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Service
learning deepens educational experience
From the Spring 2004 Parent Newsletter
by William Wroblewski
Service-Learning Coordinator/Community Developer
Career and Community Learning Center
Once or twice a week, between Sean Hadorn’s hectic class-and-work schedule,
this philosophy and geography double-major drives from his home in Uptown to
meet friends at a community center across town. Many of these friends have
come from places as close as Mexico and Ecuador and as far away as Somalia,
Ethiopia, and Southeast Asia.
Sean is a tutor at the English Learning Center Children's Program, an organization
that helps immigrants and their children receive basic education and prepare
for citizenship. He gives time and energy to help new Minnesotans, but he is
also getting something back.
“I definitely can’t think of a better way to spend a Thursday evening,” he
smiled.
Sean is a service-learning student. Service learning is a teaching method that
came out of ideas popularized in the early 1900s by John Dewey, who emphasized
experiential learning as a key component to education.
A service component to a class may range from 20 to 30 or more hours over the
course of a semester. That means students spend two or three hours a week doing
community work as part of course requirements. The service experience becomes
a “lived text” for the course. Class time is spent connecting lecture
and reading assignments to what students ex-perience in the community setting.
Taking service experience back to the classroom, instructors say, engages students
in lively, active discussion on a subject.
Opportunities are available for liberal arts majors like Sean, but also for
students in environmental studies, architecture, journalism, dental hygiene,
youth studies, and agriculture. An environmental studies student, for example,
may conduct water-quality experiments at a wildlife refuge or work in the policy
office of an environmental organization. An architecture student may help plan
the building of a greenhouse at a community garden or rate the wheelchair accessibility
of an organization’s office.
A parent’s perspective
“There is no better way to provide students with the opportunity to actually
learn how to be productive and involved citizens,” said Heidi Baraja, a
professor in General College and the parent of four college-age young adults.
Some
service-learning sites available to U students
• AccessAbility,
Inc.
• Boys and Girls Club
• Chicanos
Latinos Unidos en Servicio
• East
Side Neighborhood Services
• Franklin
Learning Center
• Free
Arts Minnesota
• Grandparents
as Parents
• Harriet Alexander Nature Center
• Phillips
Community Television
• PYC-Lyndale Alternative High School
• Youth
Farm and Market Project
For a more complete list, see the Career
and Community Learning Center.
“ In terms of educational value, personal observation,
and participation in the real world, service learning
not only enhances the rigorous academic material presented
in a U of M course, but it is matchless as a tool to
achieve mastery and application of the material.”
A student’s perspective
Hundreds of University students take advantage of service-learning opportunities
every year. By asking certain questions before taking part, students make connections
with organizations and communities that can support a mutually-beneficial relationship.
Students may be hesitant to participate in service learning because they are
anxious about leaving campus. But resources are available for those who need
information on riding public transportation safely, and many service-learning
opportunities offer the chance to carpool or go to sites in groups.
The benefits of service learning greatly outweigh the challenges. Though it can
be difficult for a student to balance school, work, social time, and extracurricular
activities, service learning is often a much-needed break.
“Going to the English Learning Center is actually a recharge time for me,” Sean
said. “I get out of there with more energy than I had before going. It
isn’t a burden on my time at all.”
The big picture
In return for the benefits to students, organizations get some of the best volunteers
they could ask for: young, intelligent, energetic University students, eager
to learn and to work diligently to meet the needs of the community.
As a land-grant institution, the University is committed to reach-ing out to
greater Minnesota. The U exists not only to offer an enriching and high-quality
education for students, but also to meet the needs of surrounding communities.
Service learning offers an opportunity for both.
For more information
For more information about service learning, including a service-learning course
list, students can call the Career and Community Learning Center at 612-626-2044
or stop by 345 Fraser Hall.
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