Most likely, the answer is yes. If they are not here at UConn, Anne Gebelein can connect you with a faculty member who can provide tips
and guidance in your field of study. You can view the list of Service Learning Faculty Fellows to get an idea of the topic areas of faculty here at UConn.

If you have designed your course goals and objectives and a community partner has similar needs, a relationship can be established based on mutual needs. You’ll want to ask if a person is dedicated to this project to assist the students and participate in class discussions, reflection, and the service portion at their community site.

We encourage all faculty to apply for a Service Learning designation to be listed in PeopleSoft. Faculty can also advertise an SL course ahead of time, and email registered students ahead of the semester to explain service learning. Embedding service learning in your syllabus and explaining it on the first day of class is essential. If the goals and objectives of the course curriculum and the community project align and reflection occurs, students will connect the service and the learning, theory, and practice.

Students can use several options that will vary based on the campus. From Storrs, students can use a bus or their car. The Office of Community Outreach has transportation for groups that must be arranged ahead of time at a cost. Students at regional campuses may use their transportation, buses, trains, walking, etc. If faculty need additional assistance with transportation, we encourage you to contact anne.gebelein@uconn.edu.

No; however, the partnerships you develop should be kept intact to create a sustainable relationship. If you are not doing a service-learning project, perhaps another faculty member can use your existing relationship. Partnerships must be continued and nurtured over time.

Absolutely. What you do in collaboration with the community partner can be published in journals of your discipline or SL journals. We strongly encourage all faculty to consider publishing the outcomes of any data created through SL relationships, provided that the community partner has agreed to it. Publications can also turn into grant opportunities, leading to sustained relationships. You will want to check in with the IRB ahead of time for submission logistics. The Office of Service Learning can also assist you with this part of the process.

Students appreciate this style of teaching and learning because of the benefits to them (reinforced learning, career development, social and cultural benefits). With that said, students must be aware of the time commitment of a service-learning course.

Structured critical reflection is the key to successful service learning. We want students to participate as active learners; reflection is a mechanism to achieve that goal. The “bridge” between theory and practice enables students to grapple with what they learn in the classroom and what they experience in the real world. It allows faculty to check in with students to be sure that learning goals are being met and that the community relationship is productive and beneficial to both the student and the partner. It allows students time to process how course material pertains directly to the experience with the community, reinforcing the learning. Involving community partners in reflection is encouraged because it strengthens the relationship and allows participation in meaningful, educational, and practical ways.

No set number of hours is placed on a service learning project/experience. The faculty member and community partner determine the number of hours based on their mutual needs.

Reflection can be a facilitated discussion with the class or a written assignment (journals, papers, blogs, online chat). It can be in artwork, music, poetry, role-playing, or any other creative mechanism. The key to students getting the most out of reflection is in the questions the instructor/ facilitator asks, prodding students to think deeper and in meaningful ways about how the coursework and community are connected. What, so what, now what? It is a solid foundation for the beginning stage of reflection.

Resources for Faculty

This page is a work in progress that began Spring of 2017. We will be continually adding to it to represent the full depth and breadth of Service Learning at the University. Service Learning happens throughout UConn.

Download Faculty Guidebook for Service Learning Pedagogy (PDF)

Syllabus Tips

• Indicate Service Learning clearly as part of the learning objectives.  Often, students are unfamiliar with service learning, so making it part of the syllabus can prepare them for what to expect during the semester. Provide a rationale about why service learning is essential for the course and how the learning goals and objectives are connected.
• Describe clearly how service learning will be measured and what will be measured.
• Describe the nature of the service aspect of the course.  Are students free to choose their placements, or will the faculty establish projects?
• Specify the roles and responsibilities of students regarding the community partner project (i.e., transportation, time commitment, schedule, contacts, etc.)
• Define the goals and expectations of the project for students clearly.
• Provide clear links between the course content, the service activity, and student success.
• Describe the critical reflection process. Whether journaling, discussing, writing papers, creating portfolios, or making presentations, students should know how to demonstrate their learning.
• Describe if there are expectations for the public dissemination of student work.

Exemplary Service-Learning syllabi should:

• Include service as an expressed goal
• Clearly describe how the service experience will be measured and what will be measured
• Describe the nature of the service placement and project
• Specify the roles and responsibilities of students in the placement and service project (e.g., transportation, time requirements, community contacts, etc.)
• Define the need(s) the service placement meets
• Specify how students will be expected to demonstrate what they have learned in the placement/project (journal, papers, presentations)
• Present course assignments that link the service placement and the course content
• Include a description of the reflective process
• Include a description of the expectations for the public dissemination of students’ work

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The pedagogy of service learning is different than traditional teaching. Because of this, the Service Learning Committee established qualitative questions/statements for those using service learning as a teaching strategy to use in the ‘questions’ section of the SET.

Faculty need to use these questions better to assess the impact on students across service-learning courses. Additionally, the questions will help capture the impact of service learning more accurately for your evaluation purposes.

You may change these questions to work for you as classes and projects differ significantly across the spectrum of service learning. Please share with any faculty and let me know if you have any questions.

Questions/Statements to use:

1. Please describe how your community site placement or service learning activity/project enhanced your understanding of course content.
2. Please describe how service learning may have contributed to your professional and personal development.
3. Please describe any concrete areas of improvement for this course.

Schedule for SET:

The last class date of the term is Dec. 11, according to the Registrar’s calendar. The QP* for instructors teaching these classes will open at 10:00 am 21 days before the end date (Nov. 20) and close in 7 days (Nov. 26) at 11:59 pm or 21 days before the last date of the term before finals week. The survey will open to students 14 days before the last day of class (Nov. 27) at 12:01 am and remain open for 14 days before closing (Dec. 11).

A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future, National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

Download PDF

• Reflection Resource: A Campus Compact Guide

• New Faculty Orientation Info Sheet 2014

The following is from Heffernan, Kerrissa

Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction. RI: Campus Compact, 2001, pp. 2-7, 9.

1. “Pure” Service-Learning

These are courses that send students out into the community to serve. These courses have as their intellectual core the idea of service to communities by students, volunteers, or engaged citizens. They are not typically lodged in any one discipline.

2. Discipline-Based Service-Learning

In this model, students are expected to have a presence in the community throughout the semester and reflect on their experiences regularly, using course content as a basis for their analysis and understanding.

3. Problem-Based Service-Learning (PBSL)

According to this model, students (or teams of students) relate to the community much as “consultants” working for a “client.” Students work with community members to understand a particular community problem or need. This model presumes that the students will have some knowledge they can draw upon to make recommendations to the community or develop a solution to the problem: architecture students might design a park; business students might develop a website; or botany students might identify non-native plants and suggest eradication methods.

4. Capstone Courses

These courses are generally designed for majors and minors in a given discipline and are offered almost exclusively to students in their final year. Capstone courses ask students to draw upon the knowledge they have obtained throughout their coursework and combine it with relevant service work in the community. The goal of capstone courses is usually to explore a new topic or synthesize students’ understanding of their discipline. These courses offer an excellent way to help students transition from the world of theory to the world of practice by assisting them to establish professional contacts and gather personal experience.

5. Service Internships

Like traditional internships, these experiences are more intense than typical service-learning courses, with students working as many as 10 to 20 hours a week in a community setting. As in traditional internships, students are generally charged with producing a body of work that is of value to the community or site. However, unlike traditional internships, service internships have regular and ongoing reflective opportunities that help students analyze their new experiences using discipline-based theories. These reflective opportunities can be done with small groups of peers, with one-on-one meetings with faculty advisors, or even electronically with a faculty member providing feedback. Service internships are further distinguished from traditional internships by their focus on reciprocity: the idea that the community and the student benefit equally from the experience.

6. Undergraduate Community-Based Action Research

A relatively new approach gaining popularity, community-based action research is similar to an independent study option for the rare student who is highly experienced in community work. Community-based action research can also be effective with small classes or groups of students. In this model, students work closely with faculty members to learn research methodology while serving as community advocates.

To construct a service-learning course, faculty should consider four critical principles of a service-learning course.

• Engagement
• Reflection
• Reciprocity
• Public Dissemination

When designing a course, you should ask yourself if the course addresses engagement or, more specifically, how the service component serves a public good. Understanding the course’s intent for the community should begin the process and ensure the service will be valuable.

Once you have thought of the engagement principle, it is time to turn your attention to reflection, which allows students to connect their coursework to their service. For reflection to occur, there has to be a mechanism for it to be done, whether through journals or presentations.

Third, consider whether reciprocity is evident between the service and the community. Each participant should serve the role of teacher and learner so there is mutual benefit for the student, the organization, and the community.

Lastly, consider how your student’s service can be publicly disseminated so the public can see and benefit from the students’ work. Think of where the experience will exist after the classroom learning is over and how the public can use that experience.

Campus Compact. Heffernan, Kerrissa and Cone, Richard, “Course Organization.” Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course Construction. Providence, RI: Campus Compact, 2001. 

Kuh (2008) identified ten “high-impact practices” (HIP). HIP supports student learning and development in the professional/academic and personal spheres. In reviewing the high-impact practices, Kuh does not address their interactions, which we find limiting. Therefore, we have shown how service-learning supports the various HIPs and encourage faculty members and administrators to examine how they may incorporate the multiple HIPs and service-learning into their practice. We’ve documented how service learning connects with the other practices beneath the model.

• First-Year Seminars and Experiences often fall into two categories: courses focused on developing the necessary skills necessary for academic and personal success in higher education or exposure to cutting-edge research from the faculty member instructing the course. A highlight of both models is an intimate learning environment for first-year students. We believe that service-learning pedagogy can be integrated into both course models when done at the appropriate development level. Williams Howe Coleman, Hamshaw, & Westdijk (2015).pdf offer a three-phase service learning model that can help inform first-year student service learning experiences.
• Learning Communities– are housing communities based on a common theme or academic question. There are usually courses connected with this community, and there remains an opportunity for service learning to be part of the course experience to support the holistic development goals of learning communities. Moreover, community service is frequently used with learning communities, giving SL and LLCs a foundation.
• Internships- The dominant model of internships is focused on students entering a workplace and supervisors providing training and mentoring. The focus is usually on just student learning; however, if a community partner has identified a need that a student intern can fill, there is an opportunity for the internship to serve both the student and the organization. For pre-professional disciplines, there is a strong potential for this linkage, as documented by Rheling (2000).
• Common Intellectual Experiences– often are initiatives such as a “common read.” For faculty using the UConn Read’s selection as a core course text, the link between the book’s themes and social issues provides a ripe experience for service learning.
• Collaborative Assignments– focus on a collective effort that focuses on learning to work with others and the role of the self in groups.  Project-based service learning is a strong vehicle for project creation and the built-in pedagogical practices that support reflection.
• Diversity-Global Learning– Kuh asserts that the aim of increasing knowledge of our diverse world often occurs in community-based contexts, acknowledging the integral role service learning plays in supporting diverse learning. Additionally, study abroad experiences taught by UConn Faculty can include service learning as a framework for increasing student learning intentionally and rigorously. Campus Compact has assembled resources for those interested in global service learning.
• Capstone Courses– perhaps one of the best utilizations of service learning is using the pedagogy for a culminating experience in their degree program. Using service learning in the capstone experience, students can apply four years of learning to a community-identified need. Students can often fill a critical skill-based need for organizations while reflecting on their learning and its applications as rising professionals.
• Undergraduate Research– Historically, it has been a dominant practice in the hard sciences, but it is now increasingly open to more students across various disciplines. While often viewed through the co-curricular, a service-learning course grounded in community-based research can allow students across many disciplines to engage in the scientific process while using service-learning as a framework to promote development toward the common good.  (2010) provides a sound conceptual model to rethink service learning and community-based research.
• Writing Intensive Courses– service learning can be integrated as a pedagogy within the writing curriculum. Service Learning can be a vehicle to propel students to practice writing for different audiences- community partners, the general public, policymakers, and themselves through reflection. .pdf has its own body of research regarding service learning that can help guide faculty members’ integration of service learning in writing courses.

• Heffernan’s Six Models for Service Learning
• The Craft of Community-Engaged Teaching and Learning – Marshall Welch and Star Plaxton-Moore
• Reconceptualizing Faculty Development in Service-Learning/Community Engagement – Becca Berkey, Cara Meixner, Patrick M. Green, and Emily Eddins Rountree
• Campus Compact Resources for Faculty: sample syllabi and model programs
• Integrating Service Learning into Course Syllabus – Northeastern University
• Integrating Service Learning into Course Assignments – Northeastern University

• Whitely, M. (2014). A draft conceptual framework of relevant theories to inform future rigorous research on student service-learning outcomes. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 20(2), 19-40.
• Democratic Dilemmas of Teaching Service-Learning – Christine Cress
• Traditional vs. critical service-learning: Engaging the literature to differentiate two models. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 14(2), 50-65.
• Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (2002). Campus–community partnerships: The terms of engagement. Journal of Social Issues, 58(3), 503-516.
• The Student Companion to Community-Engaged Learning – David M. Donahue and Star Plaxton-Moore
• We are currently working on providing an article resource page.  Please check back later, or if you have questions, please contact anne.gebelein@uconn.edu.

Information for Advisors

UConn is proud to offer increasing service-learning courses across disciplines and schools.  Advisors can raise awareness and increase student interest in service-learning courses.

We ask your assistance in ensuring students understand the following:

1. When a course may have a service-learning component
2. What SL means for the student (service project integrated with coursework)
3. How does the University’s Academic Plan and mission support this type of coursework
4. The University has received the prestigious Carnegie Classification for Engaged Institutions based on outreach and service-learning initiatives.
5. How students benefit from these unique experiential learning opportunities

Student Benefits

• Basic skills, including expressing ideas, reading, and using technology
• Higher-level thinking skills, such as problem-solving and critical thinking
• Skills and issues specific to the experience motivation to learn
• Application of knowledge
• Observation, creativity, insight, judgment, and knowledge
• Improved professional skills

• Leadership development skills
• Empowerment
• Moral development
• Self-esteem
• Character development
• Improved social interaction

• Social and civic responsibility and concern for others
• Political efficacy
• Civic participation
• Knowledge and exploration of service-related careers