An Introduction to Service-learning

Abstract:Service-learning has a long history in America, which appears in the beginning of 20th century and rises rapidly in 1990s. This paper is an introduction to it. Our main focus is the definitions of service-learning, the procedures of the service-learning and the benefits of service-learning.

Key words:serviceservice-learningbenefits

1、Introduction

Service-learning, learning through service, is supported by John Dewey's theory of experiential education. Service-learning reflects the philosophy that learning, to be most effective, should be linked to social and civic responsibility. The best learning is active and connected to meaningful experience with others.

2、The procedures of service-learning

There are four procedures: prepare, service, reflection and celebration. The first procedure is prepare. The teachers should let the students know what can do, what can’t do, and how to do. The aim is to put the theory that we learned in class into practice. The second procedure is service. The service-program should be meaningful and link to learning, and meets the students’ interest. The third procedure is reflection. Reflection should be active, persistent, and careful consideration, it should happen immediately before the service, in the service, and after the service. The method can used by writing, discussions, e-mail, or web sites, etc. The last procedure is celebration. Celebration is about sharing among systems, organizations, and individuals involved in service learning. Students celebrate learning and achievement. The variety and forms of student celebrations are numerous, such as holding a party, or awarding certification to students who did well in service.

3、The benefits of service-learning

Service-learning is one of the growing teaching methods in the world. The reason is that service-learning seems to offer benefits for students, teachers,the university, and the community. Firstly,The service-learning clearly provides benefit for students that traditional courses can’t by promoting enriched and enhanced learning(Grayetal,2000). Service-learning helps the students to understand course material much better than course not involving service. Service-learning offers the possibility for personal growth. service-learning offers the chance to enter new situations and stretch our capabilities. Secondly, teachers like having students in class who have experience with the concepts and skills addressed in class discussion. This enables students to contribute to the discussion and help others learn. It also promotes more in-depth class discussion because of the increased knowledge of real contexts. This makes the teacher’s job easier and more satisfying. Thirdly, the institution also gains a clear benefit from encouraging engagement in service-learning. Service-learning allows institutions to serve the community directly while performing their central mission of educating students. Lastly, The community benefit may seem obvious in service-learning(Gray etal, 2000).The community gains the service of the learners, which is free. Besides the free labor that the service-learners provide community agencies there are long term benefits that service organizations receive from service-learners..

From what we have discussed above, we can see that service-learning provides clear benefits for all those involved: students, teachers, colleges/universities, and communities. Service-learning is a classic win/win situation.

4、Conclusion

As a kind of experiential education, service-learning reflects the philosophy that learning, to be most effective, should be linked to social and civic responsibility. The best learning is active and connected to meaningful experience with others. However, Service-learning is still a new concept in China mainland. There is few experiential study in this area. Maybe we will meet a lot of difficulties to practice service-learning in China. China is a large population country; and it is difficult to provide lots of opportunities for students to practice. Many problems needs to solve, such as transportation fee, accommodation and so on. No matter what kind of difficulties we will meet, we should try our best to overcome it.

References:

[1]Gray,M.Ondaatje,E.Fricker,R.Geschwind,S.Assessing service-learning (the benefits of service-learning for students).Change,2000,32(2),30-41.

[2]Rick Isaacson.Jeff Saperstein.The art and strategy of service-learning presentations. Thomas Learning Academic Resource Center,2005.

[3] www.省略/page/index.php?detailed=278.

[4]刘长海.大学“服务学习”的综合教育价值研究.江苏高教, 2008 (2),140-142.