Service-Learning : The Essence of the Pedagogy

The Advances in Service-Learning Research book series was established to initiate the publication of a set of comprehensive research volumes that would present and discuss a wide range of issues in this broad field called service-learning. Service-learning is a multifaceted pedagogy that crosses all levels of schooling, has potential relevance to all academic and professional disciplines, is connected to a range of dynamic social issues, and operates within a broad range of community contexts. In terms of research, there is much terrain to cover before a full understanding of service-learning can be achieved. This volume, the first in the annual book series, explores various themes, issues, and answers that bring us one step closer to understanding the essence of service-learning.

The chapters of this volume focus on a broad range of topics that address a variety of research issues on service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education. Through a wide-scoped research lens, the volume explores definitional foundations of service-learning, theoretical issues regarding service-learning, the impacts of service-learning, and methodological approaches to studying service-learning. Collectively, the chapters of the book provide varying and, at times, opposing perspectives on some of the critical issues regarding service-learning research and practice.

Shelley H. Billig, Ph.D., is Vice President of RMC Research Corporation, Denver, Colorado. She currently serves as director for Research Network portion of the W.K. Kellogg Learning In Deed Initiative, advisor to the National Commission on Service-Learning, and director of several national, state, and local studies of service-learning in K-H settings. She directed a four year technical assistance project for the Corporation for National Ser-vice that explored ways in which federal programs can adopt service-learning as a key strategy of educational reform, and she co-authored Linking Service-Learning and Federal Programs (1999). She has also authored K-12 research summaries, and is currently serving as editor for a volume on service-learning methodology and is the editor of this book series.

Andrew Furco is the founding director of the Service-Learning Research and Development Center at the University of California-Berkeley, where he serves on the Graduate School of Education faculty. Since 1994, he has led more than 20 studies of service-learning in K-12 education, teacher education, and higher education. He is currently serving a four-year term as a Campus Compact Engaged Scholar and is a member of the Campus Compact Research Advisory Board, Kellogg Learning In Deed Research Advisory Committee, the AAHE Service-Learning Consulting Corps, the National Service-Learning Partnership Executive Committee, and the National Review Board for the Scholarship of Engagement. He holds a masters degree in Education from UCLA and received his doctorate in the area of Educational Administration from UC Berkeley.