Shaping the Service Component of Service-Learning

The degree to which students benefit from a service experience depends on the duration of time spent in the community setting and quality of the work students perform. The OSL can help you to connect with community agencies that have a need for your students' service and that provide learning opportunities complimentary to the learning objectives of your class.

Service Models

To help you envision how service might be integrated into you class, consider the following models:

1. Students serve within the existing structure of the community partner.
   Example: Child development psychology students mentor youth through an existing mentoring program.
   
2. Students work with a community partner to design a specific service project related to the course concepts and skills.
   Example: Students in a documentary videography course produce a 10 minute promotional video for a local arts agency.
   
3. Students in one course serve with a variety of partners.
   Example: Pharmacy student teams give presentations on drug abuse to local high schools. Example: Students in a writing course create the text for various documents for nonprofit organizations.
   
4. Students conduct research and produce reports for community partner(s).
   Example: Business students conduct a marketing analysis and present strategies to the community partner.