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Definition of Service-Learning

Welcome to this exciting opportunity to be engaged in service! Colleges and universities all over the nation and world are finding that students learn far more through engaged service than from books and lectures alone. Moreover, communities are equal beneficiaries when students and faculty apply their knowledge and skills in public settings.

What is service-learning?
Service-learning is a teaching approach integrating academic instruction with community service that engages students in civic responsibility, critical and creative thinking, and structured reflection.

What is the difference between service-learning and community service?

• Service-learning combines what is learned in the classroom with real- world experiences. The community becomes an extension of the classroom, and service-learning students are evaluated and assessed according to assigned learning objectives. Community service is volunteer work independent of strategic learning outcomes.
  
  
• Service-learning uses community service as a vehicle for students to reach their academic goals, develop new skills, and consider future vocational options.

With service-learning, the community becomes an extension of the classroom, and people with whom students interact (children, the homeless, community supervisors and others) become teachers, along with the students' professors.

One of the main goals of service-learning is to create an experience in which both community and students benefit in tangible ways. Mutual benefits are key, and reciprocity is essential for an experience to be considered true service-learning.

Criteria:

• Service projects are selected to illuminate an aspect of a discipline's academic theory.
• Student efforts contribute to the community's common good.
• Learning goals for students are clearly defined and appropriately assessed.
• Each class includes creative and critical structured reflection on service-learning.
• Although timing is flexible, students are involved in a minimum of 8-10 hours of service outside of class time.