The Scholarship of Civic Engagement: Defining, Documenting, and Evaluating Faculty Work

Civic engagement, which is presented as teaching, research, and service in and with the community, presents new challenges for evaluating faculty work as part of the reappointment, promotion, and tenure process. The nature of service learning, professional service, and participatory action research are examined as faculty work that can be scholarly (i.e., well-informed) and the basis of scholarship (i.e., contributing to a knowledge base). As such, examples of evidence for documenting the work and issues associated with evaluating dossiers are presented

A Service-Learning Curriculum for Faculty

The development of service-learning courses is contingent upon faculty. Institutions of higher education which are interested in service-learning can engage in faculty development activities in order to (a) develop a common understanding on campus concerning the nature of service- learning, (b) establish and maintain the academic integrity of service-learning, (c) increase the confidence of faculty as they implement a new pedagogy, and (d) increase the likelihood that service-learning is institutionalized in higher education. This article describes a curriculum for a series of faculty workshops: Introduction to Service-Learning, Reflection, Building Community Partnerships, Student Supervision and Assessment, and Course Assessment and Research. Each module provides a synopsis of topics and suggested readings for participants

Partnerships in Service Learning and Civic Engagement

Developing campus-community partnerships is a core element of well-designed and effective civic engagement, including service learning and participatory action research. A structural model, SOFAR, is presented that differentiates campus into administrators, faculty, and students, and that differentiates community into organizational staff and residents (or clients, consumers, advocates). Partnerships are presented as being a subset of relationships between persons. The quality of these dyadic relationships is analyzed in terms of the degree to which the interactions possess closeness, equity, and integrity, and the degree to which the outcomes of those interactions are exploitive, transactional, or transformational. Implications are then offered for how this analysis can improve practice and research

The Role of Service-Learning on the Retention of First-Year Students to Second Year

Retention of college students is a priority of all colleges and universities. This research investigated whether or not student enrollment in a service-learning course in the fall semester of college was related to (a) intentions to stay on that campus, based on self-reports at the end of the semester, and (b) reenrollment the following fall on that campus, based on reports from campus registrars the following fall. Enrollment in a service-learning course was related to intentions to continue at the same campus and this relationship was mediated by the higher quality of service-learning courses (vs. non service-learning courses). This relationship between service-learning and intentions to re-enroll at the same campus held even when pre-course intentions were covaried out. Re-enrollment at the same campus the following year was found to be related to enrollment in a service-learning course. This relationship was mediated by the higher quality of the service-learning courses (vs. non-service-learning courses) and greater intention to continue education at the campus, but these relationships did not persist after controlling for pre-course intentions

Educating for Informed Community Involvement

Service learning, which integrates community service into coursework, provides a pedagogical intervention that can promote the civic growth of students in unique and powerful ways. Research is reviewed that documents the capacity of service learning to meet learning objectives associated with a conceptual framework that focuses on the knowledge, skills, and dispositions of a civic-minded college graduate. The outcomes of service learning should facilitate these students assuming influential roles in helping others become empowered, and thereby are important for enhancing the quality of life in communities. We also review research that focuses on the impact of service learning for community outcomes. Finally, we present implications for teaching community psychology, and recommendations for future research on service learning and community engagement

Planning and assessing to improve campus--community engagement

Two methods for assessing the scholarship of engagement at the institutional level are presented: (a) the Comprehensive Assessment of the Scholarship of Engagement (CASE), a systematic method that compiles information about service learning and community engagement, identifies campus strengths, and prioritizes planning areas, and (b) an institutional portfolio that provides a rich data base of descriptive and evaluative information

Conceptualizing Civic Engagement: Orchestrating Change at a Metropolitan University

Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis (IUPUI) has undertaken numerous initiatives over the past fifteen years that have contributed to the development, clarification, and increased understanding of civic engagement and its related components. This case study demonstrates how advancing the public purposes of higher education requires the commitment, persistence, vision, and good judgment of many, but in particular the Chief Academic Officer, who assumes pivotal responsibility for civic engagement as a fundamental aspect of faculty work and student learning

Service-Learning Research Primer

This research primer, created by the IUPUI Center for Service and Learning, is designed to address the need for information on how to conduct high-quality and rigorous research on service-learning. It reviews the literature base, appropriate research methodologies and measurement procedures, and available online resources