Lead ~ Serve ~ Learn
Mason's Resource For:
Frequently Asked Questions about Service-Learning
What is Service-Learning?
There are many definitions of service-learning but all reflect the principles captured in this definition from the Campus Compact National Center for Community Colleges:
Service-learning is a teaching method which combines community service with academic instruction as it focuses on critical, reflective thinking and civic responsibility. Service-learning programs involve students in organized community service that addresses local needs, while developing their academic skills, sense of civic responsibility, and commitment to the community.
Service-learning promotes George Mason University’s goal to prepare students to address the complex issues facing our society and to discover meaning in their lives. Further, service-learning meets our institutional mission to be a resource to the pubic sector of the Commonwealth of Virginia.
What are the benefits of service-learning?
Faculty:
- Enhances student learning by combining theory with experience, analysis and action.
- Energizes the classroom with student sharing of new perspectives rooted in experience.
- Experience new relationships with students through a transformation of teaching and learning pedagogy.
- Identify new areas for research and publication.
- Provides faculty an opportunity to engage with Mason’s mission to engage in interactive pedagogy that results in change in the academy and the world.
Students:
- Fosters both theoretical and practical understanding of academic study through students’ experiential learning. It “brings books to life and life to books.”
- Broadens perspectives and enhances critical thinking skills.
- Improves interpersonal and human relations skills.
- Provides guidance for future career choices, including job contacts and work experience.
- Enriches student learning of course material by moving students from the margin of the classroom experience to the center.
Community:
- Provides the community with substantial human resources to meet its educational, human, safety, and environmental needs.
- Develops a commitment to a lifetime of volunteering, creating a democracy of civic participation.
- Implements the opportunity to participate in an educational partnership.
- Promotes students as one of the community's most valuable resources.
How many hours of service are required?
The number of service hours is established by the faculty member based on what is needed to help students reach the learning objectives for the project. Assignments range from a one-day service-learning project to several hours weekly throughout the semester. Many courses integrate a project based on just a few hours of community work. If you are considering a significant service-learning requirement, the general guideline is 1-credit is equivalent to 45-hours of on site community service.
How is service-learning assessed?
Just as in standard classes, students are not assigned a grade for simply showing up, but are evaluated on their articulation of their learning. Assignments may include journal writing, critical papers, or class discussion through which connections are made between the service experience and course themes and texts. Service-learning opportunities may also offer students the opportunity to produce work that can be assessed including websites, brochures or materials for publication or other projects identified by the community agency. For courses in which more than 20-hours of service are required, the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement will send out evaluation forms for the community partner’s evaluation of the student’s work on site.
Where and how is service-learning being implemented at GMU?
Service-Learning Immersion
These courses provide students with the opportunity to involve themselves
in direct service to the community with the goal of promoting active citizenship.
Example: NCLC 195 Alternative Spring Break
Service-Learning Assignment
The course requires students to participate in a one-day or limited project
related to course goals.
Example: PHIL 100 Introduction to Philosophy
Discipline-Based Service-Learning
Students engage in a regular volunteer commitment throughout the semester and
reflect on their experiences using course content as a source for their analysis.
Examples: NCLC 304 Social Movements and Community Activism, NCLC 310 Violence
and Gender
Project Based Service-Learning
Individual or student teams serve as consultants to a community organization
to meet a particular need. This model assumes that students are developing
a particular set of skills to share.
Examples: ENG 410 Technical and Report
Writing, NCLC 249 Internet Literacy
Fourth Credit Add-On
Students enroll for an additional course credit and provide service to an organization
whose mission or programs relates to course themes.
Example: PSYC 328 Psychology
in the Community (1 Credit) may be added to a number of courses such as Adolescent
Psychology
Optional Course Component
Students may choose a service-learning project as one of several course alternatives.
The service may be used as the basis for papers, class presentations or other
assignments.
Example: NCLC 375/GOVT 358 Nonprofit Financial Planning, SOCW 423 Social Work
with Children and Adolescents
What does the Center for Leadership & Community Engagement provide?
The Center for Leadership & Community Engagement (CLCE) supports faculty and departments in all aspects of service-learning course development and implementation. CLCE staff consults with faculty interested in integrating service-learning into courses, orients students to service-learning procedures and administers all required paperwork. CLCE keeps up-to-date with GMU risk management policy and provides forms for download on its website, http:CLCE.gmu.edu. CLCE serves as a liaison between faculty, students and community agencies to identify service opportunities in alignment with faculty and student learning goals.
