooperatingcommunity personnel, and counselingwith participating students. The collegeattitude at this point exerts determin-ing influence upon the role expected ofand accepted by agency personnel forsupervision of students engaging in com-munity service. If the college does anadequate job of supervision, then co-operating agencies and their personneltend to participate more fully andresponsibly in supervision. Similarly, thesocial understanding and community

Edimtional Lendsship

participation of staff members exert in-fluence upon students. If the collegestaff shows social understanding andthemselves participate in communityactivities, then students tend to acceptcommunity service as normal and ex-pected experience for them also.

The operation of a community serv-ice project is essentially a process ofsocial planning. It calls for a workingblend of individual and group effort. Itis dependent upon functions com-petently performed and responsibilitieseffectively fulfilled. It is firsthand ex-perience in cooperative processes. Itplaces a premium upon sensitivity torelationships. The pattern of operationshould be indigenous, which requiresthat the college know itself, its students,and its community intensively andextensively enough to develop a patternthat fits the college-community sit-uation.

Attention should be given to recordkeeping. Events have such momentumand experience such moving con-tinuity that history must be recordedin process. Student leaders should sub-mit regular written reports. Theseshould be progress reports evaluatingservice activities and accomplishmentsand the growth in competence of proj-ect petsonnel. Supervisors should main-tain records of field visitation and

observations of observations and sug-gestions of agency-personnel, and ofthe project group. Record keepingprocedures should be as simple as pos-sible. Group projects should be re-viewed and analyzed in annual reportsfor two reasons. First, it is importantto record in detail the planning andoperation of the project over a periodof time. Second, such reports constitutebasic data for successive project groups.

Bases for Improvement

The college concerned about studentparticipation in community servicethrough group projects must direct itsefforts into five basic areas of practicalknowledge and understanding throughcontinuous study and experimentation:

a growing body of facts of all kindsabout the community; an enlarging re-source of opportunities in the form oforganized service projects and activities;an expanding arsenal of techniques, pri-marily group and cooperative tech-niques; a flexible, adaptive pattern forparticipation in and operation and super-vision of community service; and, anaccumulating reservoir of criticized ex-perience obtained through participationand evaluation.

Efforts in these directions lead to im-provement of practice in group projectsand to increase of contributing com-petence in community living.

WE THINK The Changing World for this month is particularlypertinent to the world situation. Be sure to read it, won't you#

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Copyright © 1947 by the Association for Supervision and Curriculum Development. All rights reserved.