Service-Learning Essentials

Service-Learning Essentials is the resource youneed to help you develop high-quality service-learning experiencesfor college students. Written by one of the field's leading expertsand sponsored by Campus Compact, the book is the definitive work onthis high-impact educational practice. Service-learning has beenidentified by the Association of American Colleges and Universitiesas having been widely tested and shown to be beneficial to collegestudents from a wide variety of backgrounds.

Organized in an accessible question-and-answer format, the bookresponds clearly and completely to the most common questions andconcerns about service-learning. Each chapter addresses issuesrelated to individual practice as well as to the collective work ofstarting and developing a service-learning center or program, withexamples drawn from a variety of disciplines, situations, andinstitutional types. The questions range from basic to advanced andthe answers cover both the fundamentals and complexities ofservice-learning. Topics include:
* Determining what service-learning opportunities institutionsshould offer
* How to engage students in critical reflection in academiccourses and in cocurricular experiences
* Best practices for developing and sustaining mutuallybeneficial campus-community partnerships
* Integrating service-learning into the curriculum in alldisciplines and at all levels, as well as various areas of studentlife outside the classroom
* Assessing service-learning programs and outcomes
* The dilemmas of service-learning in the context of power andprivilege
* The future of service-learning in online and rapidlyglobalizing environments

Service-learning has virtually limitless potential to enablecolleges and universities to meet their goals for student learningwhile making unique contributions to addressing unmet local,national, and global needs. However, in order to realize thesebenefits, service-learning must be thoughtfully designed andcarefully implemented. This easy-to-use volume contains everythingfaculty, leaders, and staff members need to know aboutservice-learning to enhance communities, improve higher educationinstitutions, and educate the next generation of citizens,scholars, and leaders.