Center for Teaching and Learning

What Are Some Common Faculty Concerns About Service-Learning?

 

Common Faculty Concerns
 (Adapted from Miami Dade College )

1. Academic Rigor:
 Is this another feel-good excuse to water down academic standards? This is an important and legitimate concern for all who are concerned with quality higher education, and it is the focus of much of the past and current research on service-learning. Unless real academic learning results, service-learning has no place in our college. Academic credit should never be given for service, only for learning.

If applied properly, this pedagogy is actually more rigorous than the traditional teaching strategies. Students are not only required to master the standard text and lecture material, but they must also integrate their service experience into that context. This is a high level skill requiring effective reflection techniques designed to accomplish academic as well as affective outcomes. It is important to emphasize that incorporating service-learning does not change what we teach, but how we teach it. With this change comes a new set of challenges for both the and the teacher.

How Do I Ensure That Service-Learning Is Academically Rigorous?
 Carefully select a service project that is related to your course's learning objectives.

2. Competence in application of the strategy :
 Will I be able to apply the strategy successfully?
 Trying anything new is a risk, and it challenges our competencies. Most practitioners report a steep learning curve with confidence developing fairly rapidly once the strategy is allowed to work. Relinquishing full control of the classroom is hard for many of us to do, but once we move from being the "sage on the stage to the guide on the side," we find that students can and will play an active role in their learning if given the right structure.

The path to becoming effective in using the service-learning strategy is not always clearly marked. We often find ourselves "making the road by walking." Fortunately, you are not alone on the road. There is considerable literature on the subject, and many people right here on our campus can help you on your way. The guidelines presented in the Ten Steps to Develop and Execute a Service-Learning Strategy section should help you begin the journey. Reading some of the material suggested in the bibliography should also help, as will conversing with some of your colleagues who are currently using the strategy. Attending a few workshops and seminars dealing with service-learning will provide an opportunity for more active exploration of some of the skills and philosophy of the pedagogy. Finally, contacting the Center for Teaching and Learning, the Office of Career Services, or the Public Policy Research Center to discuss ideas and to review course syllabi or relevant critical readings might help you in your skill development.

3. Students' ability to contribute meaningful service:
 How can my students who are taking remedial courses in reading, writing, or math help?
 Many faculty are concerned that their students lack adequate preparation or skill to help others in a meaningful way. Our experience and the research literature suggests that this is not a problem; in fact, several authors cite impressive contributions in a variety of roles made by previously underachieving, marginal students. Obviously we must use judgment in choosing appropriate placements and establishing levels of responsibility. The agencies must also orient and train our students to perform their specific service. But when it comes to meeting the unsuspected challenges that we worry about, we find that students will generally rise to the occasion. When faced with the challenge of teaching a younger student to read or reading to the blind, students will exert extra effort to be able to succeed at the task because it means something to them and to someone else. This is the very beauty of the strategy -- it motivates students to learn and gain higher levels of competence. They see that more knowledge is tied to higher effectiveness in the real world.

4. Time Constraints:
 Yours - How can I fit something new into an already cramped curriculum?
 Service-learning is not an add-on to your current course requirements. It does not change or add to what we teach; it only changes how we teach it. Some of the traditional classroom content accumulation activity is replaced with more dynamic information processing activity. Some "seat time" is replaced with action and meaningful involvement of students in experiential learning.

Students - Most of our students work in addition to their school attendance. How can they fit community service into their already busy schedule?
 Service-learning faculty report that most students are willing and able to volunteer in the community. Because of the variety of our volunteer placements, there are opportunities and needs for students twenty-four hours a day, seven days a week. As faculty, we must be flexible in our hour requirements, recognizing the demands placed on our students.

What is the minimum number of hours for service?
 Faculty members can determine their own number of hours for each course. Some faculty design one-time service-learning experiences that last a few hours, while other faculty members ask their students to complete 30 or more hours over the semester. The average number of hours is about 20 per term. There is no right or wrong number. Research does show, however, that the benefits increase based on the number of hours and the quality of the reflection activities

5. Liability:
 What if something happens to my students or their actions result in damages to someone else?
 There is an inherent risk in any out-of-classroom activity. All service-learning students should be fully informed about their placement and knowingly consent to undertaking any risk associated with that placement. UMSL will be developing liability and risk-management guidelines in accordance with Campus Compact's publication "Serving Safely: A Risk Management Resource for College Service Programs".

In some cases, the agency or site that provides the service-learning experience will be responsible for the acts of students assigned to it and also assumes responsibility for the student. However, due care and judgment must always be exercised to assure that we do not place students in situations fraught with danger or unreasonable risk. We must also use any information or knowledge we as faculty have which might disqualify a student from engaging in certain activities to protect either the student or the public.

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