Members of UW-Madison's F.H. King Students for Sustainable Agriculture work in the university's first CSA farm. Courses in Environmental Studies and Rural Sociology use the farm for instruction. Photo by Jeff Miller, University Communications
Our Definition of Service Learning & Community Based Research
The Faculty Advisory Committee in the Office of Service Learning and Community Based Research in the College of Letters & Science developed a new definition of service learning and community based research in 2006.
- Service Learning (SL) is a class of courses using a pedagogical model that integrates classroom learning with community engagement. The classroom/community partnership provides structured opportunities to apply academic theories, principles, and constructs to solve real world problems, and enhances students’ analytical, creative, and problem solving skills.
- Community Based Research is a collaborative and participatory approach to research in which community organizations (schools, residents and civic leaders) partner with academic researchers (faculty, academic staff and students) to produce knowledge that solves real world problems. Community Based Research seeks community engagement at each phase of the research project. Community Based Research does not specify one model of research over another; models are selected based on what is most appropriate to the problems to be studied and solved.
Introduction to Service Learning & Community Based Research
While the United States has the finest post secondary education system in the world, evidence indicates that the quality of engagement in civic life is on the decline.
Service Learning and Community Based Research are two simple responses to this decline.
Across the nation, institutions of higher education have developed service learning and community based research courses as part of a larger scholarship of teaching and learning and civic engagement efforts.
According to Alexander W. Astin (2004) U.S. higher education plays a critical and central role in shaping civic life in the U.S.A. Therefore, Astin believes despite progress in SL/CBR, there is still work to be done.
Others, like Tom Ehrlick, (2005, Carnegie Conversations) states that faculty and academic teaching staff come to the service learning crossroads from different directions. Ehrlick presents 4 directions for service learning in the USA.:
1. Service learning for enhancing academic learning
2. Promoting skills and knowledge needed for leadership
3. Civic engagement
4. potentially political engagement
