The CEA Forum

Summer/Fall 2006: 35.2

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SERVICE STATIONS

Kathryn Miles

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Service Learning and Student Engagement

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Most of us have experienced some form of it before: the glazed expressions, the eyes wandering from the chalkboard to the nearest window, the palpable sense that at least a handful of your students believe there's no way what you're saying could possibly affect their lives once they leave your classroom. These moments are positively deadly: they kill a class session, if not the entire semester.

What's often causing them is a lack of student engagement. Students don't see the connections between what we're doing in class and what they want to be doing—either later in the day or after they graduate. They don't understand why it matters and so, as a result, it simply doesn't. Without student engagement, even the most insightful and well-planned course can turn into a real dud.

In my experience, service learning (SL) offers a much needed panacea to such moments—particularly in general education courses, where I have yet to find a seminar table of 15 students who want nothing more than to discuss Walden or Ulysses for a semester. Instead, what they want is to fulfill graduation requirements, to get ready for a tough job market, and—sometimes—to improve their writing along the way. Often, these are the students most amenable to a service project. I've found that a well-crafted project breathes life into our class discussions and learning outcomes; it can also offer students invaluable opportunities both to apply their knowledge and to reflect on some of the larger issues of the semester. Conversely, a bad project can further alienate students and convince them that they really are wasting their time.

So how do you know? And, more specifically, how can you make sure that you are planning an engaging project that does all of the right things? To answer this question, I went to the best source I have: the students at my college. I devised a survey that asked them to evaluate both the usefulness and enjoyment of service projects, and I gave them the opportunity to make suggestions for improving SL in general. This was not a scientific study, nor was it a well-researched instrument. Rather, it was a series of five simple questions, distributed to students in our English classes. For that reason, I think the results are best considered anecdotal and provocative, rather than conclusive. Still, I was impressed by the insight expressed by the students and what I think are quite useful suggestions from them.

Because most students at our college do some form of SL during their matriculation, I expected them to provide good definitions when asked, “What is Service Learning?” Even still, I was taken aback by the thoughtfulness and real articulateness with which they crafted their definitions. One student defined SL as “taking theories taught in class and applying them in a problem-based project that serves others outside of class.” Another student responded, “the art of doing and practicing what you learn.” I like both these definitions: the former for its precision; the latter for its elegant simplicity. What they share, of course, is a sense that SL is useful, and for that reason I'll undoubtedly use these definitions the next time I introduce a project in class.

I might also resort to peer pressure. Of the students polled, 83% said that they either “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that service learning is an important part of their education. The same number “strongly agreed” or “agreed” that it is an enjoyable addition to classes. Of the 11% who had no opinion, all but one explained that they had not yet taken part in a service project.

When asked to explain their positive ratings, students listed a wide variety of reasons that included the application of knowledge and an opportunity to help a local group or organization. One student wrote that she likes the way SL “instills a sense of responsibility for our school and community.” Another said, “Learning is one thing, but what you do with your knowledge is what's really important. Service learning is all about doing.” One other student wrote, “Service learning compels us to come up with our own answers, instead of always looking to a professor for them.”

Such responses, to my mind, demonstrate more than enough buy-in to make me want to get SL into all of my classes. And I think that most of my students would like that, but not just for the sake of doing service. In fact, most were very specific about what they want out of a project. Repeatedly, I saw students insist that a service project must be clearly linked to course outcomes. If there's not a clear connection, they're going to think it's busy work at best and extraneous at worst. They need to see proof of application, if they're going to commit their time. To this end, several students suggested that all projects be introduced during the first week of class, so that the class discussions and assignments could tie back into the project. And lastly, respondents said that, above all else, they need a project that interests them on a personal level. Some suggested that students should always have some voice in the creation of the project; others said they simply wanted a few options so that they could pick the one that best suited them. Regardless of how it happens, though, they want to care—about the project and the people involved. They want to know we care, too.

This all seems like sound advice to me: involve students in defining the parameters of their project, show them the connections to what they're learning, and (most importantly) make it count. Not in terms of percentage points or class credit, but in terms of their lives—both in college and beyond. If we can promise that, I suspect they can reciprocate with a semester of real engagement. And that, after all, is what breathes life into our courses—and our careers.

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Kathryn Miles is Associate Professor of English and Director of the Environmental Writing Program at Unity College. You may contact her at kmiles@unity.edu with questions, comments, or ideas for future columns.

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