Rationale for Developing Service-Learning Course

I hope you have all recovered from your chosen Super Bowl celebration. I would like to pick up on the series devoted to teaching via Service-Learning (SL) with this post. Now that we have defined the concept and covered the 10 key principles, I would like to offer up the rationale for developing a course that uses this teaching pedagogy.

Please note that when teaching via Service-Learning (it should not be thought of as an add-on. It should be blended into the course as you would when assembling traditional learning goals and objectives that are consistent with the description and contents of the course. Having said that, if you can answer “Yes” to the following questions this pedagogy might be right for you:

1. Do you have sound reasons for using SL in your course?

2. Are you willing to incorporate the 10 key SL principles into the project that students will be required to complete as part of your course?

3. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges that result when engaging students in their learning?

4. Do you believe that incorporating social or civic responsibility in your course will enhance student learning?

5. Do you have an idea in mind as to what students should learn as a result of doing a service-learning project to enhance course content, develop new skills, etc.?

6. Are you prepared to deal with the challenges or problems students may encounter with the community partner when trying to complete the project?

7. Is this the only pedagogy that could be used to accomplish the learning goals or objectives you had in mind instead of service-learning?

8. Are you prepared to devote more, or a different kind, of time to teaching the course you intend to teach via SL than you have spent in the past?

9. Are the benefits intended to benefit the student and community partner equally?

10. Would you be willing to share your experience of teaching via SL with others?

For those who answered "yes" to each of the aforementioned questions the series on SL will continue to share the steps to integrate this pedagogy into your teaching.