Service-Learning in Higher Education

Advocates have positioned service-learning as a real-world, real-time opportunity for students to encounter academic knowledge in a meaningful and relevant manner. Service-learning in higher education settings offers a powerful alternative to traditional models of teaching and learning. Students are encouraged to develop links to local institutions, volunteer their time, and create a special bond between the university and the community in which they live. Service-learning has become a very popular alternative to standard courses in higher education and is gaining significant popularity. This book takes a serious look at the unintended consequences and alternative conceptualizations of this mode of learning and explores what it could offer us in the future.

PART I: SERVICE-LEARNING: A CRITICAL RE-VISIONING Introduction: Disturbing Normalizations of Service-Learning; D.W.Butin Getting Inside the 'Underside' of Service-Learning; S.R.Jones PART II: THE MICRO-POLITICS AND MICRO-PRACTICES OF SERVICE-LEARNING 'Whose School is it anyway?' Student Voices in an Urban Classroom; R.Swaminathan 'I Can Never Turn My Back on That': How Service-Learning Influences Identity Perceptions of First Generation College Students; S.E.Henry Making Meaning of Social Justice: How Students Connect Community Service-Learning to the Cultivation of a Just Society; T.Mitchell Theorizing Power Dynamics in Service-Learnin; C.Clark Service Learning and the Postmodern Condition; D.W.Butin PART III: SERVICE-LEARNING AS TRANSFORMATIVE PRACTICE Service-Learning for Socially Responsible Managing; J.Comas & T.Bunn Real Service = Real Learning: Making Political Science Relevant Through Service-Learning; S.Dicklitch The 'Colored School': Serving to Learn about Racism in our Town; M.Boyle-Baise A Catalyst for Change: Service-Learning as a Source of Access and Self-Reflection in Bucknell in Northern Ireland; C.Milofsky & W.Flack On Becoming Multicultural Community Builders: Diverse Student Journeys; S.Pollack & P.Motoike PART IV: REFRAMING THE INSTITUTIONALIZATION OF SERVICE-LEARNING Establishing Service-Learning in the Academic Landscape; J.Birge Putting Down Roots in The Academy: The Challenges of Institutionalizing Service-Learning; I.Harkavay, L.Benson & M.Hartley Conclusion: Critical Directions for Service-Learning; D.W.Butin