The Future of Service-Learning: New Solutions for Sustaining and Improving Practice - Hardcover

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9781579223649: The Future of Service-Learning: New Solutions for Sustaining and Improving Practice

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 1579223648 ISBN 13: 9781579223649

Publisher: Stylus Publishing, 2009

As a new generation of practitioners engages with service learning, at a time when higher education faces questions about learning outcomes and costs, and in the context of such issues as globalization and the environment, this book poses important questions about practice, institutional sustainability, and future directions. Among these are:

What counts as service learning? What value does it bring to institutions? Is it appropriate for all students? How is globalization impacting service learning?

Divided into three thematic parts, this book successively covers institutional and administrative issues; service learning as a springboard for research; and presents new practices that address emerging challenges and changing student populations.

The contributors review how different institutional types have structured their service learning activities; address the issue of centralization or decentralization; propose better ways to form community partnerships; consider promotion and tenure implications; postulate framing service-learning and community engagement as scholarship; and examine service-learning as a springboard for research.

Further chapters offer a new blueprint for funding to achieve sustainability; examples of international service learning from a European perspective; a case study and framework for using on-line formats to extend the reach of a program; raise the urgent issue of the experiences and contributions of underrepresented students; and present the rationale and processes for developing effective student-led evaluation of programs.

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About the Author:

Jean R. Strait is Associate Professor in Undergraduate Education at Hamline University, service-learning advocate, and both a national and international researcher of service learning.

Review:

"Service-learning finally has grown up in the academy and this book announces its rite of passage. This book raises practical issues and visionary questions that cannot be ignored by academic leaders and faculty committed to the pedagogy of service-learning. At a time of dwindling resources and in a rapidly changing higher education landscape, Jean Strait, Marybeth Lima, and the other contributors throughtfully probe the future of service-learning and bring into focus the issues that will determine the direction it takes... As service-learning moves from the charismatic to the institutional in the academy, campuses and faculty continue to grapple with the challenge of preparing faculty to embrace best practices in service-learning pedagogy, creating true interdependent community partnerships, and harvesting service-learning experiences for moral and civic education. Fortunately, this fine work is a map for the hero's journey ahead. Read it, discuss it with academic administrators and faculty colleagues, and allow it to guide your future course and curriculum planning." (Teaching Theology and Religion)

"The book is well illustrated as authors use specific campus examples where service-learning has been incorporated into the curriculum and student-life arenas... The content is meaty and this an active read where readers will want to break out their highlighters and sticky notes....Advisors seeking to learn, educate, or create commitment on their campuses will find that this book offers ways to do just that. More importantly, the book provides the opportunity for readers to be an active part of change." (NACADA Journal)

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