Read the Jacoby _ Introduction to Service-Learning, Service Learning Essentials and post in your journal your answer for the next questions:
- What is service-learning? What does it mean for different stakeholders? The community you are serving? The faculty teaching the course? The DSS program? And yourself?
Service-learning is a type of experiential education in which students participate in activities that address human and community needs, as well as structured reflection opportunities designed to achieve desired learning outcomes.
Experiences facilitated by student affairs professionals, campus ministers, community partners, and student leaders are eligible, as long as they include the fundamental elements of service-learning, reflection, and reciprocity. Both the recipient and the provider benefit from service-learning.
Service-learning benefits both recipient and provider. It provides greater benefits to the recipients of the service than volunteering. The goal of service-learning is to strike a balance between student learning and community outcomes. For us, we could learn from the program while the community receives service from us.
It provides opportunities to us to complete tasks that meet human and community needs.
It benefits teachers by offering new ways to reach familiar material and to engage students more deeply in learning, thus invigorating teaching. To explore teaching and learning in ways that have implications for all pedagogies.
- Time is very precious in our busy modern-day life. Why are you devoting your precious time to community service?
I really enjoy helping others and while I am contributing to community service I am also learning new skills and can give them back to a bigger community.