• Getting Started
  • About Us
  • Current Opportunities
  • Service Learning Contract
  • Contact Us
• Student Information
  • Service Information
    • Service-Based Clubs
    • Service Immersion
      • Take a Break (TaB)
      • Jumpstart: NSOCO
    • Class-Required Service
      • About Service Learning
      • Why Service Learning?
      • Class List
      • Requirements
    • Leadership Opportunities
      • Leadership Information
      • Community Outreach Program (COP)
  • Service Logging
  • Explore Social Issues
  • Get Funded
• Staff Information
  • Become a Resource
    • Advise TaB
    • Mentor
    • Attend Events
    • Lead Workshops
  • Teach with Service Learning
    • Why Service Learning?
    • Courses
    • Process
    • Timeline
    • Tools and Resources
    • Workshops
    • Mailgroup
    • Links
  • Grants
    • Quick Facts
    • Resources
• Community Information
  • Recruit Volunteers
    • Intern and Volunteer Fair
    • Recommendations
  • Frequently Asked Questions
  • Resources
• Student Involvement Offices
  • Campus Recreation
  • Multicultural Affairs
  • Student Activities

Teach with Service Learning: Process

The CSL office is a resource to you as you build a service-learning component into your curriculum. It is our goal to meet the needs you articulate. Please contact us with any questions or suggestions and we will work with you to build a plan for how we can support you. Options might include trainings and workshops; a library of best practices; assistance in identifying service sites with community partners that will meet the learning objectives of your course; connecting you with a network of other faculty with similar interests in service; or providing you with an undergraduate teaching assistant to help manage the service-learning logistics.

Step 1

Spend time on the staff section of the web site for basic information. The community section of the web site is also helpful as you can see the expectations that the CSL office has of community partners, where your students might be volunteering.

Step 2

Decide what resources and support you will find helpful. Email service@willamette.edu to request resources or set up an appointment to start building a plan for how our office can support you in developing and implementing service-learning. It is best to connect with us at least one semester before you are teaching the course so we can best meet your needs.

Step 3

Service-learning is best implemented when it:

• is directly connected to the learning objectives of the course;
• provides a format for students to develop personal learning objectives;
• includes a service-learning contract that the student and community partner complete together to insure the experience is mutually beneficial;
• incorporates reflection to connect the service experience to the classroom experience; and
• provides a format for evaluation (sample partner evaluation [Word DOC] and student evaluation [Word DOC]).

This example of a service-learning course timeline is a helpful starting point. You may also choose to have students record the time they spend volunteering on an hours documentation form (Word DOC). The contract, evaluation, and course timeline are not intended as required documents nor are they considered the best practice. They are suggested starting points. Please feel free to adapt the forms to fit your needs, or to suggest other examples of service-learning pedagogy.

Step 4

Once you have identified how service-learning might connect to the course learning objectives, as well as how many service hours you will require, it is time to select appropriate community partners to act as service sites. Our current opportunities page links to a database of local volunteer opportunities that you can search by topic. You can refer students to the database, and require that they find a site with specific topics; you can develop a list of community partners to hand out to your class; or you can request that the CSL office help to find appropriate sites. A comprehensive list of potential community partners can be found at http://ywcasalem.org/salemforum/directory.html

Step 5

Please contact our office anytime for support. After your course take some time to review how it went and to incorporate suggestions from the evaluation into future course syllabi while it is still fresh in your mind.