Running head: SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS

Case Study: Service-Learning Programs

Ashley Trewartha
Loyola University Chicago

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The passage of the Land-Grant Act connected institutions of higher education to

community service as a way for education to benefit the public good of states across the nation
(Jacoby, 1996). Today, there is greater recognition of the learning benefits of co-curricular
activities and community-based service. Colleges and universities across the country are
creating centers for experiential learning, public service, and service-learning that attempt to
create experiences for students that tie academic coursework with community engagement.
Service-learning programs vary by institution, as illustrated through the comparison of centers at
Northwestern University, Seattle University, Tulane University, the University of CaliforniaBerkeley, and the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
Descriptive Analysis
Northwestern University
The Center for Civic Engagement is Northwesterns center devoted to service-learning.
The mission on the center is to promote a lifelong commitment to active citizenship and social
responsibility (Center for Civic Engagement, n. d., Mission Section, para. 1). The center tries to
integrate academics with meaningful volunteer service, research and community partnerships
and supports students, faculty, staff and alumni as they enhance their own academic experiences
while contributing to stronger communities and a more engaged university (Center for Civic
Engagement, n. d., Mission Section, para. 1). Some of the ways in which Northwesterns
program does this is through developing cohesive curricular strategies that integrate service and
hands-on experience with academic learning, facilitating mutually-beneficial partnerships with
community organizations locally and across the globe, and providing training and technical
assistant to [those] who facilitate service-learning projects and community partnerships (Center
for Civic Engagement, n. d., Mission Section, para. 2).

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Northwesterns Center for Civic Engagement (n. d.) provides a variety of programs that
range from experiential learning, community service, and service-learning. For example, NU in
Chicago is an initiative that provides opportunities for students to do a day of service in the city.
A longer program is Engage Chicago, which is a summer field study program. The website
additionally lists some service-learning courses that are offered, but it is unclear how integrated,
reflective, and service-focused the courses are.
Seattle University
The mission of Seattle Universitys Center for Service and Community Engagement (n.
d.) is focused on connecting the campus and the wider community through sustained
partnerships in order to deepen student learning, create a culture of service, and promote a more
just and humane world (Mission, Vision and Goals Section, para. 1). The Center for Service
and Community Engagement (n. d.) does this through sustainable community partnerships,
connecting academic learning with community engagement in academic service-learning
programs, intentionally designed projects to help develop student leadership through service, and
collaboration across campus offices and departments.
Seattle University offers a variety of opportunities for community service. One of the
service-learning specific opportunities that Seattle University offers is curricular service-learning
courses. From the website, it is unclear what components are required for a course to be
considered a service-learning course. Additionally, the Center for Service and Community
Engagement provides service days and immersion trips. The website itself does not provide a
large amount of detail on service-learning or what constitutes service-learning.

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Tulane University
The Center for Public Service at Tulane University (n. d.) seeks to facilitate mutuallybeneficial relationships and transformative teaching, learning, and research to address social
challenges and foster responsible citizenship (Mission Section, para. 1). The centers website
states that it utilizes impactful community-minded inquiry, learning and service and empowers
constituents to engage differences and generate creative solutions for social challenges (Center
for Public Service, n. d., Vision Section, para. 1).
An example of service-learning that Tulane offers is an Academic Service Learning
course. The courses, which are required to graduate, are created in collaboration between the
university and the community and include reflection-based activities (Center for Public Service,
n. d.). The Center for Public Service (n. d.) distinguishes community service and volunteering
from public service and service-learning. From a chart on their website, it is clear that servicelearning falls under public service which is described as an informed, consensual, and mutually
interactive engagement with people, institutions, and the environment, for the purpose of the
progressive achievement of civic virtue and the promotion of the public good (Center for Public
Service, n. d., Public Service Graduation Requirement Section). At Tulane, service-learning
activities are only considered service-learning if they are part of a curricular course. From this, it
seems that Tulane Universitys Center for Public Service (n. d.) emphasizes both service and
learning that is mutually beneficial, sustainable, and incorporates reflection in a structured course
setting in their service-learning model.
University of California-Berkeley
The Public Service Center (n. d.) at the University of California-Berkeley connects
people through shared learning and collaborative action for social justice (About Section, para.

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2). The website outlines the values of the Public Service Center (n. d.) which includes
experiential and reflective learning, creating sustainable relationships that are mutually
beneficial, and valuing community partners as co-educators. Some of the public service
programs that are offered include alternative break trips, public service internships, and group
service work (Public Service Center, n. d.). These volunteer experiences and internships are
divided into short-term and long-term volunteer projects, and are distinguished from servicelearning. The Public Service Center also provides service-learning courses that incorporate
service hours, leadership development, and an academic component (Public Service Center, n.
d.). Though there is variety in the types of opportunities for service and volunteer work, all
opportunities are founded on collaboration between the university and community partners.
University of Wisconsin-Madison
The Morgridge Center for Public Service (n. d.) at the University of Wisconsin-Madison
aligns with the Wisconsin Idea, which is the idea that students, faculty, and staff should use the
skills and talents cultivated at the University of Wisconsin-Madison to improve the state of
Wisconsin, the nation, and the world (About Section, para. 10). Some of the values that guide
the work of The Morgridge Center (n. d.) include mutually beneficial partnerships with
community members, active citizenship, and learning from community experiences.
The Morgridge Center provides a wide variety of volunteer opportunities, community
service, and service-learning courses. There are multiple requirements for service-learning
courses: service throughout the course of the semester, understanding the issues of the course in
relation to the community organization, and utilizing skills gained in class at the community
partner site (Morgridge Center, n. d.). The center also provides support for faculty teaching
service-learning courses. The website specifically outlines that community-based learning (or

SERVICE-LEARNING PROGRAMS

service-learning) is not an episodic volunteer program; completing minimum service hours in

order to graduate; one sided: benefitting only the students or only the community; or absent of
formal reflection process (Morgridge Center, n. d., Teach a Community-based Learning Course,
para. 3). Of the five institutions, the Morgridge Centers website provided the most support for
faculty developing courses that centered around the pedagogy of service-learning courses.
Comparative Analysis
Of the institutions that I researched, two are public land-grant institutions; one is a Jesuit
and social justice-focused institution; and one is a private institution that intentionally
incorporated service to the community after Hurricane Katrina. These four emphasize civic
engagement, public service, and education for the public good somewhere in the founding or
history of the institution. These four also had centers that specifically highlighted key
components of service-learning. This suggests that the values of the institution may play a key
role in the development of centers for service-learning and in the development of programs that
forge service and learning.
One commonality between all of the institutions researched was wording on collaborative
partnerships between the university and community organizations and members. Collaborative
partnerships can meet a variety of the principles of good practice that Honnet and Poulsen (1998)
outline, including articulating clear service and learning goals for everyone involved, allowing
those with needs to define those needs, clarifying the responsibilities of each person and
organization involved, and ensuring that service and learning is flexible, appropriate, and in
the best interests of all involved (p. 1-2). Though each institution highlighted collaboration,
only a few mentioned that the collaboration should be mutually beneficial. The balance of who
benefits is crucial to distinguishing service-learning from other types of volunteer work and

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community service. Furco (1996) presents the idea that service-learning should benefit both the
provider of the service and the recipient of the service. Northwestern, Tulane, UC-Berkeley, and
UW-Madison all included wording on the mutually-beneficial aspect of community engagement
that makes service-learning unique from other forms of service. Additional considerations for
collaborative partnerships is who determines the type of service provided. Jacoby (1996)
outlines the importance of reciprocity, which includes that those being served control the
service provided (p. 7). This aspect of collaboration was rarely covered in the five institutions.
Collaboration between the university and community partners is crucial, but the type and extent
of collaboration is important to determining whether or not service opportunities can be
considered service-learning.
Numerous aspects of service-learning were not consistently included on the websites for
service-learning programs. For example, integrated reflection throughout the service experience
is a key component of service-learning (Jacoby, 1996), but was only mentioned in Northwestern,
Tulane, UC-Berkeley, and UW-Madison centers websites. Additionally, the balance between
service and learning was only minimally covered. Tulane did a good job of this by
distinguishing volunteer experience from public service and specifically mentioned that public
service included as much learning as it did service. A final aspect that was only covered at UWMadison was training for faculty developing service-learning courses. Howard (1993) discusses
some important principles for service-learning pedagogy that should be considered when
creating a service-learning course. Faculty are not trained in service-learning activities and
creating service-learning courses requires intentionality and time, so additional support provided
by the centers for service-learning is extraordinarily helpful in creating courses that are actual
service-learning experiences.

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Conclusion
Overall, there was a surprising amount of variety in centers related to service-learning.
What I found most intriguing was that Seattle University lacked key components of servicelearning on their website. This could be due to the fact that social justice, community
engagement, and reflection are integral to the mission of Jesuit institutions that they felt it was
not needed on the website. What was not surprising to me was that institutions founded on
public service and education for the public good were the most developed in service-learning
programs. This could be due to additional funding or increased value on service-learning and
public service opportunities. If I had chosen to research smaller institutions or institutions that
were less focused on public service, I may have found greater variety between institutions and
more gaps in service-learning centers.

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References
Center for Civic Engagement (n. d.). About. Retrieved from http://www.engage.northwestern.
edu/about/index.html
Center for Service and Community Engagement (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.seattleu.edu/
csce/
Center for Public Service (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.tulane.edu/cps/
Furco, A. (1996). "Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education."
Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National
Service.
Howard, J. (1993).Community service learning in the curriculum. In J. Howard (Ed.), Praxis I: A
faculty casebook on community service learning. (pp. 3-12). Ann Arbor: OCSL Press.
Jacoby, B. & Associates. (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and Practices.
San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Morgridge Center for Public Service (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.morgridge.wisc.edu/
Public Service Center (n. d.). Retrieved from http://www.publicservice.berkeley.edu/