Service-learning:

Design and Delivery

Center for Collaboration and DevelopmentAugust 6, 2018

Goals

Participants will be able to…

• Define service-learning

• Explain the fundamentals of service-learning course design

• Utilize resources USM Service-Learning offers and find others

• Discuss suggestions for persistence challenges related to

service-learning experiences

• Support a campus-community partnership

• Develop next steps for course planning

CONTEXT

Institutional Goals

• 2020 Carnegie Classification

• Campus Compact Member

• Presidents’ Declaration on the Civic Responsibility of Higher

Education

• USM will be known for academic excellence with real-world

experiences as a core part of its academic program• 80% of our students will state that at least one individual knows

them well, supports them, and believes in them

• 72% of our students will remain at USM between each school

year

Academic Vision

I. A Focus on Relationships: To learn effectively, students must

feel connected to their community.

II. A Future Forward Curriculum: At USM students also acquire

habits of mind, skills, and enduring dispositions that transcend

academic disciplines and foster confidence and agency,

preparing them to contribute meaningfully to their professional and cultural communities.

III. The Integration of Learning and Work: USM teaches students

to think critically about the work they do and equips them

with the knowledge and skills to pursue rewarding careers and

meaningful, prosperous, and fulfilling lives.

IV. A Mission of Service and Citizenship: Students and faculty develop deep ties with community partners and businesses to

address social and economic challenges.

Benefits

• Academic learning increases

– Absorption of content knowledge

– Complexity of understanding, problem analysis, critical

thinking, cognitive development, and metacognition

• Positive relationship between student and institution

– Students report stronger faculty relationships

– Positively affects student retention

– Students are more likely to persist and graduate

Additional Benefits

• Positively affects personal development (sense of self-efficacy,

identity, and values development)

• Positively affects interpersonal development (collaboration,

leadership, communication)

• Career Clarification and Networking Opportunities

• Cultivation of 21st Century Skills and Civic Competencies

Critical Issues

• “Anemic Civic Health”

• East End Community School – Highest population of children

experiencing homelessness in history.

• City of Portland contributes 1.8 million gallons of runoff and

raw sewage into the harbor each year.

• Maine ranks 7th in the nation and 1st in New England for food

insecurity.

• 40% of transgender adults reported having made a suicide

attempt. 92% of these individuals reported having attempted

suicide before the age of 25

DEFINING SERVICE-LEARNING

Definition

SERVICE LEARNING

COMMUNITY SERVICE FIELD EDUCATION

VOLUNTEERISM INTERNSHIP

Beneficiary

Focus

Recipient

Service

Provider

Learning

“…a teaching and learning approach that integrates community

service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic

responsibility, and strengthen communities…”

Key Components

Partnership

Reflection

Learning Objectives

Key Characteristics

Service-Learning:

• Is developed, implemented, and evaluated in

collaboration with the community

• Responds to a community-identified concern

or centers a critical issue

• Intentionally links to learning objectives

• Provides opportunity for reflection

Distinctions

Volunteering

• Students remove trash

from a streambed

Service-Learning

• Students remove trash from a streambed

• Analyze what they have found

• Share the results and offer suggestions for the neighborhood to reduce pollution

• Reflect on their experience

LEARNING OBJECTIVES & ACTIVITIES

Types

• Direct – Conducting music lessons for younger students; Creating life reviews for Hospice patients

• Indirect – Compiling a town history; Preparing preserve areas for public use

• Advocacy – Planning a public forum; Working with elected officials to draft legislation to improve communities

• Research-Based – Mapping state lands and monitoring flora and fauna; Conducting evaluations or interviews

• Activism – Students partner with grassroots organizations dedicated to food sovereignty and immigrant rights to organize a march

Tiers of Service

Episodic

• One-time events; Offerings by Service-Learning and Volunteering Office; Best for COR Labs, introductory courses, and first-year students

Placements

• Individual (often direct service) placements; Expectations defined by community partners; Service-Learning and Volunteering manages process

Programs

• Packaged programs run by service-learning and volunteering; Intake process, student training and support, and materials provided.

Project

• Unique course design process; Most integrated model; Highest level of investment from faculty member and community partner; Requires significant planning time

Episodic

Boys & Girls Club Day for Kids

Friday, September 14th 3:00 –

6:00 PM

Sagamore Village Clubhouse

5-30 volunteers needed

Preble Street Resource Center Soup Kitchen Service Event

Thursday, October 18th

10:30am -1:30pm

13 volunteers

Veterans Day Service Event

Monday, November 12th 11:00

AM – 1:00 PM

Evergreen Cemetery

Unlimited Capacity

Other one-time events

can be found on our

website calendar:

usm.maine.edu/service

Episodic STEM

STEM Expo

• Friday - November 2nd, 9:00 AM – 2:00 PM

• Portland Public Schools 5th Annual STEM Expo hosted by USM - Sullivan Gym

• 1,800 Portland K-12 students expected

• 60+ STEM Exhibits

• 8 - 10 booths for USM Faculty/Students

Day of Code

• Open to any students

• Computer

Science/Cyber

Security, Mathematics,

Technology students

encouraged

• Students gain skills in:

– Activity development

– Group facilitation

– Communication

Placements

Example Description

PROGRAMS

STEM Ambassadors

• USM students trained to facilitate hands on science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) with youth 8-14 years old to increase access to post-secondary education in the STEM fields.

• Open to students with interest in working with youth

• Students gain skills in: Communication, Leadership, Presentation, Problem-Solving, Project Planning

Requirements– Submit Application and Complete Background Check

– Complete 2 orientation sessions (3rd & 4th week of September)

– Complete 6 educational sessions (1-hour) with a community partner over a 6-week schedule

STEM Sisters• Open to students on STEM pathways who are interested in volunteer

outreach that supports K-16 STEM pipelines and gender equity in the related fields

• Students gain skills in:– Mini-module development (applying course learning objectives)

– Group facilitation

– Self-awareness

– Communication

• Requirements:– Orientation/Training

– Must be in a STEM related field, traditional or non-traditional

– Can commit to a minimum of 3 sessions

• Special sessions:– Pop-Up Coding

– Pop-Up Engineering

– Girls Who Code

Project-Based

Examples:

• CMS 450 taught by Dennis Gilbert – Service-Learning Practicum

• HON 101 taught by Rebecca Nisetich – Dawnland Voices 2.0 Project

• FSP 210 taught by Jamie Picardy – Partnering with GMRI, students

modeled agricultural land use required by various dietary choices,

from vegan to traditional meat proteins. Using Tufts University

Foodprint Model, students were tasked with optimizing dietary choice

to maximize the carrying capacity of our national food system.

• EGN 304 taught by Ivan Most – Using a client/consultant service

model, students develop project plans, create GANTT charts,

conduct financial analyses, perform research on energy alternatives,

and generate recommendations for the client community partners.

Utilizing these projects, students develop an understanding of pro-

bono work as an integral part of their future as engineering

professionals.

OnlineClassroom Modality

Se

rvic

e-L

ea

rnin

g M

od

ality

On-Site Online

On

-Site

Traditional

Service-Learning

eService-Learning Hybrid I

(Instruction Online)

On

line eService-Learning Hybrid II

(Service Online)Extreme eService-Learning

(Instruction & Service Online)

Online Service-Learning

Opportunities

Federal Crowdsourcing and Citizen Science Catalog contains information about federal

citizen science and crowdsourcing projects. The public participates voluntarily in the

scientific process, addressing real-world problems in ways that may include formulating

research questions, conducting scientific experiments, collecting and analyzing data,

interpreting results, making new discoveries, developing technologies and applications,

and solving complex problems.

What's on the menu? The New York Public Library is transcribing historical restaurant menus,

dish by dish, so that they can be searched by what people were eating back in the day.

The Emergency Committee of Atomic Scientists in Post-War America are part of Series 12:

Peace, of the Ava Helen and Linus Pauling Papers at Oregon State University Libraries and

Press. When Albert Einstein died in 1955, his personal ECAS files were turned over to Frank

Aydelotte, the director of Princeton University’s Institute for Advanced Study, where

Einstein worked in his final years. Upon Aydelotte’s death shortly thereafter, Einstein’s

personal files were sent by Aydelotte's family to Linus Pauling for preservation. Participants

in this project help to transcribe Einstein's writings.

PARTNERSHIP DEVELOPMENT

Development

• Make an interpersonal and professional connection– Start too early

– Have Coffee

– Go without a pre-defined project

– Don’t send students out unsupported

• Identify mutually beneficial goals

• Respect and leverage motivation, assets, needs, and goals

Maintenance

• Conduct site visits and/or schedule

check-Ins

• Embrace quality process

• Share power, praise, and consequences

• Be open to assuming new goals

Supporting Documents

• Community Partner Manual

• Memorandum of Understanding

• Communication Evaluation

• Partnership Rubric

• Washington Campus Compact

Partnership Development Module

STUDENT PREPARATION AND REFLECTION

Guiding Student Engagement

• Benchmarks

• Community Partner Assessment

• Site Visits

• SLV Orientation

• Tips for Success

• Professional Communication Document

• Anti-Bias Training

Student Preparation

Communication

Site Selection

Benchmarks

Due Date Task Instructions Recipient

January 24 Preparation Review service-learning placements and select top-three preferences.

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January 29 Introduction and Expectations

Be present for class presentation and participate in exercises.

SLV Graduate Assistant

February 5 Application Submit all intake materials, including: application, background check forms, schedule and availability.

Community Supervisor

February 12 Orientation Attend service-learning site orientation Community Supervisor

March 28 Mid-Semester Check-In Respond to survey about progress at service-learning site

SLV Graduate Assistant

April 23 Student Performance Surveys Sent

No action needed; Surveys sent to community partners

---

Community Partner Evaluation

Assessment

• Assess the learning not the service

• Target-Match-Method

• Utilize Rubrics

Reflection

• “Integrates a person’s concrete experience with

their intellect’s abstract conceptualization.”

• Quality reflection is:

– Continuous

– Connected

– Challenging

– Contextualized

Considerations when designing

reflection1. What learning outcomes do you want students to

achieve through reflection?

2. When, where, and how will reflection occur?

3. Will students reflect iteratively so that reflection becomes habit and builds on itself over the course of the semester?

4. Who will facilitate the reflection? Who will participate in the reflection?

5. Through what medium will the reflection occur?

6. What prompts will guide the reflection?

7. How will you know whether students achieve your desired learning outcomes?

Examples

• Various forms of writing:– Blogs

– PSA

– Wikipedia Post

– Advocacy Letter

• Free Association Brainstorming

• Structured Class Discussion

• Presentations

• What? Now What? So What? Activity

NEXT STEPS

Services

• Course design consultation

• Partnership suggestions

• Resources for cultivating relationships,

student preparation, reflection, and

assessment

• Assistance with student placements

• STEM focused support

• Access to programs and events

Resources

• USM Service-learning and Volunteering (usm.maine.edu/service)• Service-Learning Library• Modules on “Designing and Delivering a Service-Learning Course”• Engaged Scholarship Toolkit• Professional Development Opportunities• Discipline Specific Journals

• Campus Compact (www.compact.org)

• National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (www.servicelearning.org)

• Community-Campus Partnerships for Health (www.ccphealth.org)

• International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement (www.researchslce.org/)