Faculty Service Learning

Service Learning:

Connects the concepts of disciplinary study to the realities of human need. By applying your classroom lessons toward activities in the community, your students can achieve higher grades, a greater sense of social responsibility, increase in critical thinking and writing skills, leadership skills, and more.

Service Learning is significantly different from other forms of experimental education in that it:

1. Offers a balance between service and learning objectives;
2. Places an emphasis on reciprocal learning;
3. Increases an understanding of the content in which clinical and/or service work occurs;
4. Focuses on the development of civic skills;
5. Addresses community identified concerns; and
6. Involves community in the Service Learning design and implementation.

How Service Learning is facilitated?

Service-learning is a program where students learn academic content while they serve their community. Service takes place in the form of direct service where students on average spend 20 hours per semester with a community organization.

The Service-learning program is a collection of programs and activities focused on community
needs. Faculty members select the opportunities and programs that best fits the course of learning
objectives and offer them as placement options for students. Students attend an in class training and serve at a single site throughout the semester.

Each program and activity may differ in focus, task, as well as requirements. Students should make sure their site selection has been approved for their course. During the semester, students are encouraged to
complete self-reflection entries while documenting their completed hours. Additionally, the Center for Civic Engagement offers an end-of semester in class Reflection Session for student participants

Service Learning Roles:

Go to Service Learning Homepage

Be Part of Service Learning!

If a faculty member is interested in participating or incorporating Service Learning in their class, we're here to help make that happen. The Center for Civic Engagement can help you brainstorm ideas, ways that we can incorporate Service-Learning in their classes. If professors already have a community partner identified that they want their students to work with, we can help bring together the community partner with the faculty member and facilitate the process. There are many different activities or issues where students can participate in.

There are two models that we use to help with our Service Learning process:

Model 1: The Placement based model

This is where students typically complete a minimum of 20 hours of service and the faculty member has a variety of choices for the students to participate in.

Model 2: The Community Partnership model

The faculty member will typically work with one or two agencies and have a project assigned for the students to participate in to help the needs for that organization.

One of the important parts of Service-Learning is making sure that it formally structures within the class, as far as including it in the syllabus, assigning a grade to the activity, and laying out the requirements as far as what students need to accomplish in order to get the full grade for their participation.

We are happy to be a resource for faculty and help manage your Service-Learning process.

Service-Learning and Engagement Programs Course Participation Form

Please complete this form to enlist your students in your course(s) in the Service-learning placement program.

If you have any questions, please contact Jennifer Lujan at cce@utep.edu or via phone at 915-747-7969.

Faculty Participation Form

The CUE?

The CUE (cue.utep.edu) is a web-based platform that’s purpose is to connect students to the El Paso Community. The CUE provides students the option to browse through non-profit agencies and select volunteer opportunities that fit their needs and interests. During the semester Service Learning students will learn how to navigate the CUE and connect their CUE account to their course.

On the CUE students can:

Find volunteer experiences and community internships
Connect to their Service Learning course
Track volunteer hours
Learn about nonprofits
Find events

Steps for a Successful Service Learning experience!

Understand Service Learning:

Explain the definition, theoretical basis and key components of Service-Learning
Describe how service-learning differs from other forms of experiential learning
Describe the impact of service-learning

Competences:

Meaningful Service
Curriculum Connections
Student Leadership
Reflection
Demonstrate and Celebrate

Forming a Service-Learning partnership:

Identify your partners and know your community
Foster leadership and skill development among partners
Identify resources
Form a service-learning partnership planning commitee
Establish an agenda with special focus on the development of goals, objectives, and strategies
Establish methods of communication
Develop a risk management plan

Click below to download the following Service Learning Forms:

Training:

Complementary forms:

	What is Service Learning? Service Learning is a teaching method for students to gain academic content while also serving the community.
	Purpose of Service Learning? Service Learning serves the student, community, and the faculty member; it allows us to expand our university and to work alongside our community.
	How to Facilitate a Service-Learning Consultant Model Service-Learning consultant model is used in order to provide students an opportunity to apply their skills that they are building in statistical modeling and also work in service and with community organizations so that their expertise can have impact.
	Requirements for Classes If a faculty member is interested in participating or incorporating Service-Learning in their class, we are here to help make that happen.
	Ethical Considerations of Service-Learning Working in a Service-Learning capacity is confidentiality and to protect the integrity of confidentiality of that agency.
	Co-Teaching with Community Partners Service Learning is not volunteerism, it has an academic component to it.
	Building Community Partnerships--What it Takes Partnerships is about starting where people are, finding ways of coming together to identify mutual interests not always needs, but mutual interest and it's a long-term relationship.
	What is True Reciprocity? Being engaged in Service-Learning and learning about the history of a community, the culture, being active, developing relationships with people in the community is really at the heart of our profession.
	Preparing students for Service Learning In being able to help the students connect what we teach in the classroom, what we help them to learn, they can actually see in the community through real-life experiences.
	Effective Service Learning Reflection Reflection is really important, you don't separate your reflection from your observation, they go hand in hand.
	Identifying Appropriate Community Partners First step is finding a community organization whose focus area directly relates to the course content in the particular course that you want to offer service learning in.
	Service Learning with Freshmen Like most experiential learning, the student gains more by reflecting upon their experiences than simply by going through them.