What are Service Learning and Civic Engagement?
Generally speaking, service learning and civic engagement are two ways in which the academy (faculty, students, and staff) can take their work, research, and scholarly efforts to different levels and new spaces. Many academic areas seem to lend themselves naturally to service learning (such as social work, public health, and education), in that through service, knowledge is exchanged in a reciprocal fashion between all in participation. Further, the relationships developed through service learning tend to be sustained and developed to be a foundation for collaborative scholarly efforts. Such "service learning" is different, however, from volunteer activities that tend to be transient events in which reciprocal exchange of ideas and knowledge is not necessarily the goal of performing a service. This is not to say that volunteering, or performing acts of service, are not honorable and needed ways of "giving back to society." Rather, the sustained learning relationship developed through service learning can transcend beyond an individual or public agency.
Imagining America offers a straightforward definition of public scholarship - something that encompases both Service Learning and Civic Engagement. This definition encompasses the ideas of many scholars (faculty and students) who wish to see collaboration between the academy and civic communities be at the forefront of higher education institutions. Further, the following definition of publicly engaged academic work includes language that asks questions about how this topic fits into the policies of a University:
"Publicly engaged academic work is scholarly or creative activity integral to a faculty member's [or graduate student's] academic area. It encompasses different forms of making knowledge about, for, and with diverse publics and communities. Through a coherent, purposeful sequence of activities, it contributes to the public good and yields artifacts of public and intellectual value."
Ellison, J.; Eatman, T.K. "Scholarship in Public: Knowledge Creation and Tenure Policy in the Engaged University." Imagining America: Artists and Scholars in Public Life Tenure Team Initiative on Public Scholarship, 2008
Campus Compact, an excellent resource on the topic of public scholarship, engagement, and service learning. Their glossary of terms is an excellent place to find complete definitions and ideas on the topic of Civic Engagement and Service Learning. The following are excerpts from their pages:
"Engagement is more than just volunteering—although volunteering can be engagement. Engagement is more than just voting—although voting can be engagement. Engagement is a combination of voice, action, and reflection. Engagement exists when individuals recognize that they have responsibilities not only to themselves and their families, but also to their communities—local, national, and global—and that the health and well-being of those communities are essential to their own health and well-being. They act in order to fulfill those responsibilities and try to affect those communities for the better. Those actions, in turn, give them an even deeper understanding of their interdependence with communities."
Raill, S.; Hollander, E. "How Campuses Can Create Engaged Citizens: The Student View." J. College Charac., 7, 2006.
The International Partnership for Service Learning offers an introduction to the idea of service-learning, explaining that "service-learning responds to students' desire to be in the world, learning from experience as well as classes, and to put their education to use for the good of others." The National Center for Service-Learning expands on this definition with three key characteristics of service-learning:
- Service-learning constitutes activity that is focused on meeting a human need in the community where that need has to do with the well-being of individuals and/or of the environment in which they live.
- Key academic and/or civic objectives to be achieved through combining service with learning have been identified prior to the activity.
- Opportunities for students to reflect on their experience and its connection to specific academic/civic objectives are incorporated into the activity.
[There are] three general characteristics of service-learning:
- It is based on the experience of meeting needs in the community.
- It incorporates reflection and academic learning.
- It contributes to students' interest in and understanding of community life.
Bringle, Robert and Julie Hatcher. "A Service Learning Curriculum for Faculty," in: Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 2, 1995.
