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Service-learning and civic education.

Article Excerpt
Abstract

This report intends to assess, through both qualitative and quantitative research, the overall impact of the Service-Learning Program on the civic education of college students at a small, public liberal arts institution. The research focuses on positive student outcomes, including student development, diversity issues, and academic achievement, all of which are related to service-learning as a teaching strategy.

Introduction

Over the past few decades, there has been a growing trend in academia to encourage student civic education and engagement, both on- and off-campus. This engagement takes many forms, ranging from one-time community service experiences to more extensive service-learning projects. Recent research demonstrates the growing importance of creating an engaged campus, supportive of student service within the community. According to Campus Compact, a national advocate for service-learning in higher education, opportunities for students to become civically engaged are necessary because "now more than ever, higher education is challenged to educate the leaders of tomorrow and to connect those future leaders with the world of today" (Hollander, et al., 2001).

For many advocates of civic engagement, student service is essential for promoting an understanding of the individual's roles within both the community and the larger American democratic system. According to Kerrissa Heffernan, civic engagement provides important lessons to students because it "illustrates the basic democratic tenet, that social bonds strengthen communities and institutions, and in doing so maintain the democratic process" (2002, 69). Student participants in the 2001 Wingspread Summit on Student Civic Engagement agreed, stating that they viewed service "as alternative politics, as a method of pursuing change in a democratic society [by] building relationships with others" (Long, 2002, 2). Service-learning naturally contributes to the development of this social cohesion and democratic involvement through its promotion of meaningful campus-community partnerships that enrich and support an engaged environment. In order to fully understand the impact of service-learning in promoting civic engagement, though, we must find adequate ways of assessing both the individual and institutional effects of service-learning programs in higher education.

The Richard Stockton College of New Jersey is a small, public liberal arts college nestled in the Pine Barrens of southern New Jersey. The campus's proximity to Atlantic...

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