Chapter 5
Designing and Implementing Cocurricular Service-Learning

As specified in 1.1, my definition of service-learning is intentionally broad enough to encompass experiences that are both inside and outside the formal curriculum, as long as they incorporate the fundamental practices of reflection and reciprocity. While it can be challenging to develop high-quality service-learning experiences outside the formal curriculum, carefully designed and implemented cocurricular experiences can enable student participants to achieve learning and developmental outcomes both similar to and different from those related to a discipline or academic course content. This chapter describes the various types of cocurricular service-learning experiences, their benefits and challenges, and how to implement them across student affairs functional areas.

5.1 What is cocurricular service-learning?

Can There Be “Real” Service-Learning If It Is Not Part of an Academic Course?

What Are the Benefits and Challenges of Cocurricular Service-Learning?

Cocurricular service-learning engages students in activities outside the formal curriculum that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities for reflection designed to achieve desired learning outcomes. While the student and community outcomes, as well as the service and reflection activities, may be different from those of academic, or curricular, service-learning, the fundamental elements of reflection and reciprocity apply to all forms of service-learning.

Cocurricular service-learning does not enjoy the benefits of the structures inherent in academic courses, including established learning outcomes, required class meetings and assignments, credits, and grades. As a result, service-learning educators must put in place structures that ensure that the experience, even a one-time experience, embraces the principles and practices of high-quality service-learning.

Question 1.4 provides an overview of the benefits of service-learning to all participants and stakeholders. The benefits to students of engagement in cocurricular service-learning generally fall in the areas of personal growth and interpersonal development. Potential outcomes of student engagement in cocurricular service-learning related to psychosocial and identity development include self-efficacy; emotional maturity; development and clarity of values and life purpose; deeper awareness of their own identities related to such elements as race, class, gender, sexual orientation, and ability; increased tolerance and empathy; and greater sense of their roles in local and global society.

Student participants in service-learning in contexts other than the classroom also can show gains in complex thinking, ethic development and moral reasoning, and clarity about their faith and spirituality (McEwen, 1996). Student communities, such as residence halls and student organizations, also benefit, as working together on tangible, hands-on, meaningful projects engenders stronger relationships, shared purpose, and a sense of community. As mentioned in 1.4, participation in service-learning and other forms of community engagement also contributes to satisfaction with the college experience and a higher likelihood of degree attainment. In addition, recent research on adolescents and young adults indicates that those involved in volunteerism and collective action for the common good, including service-learning, are associated with a number of indicators of psychosocial well-being, including optimism and hope, self-efficacy, self-esteem and self-confidence, sense of meaning, and sense of living up to one's potential (Flanagan & Bundick, 2011).

Cocurricular service-learning can offer more flexibility than course-based initiatives, because it is not necessarily bounded by the course schedule or semester timeframe. Service and reflection can readily occur during evenings and weekends. Often subjective rather than objective, reflection in cocurricular experiences generally focuses on gaining a deeper understanding of oneself, how one relates to others in the context of immediate and global communities, and examining one's values and beliefs. A potential drawback is that students may not take reflection seriously, since it is not part of a course. As a result, it may be more challenging to achieve the delicate balance of service and learning that Sigmon's typology illustrates (see 1.2). While academic service-learning may tend to emphasize learning over service (sL), cocurricular service-learning is more likely to emphasize service over learning (Sl) (Sigmon, 1994). In the eyes of some, cocurricular service-learning lacks the legitimacy of experiential education, because it is not integrated into academic courses.

From the community perspective, service-learners whose service is not part of a course are more likely to be able to take on tasks that are not directly related to academic content or course-based learning outcomes. Because their service experience is often not as limited by the academic calendar nor related to a specific course project, student participants in various forms of cocurricular service may choose to continue working with a community organization or issue over time, perhaps in more complex and challenging ways. On the other hand, a particular challenge of cocurricular service-learning is sustaining student commitment to projects and organizations.

Service-learning outside the formal curriculum is more likely to be initiated and led by students than course-based service-learning is. There are many examples of students serving as partners in service-learning, as described in 5.8. Student leaders of service-learning are often passionate, committed, and creative. Some facilitate service-learning in such paraprofessional roles as resident assistants and orientation advisors. Others coordinate service-learning experiences through the service-learning center, living-learning communities, and other student organizations. They are often excellent at recruiting peers to join their efforts. Students who are trained as reflection facilitators can engage and hold their peers' interest in ways that older adults cannot. In most cases, student leaders are more effective when they can rely on faculty and staff advisors and mentors for guidance and support. However, providing such advising and mentorship can require substantial time and energy, because it involves walking a fine line between maintaining accountability to outcomes and partnerships on the one hand and allowing students the latitude to make and learn from mistakes on the other. Some advisors find it difficult to relinquish authority, to live with the ambiguity that student leadership often entails, and to sustain community partnerships as student leaders move on (Fisher & Wilson, 2003).

5.2 What is the relationship between service-learning and student development?

Thoughtfully designed and carefully implemented cocurricular service-learning can enable students to achieve profound developmental outcomes. Development is essentially a redefining of the self in more complex and more distinct ways, while at the same time putting all the parts together in an integrated fashion. Two conditions must exist for development to occur: a readiness within the individual and stimuli that challenge the individual enough to upset his or her psychological equilibrium. Nevitt Sanford's work on the relationship of challenge to development explains that development requires a delicate balance of challenge and support. If the challenge, or disequilibrium, is too great, the individual will retreat and will not take the risks that growth and development require. On the other hand, if the support system is too great and there is not sufficient challenge, the individual will stagnate and not move forward (Sanford, 1967). Through both service and reflection experiences, service-learning educators can promote development by offering challenges that require new responses while, at the same time, offering sufficient support to make the student feel comfortable enough to confront the challenges. It is also important to recognize that individuals are only able to understand and engage in complexity of reasoning that is one level beyond their own level of cognitive and moral development.

There are several families of student development theories that inform the design and facilitation of service-learning experiences:

Cognitive-structural development theories help us to understand how students think—the process of students' thinking—but not the content. For example, thinking can range from simple to complex, from concrete to abstract. Within this group of theories fall intellectual and ethical development, gender-related patterns of thinking, moral development, and spiritual development.

Psychosocial development refers to the content of college students' development. Its focus is on the issues and developmental tasks that students face during the college years. Adult development and career development theories fall into this category. Career development can be viewed as the process through which individuals come to understand themselves as they relate to the world of work and their role in it. Theories of career development address the interactions between personality and environment, self-concept and career choice, and self-efficacy and outcome expectations related to career goals.

Theories on the development of social identities describe how students understand the various elements of their own identity—such as race, ethnicity, gender, sexual orientation, ability, religion, and social class—and the intersection of these identities. Identity development theories address both what students think about their specific identities and how they think about them (McEwen, 2003).

Integrative developmental frameworks such as self-authorship incorporate multiple opportunities for cognitive, intrapersonal, and interpersonal development (Baxter Magolda, 2000). The framework of self-authorship reminds us that students come to service-learning at different points in their development that influence how they perceive people and situations, receive knowledge, engage in service and reflection, and understand the various complexities of service-learning. Baxter Magolda suggests that we view students as capable participants in their journey to self-authorship, provide direction and practice in establishing internal authority, help students develop a community among their peers, and support them in their struggle to advance from their older, simpler perspectives to newer, more complex ones (Jones, Gilbride-Brown, & Gasiorski, 2005).

In addition to these developmental theories, there are several personality and learning style typologies that have implications for service-learning. Kolb's Experiential Learning Model, as described in 1.2, is the one most directly applicable to service-learning. The model consists of four elements, which form a cycle of learning: concrete experience, observation and reflection on the experience, formulation of abstract concepts based on the experience and reflection, and testing of new concepts. Learners can enter the cycle at any point, and learning occurs as they repeat the cycle.

Kolb also describes four learning styles that relate directly to the elements in the experiential learning cycle: converger, accommodator, diverger, and assimilator. Convergers are strong in the practical application of ideas by organizing knowledge through hypothetical-deductive reasoning to focus on specific problems. Their most prominent learning abilities in the model are abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. They prefer to deal with things rather than people. Accommodators' dominant learning abilities are active experimentation and concrete experience. Their greatest strengths lie in solving problems intuitively, relying on working with people rather than on analytical skills. Divergers are interested in people, like accommodators, but their greatest strengths lie in their imaginative abilities. They excel in viewing situations from a variety of perspectives and can organize perspectives and relationships in meaningful ways. Their dominant learning styles are concrete experience and reflective observation. Finally, assimilators' greatest strengths lie in their ability to create theoretical models through inductive reasoning and combining disparate observations into an integrated whole. They are more interested in abstract concepts than in people or practical application of theories. Their dominant learning abilities are reflective observation and abstract conceptualization (Kolb, 1984; McEwen, 1996).

Understanding student development and learning style theories provides a strong foundation for service-learning educators—faculty, student affairs professionals, community leaders, campus chaplains, and student leaders—to use in selecting developmentally appropriate outcomes and creating service-learning experiences that enable all participants to achieve them (McEwen, 1996). These theories are even more salient for cocurricular service-learning, where the desired outcomes are more likely to be about personal development than based on academic content.

Students at early stages of development need greater support to benefit from the challenges presented by service and reflection experiences. These students may be eager to explore new experiences and want to help or become involved, but they may also be fearful of the challenges and perceived challenges that lie ahead. In designing service-learning experiences for such students, it is important to provide clear expectations, highly structured short-term activities, and close supervision. Reflection prior to the service experience should prepare students for whom they will meet, what specific tasks they will do, and what they may see and feel. Taking a break during and between service activities to do a short reflection in the form of a check-in can help to identify any potentially troublesome issues before they become problems. It is important to design post-service reflection to address participants' issues, such as feeling overwhelmed by the needs and issues they encounter during their service, frustration and lack of confidence in their abilities to make a difference, and confusion about how to relate to people different from themselves.

As they proceed through the phases of development, students may be ready to engage on a more sustained basis and in more independent work, more complex tasks, and more contact with community members. In addition to preparation for the service experience, reflection should be intentionally designed to enable students to examine thoughtfully the moral dilemmas they may encounter, questions related to responsibility for the situations of individuals and communities, and how they are both similar to and different from those with whom they engage. Students should be offered opportunities for both individual and group reflection, structured to provide a balance of challenge and support and to lead them to think more complexly about the issues and situations they encounter.

Students at higher levels of development are likely to benefit from service-learning experiences that enable them to explore issues related to social justice and structures of oppression, question their own multiple identities and how they intersect, and engage with more intentionality in the process of making big life decisions. Such students may benefit from experiences of greater intensity and duration and becoming involved in deeper relationships with advisors, peers, and community members. They may also be ready to assume service-learning leadership positions like reflection facilitators, alternative break trip leaders, presidents of service organizations, and team leaders at community sites. At more advanced stages of development, students struggle to recognize and state how they believe the world should change and to critically reflect on their own responsibility and commitment to work on behalf of social change. Service-learning educators should recognize these challenges and support students through them, especially in light of additional challenges they may face from family and friends about how their values, views on social issues, and career and lifestyle choices may be evolving. Educators should structure reflection to encourage students to more clearly articulate their reasoning and judgments and to help one another to advance their thinking through group discussions.

There are several implications of Kolb's experiential learning model for the design and facilitation of service-learning. First, service-learning experiences should be structured to offer multiple opportunities for students to move completely and frequently through the learning cycle. The model emphasizes the essential role of reflection to the learning process and that effective learning is most likely to occur if service-learning experiences are sequentially structured so that reflection follows concrete experience and precedes abstract conceptualization. It is also important to recognize that students with different learning styles approach service-learning differently. For example, divergers prefer learning through concrete experience and reflective observation. Therefore, they are likely to be comfortable with service-learning's combination of purposeful activities and opportunities to reflect on them. Convergers enjoy applying principles and theories to practice, prefer doing tasks that do not involve interacting with people, and are likely to find reflection, particularly in groups, to be challenging. As service-learning educators plan and implement different forms of service and reflection, it is helpful to be aware that divergers and convergers have opposite learning strengths, as do assimilators and accommodators (McEwen, 1996).

Sources of additional information

  1. Baxter Magolda, M.B. (Ed.). (2000). Teaching to Promote Intellectual and Personal Maturity: Incorporating Students' Worldviews and Identities into the Learning Process (New Directions for Teaching and Learning, no. 82). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  2. Baxter Magolda, M.B. (2004). Making Their Own Way: Narratives for Transforming Higher Education to Promote Self-Development. Arlington, VA: Stylus.
  3. Evans, N.J., Forney, D.S., Guido, F.M., Patton, L.D., & Renn, K.A. (2010). Student Development in College: Theory, Research, and Practice (2nd ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  4. Flanagan, C., & Bundick, M. (2011). Civic engagement and psychosocial well-being in college students. Liberal Education, 97(2), 20–27.
  5. Fowler, J.W. (1981). Stages in Faith: The Psychology of Human Development and the Quest for Meaning. San Francisco, CA: Harper.
  6. Jones, S.R., & Abes, E.S. (2013). Identity Development of College Students: Advancing Frameworks for Multiple Dimensions of Identity. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  7. McEwen, M.K. (1996). Enhancing student learning and development. In B. Jacoby (Ed.), Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass, 1996.
  8. McEwen, M.K. (2003). The nature and uses of theory. In S.R. Komives & D.B. Woodard (Eds.), Student Services: A Handbook for the Profession (4th ed.). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

5.3 What are the different forms of cocurricular service-learning?

As mentioned in 1.7, an institution should offer a wide range of curricular and cocurricular service-learning experiences at different levels of frequency, duration, intensity, and level of commitment. Many service-learning centers present the institution's service-learning options as a continuum, ranging from one-time experiences, such as service days, to deep engagements, such as capstone courses and alternative break student leader positions. Like curricular service-learning, cocurricular service-learning takes many forms. The service experiences may or may not occur at the community site, which can be near the campus or far away, domestic or international. At most institutions, cocurricular service-learning experiences are offered by multiple campus entities besides the service-learning center, such as student affairs departments, colleges and academic departments, study abroad and internship programs, chaplaincies, and student organizations. While the types of cocurricular service described below may not include all its possible iterations, the typology illustrates the range of options that institutions may offer.

Introductory, One-Time, and Short-Term Experiences. 

It is hard to find a college or university that does not offer some type of one-time service experience, often called service days. They may be offered by orientation programs, the service-learning center, academic departments, learning or faith communities, offices of diversity and inclusion, or student organizations. As part of orientation to the institution or to a particular academic department or learning community, service days can provide opportunities for new students to meet one another and to begin the process of building a community, familiarize themselves with the community in which the campus is located, begin to view experiential learning as an important part of the college experience, and become interested in further service-learning. Many service-learning centers offer a series of service days, at weekly or monthly intervals, often on weekends. Also common are large-scale, campus-wide annual events that may be campus traditions or occur on holidays such as Martin Luther King, Jr.'s birthday or as part of national programs such as Christmas in April or Relay for Life. Large campus-wide events may engage faculty and staff and members of the broader community in addition to students. Sometimes, credit-bearing freshman seminars—which can be taught by faculty, student affairs staff, or student leaders—require students to participate in one or more one-time service days as a course assignment. Student organizations and faith communities frequently organize service days that may be open to all students as well as to group members.

Service-learning is also incorporated into short-term experiences, such as pre-matriculation mini-immersions or alternative weekends. These can occur on, near, or away from the campus. For example, a three-day mini-immersion immediately prior to the beginning of the fall semester could engage new students in team-building experiences such as ropes courses and icebreaker games, together with service activities and reflection. At a faith-based institution, the mini-immersion could focus on the religious mission of the institution and how it relates to service and learning. Alternative weekends can occur at any time of the year. They can be organized by and for students in particular academic programs, student organizations, or campus ministries or be available to the entire student body. Some focus on a social issue through service and reflection in a community near the campus, perhaps an urban area for a rural or suburban campus or a rural area for an urban institution. Low-cost housing and meals are generally arranged so participants will gain some of the benefits of a longer immersion but at reduced cost and time commitment.

I have been engaged in many conversations with service-learning colleagues and student leaders about whether one-time or short-term experiences are worth the time and energy it takes to organize them. Many wonder whether these experiences can really be high-quality service-learning at all. Can they truly encompass reflection and reciprocity? Can their benefits outweigh the costs for community partners? It is indeed challenging to design and implement brief experiences that can rightfully be called service-learning. However, as long as expectations are carefully managed and service-learning's essential practices are incorporated, it is possible to design brief experiences that are meaningful to students and beneficial to communities. The steps in planning and implementing cocurricular service-learning described in 5.6 are useful in this regard.

Ongoing Cocurricular Experiences. 

Students whose interest in service-learning has been piqued by one-time or short-term experiences, those who are interested in a specific social issue or population, and those who seek opportunities related to their faith or career aspirations are among the students who seek ongoing cocurricular experiences. Whether these experiences are based in the service-learning center, other campus departments, campus ministries, diversity offices, or student organizations, they are sometimes initiated by students or at student request. Many are also student-led.

Several basic types of ongoing cocurricular service-learning programs are most frequently based in service-learning centers. One common model is organized around a team of student leaders who facilitate student service at a particular community site. Although there are numerous variations, each student leader serves as the primary liaison between a community partner and the service-learning center, works with the site to determine goals and needs for student service, recruits participants, schedules and monitors service hours, engages service-learners in reflection, and assists in assessment and evaluation. Participants are generally required to make a commitment of at least one semester. The student leaders receive substantial training and usually meet on a regular basis to share successes and challenges and to reflect. This model enables the service-learning center to provide a wide range of options for ongoing service-learning.

Academic departments, learning communities, and honors programs often offer cocurricular service-learning experiences to complement the curriculum. Most of these experiences relate to the disciplinary or interdisciplinary focus of the academic program. For example, a landscape architecture department collaborates with the service-learning center to locate schools, nursing homes, homeless shelters, and other community sites where a healing garden would be a welcome addition. Under the guidance of a faculty member, the landscape architecture students work with their community partners to develop the plans for the gardens as well as to do the construction and planting. The students meet regularly to consult and reflect with one another and the faculty advisor. In another example, a two-year interdisciplinary learning community for freshmen and sophomores focused on advocacy for children began an after-school tutoring and enrichment program for children at a local elementary school in a low-income neighborhood where most of the households are headed by single mothers. In addition to volunteering twice a week at the school, the students meet weekly to reflect on their experiences and to explore issues and avenues for advocacy on behalf of the children.

Campus ministries have long offered cocurricular experiences that combine service with reflection that may or may not involve prayer. An example of a successful ongoing program engages students in delivering meals on Sundays to people who are homebound with AIDS and other serious illnesses. The student participants meet during the week for reflection and at Sunday worship services, when issues raised by the students are incorporated into the sermon, liturgy, and prayers. Another particularly promising example arising out of intercultural programming based in a diversity office involves a group of Muslim, Catholic, and Jewish women who do their service at a homeless shelter and come together weekly to discuss the similarities and differences regarding how service is conceptualized and practiced in their faith traditions.

Virtually every campus has at least one student organization whose purpose is community service. Such organizations may exist on a single campus or be chapters of national or international organizations. Regrettably, many of them engage members and other students primarily in one-time service events and most do not include reflection, even in their ongoing service activities. However, there are more and more exceptions, as these organizations attract students who have experienced critical reflection through service-learning inside or outside the curriculum. Some student service organizations function independently, while others work closely with and are advised by staff or faculty in the service-learning center, the diversity office, or an academic department or program. Members of the Service-Learning Club at Whatcom Community College in Bellingham, Washington, meet monthly to discuss community needs, design and participate in service activities to address the needs, and reflect together on their experience (Whatcom Community College, 2014). The mission of Terps for Change at the University of Maryland in College Park is to connect students with the local community “through sustained, collaborative, and meaningful service-learning” (University of Maryland, 2014). Terps for Change is a student-initiated and -led organization that requires participants to make a minimum commitment of one semester, to volunteer at least two or three hours per week, and to actively engage in “monthly dialogue events that focus on critical reflection and deeper understanding of service-learning and movement towards social change” (University of Maryland, 2014).

Among the challenges of ongoing cocurricular service-learning are maintaining students' commitments to their service, engaging them in critical reflection, and keeping the programs and organizations going as student leaders move on. It clearly requires more effort on the part of student leaders as well as faculty and staff advisors to sustain student interest and participation without the structure afforded by curricular service-learning. However, clarifying expectations early, gaining buy-in to program goals, ensuring that the service and reflection are connected and meaningful, and providing appropriate incentives both during and at the conclusion of the program or semester can go a long way to making ongoing cocurricular service-learning beneficial for both students and community partners.

Residence Hall–Based Programs. 

Increasing numbers of institutions are offering service-learning residence halls or floors. The benefits of residential models include enabling students interested in service-learning in general or in a particular issue to live together and gather easily for formal or informal reflection. These programs also increase the likelihood that students will sustain their commitment to the service sites and to one another over time. Most residence hall–based programs require an application process. In some cases, the house or floor organizes service-learning activities that are open to the entire student body. Many are student-led.

Theme-based living-learning programs often engage students in one-time and ongoing service-learning experiences related to the program theme and goals. For example, a program on arts and society engages students in several ongoing partnerships with local arts organizations, including a children's dance studio, the county arts council, and a community theater. Such programs often engage students in reflection to draw connections between the students' courses and the service-learning activities.

Federally Funded Programs. 

Through Federal Work-Study and AmeriCorps, institutions are able to offer cocurricular service-learning opportunities to students who might not otherwise be able to participate because they need to work to cover college and other expenses. The law governing Federal Work-Study stipulates that each institution receiving a Federal Work-Study allocation must use at least 7 percent of its allocation to employ students in community service jobs either on or off campus. In addition, at least one of the students the institution employs to fulfill this requirement must perform family literacy activities or reading tutoring for preschool-age children or elementary school students. To facilitate these community service activities as well as mathematics tutoring, the wages of students performing these activities may be paid fully from federal funds. Otherwise, the institution must pay a share of the wages (Campus Compact, 2013b; U. S. Department of Education, 2013).

Many institutions that started reading and mathematics tutoring programs under the America Reads and America Counts Challenges launched by the Clinton Administration still operate them, employing Federal Work-Study students along with others. Most of these programs engage students in substantial training and ongoing reflection. Some institutions offer on-campus positions for Federal Work-Study students in which they tutor peers in developmental English and mathematics classes and work with campus-based programs like TRIO. Students who work in these programs or independently in a community organization to earn their work-study wages may be less likely to have structured opportunities for reflection.

The AmeriCorps state and national service programs enable institutions to apply for grants to create part-time AmeriCorps programs that enable students to work 300, 600, or 900 hours over the course of a year while earning a living allowance and educational stipend based on the number of hours worked (Corporation for National and Community Service, 2013a). The number of AmeriCorps members on a campus varies according to the amount of the grant and the number of hours each member works. Students generally work with a community organization, either individually or in groups. AmeriCorps grant applications are strengthened by incorporating reflection into programs for which institutions seek funding. However, as with Federal Work-Study programs, regular reflection may or may not occur.

Cocurricular Requirement as Part of the Curriculum. 

Some institutions require professional or undergraduate students to complete a specified number of hours of cocurricular service-learning, which may or may not be related to the major or academic program. In professional programs, these hours are in addition to the curriculum-based field work requirements. In a generic medical school example, students are required to do seventy-five hours of cocurricular service-learning in each of the first two years. The program engages students in in-depth, year-long experiences that focus on caring for vulnerable populations, such as people who are elderly, homeless, addicted, or multiply disabled, depending on the individual students' interests. Another of the program's goals is to provide opportunities for members of these diverse populations to participate in the education of medical students. In addition to their service, the students attend monthly seminars that highlight topics such as humanistic medicine, health education, the fabric of society, and medicine and political action.

In another generic example, a pharmacy school requires each student to meet weekly with a community member with health issues that require several medications and who is elderly, very young, a non-fluent English speaker, or intellectually disabled. The pharmacy students form relationships with the patients that enable the patients to understand their diseases, maintain healthy lifestyles, and treat themselves more effectively. The future pharmacists learn about the human side of their profession and reflect on questions like: Physicians heal; what do pharmacists do?

In addition to offering service-learning courses in which students learn about and engage in practice related to social issues, many law schools require second- and third-year students to do cocurricular work in school- or community-based legal clinics or one-on-one with an attorney mentor on cases involving issues related to family law, immigration, consumer law, child welfare, and the like. An innovative example requires first-year student teams to work with a legal aid center to prepare and conduct weekly workshops for unrepresented individuals on basic procedures in small claims court and matters such as paternity, custody, guardianship, bankruptcy, and foreclosure. This program enables students to provide general information about aspects of the legal system without giving specific legal advice. Regular reflection, in writing, through discussions, and online, focuses on the large unmet need for legal services and how the students might be civic professionals in the future.

As far as undergraduate students are concerned, some institutions are recognizing that learning in some critical areas is most effective when learning in both the curriculum and the cocurriculum is intentionally connected. For example, many institutions require their students to take at least one course in some aspect of diversity as part of the general education curriculum. Some of these courses focus on the promises and problems of plural societies and the challenges that have been and must be addressed in order to achieve a just and equitable society. Others are more personal, offering opportunities for students to reflect deeply on issues related to human difference and commonality, as well as on their values, identities, and actions. A few colleges and universities require a complementary cocurricular service-learning experience designed to enable students to achieve one or more particular learning outcomes. At one institution, students select from a range of service-learning experiences in which they engage with others whom they initially may perceive as different from themselves, learn firsthand about the effects of structures and systems of oppression, and reflect on why certain groups continue to be persistently marginalized in today's society.

In an example that is not necessarily related to the curriculum, some institutions have a cocurricular requirement for all undergraduates that comprises a specified minimum number hours of personal development—which includes visits to museums or theaters or musical presentations, leadership development workshops, and seminars on career exploration or wellness—and a specified minimum number of hours of service-learning. Students may complete their service-learning hours by working within a university-sponsored program or with an organization of their choosing. The service-learning must enable students to have a new experience or learn a new skill in an organized setting with a specified site supervisor. Students submit a completed form that describes the organization and the service-learning experience, specifies the number of service hours, includes reflection on learning, and is signed by the site supervisor.

While there are numerous apparent benefits to students and communities of requiring curricular or cocurricular service, there are also many attendant considerations and cautions. As 8.2 explains, the institution must determine whether it has the capacity to develop and monitor enough appropriate placements for students. In addition, 7.9 notes that, when service is required rather than optional, there is an increased liability exposure.

Intensive and Immersion Experiences. 

While there are many outstanding examples of intensive service-learning experiences that are credit-bearing, either in themselves or as part of an academic course as described in 4.4, even more are offered on a cocurricular basis. The most common of these are alternative breaks, which are short-term, immersive cocurricular service-learning experiences that generally occur in groups from the same institution. They are growing rapidly across all sectors of higher education. Alternative break groups are generally led by well-trained student leaders and often advised by faculty or staff members. As with course-based experiences, alternative breaks occur during spring, summer, and winter breaks and can be near or far from the campus, as well as domestic or international. Participants are usually selected early enough to begin preparation up to six months prior to their departure. Preparation includes, but is surely not limited to, learning about the community and the issues to be addressed, understanding the mission and goals of the partner organization, “pre-flection” about participants' expectations and the realities they are likely to encounter, team building, training for specific skills the students will need, and service in the local community related to the break project. Many alternative breaks are supported by Break Away, a national nonprofit organization that promotes and supports the development of high-quality alternative break programs by providing guidance, training, and information to higher education institutions and other nonprofit organizations. Break Away recommends that student participants become involved in their local community, be active politically regarding social issues, and think seriously about pursuing careers in which they can effect positive social change (Break Away, 2013).

There are also many non-credit-bearing service-learning internships, individual experiences in which students engage with a nonprofit or government organization. These can range in intensity from ten to forty hours per week and be required or optional. Service-learning internships may be paid or unpaid (assuming they comply with federal labor laws) and may be eligible for academic credit. An advantage to internships that do not bear, or for which students do not seek, academic credit is that they do not require students to pay tuition. Cocurricular internships have been criticized for not including a reflection component. However, service-learning internships engage students in work with a nonprofit organization together with some form of reflection, which may be a written journal, a regular reflection seminar, and/or a final summative project or paper. In most cases, students sign an agreement or learning contract that specifies the requirements of the internship.

Among the advantages of intensive service-learning experiences is that they enable students to immerse themselves in different cultures and environments and to work with people whose experiences and perspectives differ from their own. Planning and organizing these experiences requires extensive staff time and effort. Other challenges include assessing student motivation and readiness, designing programs to meet desired outcomes for students and communities, engaging students in meaningful reflection, and a myriad of administrative and logistical issues. These experiences also require substantial support from a service-learning center or other campus units.

Experiences Involving Alumni. 

As more students are graduating with substantial service-learning experience, alumni associations are partnering with service-learning centers to develop opportunities for alumni to stay involved with service-learning and to share their experiences and reflections with current students. In some instances, the alumni association engages alumni volunteers in planning and implementing service-learning experiences with regional alumni clubs around the country. Other institutions invite alumni, either through the alumni association or the service-learning center, to engage with current service-learners in meaningful ways, including participating in cocurricular service experiences, serving as an advisor to a student organization or alternative break trip, mentoring a service-learning student leader, or presenting a workshop.

These programs have many advantages, including enabling alumni to remain connected, or to regain their connection, to community and social issues and the institution. They also provide rich networking opportunities for current students. Challenges include developing and implementing programs at a distance from the campus and coordinating efforts among campus units, such as the service-learning center, academic departments and colleges, student affairs, the alumni association, and the development office.

Sources of additional information

  1. Break Away. (2013, July). About Break Away. www.alternativebreaks2013.org/about.
  2. Campus Compact. (2013b, July). Earn, Learn, and Serve: Getting the Most from Community Service Federal Work-Study. www.compact.org/initiatives/federal-work-study.
  3. Corporation for National and Community Service. (2013b, July). AmeriCorps. www.nationalservice.gov/programs/americorps.
  4. Jacoby, B. (Ed.). (1996). Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

5.4 How can service-learning be incorporated into the various areas of student life?

How Can Service-Learning Enable Student Affairs Professionals to Achieve Desired Outcomes for Student Learning and Development?

Student affairs professionals in all functional areas, as well as campus ministers and student leaders, can and do facilitate high-quality service-learning experiences that are not based in the academic curriculum. It is also important to note here that many of these individuals also teach courses that include curricular service-learning. In addition, student affairs professionals who may not be directly involved in facilitating service-learning can engage students in reflection based on their service-learning experiences.

Student groups can address a number of organizational issues, such as developing shared purpose, improving internal and external communication, working together across differences, organizational dynamics, and member recruitment and retention, by planning, organizing, and participating in service-learning. For example, I was consulted by officers of an English honor society who were concerned about how difficult it was to retain members because the organization's primary activity was the induction of new members. We developed a service-learning project in which the members worked with a local elementary school to develop an after-school reading enrichment program for struggling readers. As the project took root, member participation and retention in the organization grew. The group's meetings became purposeful as the members engaged together in reflection about how to enhance their work in the school and how their experiences informed their thinking about graduate school and career choices.

As described in 5.3, students who live together in a residence hall or floor can develop a sense of community, mutual interests, and a commitment to one another and to a cause by participating together in service-learning. Living together facilitates group reflection through scheduled and impromptu discussions. Something as simple as placing large sheets of paper on the walls containing prompts for verbal or artistic reflection can encourage ongoing engagement.

Orientation programs engage new students in service-learning to achieve many purposes, including introducing students to peers, to communities around the campus, and to experiential learning and reflection. Outcomes can also include exploring the meaning of community, understanding self in relation to others, civility, and community standards of behavior.

Staff and student leaders who work with diversity and multicultural programs or with students of a particular race, ethnicity, or sexual orientation can develop service-learning experiences that allow students to explore their identities in profound ways. For example, two student leaders, one African American and the other African, worked with a staff member in the diversity office to develop a mentoring program for black youth. Their group reflections centered on the similarities and differences among the black college students based on whether they were U.S.-born, as well as on how they could share their experiences with the youth. Intercultural and interfaith service-learning experiences enable students to work together in community settings and to explore their similarities and differences through group reflection.

Chaplains and advisors of faith-based organizations engage students in service-learning experiences ranging from one-time to intensive, including international mission trips. They may or may not be directly related to religious dogma. For example, service-learning experiences could be designed to enable students to focus on Luke's preaching that “from the one who has been entrusted with much, much more will be asked” (Luke 12:48, 2013) or “what's Jewish about service” (Repair the World, 2013). Prayer or silent meditation may be incorporated into reflection.

Career development professionals can advise students to consider careers in the private, public, and nonprofit sectors that would enable them to pursue the values they have acquired through their service-learning experiences. Many students who are committed to social justice believe that they should limit their career searches to nonprofit organizations. However, career counselors can help students investigate for-profit companies that value corporate social responsibility, social value creation, social entrepreneurship, and employee community service. They can guide students in comparing careers in all three sectors, as well as to consider graduate programs and post-college national and international service opportunities that enable them to pursue their social interests. In addition, faculty and staff who engage students in service-learning can incorporate career choice issues into reflection.

Professionals in wellness and health education often work with highly trained peer leaders who provide educational programming to students in classes, groups, and residence halls. They could work with these student leaders to expand their offerings on topics such as substance abuse, safe sex, sexual assault awareness and prevention to high schools, community centers, or churches in neighborhoods where pregnancy, crime, and drugs are prevalent among youth. The peer educators could then engage together in reflection about the interrelationship among such issues and poverty.

Judicially mandated community service is a common sanction that courts and student conduct offices impose on students found responsible for violations. Often, the student who has committed the violation is required to submit verification of completing a certain number of service hours and an unrelated “reflection paper” about the consequences of the violation. Student conduct office staff and student judicial board members can instead engage violators in well-designed service-learning and reflection that are based on situation-specific learning outcomes such as the rights and responsibilities of citizenship, self in community, and issues directly related to the nature of the violation.

Leadership development programs often engage emerging or experienced student leaders in service-learning to enable them to develop leadership competencies like effective communication, listening well, resilience, building trust, empowering and developing others, visioning, problem solving, and valuing and leveraging diversity. Question 5.5 further examines the relationship of service-learning to leadership development for social change.

Many student affairs colleagues have told me over the years that they are impressed by the time and energy that fraternity and sorority members, members of academic and leadership honor societies, and student athletes commit to philanthropy and service projects. However, many of you have also shared with me your frustration that these experiences rarely include reflection or deep engagement with the communities or issues involved. In fact, a colleague who is now a leader in the service-learning field once told me that she was heavily involved in raising funds for research on Alzheimer's disease, her sorority's philanthropy, but that she graduated from college without ever learning what it is. I hope that the contents of this chapter will inspire some of you to work with student leaders at your institutions to infuse the concepts and practices of service-learning to enhance the value of these already valuable service activities for both student participants and the causes and communities they serve.

5.5 What is the relationship between service-learning and leadership education?

Service-learning can be a powerful means of engaging with the concepts and practices of leadership for social change, including socially responsible leadership, servant leadership, and social entrepreneurship. Leadership educators often engage students, through both courses and cocurricular programming, in service-learning to learn leadership skills and to answer the question: Leadership for what?

The Social Change Model of Leadership Development defines leadership as an inclusive process by which individuals and groups effect change for the betterment of others. The model comprises seven outcomes, or values, that are organized within the three components of the model: the individual values of consciousness of self, congruence, and commitment; the group values of collaboration, common purpose, and controversy with civility; and the community value of citizenship. An eighth outcome, change, is the result of acting on the other seven (Higher Education Research Institute, 1996). Many leadership educators use the values of the Social Change Model as desired learning outcomes as they design and implement programs that engage student leaders in partnerships with community organizations, community members, and peers (Jacoby, 2013).

Servant leadership, a philosophy and practice advanced by Robert Greenleaf, “focuses primarily on the growth and well-being of people and communities to which they belong. While traditional leadership generally involves the accumulation and exercise of power by one at the ‘top of the pyramid,' servant leadership is different. The servant-leader shares power, puts the needs of others first and helps people develop and perform as highly as possible” (Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership, 2013). The philosophy of servant leadership clearly evokes the fundamental service-learning principle of reciprocity and could be used very effectively to facilitate reflection about the meaning of working with, rather than for, the community, as well as about how to view the community in terms of both assets and needs. It would also be a rich springboard for reflection on the effects of power and privilege and how leaders can empower others to work on their own behalf to address community problems and to become agents of social change.

While social entrepreneurship is about large-scale social change, it is also a form of leadership that can be informed by service-learning. Social entrepreneurs are leaders who strive to solve social problems by applying innovative, scalable, sustainable, and measurable approaches. Through service-learning, budding social entrepreneurs can learn about community needs and assets as social contexts for their approaches by using entrepreneurship on a small scale. For example, a cocurricular service-learning project developed by computer science and business faculty could engage students in developing mobile phone applications that address social issues or solve problems for community organizations. Student participants could interview community leaders and members, reflect on how mobile technology could be helpful to them, attend workshops to how to design applications, involve the community in testing the applications, complete and implement the applications, and evaluate their success. Social entrepreneurship is further discussed in relation to the future of service-learning in 9.10.

Sources of additional information

  1. Ashoka, U. (2013, November). http://ashokau.org/.
  2. Komives, S.R., & Wagner, W. (Eds.). (2012). Leadership for a Better World: Understanding the Social Change Model of Leadership Development. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  3. Longo, N.V., & Gibson, C.M. (Eds.). (2011). From Command to Community: A New Approach to Leadership Education in Colleges and Universities. Lebanon, NH: University Press of New England.
  4. Robert K. Greenleaf Center for Servant Leadership. (2013, July). www.greenleaf.org.
  5. Vasan, N., & Przybylo, J. (2013). Do Good Well: Your Guide to Leadership, Action, and Social Innovation. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

5.6 What are the steps in developing cocurricular service-learning experiences?

Developing high-quality cocurricular service-learning experiences requires the same standard of care as curricular initiatives. In order for cocurricular experiences to merit being called service-learning, they must embrace the essential practices of reflection and reciprocity. While long-term and intensive experiences, as well as those away from the campus, require greater effort in planning and implementation, several basic steps should be followed in the design of any cocurricular service-learning experience. These steps are intended to be particularly helpful to those of you who work in the many functional areas of student affairs. If there is a service-learning center on your campus, I encourage you to start there. If you are planning a long-term, intensive, or classroom-based experience, you should also consider the steps for the design of curricular service-learning in 4.5.

Step 1. Select Achievable Learning Outcomes.

As with any learning experience, it is important to carefully choose desired outcomes based on students' development levels and readiness for learning, the duration and intensity of the proposed experience, and the purposes of engaging students in service-learning. It is important to use action verbs and concrete, measurable terms to state clearly what students should know or be able to do, as well as what new awareness they should expect to gain by participating in the experience.

Step 2. Consider What Service Experiences Are Most Likely to Enable Participants to Achieve the Desired Outcomes.

Before you contact potential community partners, you will want to consider what kind or kinds of service experiences are likely to be most effective in achieving the learning outcomes. Considerations include whether the service should be direct, indirect, or nondirect; what tasks are involved; how many community partners and service sites will be required; as well as how much service students will do and at what frequency and duration.

Step 3. Approach Potential Community Partners.

Before you contact community organizations, it is worth investigating which organizations are most likely to be able to accommodate the time frame, schedule, number of participants and their levels of experience, and your desired learning outcomes. You will need to be very clear about these elements, particularly if your initiative involves large numbers, students inexperienced with service-learning or the tasks, or a short time frame. It is important to have an early discussion with your community partner or partners to define specific, ideally quantifiable, desired outcomes from their perspective. It is also helpful to ask whether your potential partner is accustomed to working with students through service-learning courses. If so, I recommend mentioning the potential differences between engaging with students who must complete service hours as a course requirement versus those who are volunteers. Chapter Three covers the process of working with your community partner to set reasonable expectations and achievable goals in detail, but key questions to ask as you seek to identify and approach potential partners for cocurricular service-learning revolve around the degree of compatibility between your design and the organization's mission, needs, number of students sought, schedule, and levels of experience, knowledge, and skills required.

Step 4. Plan the Experience in Detail.

Cocurricular service-learning requires comprehensive and detailed planning, especially if the experience is long-term or intensive, away from the campus, or the project organizers have little service-learning or project management experience. It is well worth taking the time for the individual or team in charge to engage in a careful planning process that lays out the goals and action steps, assigns responsibility for each step and task, establishes a clear timeline, determines resources that are both available and needed, identifies potential barriers and how to address them, establishes how communication will occur, specifies what will constitute evidence of success, and outlines the process for evaluating the extent to which the experience is successful for all participants.

Step 5. Determine How You Will Prepare Students for the Experience.

Thorough preparation of student participants in cocurricular service-learning must be intentionally incorporated into the design of the experience. This may be more challenging than for curricular experiences that can rely on the structures built into the curriculum, such as syllabi, regular class meetings, assignments, and grades. The form and amount of the preparation depends on the nature of the service-learning experience, with one-day experiences requiring less than long-term, intensive, or away experiences. Even for one-time or short-term experiences, it is valuable for organizers to find out what previous service or service-learning experiences students have had. Learning materials such as news articles, websites, and online videos can be easily incorporated. As described in 2.6, reflection prior to the experience, sometimes called “pre-flection” is essential in order to help participants understand their expectations and handle their uncertainties and fears. Preparation also should include information about the site, the client population, and the community, as well as the nuts-and-bolts issues, such as transportation, safety, specific tasks, appropriate dress and behavior, and necessary forms.

Step 6. Select Activities That Are Appropriate and Meaningful for the Participants.

Planning and implementing a cocurricular service-learning experience that participants view as worthwhile is critical if the desired outcomes are to be achieved. Organizers should not only visit the site or sites, but should also engage in the activities that the participants will do. This is the best way to ascertain the challenges students may face and the kinds of preparation, support, and reflection that should be put in place. For example, students who find themselves simply sorting items in a food bank may believe their work to be insignificant unless they learn that the system of sorting enables clients to select the items they need from well-organized shelves, rather than receiving a bag of pre-sorted items that they may or may not want.

Step 7. Integrate Critical Reflection Throughout the Experience.

In addition to reflection prior to the service experience, critical reflection should be integrated throughout the experience, and participants should engage in a final, summative reflection. The issues to consider, which are similar to those for curricular experiences, include when and where reflection will occur, who will facilitate it, whether it will be group or individual, what mechanisms you will use, what prompts you will provide to encourage deep reflection, and how you will provide feedback. The what, why, and how of critical reflection are covered in depth in Chapter Two and specifically related to cocurricular service-learning in 2.6.

Step 8. Address Logistical Issues.

Even one-time service-learning experiences entail dealing with a host of logistical concerns. These may include obtaining any necessary approvals, securing resources, organizing tools and materials, orienting and training participants for specific tasks, liability and risk management, safety and security, transportation, and appropriate behavior. Working these out is time-consuming, and organizers should begin the process of addressing them well in advance. Questions 7.8 and 7.9 thoroughly delineate these issues.

Step 9. Develop a Plan to Measure Achievement of Student and Community Outcomes.

If assessment and evaluation are not built into the initial plan, it is too easy for organizers of cocurricular service-learning experiences to do little or nothing in the way of evaluation or assessment. From the community perspective, it is important to assess the extent to which its concrete outcomes were achieved, such as the number of meals packaged or served, readiness of the park or trail for use, or attitude of nursing home residents following the students' visit. For the students, you will need to know the extent to which the desired outcomes were achieved so that you can use that information in future planning. In addition to the degree of achievement of learning outcomes, assessment may include other outcomes, such as whether participants went on to engage further in service-learning. It is also useful to evaluate the plan and the process from the point of view of all participants. What went well? What could have gone better? What can we do differently next time? Was the experience worthwhile for the community organization in terms of cost-benefit ratio? Question 5.7 further discusses assessment of student learning in cocurricular service-learning experiences, and Chapter Six provides a thorough overview of assessment of service-learning from the perspectives of all participants.

Step 10. Seek Closure; Recognize and Celebrate Success.

Unlike curricular service-learning, the end of a cocurricular experience lacks the usual closings such as the last class meeting, the end of the semester, final papers or exams, and grades. Carefully designed final reflections can help students to recognize what they learned, what big questions remain, and what next steps they can take. Final reflection is essential even in one-day experiences, which may seem useless and irrelevant unless facilitators help students draw meaning from them. Students who participate in immersive experiences like alternative breaks often have significant reentry issues, such as feeling anger at the challenges faced by individuals and communities at the service site, frustration that they could not do more, and difficulty explaining why they have changed the way they think or feel about social structures and issues as well as their lifestyle choices.

Recognizing and celebrating success is an important element of cocurricular service-learning and varies according to the level of engagement of the participants. For example, it might be appropriate to reward new students who participate in a required pre-matriculation one-day service event with a t-shirt that identifies them with the experience and the institution. Students who complete a service-learning internship may prepare posters or video presentations to display and discuss at a reception for campus personnel, community partners, and peers. Institutions that have cocurricular transcripts should use them as a means to formally recognize substantive service-learning experiences. Student leaders who demonstrate exceptional commitment could be recognized through institutional and external awards or rewarded with funds to attend a conference about service-learning or a social issue important to them.

Source of additional information

  1. Jacoby, B. (Ed.). (1996). Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

5.7 How can assessment of student learning be done in cocurricular service-learning?

What Assessment Should Be Done for a One-Time Experience? An Intensive One?

How Does One Assess Student Development?

When the desired outcomes of an experience inform its structure and implementation, assessment and evaluation can easily follow (Albert, 1996). Many of the assessment methods described in 6.2 can be applied to cocurricular experiences. Intensive experiences and those of longer duration require more comprehensive assessment and evaluation than one-time experiences do.

For one-time experiences, simple assessment by counting and evaluating participant satisfaction may suffice. If one of the desired outcomes for a one-day service-learning experience offered by the service-learning center is to encourage students to enroll in service-learning courses, center staff could collect the identification numbers of student participants and then consult the registrar's database to determine what percentage of them actually enroll. If new-student orientation includes a service day intended to enable participants to meet one another and to feel more comfortable as members of the campus community, the assessment could include Likert-scaled items such as: I met at least one person today I want to see again; I exchanged contact information with at least one person I met today; and I will feel more comfortable going to the dining hall alone after today's experience. It is also useful to collect data from participants as well as student leaders about their satisfaction with the experience by asking questions that can be as simple as: What was the best aspect of today's experience for you? The worst? What suggestions do you have?

Ongoing and intensive experiences are likely to be designed to achieve more complex outcomes related to one or more aspects of student learning and development. Assessment of developmental outcomes is challenging because development rarely occurs as the result of a particular experience. However, most of the methods in 6.2 can be used to assess the degree of achievement of one or more outcomes. For example, direct assessment can be done by using an outcome-specific rubric to assess student reflections through journals or a checklist to record observations of a group discussion. From the community perspective, it is appropriate to expect more substantial outcomes as a result of ongoing or intensive cocurricular service-learning, and assessment of these outcomes is essential. Question 6.5 further discusses assessment of service-learning from the community perspective.

Self-report surveys can yield valuable information regarding student attitudes, perception of knowledge or skill acquisition, and future plans, in addition to satisfaction with various aspects of the experience. Related to attitudes, sample Likert-scaled items might include: As a result of this experience. … I am concerned about local issues; I appreciate how my community is enriched by having some cultural and ethnic diversity; It is my responsibility to work to make my community stronger; and I believe we need to work toward changing social systems. Examples of items related to knowledge and skills are: I have increased my knowledge about social issues; I can more readily identify resources to address community problems; I am a better listener when others' opinions are different from mine; and I can work more effectively as a member of a team. Assessment of students' future intentions can gather responses to items like: I will continue to serve the community; I expect to be civically engaged throughout my lifetime; and It is important to me to improve society through my career.

Counting and observation of behavior can also yield much useful data for various student affairs areas. For example, does participation in an ongoing service-learning program sponsored by a campus ministry increase participants' attendance at weekly prayer services? Are there fewer negative behaviors in a residence hall in which residents engage regularly in service-learning? Do more students who have participated in alternative breaks apply for post-graduation national service programs or seek prosocial careers?

An important source of assessment data regarding the impacts of service-learning is the often profound learning experienced by student service-learning leaders, who fill such roles as resident assistants, orientation advisors, reflection facilitators, alternative break trip leaders, teaching assistants, community liaisons, and coordinators of service-learning experiences. It is appropriate to engage these key student leaders in determining their desired learning and development outcomes and the best ways to assess their achievements.

5.8 How can service-learning educators support student-initiated and -led service-learning?

What Issues Are Likely to Arise When Students Initiate and Lead Service-Learning?

What Is My Role as an Advisor of Student Service-Learning Organizations or Service-Learning Leaders?

How Do We Engage Students as Partners in Service-Learning?

While the creation in 1984 of the Campus Outreach Opportunity League brought student leadership of service-learning to national attention, students have long been initiators and leaders of service-learning experiences for their peers. This chapter highlights the important roles student leaders play in facilitating cocurricular service-learning experiences. In addition, as teaching assistants, reflection facilitators, and liaisons with community sites, student leaders also work closely with faculty members in designing and implementing curricular service-learning experiences. In many cases, service-learning student leaders who assist faculty are trained and supervised by staff in the service-learning center. I am often asked questions about how those of us who find ourselves in the role of advising students in leading service-learning can most effectively help them to be successful, such as: How can we assist students in managing all the issues and details involved in high-quality service-learning? How can we ensure sustainability of community engagement as student leaders move on and graduate? How can we help students who are passionate about responding to local and global disasters to do so in a productive manner? How can we help students lead their peers through meaningful reflection?

I offer these practices as a guide in developing and maintaining strong, beneficial, and mutually respectful relationships with student service-learning leaders. They are based on my own experience, the experiences that many colleagues have shared with me, and excellent suggestions from Lacretia J. Flash and Carrie W. Howe (2010).

Be Honest and Authentic. 

In the words of Flash and Howe, “Let students see who you are, what you believe in, and what matters to you” (2010, p. 145). Students learn much more from what we do than from what we say. We will only be viewed as authentic if we demonstrate that we not only embrace but act on the principles of high-quality service-learning and reciprocal partnerships. It is also important to be honest with students about the fact that service-learning raises many questions we cannot answer and that we are learners along with them.

Trust Students, but Work Together to Establish Expectations and Accountability. 

Students may want to respond to crises in the local community as well as globally, to seek ways to continue to serve communities they have worked with through service-learning experiences like alternative breaks, or to establish groups to address community issues they may have encountered through a service-learning class. Although they may want to act quickly, we can help them consider all the dimensions of complex issues, the possible unanticipated ramifications of their actions, how to define success, and how to increase the likelihood of achieving it.

Empower Students to Create and Act. 

As advisors, we walk a fine line as we endeavor to provide the optimum balance of challenge and support to student service-learning leaders. We need to act responsibly by cautioning students to be accountable while giving them space to create and grow. When students generate creative ideas, we should help them to refine them and work out the details. We can provide information, facilitate connections, and share resources. In the words of Flash and Howe, “Create a balance between active investment and general oversight so that they feel valued but not micromanaged. … Know what they truly need from you and what they are capable of doing themselves” (2010, p. 143, 145).

Assist Students to Lead Meaningful Reflection. 

Training student service-learning leaders to guide their peers through reflection is an important and rewarding role of service-learning advisors. Sharing reflection techniques, activities, and prompts is necessary, but it is also essential to help student leaders understand that peers new to service-learning may not be able to think as deeply and complexly as they can about social issues, their multiple identities, and their own power and privilege. We also need to reflect with student leaders on their experiences, because it is easy for them to become caught up in the details of implementation without taking the time to reflect on their own learning.

Be Flexible. 

Advising students as they develop and implement service-learning experiences requires patience. We need to be open to changes in direction, prepared to deal with loose timelines, and accepting of mistakes. When students make mistakes, we need to help them repair any damage, learn what there is to learn, and move on. In the wise words of a student cited by Flash and Howe, “‘Accept the messiness'” (2010, p. 144).

Be Accessible but Set Limits. 

As students engage with peers and community partners in service-learning projects, they need to know that you are there to help them negotiate complex situations and to support their decisions. There are undoubtedly times, such as during an intensive experience, when it is appropriate to be accessible to students around the clock. However, it is likewise important to establish boundaries by considering and letting student leaders know whether you will be available for meetings evenings and weekends, whether you prefer that they make appointments during the workweek or feel free to drop in, and whether you will respond to calls and emails during your vacation.

Recognize Student Achievements. 

Advisors should be generous with praise of student accomplishments, leadership, and learning, both formally and informally. There is no need to wait until the completion of a project to compliment students' good work.

Sources of additional information

  1. Fisher, I., & Wilson, S.H. (2003). Partnerships with students. In B. Jacoby (Ed.), Building Partnerships for Service-Learning. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
  2. Flash, L.J., & Howe, C.W. (2010). Developing your strategy for working with students. In B. Jacoby & P. Mutascio (Eds.), Looking In, Reaching Out: A Reflective Guide for Community Service-Learning Professionals. Boston, MA: Campus Compact.
  3. Jacoby, B. (2013). Student partnerships in service learning. In P.H. Clayton, R.G. Bringle, & J.A. Hatcher (Eds.), Research on Partnerships and Service Learning, Vol. 2B: Communities, Institutions, and Partnerships. Sterling, VA: Stylus.
  4. Zlotkowski, E., Longo, N.V., & Williams, J.R. (Eds.). (2006). Students as Colleagues: Expanding the Circle of Service-Learning Leadership. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.

Conclusion

To conclude this chapter on cocurricular service-learning, I offer this observation by Patricia King and Marcia Baxter Magolda: “a successful educational experience simultaneously increases cognitive understanding and a sense of personal maturity and interpersonal effectiveness” (1996, pp. 163–164). Service-learning, both inside and outside the formal curriculum, enables students to learn both cognitively and affectively. Providing a continuum of curricular and cocurricular service-learning experiences contributes to the creation of a seamless learning environment and reinforces the principle that all members of the college community are educators. Student affairs professionals across functional areas, campus chaplains, and student leaders can work together with community partners to create learning opportunities that complement the curriculum, enhance student learning and development, and encourage students to acquire the lifelong habit of critical reflection.

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