Instructors teaching in classrooms where collaborative learning is used are interested in accessing their works effectiveness. As a research process, assessment enables instructors to confirm the idea that students working collaboratively learn easily and efficiently.
For example, biology instructors from Yakima Valley Community College used grade distributions and retention rates to compare students performance in Biology before and after introduction of a collaborative learning method.
They compared the two variables in the previous twelve lessons taught in lecture mode to those taught using the collaborative approach. The results indicate that retention rates of the students improved remarkably.
Students rarely dropped out before the completion of the course. The Collaborative method of learning is more demanding and leads to improvement of grades.
Students are responsible for learning from each other and solving problems together, individual effort is directly reflected in their grades.
Although students in classrooms using collaborative learning as a method of teaching showed improved performance, it leads to a drop in reading tests.
Instructors ask students to assess their work to ascertain their development over a given period of time. It enables students to review what they did, learned and the effects of learning on his or her capacity to perform in future.
Self-assessment enables students to reveal things relevant to learning which the teacher cannot know unless students speak out.
For example, the students are in a good position to report the difficulties they encounter when starting to write an essay and if watching news triggers thought about other things.
Pleasure, constant interest, and continuous elucidation of personal experiences by new ideas influence the resultant quality of a students academic output. Self-assessment enables students to review their objectives and readjust their targets as well as reminding other stakeholders of the importance of their achievements.
It also enables them to reflect on their mental habits that enhance development of capacities (intelligence and thinking) that support good performance.
The challenge in the use of this method is that students exaggerated and misinterpret what they have achieved. This gives the instructor the wrong implication.
Teachers can support students development of capacities to assess through giving cheap assignments and progress to demanding ones as students adjust.
There are many definitions of service-learning; however, one of the earlier and well-cited definitions of service-learning within academic scholarship was developed by Bringle and Hathcher (2002): Service-learning is a credit bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of their social responsibility.
A more recent definition describes service-learning as a merger of learning, engagement, and reflection through various academic and community partners (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, 2013). Although, different institutions and service-learning educators vary on the definition and application of service-learning, many agree that it requires taking students out of the classroom and placing them into the community to learn by interacting with real people and directly impacting their community in ways that produce tangible outcomes. This learning process requires academic institutions to cultivate and nurture partnerships with other institutions, agencies, and community organizers.
Some service-learning educators allow their students to choose service initiatives that are of interest to them or are closely related to their chosen career field. Other educators require their students to participate in group activities in which classroom instructors encourage their students to discuss their experiences, also referred to as critical reflection. Whether reflection is done in a group environment or in an intimate setting, all agree on the necessity of reflection. It is through the reflection process that students gain greater insight into and appreciation for the many benefits they receive from helping others. The reflection component of service-learning is often noted as one of the most crucial part of the program (Gibson, Hauf, Long, & Sampson, 2011).
Eyler and Giles (2002), agree that the most beneficial outcomes of service-learning occur through a cycle of action and reflection as students work with others through a process of applying what they are learning to community problems, and at the same time, reflecting upon their experience as they seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves.
Service-learning advocates that this pedagogical approach to community engagement has tangible, genuine, positive, and significant outcomes (Bringle, Clayton, & Hatcher, 2013), yet there are those who question whether or not these outcomes can be truly quantified. Additionally, beyond the benefits service-learning have on student comprehension; this academic approach is partially utilized to help solve society’s most challenging and pressing problems (Stewart & Webster, 2011). As service learning becomes increasingly popular, educators are seeking answers beyond how service-learning can improve student comprehension and social consciousness.
One area within service-learning research that has not gained much attention is the impacts of service-learning on the development of student-leadership and, specifically, which critical incidents might occur throughout a academic semester. Additionally, Social Impact Assessment (SIA) as a form of service-learning, has yet to be considered in similar student-leadership development research.
People always say that giving one’s time to others is the most rewarding gift you can give. Behind each volunteer are valuable stories and purposes. In this reflection, I will be sharing all the things I have experienced during my forty hours of service in St. Peter’s Residence. I am grateful to learn the purpose of my service, enhance my personal qualities, test my strength in handling challenges, and improve my practice.
St. Peters Residence is well known for handling a gross amount of elderly that have advanced Dementia, Alzheimer’s, and behaviors. Out of two hundred eleven residents in the facility, eighty percent have mental issues. There are no issues with lack of staffing, but our service is needed when it comes to recreational activities and companionship. As a service provider, it is a must to be aware of the mission, vision, and values to maintain the patient’s centered care. These strategies of engaging the patient in activities improve their physical and mental abilities. On the other hand, the number of residents can be difficult for all the staff to handle, but with the help of the volunteers, it becomes easier. One of the helper’s tasks is to porter clients from the six different sections of the building to the recreation area. I remember listening to this lady who was expressing her feelings and being thankful for giving her a reason to wake up in the morning with a big smile. This statement from her made me realize that my service impacts their daily lives. Another amazing experience was doing friendly visits, which improved my communication skills. It enabled me to apply the things I have learned from school, such as performing the therapeutic technique, when to be assertive, showing compassion, and maintain professionalism. Lastly, there is a huge number of residents that are unable to feed themselves independently. This is one of the reasons why there is a need for service from volunteers so that Personal support workers can do their job faster.
Improved Personal Qualities through Service-Learning
In this section, the improved qualities of a nurse will be discussed. Leadership, compassion, and communication skills strengthening my traits as practicing the role of being a care provider. There were some limits to what we could do, but I was able to experience being a leader when conducting games and trying to get others to play along. I remember one time, there was a misunderstanding between two residents, and I was able to resolve the issue by making things clear and fair. It was in my mind that I am there to promote healthy living and build relationships, therefore, I have to be confident in handling these situations. In connection to this, I was able to communicate with them professionally by asking open-ended questions with no judgment. The lesson that I have learned when solving an issue is to listen carefully, identify the problem, and come up with the best solution. Throughout my time in the nursing home, my compassion builds for every client I have interacted with. In the future, I am sure that it will be my natural ability to instill positivity.
Challenges Encountered
Challenges have become part of life for every individual. As an advocate, one characteristic that must be learned is to be able to know how to empathize with other’s feelings or challenges in their life. Dealing with people that have dementia can be stressful for the care providers, but no one knows how these people feel about their condition. In my practice, I admit that speaking and understanding the English language is my weakness. On my third week of service, I encountered this struggle with one resident asking for help. She was mumbling and kept repeating herself. I could not understand what she was asking for and that made me feel incompetent. According to CNO in the professional responsibility and accountability section in nursing competencies, a nurse must ‘select communication techniques that are appropriate for the client’s circumstances and needs’ (2209). In this case, I should have given the client a pen and paper to write down what she needs. Learning English takes time, but to become a resourceful nurse with good clinical judgment is a requirement in entering the profession. Another challenge is when a resident does not want to eat when feeding them. This was a great experience because it tested my encouragement skills in being able to redirect them when necessary.
In conclusion, every minute I spent at St. Peters Residence caused improvement upon not only my practice but also my personality as a whole. It enlightened my mind that a truly competent nurse is not just about being good in providing care and medication but also having the ability to build an effective therapeutic relationship with their clients. The courage, determination, compassion, and kindness are the perfect ingredients in meeting patient-centered care.
Reference
Downs, M., & Bowers, B. (2014). Excellence In Dementia Care: Research Into Practice: Vol.2nd ed. McGraw-Hill Education.
Healthcare inspires me to push my boundaries with knowledge and cultural awareness. Stimulate knowledge to new innovative ideas and challenging me to want to improve my cultural understanding. Hamdard changed my perspective on how I perceive a standard healthcare facility along with services that it can provide. My service learning at Hamdard includes the rich history of Hamdard, my experience, and the relationship of terms in class.
Hamdard of 1992, offers fellowship, support, healthcare, and a sense of community (Hamdard Healthcare). Patients at Hamdard can take advantage of an array of languages that are spoken by all of their staff as well as, quality care for patients and their families. Hamdard’s community that it serves to feel welcome and taken care of when in the presence of its wonderful and caring staff that look over them. Hamdard started by its co-founders named Dr. Mohammad Hamid and Dr. Farzana Hamid. Hamdard’s website states, “Our staff speaks up to 10 languages spoken by patients and has a deep appreciation for their diverse backgrounds. Community-focused care provided in a warm setting, allowing patients to feel comfortable and empowered to improve their health” (Hamdard Health). Hamdard wants their patients to feel that they are appreciated and heard with the culture that they bring to the table to make this sense of belonging possible. Hamdard, located in two locations, include Devon and Addison and I volunteer at the Devon location. They offer flexible hours and truly deal a sense of community within their facility.
My experience at Hamdard truly opened my eyes and one that partakes in the change of my perspective on a lot of things. During my time at Hamdard, one of the most humbling experience that I encountered was volunteering at the MCC (Muslim Community Center) performing health screenings. When I was there I helped gather heights and weights of the people who wanted to get their health screening. I would then, calculate their BMI on a slip of paper and lead them go to the blood pressure reading station. I thought it was really amazing that they offer this to their community at a place where they go to frequently and offer it right at their convenience. To continue, when I am at the Hamdard on Devon location I usually help the nurse file patient’s paperwork into filing cabinets. On one instance, the nurse told me to update the CDC binder so that patients can be up to date on what vaccinations they need and why they need them. I entered the CDC website and printed off their most up to date versions of the documents. On another note, right now I am currently finding the third location for Hamdard with Brittany Jarvis. Researching towns based off of the United States Census is where we extract all of our facts that would be imperative to know in order to choose a town. Our requirements for finding a town include what percentage of the population has their high school diploma or their GED and if they attain a bachelor’s degree, what percentage of the population is uninsured under 65, what percentage of the population has a disability under 65, what percentage of the population is unemployed, and what percentage of the population speaks another language other than English in their household. With that information and more time, we will find the next location of Hamdard with hard work and research.
Lastly, this relates to class with how their patients pay for their care at Hamdard. They are told to apply, “for the Health Insurance Marketplace has ended. You may be eligible for a Special Enrollment Period. You can apply for the Medicaid program at any time” (Hamdard Healthcare). In class we talked about Health Insurance Market place and how it’s a part of the ACA with providing care to families and small businesses with comparable health care, easily understood, and available online. Along with this we discussed Medicaid, which assists low income families with medical costs and it’s funded by the federal government (Sultz 402-403).
For my service-learning project I did, was neighborhood cleanup on Sunday 10/13/2019. I chose this event because it was the only one that worked with my school/work schedule. As a student, I was interested in helping an UWM. I thought this would be a great opportunity for me to get involved with UWM and to serve and support our community. Not only that but it was a great opportunity to explor around MKE and learn more about the surrounding community. As someone whose family has had to utilize community based programs in the past, such as food banks and emergency shelters, I appreciate the efforts and passion that people involved with UWM are putting into their community outreach programs, It shows that we all care about our community and we are ready to make a impact towards are community. The service-learning project was straight forward. All I had to was go out to the community and follow the map that our leader gave us and go to our specific route in order to pick up trash and recycling items and separate them accordingly around UWM. The first thing I did when getting to the meet up location was to sign in and get into groups of six. After that we read the directions, appoint a leader within our group, grab our material, and then headed out to pick up trash. The objective was to pick up trash and to clean up the community, our duty/goal of the service leaning, was to serve the community around us and to make it better. We aimed to serve the community around us as well as the UWM community. The project first started as a small task but then devolved into something bigger that people who are walking, driving, even biking around will notice the cleanliness of the surrounding community. I feel like our group met the objective with a good degree and we did everything in our power to clean up the community.
I like volunteering and by doing it, I discover so much about an organization and their mission for the community. My duty was to carry one of the trash bags and helpout the person picking up the trash to sort it into the right bag. I really didn’t get time to talk to the facilitator of the program to ask about other day were we can come back and do volunteering, but I do know that the office is always open for me to stop by and ask for more opportunities to improve my community. My thoughts over the day was, “it’s too cold to pick up trash and recycling” but because we did it as a group, it made it better! I felt like I was making a small impact to the surrounding community by doing so we had several different people saying, “Thank you for picking up the trash”, while we were out there. This made my day 100 times better and it felt good that people apricated our work. Volunteering overall is something that as people we should do more often. It helps not only us, but it also helps of community, we all have the power to make someone’s day and it important to give back to the community that does so much for all of us. I am a firm believer in the notion that each individual has the ability to create changes in the community around them. Making even a small impression can change a person’s day, and possibly even change a child’s perception of their future. Every individual has the power to make a difference, even if it’s a small difference.
I feel like this tie into what we are learning in class because it connects to future thing we will be doing as adults, big companies, even small ones make an effort to make a change and go out to volunteer to help the surrounding communities, they volunteer, give scholarships, go out and interact with people. During the event we had to set up roles for our group. Our first step was to have a leader, and then from there we set roles on who would be picking up trash and the recycling and we also had to have people holding the trash bags. Everyone contributed to the “event/service project” and we were able to get it done as quickly as possible. We communicated throughout the project in order to be more efficient and it was easy, everyone had roles set up witch made it easy to handle everything, and we made sure to the split up and concurred more ground in order to be done quicker. The leader was in charge of calling the shots in order for us to pick up the pace and or if we forgot to clean an area. The end result was so satisfying, and I know that we were able to help support and provide some sort of relief for so many families around the community.
We really did not have any other student other than UWM students helping us or interacting with us. Everyone who was helping that day were associated with UWM which made it much more easier to communicate with them. We all had fun, played jokes with each other and made the day count as one of the good memories to look back at. I was able to meet a lot of new people, which was great! I wasn’t really surprise about anything while doing the project, it was straight forward, and we got it done early too. After an hour and a half, we cleaned up about a block near UWM and it was a good time. The best part about it, was that I got to meet new UWM student and make new friends while making an impact in my community. Working to improve the lives of others and the community around us is often noted as one of the most remarkable ways to improve one’s own life to create change within our community.
Service Learning is defined as a teaching and learning method that allows students to integrate with the community and to their surroundings. It is an idea to learn, experience and improve oneself while interacting with others and the community such as UWM. Through this experience, we can acknowledge different perspectives, values and diversities between two countries. the overall experience was great, and I will continue to do community service to make an impact on my community. I liked that I got a chance to connect with other UWM students while making a difference. I learned that UWM does a great job to get more and more students involve to the surrounding community in order for us as students to fell more integrated to our UWM community.
According to Herman Melville, human being cannot live for themselves. This means that their lives are connected in numerous ways that are invisible and along these connections; their actions act as causes and then the outcomes or reactions come as results. Agreeing to Melville’s philosophy when addressing service learning means that students must have action on the community and then these causes bring results.
For instance, through serving learning, a college student can impact positively on the lives of people he/she will be serving and thus cause a positive change. In final assessment, this student is likely to benefit from the service learning by attaining contentment and hands on experience. An experienced optician can help a student optician to ma eye examinations in poor neighborhoods.
However not everyone believes that service learning is a good venture and they oppose it terming it as self serving since students and professional are used to accomplish the same tasks. Again even the activities that are not entirely helping the students to learn his/her future career can still have positive outcomes. This paper addresses the impact that service learning has on the students and the community to gauge whether it would be viable to make it a requirement for learning or not.
Students Serve the Community While Learning
College administrations have in the past made remarks that the current generations of graduates do not have civility or community worth ethics. They claim that these young adults have gotten too self absorbed and are now loosing the sight of community good. Caret Robert however does not think this is true. At Towson University, students just like many others across the country are positively engaged in the community and are making a big impact on the community (Egger para. 2a).
September usually has a week of serving the community and during that period students raise awareness of the greater god that results from serving learning.
Service learning can be described as the teaching method which involves service to the community as part of its curriculum. It offers the students practical experience in the real world regarding specific fields of study and at the same time, it meets the needs of the community being served (Egger para. 2a).
The teachers involved in such programs are qualified professionals in community-oriented practice (Egger 189b). They provide the best way for students to reflect and integrate their community experiences into their wider educational knowledge perspective.
Through these experiences, the students are above to discover how events in politics, economics and general social lives affect the community and programs running in real life.
They start thinking about creative strategies that are linked to their knowledge in theory but not bound to it alone (Egger para. 2a). They find their roles in the community and identify their responsibilities as productive members of the society. Family studies at Towson University offer an exceptional way of integrating class work and community service (Egger 189b).
Students wishing to make a positive impact on the community can engage in such services. It’s estimated that at least 30% of student have been engaging in volunteer community work while still in school. Baltimore area lone has over 100,000 students and based on this percentage, then it mean over 30,000 students are serving their communities. Therefore service learning is the best way that universities can bring real change to the community.
Service Learning: Elemental for Higher Education
What is the general purpose of the higher education, for mere career or for lifelong benefit? This is a question that many people have been seeking to address. Ernest Boyer believes that in order to bring change to American colleges, students should be trained to be responsible citizens in the long run rather that teaching the solely to build their careers (Caret para. 2).
This way, the colleges will proudly connect theory to practice and therefore meet the challenges of social problems especially for universities in urban areas. Universities cannot be left to be areas of riches, self-importance and floral splendor when there is violence and despair loom in the community (Caret para. 2).
Service learning has the potential of enriching the process of learning and rejuvenating the society and provide fresh dignity to the service to the community scholarships (Egger 191b). Emphasizing that the worth of community serves is voluntary. Universities build a culture of service (Caret para. 3). There are two salient methods that this has been happening, through curricular and extracurricular activities. Professional schools are better placed to provide several ways of experiential learning experiences.
Service Learning May Impede Learning
Egger John explains that he was taught that self – interest can by no means conflict with the love of the society. This to him mean that subjects like arts, chemistry and history are meant to promote they way individuals understand the nature of human behavior and hence build their capacity to cooperate in the community. Educated people respect the society and this arises when they realize person achievements.
In a society of individuals, everyone struggles to make his/her life better and this makes others better and social bonds strengthen as these individuals interact (Bringle and Hatcher 223). They hence develop mutual respect even for unintended persons because of the predictable outcomes. Egger argues that education promoting civility does not inn anyway deal with “good works” as Caret approves. Civility can be remedied by liberal arts lessons.
All that is required is to put emphasis on merits to an individual for respecting the society and involving others in trade. Unfortunately, Egger does not think this is being done and that is why students are disrespectful and distrustful of the human freedoms particularly the free markets. The solution for this is not to get s substitute like service learning (Bringle and Hatcher 223).
Service learning diminishes reverence for the society as it seems to imply that students owe other less privileged members of the community time and effort. Teaching that one has a responsibility to people he/she does not like, does not knew or whose misfortune one was never responsible engenders sense of antipathy and contempt but not compassion to fellow humans.
Liberal education requires that students respect fellow human but not to mean that they owe them something (Bringle and Hatcher 225). This means they respect other’s rights and freedoms while pursuing individual dreams. The purpose of higher education is training the minds of responsible members of the society and not to enhance their emotions.
Works Cited
Bringle, Robert and Hatcher, Julia. Implementing Service Learning In Higher Education (Excerpt), Journal of Higher Education,67.2(1996): 221-238
Caret, Robert. Local Students Serve As They Learn. Baltimore, Maryland: Baltimore Examiner, 2007, Print.
Egger, John. No Service to Learning: “Service-Learning” Reappraised, Academic Questions, 21. 2(2007): 183-194
Egger, John. Service ‘Learning’ Reduces Learning. Baltimore Reporter, 2007
Service learning is a strategy that incorporates community service into the curriculum. In service learning students prepare for the activities they will perform during community service through studying it theoretically.
Afterwards the students get an opportunity to apply the knowledge gained in class in real life. For example students may get involved in activities such as clean ups or visiting the sick in hospitals. The activities have a relationship with the curriculum because teachers are involved in planning them and arrange for the ones that revolve around the curriculum.
The teachers also put a follow-up plan in action. They help the students in appreciating some of the activities that take place in the community as they learn. The students receive credit for participating in community service. Students are awarded according to their participation and knowledge of the activity. At the end of a community serve activity students evaluate their participation and get to know if they did the activity well as the weaknesses they exhibited.
Moreover, the students learn how important the activities are and in the process they learn their civic responsibilities. Students can get started in service learning from kindergarten to university (Anderson and Murphy 5). Service learning is important for the students because it teaches them their civic duty and thus prepares them to become good citizens in the future. Thus service learning helps students by making them responsible citizens in the future.
Service learning brings about positive outcomes to the youths. They are given an opportunity to engage in civic duty. The opportunity gives the youths a chance to develop positive civic attitudes and this brings about a sense of belonging to the community (Chi 6).
As students learn through service learning they get to work with different people in the community and thus learn about diversity. Some students may have come from neighborhoods where only people from their race or ethnicity live and might not have had a chance to interact with other people.
Service learning gives them that opportunity and they learn that people even though they are different have common needs. This is important in making students realize the true nature of the society and prepare them to discharge their civic duty in the future without discrimination (Anderson and Murphy 6).
A study shows that students who engage in service learning have an improved understanding and appreciation of volunteering their time to help those in need. In a society that is increasing individualistic students get a chance to learn how to serve others and thus “orientation toward others and away from yourself” (Markus, Howard and King 413).
Moreover, service learning helps to increase students overall academic performance. The students are engaged in the identifying problems in the society and coming up with ways of solving them. Through such involvement, the students have a say in what they learn outside the classroom and it increases their self-esteem because they feel useful for contributing ideas towards solving the problems that exist in the community.
Not only does service learning give students an opportunity to improve their academic performance, but also become active planners and decision makers. Thus, the students become empowered and build their competence which is very important in their career paths as it may help them to succeed by coming up with ideas to solve the problems they might experience at work and make proper decisions.
Participating in service learning gives students an opportunity to identify careers that may give them an opportunity to serve the community and be useful at the same time such as in the area of science (Markus, Howard and King 413; What is Service Learning? 1). Thus, students not only learn, but also help to address the problems in the society (What is Service Learning? 1; Peters, McHugh and Sendell 131).
For example, students in Florida in elementary school look at the outcomes of natural disasters and later designed kits that the families living in the community could use to pick their valuable papers in the even of an evacuation. The students give the kits to the families (What is Service Learning? 1). In this situation, the students got a chance to study about the natural disasters and critically thought about a solution in form of the kits.
Thus, the community benefited from the students as they benefited from the community by getting a chance to come up with a solution to a problem. The creative minds of the students’ were stimulated and the result visible and such students will be able to come up with solutions to solve future societal problems
Furthermore, students become active learners by doing because service learning because it is a form of experiential learning (Anderson and Murphy 6). Thus from a pedagogical perspective students learn directly through participation unlike in traditional methods of learning where students primarily learn theoretically by deductive reasoning.
In experiential learning students learn by drawing lessons from observation as well as personal experiences. The method has a greater impact than the traditional methods because students remember what they are learn more by doing rather than through telling.
The approach helps to overcome the challenge of abstractness that comes with traditional methods and motivates learners by giving them concrete examples of the things learnt in class thus “providing connections between academic content and the problems of real life” (Conrad and Hedin 745). Service learning gives the learners the opportunity to bring lessons learnt in class into the community and take lessons learnt from the community into the classroom; this enriches learning and makes it meaningful.
For instance, one political science student in the study conducted said that the idea of community service was good as it made the issues learnt in the classroom real. It also made them realize the social problems that are in the society and that they can be solves. Furthermore, felt that they had gained direct knowledge of classroom issues and thought the experience would make them a better citizen.
Another one liked the idea of community service and was even volunteering to work in a shelter in extra time because they had understood the problem of homelessness better (Markus, Howard and King 413). Thus service learning encourages students to render services to the needy in the community not necessarily because they had to do it as part of their course but out of their own will after learning of the needs in the society that require their participation to bring about solutions.
They are able to continue volunteering s after completion of their courses because service learning prepares them for the activities unlike where students are only required to give a few hours of service to the community. The students have an opportunity to reflect on the meaning of the services they render to the community and thus they have a higher degree of observing their civic duty for the rest of their lives (Anderson and Murphy 7).
Service learning helps to mend a broken society. Newman says the problems in the society are associated with the lack of proper education aimed at making students better members of the society (16). Through the linking of issues taught in the classroom with participation in the community, students get to learn about the society.
Therefore, teachers and professors can help to bring a remedy to the society by teaching learners their expectations in the society and showing them how to behave in order to fulfill those expectations (Speck viii). Service learning can bring about
National remedy because service and learning are symbiotic. The students benefit from participating in community activities just as the community benefits from the service of the students. Students who participate in service learning have a high likely hood of becoming the kind of citizens that restore their communities.
This means that service learning will fulfill the theoretical aspirations of education of preparing students to become good citizens in the future. Plato and Aristotle also shared the viewpoint that education should produce good citizens and thus service learning serves as a preparation ground for better citizenship (Speck 3).
The classical philosophers in education urge “education should include not only facts and scientific theories but also knowledge of fundamental moral principles and development of a character with a disposition to act on these principles” (Speck 4). Service learning helps learners to act with disposition to the principles they learn through community service because they feel compelled to act with compassion towards those in need.
Conversely, some people do not support service learning because they do not see its benefits. They say that it diverts educational institutions from their core academic mission. The time used in service learning should be devoted entirely on academic learning.
Moreover, some urge that service learning is only for feel good because it does not make a difference in students’ achievements and thus teachers should concentrate on giving students the basics needed to attain academic success. Service learning can interfere with classroom learning and this may have a negative effect on students who might not give their class work the seriousness it deserves (Anderson and Murphy 7)
The cost of implementing service learning is high. School administrators question its relevance due to the additional costs associated with it. In addition, it is an increased burden to educators and administrators because they are involved in formulating plans for service learning. They also have to get involved in follow- ups to ensure that the service learning projects achieve the desired effects (Markus, Howard and King 411). Students also get an additional load because they have to perform community service besides class work.
Service learning may fail to serve it purpose if the relationship between the students and the people they offer services to becomes unhealthy. The relationship may become unhealthy if the students become proud and see themselves as “liberal saviors” (). They might see themselves as such in case if they serve people who are less fortunate or from a less popular culture. The students might see the people as less important and must depend on their help in order to succeed.
Service learning loses it meaning in such a scenario because the students may consider themselves better than the people and become manipulative. On the other hand, the people might feel manipulated by the students who are after a grade in school after the completion of the service. Thus, the two may develop negative perceptions of each other and fail to benefit from serving learning, which is supposed to benefit the community and gives students an opportunity to practice the theory learnt in class (Nielsen 2).
Finally, service learning is important for the students and the community. The benefits outweigh the disadvantages and thus each student should be required to participate in service learning. Students who participate in the program develop and improve their interpersonal skills. They get invaluable first hand experience on jobs or activities that they would not get from traditional classroom learning.
The students must be given an opportunity to participate actively in serving learning as they get a sense of ownership and belonging for being allowed to identify and come up with solutions for the problems in their communities.
Policy makers should ensure that service learning strikes a balance between the needs of the students and the community to come out with meaningful outcomes. Therefore, research should be done to identify the most suitable learning activities for specific subjects. If a balance is struck, the purpose of incorporating community service will be achieved and students learn about good citizenship and develop character that will foster acceptance of diversity in the society.
Thus, students will understand their world better and learn about cultures that they are not familiar with through interactions. The students gain an idea and skills of operating in a multicultural society. In other words, they are equipped to become global citizens who can work in any society. Service learning makes students better citizens and benefits the community. Educational institutions cannot afford to miss integrating service learning into their curriculum for its immense benefits.
Works Cited
Anderson, Susan and Nancy Murphy. Mandatory Community Service: Citizenship Education or Involuntary Servitude? 1999. Web.
Chi, Bernadette. Service Learning as citizenship Education: The Promise and the Puzzles. Oct. 2000. Web.
Conrad, Denis and Douglass Hedin. “School based community service: what we know from research and theory.” Phi delta Kappan, 72 (1991):743-749. Print.
Markus, Gregory, Jeffrey Howard and David King. “Integrating Community Service and Classroom Instruction.” Educational Evaluation and Policy Analysis, 15. 4 (1993) : 410-419. Print.
Newman, Frank. Higher education and the American resurgence. Princeton, NJ: Carnegie. Nielsen, Danielle. Service Learning Pedagogy. n.d. Web.
Peters, Theodore, Mary Ann McHugh and Patricia Sendell. “The Benefits of Service learning in a Down-Turned Economy.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education, 18.2 (2006): 131-141. Web.
Speck, Bruce. Service learning. History theory and issues. New York: Greenwood Publishing, 2009. What is Service Learning? n.d. Web.
Instructors teaching in classrooms where collaborative learning is used are interested in accessing their works effectiveness. As a research process, assessment enables instructors to confirm the idea that students working collaboratively learn easily and efficiently.
For example, biology instructors from Yakima Valley Community College used grade distributions and retention rates to compare student’s performance in Biology before and after introduction of a collaborative learning method.
They compared the two variables in the previous twelve lessons taught in lecture mode to those taught using the collaborative approach. The results indicate that retention rates of the students improved remarkably.
Students rarely dropped out before the completion of the course. The Collaborative method of learning is more demanding and leads to improvement of grades.
Students are responsible for learning from each other and solving problems together, individual effort is directly reflected in their grades.
Although students in classrooms using collaborative learning as a method of teaching showed improved performance, it leads to a drop in reading tests.
Instructors ask students to assess their work to ascertain their development over a given period of time. It enables students to review what they did, learned and the effects of learning on his or her capacity to perform in future.
Self-assessment enables students to reveal things relevant to learning which the teacher cannot know unless students speak out.
For example, the students are in a good position to report the difficulties they encounter when starting to write an essay and if watching news triggers thought about other things.
Pleasure, constant interest, and continuous elucidation of personal experiences by new ideas influence the resultant quality of a student’s academic output. Self-assessment enables students to review their objectives and readjust their targets as well as reminding other stakeholders of the importance of their achievements.
It also enables them to reflect on their mental habits that enhance development of capacities (intelligence and thinking) that support good performance.
The challenge in the use of this method is that students exaggerated and misinterpret what they have achieved. This gives the instructor the wrong implication.
Teachers can support students’ development of capacities to assess through giving cheap assignments and progress to demanding ones as students adjust.
Every component of a reflective learning process must include a reflective phase that gives students the opportunity to be engaged in the reflection (Furco, 2007). This phase gives the project a serine opportunity to reflect back on the progress that has been realized so far. Prior to its commencement, this particular project consisted of two collaborative pieces. The administrator of this particular project had a meeting with two administrators and one parent who was also the president of the Parents Teachers Association.
The planning phase of the project was discussed during the meeting. It focused on the components of the project with regards to the summer school programme, how it will be linked to the schools language arts curriculum, the aim and purpose of the project and how it would involve and empower the community. Other factors, such as materials that will be required and the mode of transportation were also discussed.
This project focused on gang violence; a tragedy that has caused a lot of chaos in Hartford, CT. It has been on the rise and during that process many youths have become its victims. Some of them have been hurt while others have been killed. This project will therefore give the young people of this community a chance to learn about various aspects of their society through the creation of awareness. The project thus involved six 3rd grade students in each class. To be more interesting to the students, the administrator divided the community into different quadrants. The regions that were selected had rich history and community pride (Ammon and Middaugh, 2001). Each quadrant was assigned students from a different region so that they can experience and appreciate the difference in culture.
The students were asked questions about the opposite quadrant to increase their knowledge about Harford, CT and raise their curiosity. Furthermore, they will proceed with the expository component that is linked to the school curriculum where they are expected to keep in touch with a pen pal through writing. This will increase their social and interaction skills. In the end, they are expected to share the knowledge which they have learned with their class members.
Establishing the foundation of the project was difficult during the initial phase due to its sensitive nature (Morgan, 2001). To ensure that the project is successful, it commenced during summer; a period where there are minimal school activities and the size of the classes are small and manageable. Including the president of the PTO was a political move rather than a recommendation. This is because she already has the support of other community members and fellow parents. Having this huge support is healthy for the project since it will increase the chances of it being successful (Westheimer and Kahne, 2000). Having a central location for the office was a brilliant idea since it can be accessed easily from any part of the city by parents and students. This will increase the participation of parents in the project during the final gathering.
Despite all this, the project is expected to face several risks and setbacks which have to be planned for. First, the fact that students have different writing skills and capabilities has to be considered. This may prevent them from communicating clearly and efficiently to their pen pals while writing letters. Teachers’ participation within the classroom is encouraged to alleviate this problem (Morgan and Streb, 2001). Transportation of parents is also another problem. There are those parents who cannot travel via public means, therefore alternatives from friends, volunteers and other sources should be explored.
References
Ammon, F., & Middaugh, C. (2001). Impacts of service-learning on participating students. Denver, CO: RMC Research.
Furco, A. (2007). Advancing Youth Academic Success: School Engagement and International Leadership through Service-Learning: Growing to Greatness 2007. St. Paul: National :Youth Leadership Council.
Morgan, W. (2001). Building citizenship: How student voice in service-learning develops civic values. Social Science Quarterly, 82, 154-169.
Morgan, W., & Streb, M. (2001). Building citizenship: How student voice in service-learning develops civic values. Social Science Quarterly, 82(1), 155-169.
Westheimer, J., & Kahne, J. (2000). Report to the Surdna Board.–D.V.I. New York: Surdna Foundation.