Service learning is one of the most effective teaching methods for engaging and retaining community college students, but it comes with its challenges. For many students, the added requirements of a service learning experience can become one more responsibility in an already too-long list. In addition to being responsible for children, holding…

This qualitative study was conducted to explore student perceptions of service learning as well as the importance of service learning to community college students. Data were collected through interviews with 24 community college participants from Virginia Highlands Community College and Mountain Empire Community College, both in southwest…

This digest discusses service learning programs on community college campuses. Service learning integrates community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Projects can range from brief, one-time-only experiences to a student commitment of 15 or more hours during a semester.…

Describes the author's psychology class, in which she required students to do service work with a resident in a nursing home. Reports that students met for a minimum of eight hours with the resident and wrote both a history of the person and a reflection on the project. States that half of the students decided to continue volunteering after the…

This paper discusses three forms of community connections: service learning, partnerships, and public service, and offers an overview of the current service-learning movement in community colleges. It argues that, in order for community colleges to fulfill their missions, they must embrace the full implication of the having "community" in their…

This document discusses how service learning has developed over the past century in its practices from involvement in volunteerism to active civic engagement. It is so beneficial to both learners and the community that many educators and government leaders believe it should be a required component in the educational career of all students. The…

This paper discusses service learning, arguing that the pedagogy of service learning offers a framework in which students can remember and apply more of what they learn than in traditional content based and faculty centered curriculum. Service learning strategies recognize that we retain 60% of what we do, 80% of what we do with guided reflection,…

The author, who is the President of Miami-Dade Community College (MDCC), Florida, argues that the fundamental purpose of MDCC is to preserve democracy. MDCCs open-door policy makes it possible for those who might otherwise be excluded from higher education to gain a college education, which then makes it possible for them to become active,…

The service learning instructional methodology integrates community service with academic instruction and seeks to address local needs and develop students academic skills, sense of civic responsibility, and commitment to the community. The following elements are important for effectively organizing a community college service learning program:…

To determine the level of involvement in service learning among community colleges, the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) conducted a national survey of over 1,100 colleges in spring 1995. The following institutional and program profile, based on responses from 773 institutions, emerged from the survey: (1) four out of five…

The community college should be the catalyst to reverse the downward trend of community change. A community renewal college would serve as a change agent for the betterment of life conditions at the local level. Such a college would unite and improve the community by bringing its residents together and teaching them the attitudes, skills, and…

This curriculum guide discusses civic responsibility, how it is tied to service learning, how faculty can integrate concepts and exercises in a practical way, and how faculty can assess the development of civic responsibility in their students. Civic responsibility is defined here as active participation in the public life of a community, in an…

At Florida's Miami-Dade Community College, a service learning component was implemented in a reading course designed to prepare students to pass the statewide test required to obtain an associate degree. In the service learning option, students were required to perform 15 hours of tutoring in reading to at-risk elementary students or adults,…

The Partners in Action and Learning Program at Florida's Miami-Dade Community College (M-DCC) was established in 1994 to aid the integration of service learning into the college's general education curricula. Goals for the first year of the program included the establishment of service-learning centers at MDCC's Homestead and Medical Center…

This volume is part of a series of 18 monographs on service learning and the academic disciplines. The essays in this volume focus on service-learning in a wide range of environmental studies. The Introduction, "Why is Service-Learning So Pervasive in Environmental Studies Programs?" was written by Harold Ward. The chapters in Part 1…