What is Service Learning?
Service learning is a way of teaching and learning that incorporates community engagement into academic coursework. Guided reflection links community-based student experience to course learning goals and objectives. Service-learning experiences respond to real community needs and enhance students’ civic responsibility.
Thus, students not only learn to serve but also serve to learn. Service learning is a deliberate, adaptable, interdisciplinary pedagogy. It is based on intellectual rigor, civic involvement, and lifelong learning.
The University of Iowa offers many service-learning courses, including 49 new courses that were developed in the two years following the weeklong Service Learning Institutes held May 2006 and 2007. A list of UI service-learning courses will soon be available on our web site.
This web site provides resources for faculty, community organizations, administrators, and alumni who are interested in service learning. For more information, please contact the Center for Teaching, 4039 Main Library, The University of Iowa, Iowa City, IA 52242, 319-335-6048.
To arrange for a consultation about linking to community partners, contact the Civic Engagement Program, http://www.uiowa.edu/~cep or 335-7589.
The Benefits of Service Learning
Where's the Learning in Service Learning?
How to Design a Service Learning Course
Ideas for Reflection Questions
Ten Principles of Good Practice in Community Service Learning and Pedagogy