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Service Learning Home

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Steven M. Gustis,
coordinator,
Service Learning Program

Student Resource Center (SRC), Room 1490D
(630) 942-2655
servicelearning@cod.edu

What is Service Learning?
Service learning is a program in which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that:

• Is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, [and] or community service program, and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility;

• Is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students or the educational components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled; and includes structured time for the students and participants to reflect on the service experience.

Service learning teaches citizenship, academics, skills and values. It involves active learning–drawing lessons from the experience of performing service work. Though service learning is most often discussed in the context of elementary and secondary or higher education, it is a useful strategy as well for programs not based in schools.

There are three basic components to effective service learning:
• The first is sufficient preparation, which includes setting objectives for skills to be learned or issues to consider, and includes planning projects so they contribute to learning at the same time work gets done.
• The second component is simply performing service.
• Third, the participant attempts to analyze the experience and draw lessons, through such means as discussion with others and reflection on the work. Thinking about the service creates a greater understanding of the experience and the way service addresses the needs of the community. It promotes a concern about community issues and a commitment to being involved that mark an active citizen. At the same time the analysis and thought allow the participants to identify and absorb what they have learned.

Learning and practicing citizenship are lifelong activities which extend far beyond the conclusion of formal education. service learning can be used to increase the citizenship skills of participants or any age or background. For this reason, service learning can be part of the training of participants to prepare them to do high quality service that has real community impact.

Some service learning occurs just from doing the work: after a month working alongside police, a participant has surely learned some important lessons about how to increase public safety and something about what it means to be a good citizen. In addition, programs that encourage active learning from service experience may have an even greater impact on a students moral, educational and career goals than traditional classroom study.