Evaluated a service learning course that matched preservice teachers and older adult literacy learners and aimed to address widespread attrition in adult education programs and the need for multicultural education for preservice teachers. Data revealed two essential elements of successful, reciprocal learning relationships: connecting across…

Identifies questions and issues related to the "engaged" campus, detailing organizational issues and institutional impacts related to service learning and highlighting: issues of definition and language; the definition of an engaged institution; the role of affiliate groups and national reports; issues of infrastructure and support; the challenges…

Service learning practitioners must devote more resources to systematic, scientific assessment of service learning outcomes across students, faculty, institutions, and communities. Provides recommendations for generating meaningful information about service learning, including: evaluating hypotheses derived from theory, using multiple-item…

Discusses service learning research, emphasizing: why institutions are interested in service learning; service learning to promote community involvement; college presidents' role in promoting service learning; creating the capacity for change; and a research agenda. Emphasizes how much can be gained from communication between higher education…

Studied the impact of a seminar on environmental problem solving among 39 alumni who took the course between 1980 and 1997. Respondents' reflections on how the course and its service learning activities affected their later activities are used to make recommendations for maximizing the benefits and minimizing the frustrations of seminar…

Analyzed student reflection papers from a service learning course and uncovered the benefits reported by student participants; also found similarities in responses despite students' higher or lower performances in the course. (EV)

This article applies Aron and Aron's (1986) self-expansion model to the service-learning context. The self-expansion model proposes a motivational framework for understanding why individuals are motivated to engage in service-learning opportunities that allow for meaningful social interaction. Using a survey design, this study confirms hypotheses…

Service-learning is a unique pedagogy, and its very differences from traditional teaching and learning strategies make it both appealing and challenging to implement. Students and faculty alike are the products of traditional learning environments and often find service-learning unfamiliar and, as a consequence, experience dissonance, discomfort,…

This research draws from literature on the diffusion and adoption of innovations to explore the theoretical foundation for research on faculty as adopters of pedagogical innovation. This research's purpose was to determine the characteristics of faculty who engage in innovative pedagogy, specifically community service learning (CSL). The…

Reports on a survey questionnaire of 130 Michigan college faculty who incorporate service-learning into academic courses, focusing on faculty motivation, satisfaction, and the intersection of the two. Results indicate significant differences concerning faculty motivation for using service learning, but also commonalities with other findings…

Suggests that higher education institutions should provide faculty development opportunities for service-learning that develop a common understanding on campus concerning the nature of service-learning, establish and maintain academic integrity of service-learning; increase faculty confidence in implementing a new pedagogy, and increase the…

Examined outcomes of a service-learning tutoring program with elementary school children. Compared to a non-tutored group, the tutored children had higher 1-year gains in Stanford Achievement Test scores in math and spelling. Teachers and students rated tutoring highly. (EV)

Studied community perceptions of students and faculty involved in service learning and campus outreach activities through a survey of 65 directors of community service programs in which students participated and followup interviews with 30 agency personnel. Findings suggest that campuses and communities generally enjoy positive relationships, but…

The nature of engagement between American campuses and communities is contested. This article is an invitation to reconsider why community-campus partnerships often look so different and have diverse and sometimes negative outcomes. Using a cultural theory approach (Thompson, Ellis, & Wildavsky, 1990) to elucidate the four main cultural frames…

Does service-learning contribute to the privatizing or downsizing of citizenship practices, a claim recently leveled by Crenson and Ginsberg (2002), or can service-learning be understood and practiced as a vital antidote to this troubling trend? The author revisits a theme often raised within the service-learning and civic education literature…