Student Services
Steps to Service Learning for Students
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Students
Congratulations! Just by visiting this web page, you have taken your first step towards beginning a successful service learning project. Service learning involves a five-step process. If you are having any problems implementing a step contact Angela Winters-Harmon for additional help, and she will gladly assist you.
Step 1: Preparation.
The preparation for the students is identifying the community need(s) to be addressed, and selecting and planning the specific service to be fulfilled. If the service agency requires training before beginning the service activity, the student should schedule a time to meet with the agencies to attain training.
students must understand:
- What is expected of them.
- What they can expect to accomplish with the service activity.
- How the service activity is related to the objectives of the course.
The student(s) should:
- Have a role in identifying the community need(s) he or she would like to address.
- Arrange to meet withfaculty andagencyr epresentative(s) to discuss responsibilities, goals, scheduling, needs, and other areas of interest.
- Receive content area instruction and specific training needed to conduct the service learning project.
- Enter into a written agreement that clearly defines the roles and responsibilities of the faculty member(s), students, and the community agency.
- Complete any necessary liability forms required by Prairie State College or the agency.
- Work hard! It's worth it!
Step 2: Action.
Action is the service activity. Service activities should have the following characteristics:
- The service should be meaningful.
- There should be clear links between the service activity and the objectives of the course.
- students should have a sense of ownership in the project.
- There should be adequate supervision and evaluation of student activities.
The student(s) should:
- Ensure that the service learning activity is meaningful and meets his or her academic goals.
- Adhere to all established regulations and/or guidelines.
- Take ownership of the project and its responsibilities.
- Adhere to agreed-upon scheduling and/or expectations, notifying the community agency and faculty member in the event of rescheduling, or inability to fulfill his or her service learning commitment for any reason.
- Be as creative as possible!
The student(s) should:
- Contact Angela Winters-Harmon with any questions, concerns, or comments.
- Keep Angela Winters-Harmon informed about any significant achievements and/or reasons to celebrate.
- Ask questions of the service agency during the experience in order to make the connections between the experience and the coursework.
Step 3: Reflection.
This step offers the opportunity for the student(s) to critically think about his or her service learning experience and apply insights to a broader academic and social context. Reflection activities also provide additional opportunities to link academic work with the service activities. Reflection is not just a third sequential step in the service learning process, but should be an integral part of all the steps of service learning.
The student(s) should:
- Think about and apply skills learned through the service learning project and course curriculum.
- Think about goals set and achieved.
- Recall any preconceived notions prior to the service learning project.
- Think about those who benefited from the service learning activity. How were they impacted?
- Think of how the service learning activity impacted the community as a whole.
- Identify the next steps in their service activity and how their service fits into the larger picture.
Step 4: Celebration.
This step recognizes the contributions made by the students, faculty and community agency, and provides closure to the service learning activity.
The student(s) should:
- Share reflections with faculty, service agency, and other students.
- Have fun and celebrate! You've done something great!
Step 5: Evaluation.
As with reflection, evaluation is a step that must be integrated throughout the process rather than be considered only as the last step. Evaluation should serve several purposes including:
- Formative and summative evaluation of the impact of the entire project on students, faculty, partner, agencies, the university, and the community.
- An additional reflection opportunity.
- Evaluation of student performance.
- Information to be combined with data from other service learning projects to help assess the overall impact of service learning at PSC.
- Information to design future service learning projects and to enhance the services of Prairie State College.
The student(s) should:
- Work with the faculty member and community agency in the development of appropriate measures of student performance and overall formative and summative project evaluation.