Members of Badger Volunteers scatter seeds for native prairie plants on the grounds of the Holy Wisdom Monastery. Outside of the classroom learning opportunities provide valuable experiences for students. Photo by Jeff Miller, University Communications
FAQs
Frequently asked questions by students, faculty, community agencies and partners.
For any questions, please contact Tess Arenas at (608) 890-0876 or tarenas@ls.wisc.edu.
For Students
What are the benefits of service learning?
Service learning will:
- Link course work to real life experience and employment.
- Allow you to build connections to and make a difference in the community.
- Enhance your critical thinking and problem-solving skills.
- Improve interpersonal and human relations skills.
- Provide you with an opportunity for career exploration and potential job contacts.
- Provide you with a greater understanding of social issues.
- Document work experience and skill development.
Students consistently rate the learning experience in service-learning courses more favorably than learning in “traditional” courses.
A spring 2008 UW-Madison survey found that 91.7% of students “got more” out of their service-learning course than “traditional” classroom courses and 100% of students had a positive service experience
What does "service learning" or "community based learning" mean?
The term “Service Learning” or “Community-Based Learning” has come to mean that part of the coursework that you receive credit for will be some type of project or direct service in a community organization, or other type of interface with the community.
Typically, you’ll begin by exploring background of the issues that the class relates to, and preparing for your role as a service learner in the community. Then you will usually spend a few hours a week at an agency, using your skills to provide service in some way while you are learning the real-life adventures of nonprofit organizations!
Finally, a reflection component is built in to the classroom work, allowing you to process your experience and relate it back to the material you have studied.
For Faculty
Academic Rigor: Is service learning just another way of attempting to water down academic standards at the university?
Service-learning does not take the place of classroom learning. What students are learning in the classroom should drive their service activities.
If a service learning class is designed and carried out properly, we believe that it will actually be even more rigorous than traditionally-structured courses. In service learning courses, students are not only being asked to master course material; they are also being asked to take the information that they are being taught in the classroom and apply it to the experiences that they are having at their site placement.
Remember: Using service learning pedagogy does not change the content that you teach, it only changes how you teach it.
Course Load: Many students at the University work in addition to carrying heavy course loads. How can I ask that they find space for community service in their already jam-packed schedules?
Faculty who use service learning as a teaching method report that their students are attracted to their courses by the service component.
If you find that your students are struggling to meet the time requirements, there are a few options that you might want to consider:
1) Make the service learning component of your course optional, and offer an additional credit hour to those students who choose to engage in service learning.
2) Try to develop a varied list of site placements which allow students to serve at different times of day, on weekends, and at night. More flexibility enables them to fit their service learning into their schedules at their convenience.
Time Constraints: How do I fit something entirely new into a course with a full syllabus?
Service learning is not an add-on to the current requirements of your course. As you begin to incorporate it into your teaching, some of your traditional teaching techniques may be replaced with more dynamic learning activities.
Many professors note that there is an initial "set-up time" required with service learning classes that may exceed the time professors generally spend preparing for a course, but are quick to point out that the higher levels of student engagement in their courses more than make up for any extra time they spend doing the initial planning.
Relevance: What if the connection between service and learning is not understood well in my department or program?
Service learning is effective in any field, but may be easier to identify in some subject areas, and more difficult in others.
There are many resources available at the University to help you in figuring out how to integrate service learning and community-based research into your course. The Morgridge Center for Public Service contains an extensive literature on how to use service learning pedagogy in different subject areas (including the hard sciences).
Using service learning as a Teaching Method: Will I be able to apply this pedagogy successfully?
Any time you incorporate new pedagogical strategies into your teaching, your competencies are going to be challenged. Many educators will have to assume an entirely different role in the teaching-learning process, moving from that of teacher to that of guide.
Keep in mind that you do not have to face these challenges alone. The Office of Service Learning and Community Based Research is here to provide resources and names of faculty and staff on campus with whom you can confer, all of which should help you use service learning strategies more effectively in your classroom.
