Why Do Service-Learning?
Service-learning is a practice which fosters civic responsibility and applies classroom concepts to service in the community. The strongest service-learning experiences occur when the service is meaningfully embedded in ongoing learning and is a natural part of the curriculum that extends into the community. Service-learning is an essential strategy in providing a rigorous and relevant curriculum which will prepare students to succeed in the 21st century.
With service-learning, students:
- Grow through thoughtfully organized, direct service activities that meet actual community needs and that are coordinated in collaboration with the school and the community
- Participate in structured sessions of thinking, talking or writing about what they did and saw during the actual activity
- Gain opportunities to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real-life situations in their own communities
- Extend their experiences beyond the classroom and into the community and foster the development of a sense of caring for others
The other major beneficiary of service-learning practices is the campus-community partnership, ideally constructed to maximize community input for the highest level of community impact. Best practices in service-learning ask institutions to go beyond serving their internal constituencies of students, faculty, and staff to become better partners with their surrounding communities. High-impact models for campus-community service-learning partnerships include the community in all aspects of the project design process, asking questions such as:
* What does the community want to change?
* What do the community need to accomplish the change?
* What help is needed from outsiders?
* What help can the higher education institution provide?
Campus-community service-learning partnerships are on the rise; recent data indicates an increase in service-learning and civic engagement initiatives in institutions of higher education across the United States.
Wausau-area elementary students dancing at the UWMC Trainscapes service-learning project opening exhibit.