How Service Learning Affects Students

 Contents

• How Service Learning Affects Students
• Community Colleges Broadening Horizons Through Service Learning.  

The two major goals of this study were: 1) to explore the comparative effects of service learning and community service on the cognitive and affective development of college undergraduates and 2) to enhance our understanding of how learning is enhanced by service. These questions were explored by means of a quantitative longitudinal study of a national sample of students at diverse colleges and universities and a qualitative study of students and faculty who participated in service learning at a subset of these institutions.

Method  

Longitudinal data were collected from 22,236 college undergraduates attending a national sample of baccalaureate-granting colleges and universities. Thirty percent of the students participated in course-based community service (service learning) during college, and an additional 46 percent participated in some other form of community service. The remaining 24 percent did not participate in any community service during college. The impact of service learning and community service was assessed on 11 different dependent measures: academic outcomes (three measures), values (two measures), self-efficacy, leadership (three measures), career plans, and plans to participate in further service after college. Most of these outcomes were pretested when the students entered college as freshmen.  Multivariate controls were used for both freshmen characteristics and institutional characteristics (size, type, selectivity, etc.) before the comparative impact of service learning and community service was assessed on the eleven student outcomes.  The qualitative portion of the study involved in-depth case studies of service learning on three different campuses. Individual and group interviews with faculty and students, together with classroom observations, were conducted at each site.

Principal Findings

· Service participation shows significant positive effects on all 11 outcome measures: academic performance (GPA, writing skills, critical thinking skills), values (commitment to activism and to promoting racial understanding), self-efficacy, leadership (leadership activities, self-rated leadership ability, interpersonal skills), choice of a service career, and plans to participate in service after college. These findings directly replicate a number of recent studies using different samples and methodologies.

· Performing service as part of a course (service learning) adds significantly to the benefits associated with community service for all outcomes except interpersonal skills, self-efficacy and leadership. Positive results for the latter two outcomes were borderline (i.e., p < .05). 

· The single most important factor associated with a positive service-learning experience appears to be the student's degree of interest in the subject matter. Subject-matter interest is an especially important determinant of the extent to which (a) the service experience enhances understanding of the "academic" course material, and (b) the service is viewed as a learning experience. These findings provide strong support for the notion that service learning should be included in the student's major field. 

· The second most significant factor in a positive service-learning experience is whether the professor encourages class discussion. 

· The frequency with which professors connect the service experience to the course subject matter is an especially important determinant of whether the academic material enhances the service experience, and whether the service experience facilitates understanding of the academic material.

· The extent to which the service experience is enhanced by the academic course material depends in part upon the amount of training that the student receives prior to service participation.

· Both qualitative and quantitative results underscore, once again, the power of reflection as a means of connecting the service experience to the academic course material. The primary forms of reflection used were discussions among students, discussions with professors, and written reflection in the form of journals and papers.

· Better than four service-learning students in five felt that their service "made a difference" and that they were learning from their service experience.\

Astin, A.W., Vogelgesang, L.J., Ikeda, E.K., Yee, J.A. (2000). Executive Summary: How Service Learning Affects Students. Higher Education Research Institute, Los Angeles, CA.  

Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning By Gail Robinson 

Coordinator of Service Learning, AACC Since 1994, the American Association of Community Colleges has worked to integrate service learning throughout the community college curriculum. AACC is the national membership organization for the nearly 1,200 two-year degree-granting institutions in the U.S. Community colleges make up about one-third of all institutions of higher education in this country, and nearly one-half of all undergraduate students attend community colleges. Consequently, AACC has the ability to promote service learning to a wide audience.

AACC's current Learn and Serve program, Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, builds on established foundations to integrate service learning into the institutional climate of community colleges, and works to increase the number, quality, and sustainability of service learning programs. AACC's objectives include the following areas of emphasis. 

Awareness and Action

AACC builds support for and promotes the concept and methodology of service learning in community colleges. Horizons staff and subgrantees give presentations at state, regional, and national conferences on a regular basis. AACC has produced several publications, including Best Practices in Service Learning: Building a National Community College Network, 1994-1997 and Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, 1997-2000, which tell the stories of AACC subgrantees' program implementation, challenges, and outcomes, and offer resources and information that novice and experienced faculty, staff, students, or partners can use. An extensive website (www.aacc.nche.edu/servicelearning), resource guides, syllabi, and referrals are all part of the offerings of AACC's Service Learning Clearinghouse. 

Model Programs

In 1997 AACC selected 10 subgrantee community colleges that create and support replicable, sustainable models of service learning. With 10 different colleges come 10 different implementation strategies, personalities, and campus cultures. There's no lack of diversity among the disciplines using service learning, which include horticulture, welding, opticianry, nursing, culinary arts, electrical engineering technology, court reporting, building trades, and criminal justice, as well as the social sciences, humanities, math, and sciences.

In the 1998-1999 grant year, these 10 subgrantees reported that 2,330 students performed 42,508 hours of direct community service, worked with nearly 200 faculty and administrators, and affected approximately 500 agencies and 32,000 individuals. 

AACC selected a team of four experienced service learning practitioners to serve as mentors to the Horizons Colleges. The mentors work one-on-one with their mentee colleges, making site visits, presenting faculty workshops, providing ideas and advice on a project listserv, and offering a shoulder to lean on, when needed. In addition, all Horizons subgrantees are participating in a two-year evaluation study, using a series of instruments to gauge student, faculty, and agency outcomes. 

The Horizons Colleges accomplish a great deal, considering they receive only $8,000-10,000 in subgrants per year. This is where the value of a consortium becomes clear. AACC and its mentor team can provide support, materials, resources, and training that the mentee colleges would not be able to develop on their own. 

Expanding the Knowledge Base

Aside from working with its subgrantees, AACC also provides training and technical assistance to all interested community colleges through publications, regional workshops, an annual convention, the website, the clearinghouse, a consultant referral service, and subgrantee "alumni." 

In 1995, as part of its first CNS grant, AACC conducted a national survey of all community colleges to ascertain involvement with and interest in service learning. While service was part of the institutional mission at 71 percent of institutions, only 31 percent of the colleges were using service learning at the time. At some colleges, just one or two faculty used service learning in their classrooms; at others, it had been integrated across the curriculum. These colleges demonstrated that service learning provides a way to make institutional mission come alive on campus and in the community. 

A follow-up survey in 1997, along with anecdotal information gathered by AACC's Service Learning Clearinghouse, demonstrated that nearly half of all community colleges use service learning to connect students, communities, and institutions-a remarkable increase in just two years. Community colleges in at least 45 states now offer service learning and AACC has set its sights on the remaining states. 

Horizons Subgrantees

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(c) UCLA Service Learning Clearinghouse Project