service learning research paper example

18 Service Learning Examples

Service Learning Definition

Service learning is a type of experiential learning activity where students apply academic concepts to practical situations that involve addressing community needs. The last component of this definition (addressing community needs) is key.

This component is what distinguishes service learning from other pedagogical approaches such as performance-based or project-based learning.

Definitions of service learning usually emphasize a combination of:

• Academic outcomes
• Benefit to the community
• Developing a sense of civic responsibility.

One of the key service learning theorists is Robert Bringle. Here are two definitions he provides (with colleagues):

• “students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.” (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996, p. 222)
• “Service learning classes engage students in service activities that simultaneously pursue two goals: (a) benefit to community stakeholders (e.g., agency, clients, neighborhood 4 residents) and (b) academic learning outcomes.” (Bringle, Phillips, & Hudson, 2004, p. 5)

For a newer definition, we can turn to Capella-Peris and colleagues:

• “to a teaching methodology that seeks to develop academic competencies and increase reflection while providing a community service to meet social needs.” (Capella-Peris, Gil-Gómez & Chiva-Bartoll, 2020, p. 102)

Service Learning Examples

• Voter registration: Students in a political science class volunteer to help with voter registration targeting the elderly that also involves conducting interviews and surveys assessing their needs and opinions regarding various political issues.
• Books in schools: Students pair up with local charities and churches to run a campaign to improve the school library’s book offerings.
• Rural community service: Nursing majors hold health fairs in rural areas to disseminate information regarding healthy habits and perform basic health checks for attendees.
• Recycling programs: Mechanical engineering students use recyclable materials to construct playgrounds in inner cities and analyze the physics of each piece of equipment.
• Migrant support: IT majors teach courses to immigrants on web design and e-commerce as part of group projects assessing the functionality of various web design software programs.
• Supporting budding businesses: Business majors work with local small businesses on strategic planning, marketing, and hiring practices to improve revenue. The students create portfolios documenting their experiences.
• Websites for businesses: A group of digital marketing students are asked to connect with local businesses to help them to develop a web presence and consistent brand image.
• Addressing local tax changes: An accounting class works with local businesses to help them implement standard accounting principles and understand the local tax code.  
• Working with local children: Anthropology students conduct a participant observation study in local orphanages as helpers to document the children’s narratives and produce short films.
• Missionary work: A faith-based university sends its students to a third-world country to help single mothers apply for micro-finance loans and start their own businesses. Students create video documentaries that detail each stage in the service-learning process.
• Upskilling locals: Communication majors conduct a pre- post-design study on the effectiveness of training the unemployed on interview techniques and presentation skills.
• Charity work: Students in an International Studies course work in teams to write and submit a grant for the charitable cause of their choosing.   
• Local waterway management: Biology students study local waterways and identify strategies to improve the biodiversity in the area.
• Urban farming: Students develop an urban farm on the rooftops of local buildings in order to supply fresh food to local impoverished families.
• Local town hall: Students from an event management course organize a local town hall for political candidates to meet with locals and address their concerns.
• Bike to work day: To encourage green transit, students start a bike to work campaign, culminating in one day where an additional 1000 people use the local bikeways to get to work.
• Animal housing: Students run a campaign to support pet adoption by not only encouraging adoption, but implementing regular support for the new owners so the animals transition to a happy new life.
• Traffic management: Students from an advanced math course conduct a study of the traffic light pattern at a particularly busy bottleneck and find a way to improve the pattern to minimize congestion. They bring the report to the local council to consider.

Real-Life Service Learning Case Studies

1. urban farming.

Poor nutrition and food insecurity in many countries is a situation that can be addressed in a variety of ways. According to a report by the BBC , the UN estimates that approximately 900 million tons of food is wasted every year. 

There are a multitude of factors at work which create this catastrophe. However, there are also many solutions. For example, students in a university agriculture course could work with local communities to design and implement urban farms.

These farms could be located on abandoned lots, rooftops, or in smaller areas around households that could fit a vertical garden. There are more places than you can possibly imagine to grow food in urban areas .

It’s one thing to read about how to install a vertical garden, but it is a completely different learning experience to actually put one on a wall and make it work.

2. Put Some Blue in Your Green School

High school students in an AP Environmental Science course help schools use their water resources more efficiently. They work to raise awareness regarding the importance of water conservation and demonstrate water management practices.

First, the students analyze the water use practices of their own school. They conduct detailed measurements and create the necessary graphs that will allow a pre- post-program comparison.

Then they enact behavioral and structural changes that allow their school to conserve water more efficiently. Once the program has demonstrated results, it can be applied to other schools in the community or even at the state level.  

To learn more about this program, click here .

3. Discarded Books Library

Students in an education course collaborate with local garbage collectors to create a library for the poor. The students learned about this type of project on the news and decided to pursue a similar endeavor.

They find a permanent location in the inner city to create the library. The local government agrees to fund the daily operation of the library, paying for electricity and basic upkeep of the facility.

As part of their course requirements, each student volunteers to work in the library a certain number of hours per month and conduct literacy classes for local children.

The classes are video recorded and then shared in class for analysis and discussion regarding the teaching techniques learned in class.

4. Environmental Service Learning

Undergraduate students in introductory science courses at Indiana University and Purdue University engage in a service-learning program involving environmental stewardship.

What is environmental stewardship ? It basically means students do things to help restore land or improve the ecology of a specific area. For example: restoring wetland and floodplain ecosystems, native plant installation, invasive exotic plant species eradication, or hill slope stabilization.

Work days are in partnership with local community members. As the webpage about this program explains, this service-learning:

“… provides the students with an opportunity to directly experience many of the topics discussed in their courses as well as to observe how communities can work together to solve environmental problems.”

It is more than just volunteerism because the work is performed in the context of classroom study and directly connected to 9 learning goals in the course.

5. Growing Voters by CIRCLE

We all know what a circle is, but this acronym stands for something wholly more substantial: Center for Information & Research on Civic Learning and Engagement by Tufts University.

The Growing Voters report presents a research-based framework for how institutions can facilitate the development of the next generation of voters in the U.S.

It provides actionable recommendations for educators, community leaders and policy makers on ways to:

“…close voting gaps, expand the electorate, and support a more equitable and representative American democracy” .

This is a perfect example of how students and higher education can engage in learning-based endeavors that also serve a greater public good.

Service-learning is all about taking students out of the classroom and into the real world to address a need in society. It strives to achieve more than just providing assistance in a community because students must perform the service in the context of their academic studies.

This can involve writing papers that detail the experience in the field and tying those experiences to classroom concepts. Or, students may choose to produce a mini-documentary that can be shared on social media and possibly inspire others to action.

The possibilities are endless, from increasing voter registration numbers to repairing the ecology of nearby wetlands. These types of endeavors are being enacted by universities around the world, instilling a sense of responsibility in students that may impact their way of thinking long into the future. That is of course, the goal.

Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing service learning in higher education.  The Journal of Higher Education ,  67 (2), 221-239.

Bringle, R. G., Phillips, M. A., & Hudson, M. (2004). The measure of service learning.  Washington, DC: American Psychological Association .

Capella-Peris, C., Gil-Gómez, J., & Chiva-Bartoll, Ò. (2020). Innovative analysis of service-learning effects in physical education: A mixed-methods approach.  Journal of Teaching in Physical Education ,  39 (1), 102-110.

Furco, A. (2002). Is service-learning really better than community service? A study of high school service. In A. Furco & S. H. Billig (Eds.), Advances in service-learning research: Vol.1. Service-learning: The essence of the pedagogy (pp. 23–50). Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishers.

Furco, A. and Billig, S.H., (2002) Service-Learning: The Essence of the Pedagogy . Greenwich, CT: Information Age Publishing.

Toole, J., & Toole, P. (1995). Reflection as a tool for turning service experiences into learning experiences. Evaluation/Reflection, 63 . https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/slceeval/63

Chris Drew (PhD)

Dr. Chris Drew is the founder of the Helpful Professor. He holds a PhD in education and has published over 20 articles in scholarly journals. He is the former editor of the Journal of Learning Development in Higher Education. [Image Descriptor: Photo of Chris]

• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ 15 Self-Actualization Examples (Maslow's Hierarchy)
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Forest Schools Philosophy & Curriculum, Explained!
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Montessori's 4 Planes of Development, Explained!
• Chris Drew (PhD) https://helpfulprofessor.com/author/chris-drew-phd/ Montessori vs Reggio Emilia vs Steiner-Waldorf vs Froebel

Leave a Comment Cancel Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

• Skip to main content
• Skip to search
• Skip to footer

Center for Engaged Learning

Service-learning.

Service-learning was one of the ten experiences listed as a high-impact practice (HIP) when such practices were first identified by the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AACU) in 2007. Given the many benefits that service-learning experiences offer students (Jacoby, 2015), it is not surprising that it was one of the ten identified as a HIP in the AACU’s report,  College Learning for a New Global Century.  Before discussing what makes service-learning a HIP, it is important to define service-learning and describe aspects of the definition in detail.

Every course has a list of objectives that students are expected to reach, and all instructors have to consider how students will achieve those objectives. When course objectives can be reached by doing work for and with community partners, service-learning pedagogy is an option. Bringle and Hatcher (1995) define service-learning as

a credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility. (p. 112)

Each part of this definition is significant and will be described in more depth.

Service-learning is Credit-Bearing

Service-learning is part of a course – a “credit-bearing educational experience” (Bringle & Hatch, 1995, p. 112). This distinguishes service-learning from volunteerism. While volunteers offer service in the community, the service is generally not associated with a course, nor are the volunteers asked to reflect on the service activity. Service-learning is designed as a means for students to learn the content of a course through the process of carrying out service. The service and the learning are intertwined.

An example is helpful here. Volunteers can help hand out blankets to homeless people and drive them to shelters on cold evenings. This act contributes to the public good, yet the volunteers may or may not learn much from the experience. Students in a service-learning sociology course about social issues and local problems can also hand out blankets and drive homeless individuals to shelters, but to meet the objectives of the course, they will do more. The students could help a city to determine if there are enough beds in shelters for the number of homeless individuals in the city. They could gather information on the conditions in shelters as they are handing out blankets. An assignment in the course could be to write a report that city officials use to help determine funding for homeless individuals. The students in this sociology course would have a meaningful  educational  experience as they provide important and needed work in the community that contributes to the public good.

Meeting an Identified Community Need

Service-learning is intended to meet “identified community needs” (Bringle & Hatcher, 1995, p. 112). Sometimes the learning that university students accomplish in the community is not associated with a service-learning course and is not necessarily focused on a need that community members have stated. For example, schools of education generally have education majors spend time learning and teaching in public elementary, middle, and high schools. These practicum and student teaching experiences are designed for education majors to meet national and state standards as they work toward obtaining teaching licenses. In this instance, the public schools in the community are partnering with the university, but not to meet an identified community need. Rather, the public schools are helping the university to meet the needs of the schools of education for educating teacher candidates. This is the distinction between service-learning and community engagement.

To qualify as an identified community need, a community member must state the particular service that is needed. Service-learning honors the wisdom of individuals who run community organizations and work daily in the community. These are the people who know what type of service is needed and how it should be carried out. Should a college professor approach a leader of a community organization by telling her the work that her students will accomplish for the organization, without understanding the particular needs of the community organization, this would not qualify as service-learning. The college instructor needs to approach the organization by asking the leader to share the particular needs for service the organization has identified. The instructor can then see if any of these needs are related to objectives in her course. When there is a close match between a service need stated by a community member and one or more course objectives, the prospects for service-learning are greatly improved.

There are basically three ways that the service component of a service-learning course can be conducted. The first is by providing community-based service, generally in partnership with a community organization. Again, a leader in the organization would stipulate the specific service need that students would help fulfill on-site in the community. The second way is with a class-based service. Working in the college classroom, students provide a product or service that the community partner has requested. Examples of class-based service include website development, video production, or research for a non-profit organization. Generally with class-based service, the community partner visits the class and explains the service or product needed. Often students are encouraged or even required to visit the community organization at least once during the semester. At the end of the semester, the leader of the community organization might visit the class to see the final product or to discuss the result of the students’ service. The final way that service can be incorporated into a course is a combination of community- and class-based service. Regardless of which of the three types are used, it is critical that the community partner identify the need to be met through service.

Service-learning can also take place in study abroad courses. Instructors make arrangements before arriving at the destination abroad to determine which identified community need the students will be addressing. Often the service-learning experiences are the most meaningful part of the study abroad course because of the interactions students will experience while conducting the service. One professor said of her service-learning course in Africa, “Without the service work, we are simply staring out the bus windows and trying to interpret from our Western lens. The sunsets are magnificent, the elephants awe-inspiring, but it is the interactions in working with the people that are transformative.”

Reflection on Service

Students in service-learning courses are asked to reflect on their service and how it integrates with course content. Frequently students write reflections on their service in the community and participate in class discussions that make connections between course readings and the service activities. Again, this is different from volunteering. Concerns can arise when service is conducted without a reflective component. Negative stereotypes may be reinforced, complex problems may be viewed in superficial ways, and analysis of underlying structural inequalities in society left unconsidered (Jones, 2002). Instructors of service-learning courses work to include thoughtful reflection in class discussions and written assignments. Depending on course content and the particular service-experience, negative stereotypes can be examined and discredited, layers of complexity related to the societal problem can be uncovered, or larger societal issues related to inequality can be studied. Reflection is a central and essential component of service-learning courses.

Understanding of Course Content

Since service-learning is arranged to simultaneously meet an identified community need and one or more course objectives, students’ service experiences will relate to the content of the course they are taking. As students read texts for the course, participate in class discussions and carry out written assignments, they can make connections with their service-learning experiences. Students will sometimes say that their service experiences “bring the course to life.” By this they mean that at least some of the concepts, theories, and principles being taught in the course are learned in a dynamic way with the service. Students are given the opportunity to apply their knowledge in service-learning courses.

Consider two options for how an instructor of a computer course might design her pedagogy. The first option is to teach the course without service-learning. Students will have required readings and written assignments and, as a culminating activity, design a website for an imaginary client. The students will likely enjoy this experience and learn from it, but it is very different in nature from the instructor’s second option for how to teach the course.

The computer course instructor who chooses to use service-learning has required readings and written assignments and also arranges a service project with the director of a local non-profit agency who is requesting a new website for the agency. The director attends a class session to describe the mission of the agency, its clients, and how the new website should function. Prior to designing the website, the students are asked to spend a few hours at the agency to learn more about it. As students work on constructing the website, they keep in contact with the agency director and people employed there to ensure that expectations for the final product are met. Students are highly motivated to create a website that meets with the agency director’s specifications, and they work diligently to produce a high quality product. They know that people who work at the non-profit agency are depending on them and that the clients need an up-to-date website with new and important functions. Focusing on every detail, the students put a significant amount of thought and energy into creating the best possible product possible.

While students in the computer course without service-learning learn how to design a website through the exercise of making one for an imaginary client, the students in the service-learning course have the experience of creating a website for an actual client. They know what it means to meet, and perhaps, even exceed the client’s expectations. They understand the significance of their work and the value of listening carefully to clients in a way that students in the course without service-learning have yet to experience. The students in the service-learning course develop a deep understanding of the course content as they carry out the service associated with the course.

A Broader Appreciation of the Discipline

While not all students in a service-learning course are going to gain a broader appreciation of the discipline, some students will take away deep learning and a greater understanding of the discipline. In a multi-institutional study conducted with 261 engineering students, a survey was used to learn how the students perceived service as a source of learning technical and professional skills relative to traditional course work. Students’ responses indicated that 45% of what they learned about technical skills and 62% of what they learned about professional skills was through service (Carberry, Lee & Swan, 2013). Clearly, these engineering students’ gain a greater understanding of their discipline through their service experiences.

In another study, with a smaller sample of 37 students across sections of a non-profit marketing course, the students compared their learning from a variety of pedagogical tools, including case studies, lectures, reading assignments, guest speakers, exams, textbooks, and service-learning experiences in local chapters of national organizations and non-profit organizations. Students responded with a 5-point Likert scale indicating the degree to which each pedagogical tool helped them to meet the specific objectives of the course. Students rated the service-learning project higher than all of the other pedagogical tools as contributing to their learning in all course objectives (Mottner, 2010). Additionally, the course instructor saw that service-learning was not only effective for supporting students’ learning of the course objectives, but also proved helpful for students in determining their future careers, gaining confidence in interacting with clients, and understanding people from another culture (p. 243).

With the opportunity to apply newly learned skills in a service-learning project, students learn more about the discipline they are studying, and depending on the service-learning setting, they may learn about the lives of people in the community who have fewer resources than they do while also learning about the underlying and systemic reasons for particular circumstances.

Enhanced Sense of Civic Responsibility

The final aspect of Bringle and Hatcher’s (1995) definition of service-learning maintains that students can gain an enhanced sense of civic responsibility by conducting and reflecting on service. Through the process of conducting meaningful service in the community, students can learn the importance of engaging in the community to make positive contributions; that is, they can learn to be civic-minded.

Cress (2013) explains that being civic-minded involves both knowing and doing. College students and graduates may know about and even analyze community problems yet feel overwhelmed and do little or nothing to remedy them. This is knowing without doing. Just as harmful, are individuals who carry out service without substantial knowledge about the issue. This is doing without knowing. Cress calls for community-based educational experiences that increase knowledge and skills to address civic issues. In other words, combining knowing and doing in such a way that civic action is carried out responsibly.

Service-learning offers the initial opportunity for college students to learn how to be civic-minded by combining knowledge gained in the university classroom with skills acquired in community settings so that responsible and respectful service is provided. “Civic-minded graduates will make important contributions to their communities through their capacity to generate citizen-driven solutions” (Moore & Mendez, 2014, p. 33).

Bringle and Hatcher’s (1995) definition of service-learning, quoted and described in detail here, illustrates the multifaceted aspects of this pedagogy. Just tacking on service to an existing course does not make it a service-learning course. The service experience and reflection upon it is integrated with the course. Successes, frustrations, and troubleshooting are discussed in the classroom. Instructors support students in making links between their service experience and the curriculum of the course. Instructors may also support students in analyzing the specific circumstances experienced in service-learning so they develop an understanding of the underlying structural inequalities in the broader society that impact those circumstances. Service-learning pedagogy, when conducted in a thorough and thoughtful manner, has the potential for deepening students’ learning and even offering the prospect of transformative learning (Felten & Clayton, 2011).

With such impressive outcomes, the Association of American Colleges and Universities (2007) rightly included service-learning on the list of high-impact practices. The next section addresses the question, “What makes service-learning a high-impact practice?”

Back to Top

What makes it a high-impact practice?

Calling for “implementation quality,” in high-impact practices, Kuh (2013, p. 7) outlined eight key elements of high-impact practices. According to Kuh, these elements can be useful in determining the quality of a practice for advancing student accomplishment. The eight key elements are listed below.

• Performance expectations set at appropriately high levels
• Significant investment of time and effort by students over an extended period of time
• Interactions with faculty and peers about substantive matters
• Experiences with diversity wherein students are exposed to and must contend with people and circumstances that differ from those with which students are familiar
• Frequent, timely, and constructive feedback
• Periodic, structured opportunities to reflect and integrate learning
• Opportunities to discover relevance of learning through real-world applications
• Public demonstration of competence (p. 10)

In this section, service-learning will be discussed as it relates to each of the key elements of high-impact practices.

High Performance Expectations

From the first day of class, it is important for instructors of service-learning courses to communicate the high expectations they have for students’ service. The quality of the service should influence grading, as this is a way to immediately communicate the centrality of service to students. The leader of the community organization where the service will be performed should be invited to speak to the class about their expectations for service. This leader can share how both high- and low-quality service impact the organization and people in the community. Generally, service does come with some challenges as Cress (2013) points out service-learning involves relationships, and these can go awry. “Personality conflicts can arise, students may lack the ability to deal with others who are different from themselves, community partners may not follow through on their commitments, and group members may not meet their responsibilities” (p. 16). Students who are working to meet high performance expectations will likely need to overcome obstacles that can interfere with performing the service at a peak level. How the students cope with and overcome obstacles is part of the learning in service-learning, and it is a significant aspect of how students demonstrate a high level of performance in the course.

Investment of Significant Time and Effort

When students carry out service, they will likely learn that careful planning, a thoughtful approach, and meaningful analysis of the circumstances takes time, energy, and effort on their part. The old adage that “You only get out of something what you put into it,” most certainly applies to service-learning. Often students arrive at college having learned to focus on academic achievement and to view community service as less important or secondary. With service-learning pedagogy, the service is woven into students’ academic achievement, and, accordingly, students need to focus a significant amount of their time and efforts on providing high quality service in order to meet expectations.

Interactions with Faculty and Peers about Substantive Matters

In order to plan and carry out meaningful service-learning, students will need to work closely with the faculty member teaching the course and their peers who are taking the course alongside them. Consider the example presented earlier of the instructor of a computer course who had the option of having students design a website for an imaginary client or an actual client of a non-profit agency. Students who are designing the website for an imaginary client, even if working in groups, will not have the same types of interactions with faculty and peers as those who are creating a website for an agency in the community. Simply put, more is at stake when designing a product for an actual client. When that client is meeting a specific need in the community, the website must communicate that clearly and allow for clients and donors to have easy access to various parts of the site. Students carrying out this type of service-learning will find that substantive interactions with faculty, peers, and the community leader become necessary in order to successfully complete the project.

Experiences with Diversity

While college campuses can offer students some experience with a range of diversity for race, ethnicity, religious affiliation, socio-economic class, sexual orientation, and age, it is likely that the differences between college students and people living in the local community are greater. Life can look quite different for people living as close as a couple of miles from a university as compared to life on campus.

Students performing service in the community or during study abroad courses can learn about individuals who are living in poverty, struggling to meet basic needs, and who often do without. Students can learn about the impact of discrimination from individuals who have experienced it first-hand. For some students, the disparity between the life experiences of people they meet during service-learning and their own life circumstances makes them realize the privilege they have lived with all of their lives.

Jacoby (2015) explains that when students conduct service without multicultural education, negative stereotypes can be reinforced and perpetuated (p. 232). Jacoby notes that by integrating multicultural education with service-learning, students are helped to “expand their emotional comfort zones in dealing with difference, gain an increasing ability to view the world from multiple perspectives, and reflect on their own social positions in relations to others” (p. 233). Often these goals are among those that faculty hope to achieve when choosing to use service-learning pedagogy.

Frequent, Timely, and Constructive Feedback

Meeting frequently with the faculty member teaching a service-learning course to receive suggestions, learn how to make progress, solve problems, and increase the quality of service will greatly benefit the students who are carrying out the service. The faculty member can provide the timely and constructive feedback that allows students to make improvements in how they conduct the service and develop a more profound understanding of the circumstances that give rise to the need for the services.

Although the leaders of community organizations hosting students for their service-learning courses are generally incredibly busy people, they may be able to arrange brief meetings with students to provide feedback on the service they are conducting. With support from both faculty and leaders in the community, students can refine their service and deepen their understanding. Students often have a greater appreciation of the complexity involved in providing service to meet an identified need as they spend more time within an organization. Frequent and timely feedback affords students the guidance needed to meet the high expectations for service-learning experiences.

Opportunities to Reflect

As noted earlier, reflection is integral to service-learning. In fact, without reflection, a service experience becomes volunteering. The instructor of a service-learning course is responsible for providing periodic, structured opportunities to reflect on the service and integrate the learning from service with course content.

Campus Compact, a source of support for universities implementing service-learning, outlines four ways to structure the reflection process (“Structuring”). The first is that reflection should connect service with other coursework. Second, faculty need to coach students on how to reflect. Third, the reflection process should offer both challenge and support to students. Fourth, the reflection should be continuous; reflection needs to happen before, during and after service-learning experiences. Faculty utilizing this framework will help students to gain insights through the reflection process.

Real-World Applications

Service-learning by definition provides opportunities for students to discover relevance of disciplinary knowledge through real-world application. Students in an educational psychology course will provide service in high-poverty schools; students in human service study course will provide service in a domestic violence shelter; students in a research course will provide service in the form of program assessment for a non-profit organization; students in a marketing course will provide service supporting women in a developing country who are starting a cooperative to sell handmade goods. The needs in most communities outweigh the resources, which makes service-learning a welcome addition in the community, while also providing the chance for university students to make connections between their studies and real-world applications.

Public Demonstration of Competence

Kuh’s (2013) final key element of HIP is for students to publicly demonstrate the competency they gained, in this case, during the service-learning course. While the work of community organizations is ongoing, students’ service is often completed as the semester ends. A culminating project that is presented to stakeholders offers students the opportunity to consider the outcomes of their learning, make connections between course content and the service they provided, and to contemplate on the larger societal issues related to inequality. The culminating project may be an oral presentation or a report given to the community partner. In some cases the culminating project is one of the main goals of the service. Students who exhibit a high level of competence with their culminating project can articulate how the service-learning experience was a HIP for them.

Service-learning is a HIP, and, as such, has the power to impact students’ lives in meaningful, perhaps even transformative ways (Felten & Clayton, 2011). Every key element of HIP, as outlined by Kuh (2013) for the Association of American Colleges and Universities, are met in service-learning. Those students who excel in service-learning have the potential to become civic-minded graduates who bring good to their communities, a goal universities surely find worthy.

Research-Informed Practices

The following best practices in service-learning are adapted from Reitenaure, Spring, Kecskes, Kerrigan, Cress, and Collier (2005) and Howard (1993), who focus on two different sides of service-learning. Reitenaure et al. (2005) focus on the community partnership side of service-learning results in a list centered on establishing strong and productive relationships among the parties involved in service-learning: students, faculty, and community members. Howard’s (1993) focus on the academic side of service-learning results in a list centered on maintaining academic rigor and making space for deep student learning through community praxis. Collectively, their work leads to the following practices for high-quality service-learning:

• Establish shared goals and values
• Focus on academic learning  through  service
• Provide supports for student learning and reflection
• Be prepared for uncertainty and variation in student learning outcomes
• Build mutual trust, respect, authenticity, and commitment between the student and community partner
• Identify existing strengths and areas for improvement among all partners
• Work to balance power and share resources
• Communicate openly and accessibly
• Commit to the time it will require
• Seek feedback for improvement

(adapted from Reitenaure et al., 2005, and Howard, 1993)

Overall, these recommendations focus on two broad goals of service-learning: establish a strong and reciprocal relationship, and structure and support student learning. These goals happen through frequent and open communication among all involved and facilitated space in and out of the classroom for student reflection and integration of their learning. Each of the model programs described below enact these good practices in similar ways.

Embedded and Emerging Questions for Research, Practice, and Theory

While service-learning is one of the more heavily researched high impact practices, additional areas of study remain. For example, the distinction between service-learning and community engagement warrants additional focus and research. Does this variation in framing equate to differential impacts on student learning? Service-learning also varies in length and intensity, and research is needed to parse out the differential impacts on student learning of short term versus long term service-learning experiences. Recent research has begun to examine the differential impacts on service-learning for underrepresented minority (URM) students and suggests service-learning has strong academic success impacts for URMs, but service-learning is less closely linked to retention and four-year graduation for URMs than it is for highly represented students (Song, Furco, Lopez, & Maruyama, 2017). Additional research is needed to understand why this may be the case and how service-learning experiences might be facilitated to support more equitable student impacts.

Finally, perhaps the greatest avenues for effective community partnerships in the coming years exist in community colleges and distinctive two-year institutions. Community colleges have a great opportunity to contribute to social research surrounding challenges, missions and strengths of community partnerships. Since students are usually still embedded within the surrounding community, the opportunity to develop community partnerships is promising (Brukhardt et al., 2004). Two-year institutions are also on the front-line of accepting students from diverse financial, racial, and experiential backgrounds. These expansions and alterations to the ‘typical’ college student population will continue to present themselves in the coming years. Community colleges have the opportunity to create policies and service-learning opportunities that engage and enrich the lives of diverse student populations, which places two-year institutions above other, more traditional, colleges that may be more delayed in response to such changes. As Butin (2006) describes, current service-learning and engagement is only focused towards “full-time single, non-indebted, and childless students pursuing a liberal arts degree” (p.482). As a result, colleges and universities who adapt to the future trends that break out of such barriers will be more successful with engaged learning in the years to come.

Key Scholarship

Ash, Sarah L., and Patti H. Clayton. 2004. “The Articulated Learning: An approach to Guided Reflection and Assessment.” Innovative Higher Education 29 (2): 137-154.

About this Journal Article:

Reflection is an integral aspect of service-learning, but it does not simply happen by telling students to reflect. This paper describes the risks involved in poor quality reflection and explains the results of rigorous reflection. A rigorous reflection framework is introduced that involves objectively describing an experience, analyzing the experience, and then articulating learning outcomes according to guiding questions.

Celio, Christine I., Joseph Durlak, and Allison Dymnicki. 2011. “A Meta-Analysis of the Impact of Service-Learning on Students.” Journal of Experiential Education 34 (2): 164-181.

For those seeking empirical data regarding the value of service-learning, this meta-analysis provides considerable evidence. Representing data from 11,837 students, this meta-analysis of 62 studies identified five areas of gain for students who took service-learning courses as compared to control groups who did not. The students in service-learning courses demonstrated significant gains in their self-esteem and self-efficacy, educational engagement, altruism, cultural proficiency, and academic achievement. Studies of service-learning courses that implemented best practices (e.g., supporting students in connecting curriculum with the service, incorporating the voice of students in the service-learning project, welcoming community involvement in the project, and requiring reflection) had higher effect sizes.

Cress, Christine M., Peter J. Collier, Vicki L. Reitenauer, and Associates, eds. 2013. Learning through Service: A Student Guidebook for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement across Academic Disciplines and Cultural Communities, 2nd ed. Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.

About this Edited Book:

Although written for students to promote an understanding of their community service through reflection and their personal development as citizens who share expertise with compassion, this text is also useful for faculty. Among the many topics addressed, it provides descriptions of service-learning and civic engagement, explains how to establish and deepen community partnerships, and challenges students to navigate difference in ways that unpack privilege and analyze power dynamics that often surface in service-learning and civic engagement. Written in an accessible style, it is good first text for learning about service-learning and civic engagement.

Delano-Oriaran, Omobolade, Marguerite W Penick-Parks, and Suzanne Fondrie, eds. 2015. The SAGE Sourcebook of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage Publications, Inc.

This tome contains 58 chapters on a variety of aspects related to service-learning and civic engagement. The intended audience is faculty in higher education and faculty in P-12 schools, as well as directors of service-learning or civic engagement centers in universities or school districts. The SAGE Sourcebook of Service-Learning and Civic Engagement outlines several theoretical models on the themes of service-learning and civic engagement, provides guides that faculty can employ when developing service-learning projects, shares ideas for program development, and offers numerous resources that faculty can use. Parts I – IV of the sourcebook are directed toward general information about service-learning and civic engagement, including aspects of implementation; parts V – VIII describe programs and issues related to the use of service-learning or civic engagement within disciplines or divisions; part IX addresses international service-learning; and part X discusses sustainability.

Felten, Peter, and Patti H. Clayton. 2011. “Service-Learning.” New Directions for Teaching and Learning 128: 75-84. https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/epdf/10.1002/tl.470 .

Felten and Clayton define service-learning, describe its essential aspects, and review the empirical evidence supporting this pedagogy. Both affective and cognitive aspects of growth are examined in their review. The authors conclude that effectively designed service-learning has considerable potential to promote transformation for all involved, including those who mentor students during the service-learning experience.

Jacoby, Barbara. 2015. Service-learning essentials: Questions, answers and lessons learned. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.

About this Book:

Arranged as a series of questions and answers about service-learning, this text shares research and the author’s personal wisdom gathered over decades of experience in service-learning. Faculty members who are new to service-learning will learn the basics of this pedagogy. Those with experience will discover ways to refine and improve their implementation of service-learning. All aspects of service-learning are clearly explained in this accessible text, including advise for overcoming obstacles.

Jones, Susan R. 2002. “The Underside of Service-Learning.” About Campus 7 (4): 10-15.

Although an older publication, this article is not outdated. Jones describes how some students resist examining assumptions and refuse to see how their beliefs perpetuate negative stereotypes. These students challenge both the faculty member teaching the service-learning course and classmates. Jones discusses the need for faculty to anticipate how to respond to students’ racist or homophobic comments in a way that acknowledges where the students are developmentally, while also honoring the complexity involved. Additionally, the author recommends that faculty examine their own background and level of development relative to issues of privilege and power that can arise in service-learning pedagogy.

McDonald, James, and Lynn Dominguez. 2015. “Developing University and Community Partnerships: A Critical Piece of Successful Service Learning.” Journal of College Science Teaching 44 (3): 52-56.

Developing a positive partnership with a community organization is a critical aspect service-learning. McDonald and Dominguez discuss best practice for service-learning and explain a framework for developing a successful partnership in the community. Faculty need to

• Identify the objectives of the course that will be met through service,
• Identify the community organization whose mission or self-identified need can be address with service-learning,
• Define the purpose of the project, the roles, responsibilities and benefits of individuals involved,
• Maintain regular communication with the community partner, and
• Invite the community partner to the culminating student presentation on their service-learning.

Two service-learning projects, one for an environmental course and another for an elementary methods science course, are described along with the positive outcomes for students and community partners.

Warner, Beth, and Judy Esposito. 2009. “What’s Not in the Syllabus: Faculty Transformation, Role Modeling and Role Conflict in Immersion Service-Learning Courses.” International Journal of Teaching and Learning in Higher Education 20 (3): 510-517.

This article describes immersive learning in the context of international service learning (or domestic service learning that happens away from the local community surrounding an institution) where students and faculty live and work together in a deeply immersive environment. The article is careful to articulate the difference in international or away service learning, where the immersion is constant, with localized experiences where the service learning experience is socketed into a student’s day. The article also discusses the value and need of the instructor working in close proximity to students as a facilitative guide to the learning experience.  

See all Service-Learning entries

Model Programs

The following model programs are drawn from recommendations by service-learning professionals across the United States. All of these selected programs also meet the  Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement.  Carnegie defines community engagement as:

The partnership of college and university knowledge and resources with those of the public and private sectors to enrich scholarship, research and creative activity; enhance curriculum, teaching and learning; prepare educated, engaged citizens; strengthen democratic values and civic responsibility; address critical societal issues; and contribute to the public good. (“Defining Community Engagement,” 2018, para. 2)

This voluntary classification requires schools to collect data and provide evidence of alignment across mission and commitments; this evidence is then reviewed by a national review panel before an institution is selected for inclusion on the list. While community engagement is not always service-learning, the two are closely related and many campus centers offer more expansive definitions to include both service learning and community engagement.

Drake University’s Office of Community Engaged Learning and Service  emphasizes models of service learning focused on project completion rather than hours served. They have seven models for service-learning: project or problem based, multiple course projects, placement based, community education and advocacy, action research, one-time group service project, and service internships. Descriptions of each model can be found  here . All of these models must meet their four main attributes for community engaged learning. They must have 1) learning outcomes, 2) application and integration, 3) reciprocity, and 4) reflection and assessment. 

Elon University’s Kernodle Center for Service Learning and Community Engagement  has existed since 1995 and aims, “in partnership with local and global communities, to advance student learning, leadership, and citizenship to prepare students for lives of active community engagement within a complex and changing world.” Elon University has several interdisciplinary minors which include service learning as an explicit component of their educative goals. The University also includes service learning as a way students may fulfill one of their experiential learning requirements (ELR) through enrollment in an associated service learning course or through 15 days of service along with mentored research and reflection experiences. 

James Madison University’s Center for Community Service-Learning  offers a range of service options for students, but is especially intentional about facilitating course-based service-learning. They support student placement with community partners as is relevant to the course, offer one-on-one faculty consultations, and share  reflection resources  to support students’ integration of their service-learning with course goals and broader learning goals. JMU’s focus on reflection as a core component of service-learning is evident throughout their center, including their definition of service-learning: “[Service-learning] cultivates positive social change through mutually beneficial service partnerships, critical reflection, and the development of engaged citizens.” Their  seven tenets  of service-learning (humility, intentionality, equity, accountability, service, relationships, and learning) can help guide faculty development of mutually supportive goals with community partners.

Marquette University’s Service Learning Program  is housed within their Center for Teaching and Learning separate from their Center for Community Service. The program is intentional about distinguishing between community service, internships, and service-learning, and focuses their work around five models of service-learning: placement model, presentation model, presentation-plus model, product model, and project model. They offer descriptions and examples of each model  here . Marquette structures service-learning as a “philosophy of education.” Their program also offers numerous resources around service-learning course design. 

Rollins College’s Center for Leadership and Community Service  uses the language of community engagement, but is firm in the standard that for a course to be considered a community engagement course, it must meet a community-identified need. Community partners at Rollins are considered co-educators, and Rollins’  course guidelines  emphasize reciprocity in the community-course partnership. The culture surrounding these ideals is so strong that “over 74% of all Rollins faculty have been involved in at least one aspect of community engagement through service-learning, community-based research, professional development, immersion, or campus/community partnership. In addition, over the last seven years every major at Rollins has offered at least one academic course with a community experience” (“ Faculty Resources “).

Related Blog Posts

Facilitating integration of and reflection on engaged and experiential learning.

Since 2019, I’ve been working with my colleague Paul Miller to create an institutional toolkit for fostering both students’ self-reflection and their mentoring conversations with peers, staff, and faculty in order to deepen students’ educational experiences. Our institution, Elon University,…

Incorporating Multiple Dimensions in the First-Year Experience

60-Second SoTL – Episode 49 This episode features on open-access article on service-learning and leadership development in first-year seminars: Krsmanovic, Masha. 2022. “Fostering Service-Learning and Leadership Development through First-Year Seminar Courses.” Journal of Service-Learning in Higher Education 15: 54–70. View a…

Integrating ePortfolios in Work-Integrated Learning Experiences

Work-Integrated Learning (WIL) refers to the integration of practical work experiences with academic learning. Experiences falling under this umbrella provide students with opportunities to apply their knowledge to professional work environments, research, and service learning. There are many benefits of…

View All Related Blog Posts

Featured Resources

Teaching service-learning online or in hybrid/flex models.

In response to shifts to online learning due to COVID-19 in spring 2020 and in anticipation of alternate models for higher education in fall 2020 and beyond, we have curated publications and online resources that can help inform programmatic and…

• Association of American Colleges and Universities (2007)  College learning for a new global century , Association of American Colleges and Universities. Washington, DC.  http://www.aacu.org/advocacy/leap/documents/GlobalCentury_final.pdf
• Bringle, R., & Hatcher, J. (1995). A service learning curriculum for faculty.  The   Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2 (1), 112-122.
• Brukardt, M. H., Holland, B., Percy, S. L., Simpher, N., on behalf of Wingspread Conference Participants. (2004).  Wingspread Statement: Calling the question: Is higher education ready to commit to community engagement.  Milwaukee: University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee
• Butin, D. W. (2006). The limits of service-learning in higher education.  The Review of Higher Education, 29 (4), 473-498.
• Campus Compact (n.d.),  Structuring the reflection process . Retrieved August 2017 from http://compact.org/disciplines/reflection/structuring/
• Carberry, A., Lee, H., & Swan, C. (2013). Student perceptions of engineering service experiences as a source of learning technical and professional skills,  International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering, 8 (1), 1-17.
• Cress, C. M. (2013). What are service-learning and community engagement? In Cress, C. M., Collier, P. J., Reitenauer, V. L., and Associates,  Learning through serving 2 nd  ed. , pp. 9-18. Richmond, VA: Stylus Publishing LLC.
• Felten, P., & Clayton, P. H. (2011). Service-learning. Evidence-based teaching.  New Directions for Teaching and Learning , 128, 75-84.
• Howard, J. (1993).  Praxis I: A faculty casebook on community service learning.  Ann Arbor, MI: Office of Community Service Learning Press, University of Michigan.
• Jacoby, B. (2015).  Service-learning essentials: Questions, answers, and lessons learned . San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Jones, S. R. (2002). The underside of service-learning,  About Campus , 7(4), 10-15.
• Kuh, G. D. (2013). Taking HIPs to the next level. In G. D. Kuh & K. O’Donnell (Eds.) pp. 1-14,  Ensuring quality and taking high-impact practices to scale . Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.
• Moore, T. L., & Mendez, J. P. (2014). Civic engagement and organizational learning strategies for student success. In P. L. Eddy (Ed.),  Connecting learning across the institution  (New Directions in Higher Education No. 165 ,  pp. 31-40). San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
• Mottner, S. (2010). Service-learning in a nonprofit marketing course: A comparative case of pedagogical tools.  Journal of Nonprofit & Public Sector Marketing, 22 (3), 231-245.
• Reitenaure, V. L., Spring, A., Kecskes, K., Kerrigan, S.A., Cress, C. M., & Collier, P. J. (2005). Chapter 2: Building and maintaining community partnerships. In Cress, C. M., Collier, P. J., Reitenaure, V. L., & Associates (Eds.)  Learning through service: A student guidebook for service-learning and civic engagement across academic disciplines and cultural communities  (17-31). Sterling, VA: Stylus Publishing, LLC.
• Song, W., Furco, A., Lopez, I., & Maruyama, G. (2017). Examining the relationship between service-learning participation and the educational success of underrepresented students.  Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 24 (1) 23-37.

The Center thanks Mary Knight-McKenna for contributing the initial content for this resource. The Center’s 2018-2020 graduate apprentice, Sophia Abbot, extended the content, with additional contributions from Elon Masters of Higher Education students Caroline Dean, Jillian Epperson, Tobin Finizio, Sierra Smith, and Taylor Swan.

An official website of the United States government

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• Publications
• Account settings

Preview improvements coming to the PMC website in October 2024. Learn More or Try it out now .

• Advanced Search
• Journal List
• HHS Author Manuscripts

The Effects of Service-Learning on College Students’ Attitudes Toward Older Adults

Frankline augustin.

California State University, Northridge, Phone Number: (818) 677-4250

Brenda Freshman

California State University, Long Beach, Phone Number: (562) 985-1962

The current U.S. healthcare workforce shortage is at crisis levels for providers who specialize in elder care ( Harahan, 2011 ; Kovner, Mezey, & Harrington, 2002 ). Barriers such as ageism, lack of awareness of the need for workers, and lack of contact with seniors can impact the career choice of young professionals ( Gross & Eshbaugh, 2011 ; Hutchison, Fox, Laas, Matharu, & Urzi, 2010 ; Lun, 2012 ). To explore ways to increase the number of students who pursue gerontology and to expand the elder care workforce, the researchers conducted a qualitative content analysis on the impact of service-learning in senior care facilities on students’ attitudes toward older adults. Students with senior contact reported increases in positive perceptions of seniors, discovered their own ageist stereotypes, and developed an interest in a career in elder care. Twenty-one months after the service-learning experience, students were surveyed again with their responses indicating continued positive attitude changes along with professional development demonstrating beneficial long-term effects from the experience.

Introduction

The current shortage of healthcare workers prepared to care for the U.S. aging population is at a crisis level. Projections indicate this deficiency will increase in the coming years, creating dire consequences for healthcare service delivery ( Institute of Medicine, 2008 ). According to the latest data reported by the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging, about 40 million people in the U.S. were age 65 or older in 2009, and there will be at least 72 million older adults by 2030. Additionally, the aging generation of “Baby Boomers” (people born between 1946 and 1964) is living longer due to more active lifestyles and medical advances. With older adults being the focus of the majority of healthcare services ( Center for Health Workforce Studies, 2006 ), a distressing shadow is cast on the future of elder care. The number of people currently working in healthcare is insufficient to accommodate the current population, much less the aging demographic profile of the country ( Stone & Harahan, 2010 ).

One approach to addressing this shortage is to encourage college students to choose careers in elder care, a challenging goal given the multiple barriers in place. Social phenomena such as ageism, lack of awareness of the need for workers, and a general lack of interest in and contact with older adults have been identified as fostering misperceptions that affect career choice and steer students away from working with seniors ( Gross & Eshbaugh, 2011 ; Hutchison, Fox, Laas, Matharu, & Urzi, 2010 ; Lun, 2012 ; Stone & Harahan, 2010 ; Wesley, 2005 ). Given these dynamics, the challenge for the current authors was clear: “How do we motivate students to enter the elder care workforce?”

The basis for the theoretical framework for service-learning can be found in the works of the educational philosopher John Dewey and the experiential education research developed by David Kolb, both of whom emphasized active learning through experience, inquiry, and reflection ( Cone & Harris, 1996 ; Dewey, 1916 ; Giles & Eyler, 1994 ). Dewey argued that in order for knowledge recall to take place, it should be attached to an experience or a contextual situation; otherwise, this knowledge may be forgotten ( Giles & Eyler, 1994 ). Additionally, Dewey asserted that education is not simply a matter of the student regurgitating information from the teacher, but rather involves the student’s participation in her or his own learning ( Dewey, 1916 ). Kolb’s (1984) four-stage model of experiential learning, which includes reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, active experimentation, and concrete experiences, was influenced by Dewey’s model of inquiry ( Cone & Harris, 1996 ). The current authors used the approaches developed by Dewey and Kolb as the basis for their methodology.

Multiple studies suggest that possessing a positive attitude toward older adults can have an effect on whether one makes the career choice to work with them ( Gonzales, Morrow-Howell, & Gilbert, 2010 ; King, Roberts & Bowers, 2013 ) while additional studies have indicated that quality contact with older adults is associated with developing a positive attitude toward them ( Lowe & Medina, 2010 ). Allport (1954) says in his contact hypothesis that positive interpersonal contact can diminish the effects of prejudice over time. For communication to take place without anxiety or fear of conflict it must occur under optimal conditions—including equal status among groups, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and authority support ( Pettigrew, Christ, Wagner, & Stellmacher, 2007 ). When personal prejudices, biases, misperceptions, and assumptions can be explored between groups, arbitrary meanings are replaced with more accurate perceptions. The effectiveness of the contact hypothesis in reducing prejudice has been supported in many different groups and settings ( Pettigrew & Tropp, 2006 ).

Institutions of higher education can provide their students with opportunities for exposure to and cooperative contact with older adults through service-learning assignments. Service-learning is “a form of experiential education in which students engage in activities that address human and community needs together with structured opportunities intentionally designed to promote student learning and development” ( Jacoby, 1996 , p. 5). In order for service-learning to be effective, it must first meet a community need as identified by a partnered community-based organization; it must be linked to an academic course, thereby enhancing the course curriculum; and participants should have the opportunity to reflect on their experiences both verbally and in writing ( Duke, Cohen, & Novack, 2009 ; Lowe & Medina, 2010 ).

A number of studies have shown a positive change in attitudes when students participate in “intergenerational service-learning”—an approach that brings together younger and older age groups for meaningful interaction ( Dorfman et al., 2004 ). Lowe and Medina (2010) showed that students who participated in a service-learning experience had improvements in their attitudes toward seniors, death, and dying. Duke et al. (2009) concluded that the students in their intergenerational service-learning study not only reported having a better attitude toward seniors in general, but also felt that their experience with senior partners helped them to become more effective communicators with seniors.

The exposure effects of service-learning provide an opportunity to change attitudes, perceptions, and behaviors while simultaneously gaining new knowledge and understanding of the aging population. Providing practical “real world” experiences outside the classroom that are closely aligned with the course curricula can influence the pursuit of a career in elder care ( Robert & Mosher-Ashley, 2000 ).

The literature suggests that integrating guided reflective practices into educational programs (through intellectual discourse, journaling, and other methods) enhances course curricula and stimulates self-examination ( Jonas-Dwyer, Abbott, & Boyd, 2013 ; Smith & Trede, 2013 ). Jakubowski (2003) found that reflection can encourage critical thinking when employed to review social experiences and one’s own reactions to those experiences. Further, Kolb (1984) posited that reflection is an essential practice for learners to explore deeper meanings, and new meanings, as they engage in experiential education.

Research Questions

To gain a deeper understanding of the influence of intergenerational service-learning and reflective practice, the current investigators conducted a qualitative analysis of student experiences by exploring the following questions: (a) In what ways do students working with older adults in a service-learning setting experience a change in attitude toward seniors? (b) How will the service-learning projects impact a student’s career interests and choices?

Ethical Procedures

Institutional Review Board (IRB) at the author’s university approved the study’s Human Subjects Protocol. The project was approved as exempt from obtaining informed consent as an educational activity.

Participants

Participants were healthcare administration undergraduate students at a large public Southern California university enrolled in a required upper-division course. The age range for the 36 students enrolled in the course was 21–30. Of these students, 24 were randomly assigned to a senior facility while 12 were assigned to a non-senior facility (for the purposes of this study, only the data collected from students at the senior facilities was analyzed). Of the 24 students at the senior facilities, 50% were juniors, 50% were seniors and 71% was female. The class was racially and ethnically diverse in that 17% were African American/Black, 25% were Asian/Pacific Islander, 25% were Middle Eastern, 25% were Latino and 8% were Caucasian/White.

All students were required to participate in a service-learning project as part of completing course credit. The course provides instruction on the types of management skills used within a variety of healthcare settings. Skills that were discussed included but were not limited to cultural competence, emotional intelligence, empathy, team development, conflict management, and communication. The service-learning component offers students the opportunity to practice these skills in a real-life setting. Topics such as generational diversity and elder care issues are fully explored using a combination of case studies and prepared course lectures.

On a weekly basis students gave oral reports on their experiences at their service-learning site. Self-awareness and self-evaluation of participants’ traits, character, attitudes, behaviors and personal philosophies were a routine part of course discussions. At the beginning of the semester, students were asked whether they had regular contact with older adults. More than 90% of the students said they had little to no experience interacting with seniors on a regular basis before they started their service-learning project. When the project began, students at the senior sites made comments about how uncomfortable they were around the seniors or made ageist remarks. As an example, a student joked that she thought that her senior partner had Alzheimer’s because he kept repeating himself. After some of the students laughed, the researcher asked the class, “Why was that funny?” Honest and thought-provoking discussions such as this were facilitated to encourage students to face their biases and assumptions about seniors and talk about them. Oral reports were used as a means to encourage peer-to-peer mentoring. For instance, if a student brought up an issue he or she was unable to solve, other students would provide recommendations and support. When it came time to report the following week, students would often ask follow-up questions to find out how things had worked out with a particular issue. As this was a management skills course, students related their service-learning experience to what a manager, supervisor, or administrator might practice in the workplace. Application of interpersonal skills was explored through small group discussion. For example, in small groups, students discussed what empathy is, what it looks like, what it feels like, and whether they personally experienced empathy at their service-learning site.

Study Design

Three unique facilities were chosen as sites for the service-learning project: (1) the University’s student Health Center, (2) a not-for-profit adult day care center, designated as a “senior enrichment center” (Senior Center), and (3) a for-profit senior residential facility (Senior Residence). The senior population for the two senior facility placements was defined as adults over the age of 60. This paper focuses on the experiences at the Senior Center and the Senior Residence.

Description of Service-Learning Projects

Students were instructed to complete a minimum of 20 hours of service-learning over the course of 10 weeks. Each site provided 1 hour of orientation, which was included in the students’ required service-learning hours. The Senior Center program director and the Senior Residence sales and marketing representative served as service-learning preceptors at their respective sites. Service-learning hours were tracked on a timesheet and preceptors signed each timesheet at the end of students’ shifts. Preceptors assigned a main project to each student group to work on collaboratively during their placement. Preceptors were also required to provide progress reports to the researcher on student engagement, successes and challenges.

Senior Center

The Senior Center students were required to spend a minimum of 8 hours interacting with the older adults under conditions consistent with those outlined by Allport (1954) , including equal status among groups, intergroup cooperation, common goals, and authority support. Examples of meaningful interactions included taking an exercise class with them, participating in facilitated discussion forums, or playing games with them such as table tennis or pool.

Additionally, students were charged with producing an informational video that would be used by the Senior Center when applying for grant funding. The preceptor’s reasoning for requiring interaction was that she wanted the students to get used to being around seniors and begin relationship building. She also wanted the seniors to get used to having the students there so that when the time came to start interviewing and filming, the seniors would be more willing to participate. The video was to include interviews, testimonials, interactive activities, and highlights of the programs offered by the center.

The culminating event was a lunchtime screening of the video to the seniors and staff. At the end of the project students at this site completed an average of 27 service-learning hours.

Senior Residence

The Senior Residence preceptor requested that the students produce video documentaries of oral histories for a select group of seniors. Ten seniors signed up, leaving four students to share two seniors. Matching of students and seniors was arranged by the preceptor.

Students met with their senior in a common area or in the senior’s apartment. Students were instructed by the preceptor to spend quality time with their seniors first before delving into the interview, and they were told to keep their seniors informed of every step of the interview and filming process. Students were briefed about their senior’s health conditions and instructed in senior safety.

Upon completion of the project, an evening movie-screening event was held at the Senior Residence to premiere the videos to the residents and staff of the community. At the end of the project, students completed an average of 23 service-learning hours.

Reflective Practice and Assessment Method: Weblogs

Dewey (1916) asserts that students must be actively involved in their own learning, and it should include purposeful thinking or reflection. To that end, participants were assigned to keep a reflective weblog to document their attitudes and perceptions before, during, and after their service-learning experiences. Participants were instructed to describe in their blogs which activities they participated in, what they felt, what they saw, whom they met, and whether they learned anything new. Participants were told that their weblogs were their safe zone; they would not be penalized for blogging negative insights or using poor grammar. They were told to be honest and authentic. Access to the students’ weblogs was given only to the researchers. For the researchers, weblogs were used as a data collection method. Please note that for the purposes of this manuscript, minor editing has been done to correct grammar.

Qualitative Analysis

The two investigators independently analyzed a total of 265 weblog entries. The blog entries were entered into qualitative analysis software programs to assist with thematic tracking.

The first investigator (I1) used the program “Xsight,” published by QSR International. Conducting a line-by-line analysis, I1 used the following procedure: Step 1. Read each blog entry, highlighting phrases of meaning in the blog. Examples of emergent themes of meaning are learning, career choice, and emotional and cognitive expressions. Each passage was coded with a theme. Step 2. The investigator then reread the passages to assign subthemes or “categories” as they are referred to in the remainder of this report. I1’s review resulted in five themes: attitudes, feelings, observations, lessons learned, and challenges.

The second investigator (I2) performed a conventional content analysis ( Hsieh & Shannon, 2005 ) of each blog entry using a qualitative data analysis software program called “NVivo,” also published by QSR International. To conduct her data analysis, I2 conducted two readings. The first cycle was a reading of each blog entry. On the second reading I2 did a passage analysis and pulled terms and phrases that she identified as coding patterns; categories were then developed. I2 reread each category and combined related categories (e.g. career development/personal development). This final step resulted in five themes: emotional reactions, attitudes/behavior, learning, service-learning encounters, and observations.

After independent coding, the two investigators reviewed each other’s themes and categories. Four rounds of discussions were held between the two researchers resulting in seven themes displayed in the results section below.

Follow-up Survey

Dewey posited that knowledge recall is attached to a reflective experience or contextual situation ( Giles & Eyler, 1994 ). To explore whether and how participants’ service-learning experience continued to have an impression on their professional development and career choices, a follow-up survey was emailed to all initial participants 21 months after the completion of their service-learning projects. The survey asked the following open-ended question: “ Please describe if there was anything about this service-learning experience that affected your current career development, your personal development and/or your professional development.” Fourteen individuals responded to the follow-up survey (N=6 Health Center, Senior Center N=5, Senior Residence N=3). Only the analysis for the 8 responses received for the senior facilities are included in this paper. No email addresses came back as invalid, but it is unknown how many participants viewed and opened the email. The follow-up survey was subject to a thematic analysis similar to the analysis used for the weblogs.

Weblog Analysis

The investigators’ consolidation of their independent efforts centered on student attitude and career choice. Their final analysis resulted in seven themes: (1) positive interactions with seniors, (2) positive feelings—general, (3) attitudes/behaviors toward seniors, (4) reflective learning about self and seniors, (5) negative feelings—general, (6) professional development, and (7) observations about character arc demonstrating a change in attitude toward seniors. Table 1 displays the classifications and includes frequency counts for each theme per site, total theme count and examples of student commentaries.

Weblog Theme Counts and Example Commentaries

Theme 1: Positive Interactions with Seniors

The total coded comments in this category were 153, the highest number of coded comments received across the themes. There were 60 comments at the Senior Center and 93 at the Senior Residence that were identified as positive interactions with seniors. One student placed at the Senior Center wrote, “In the golden age class, they wanted to know more about me so I shared about the culture from my country. I had a wonderful time in both classes.” A student at the Senior Residence commented, “My resident is full of stories to tell. He even showed me a picture of his father fishing with Ernest Hemingway. Very cool!” These responses are representative of many students who, based on analysis of their blogs, seemed pleasantly surprised that their senior experiences were positive..

Theme 2: Positive Feelings

Indications of positive feelings tallied the second-highest number of coded comments (131). High numbers of positive feeling comments came from both the Senior Center and Senior Residence—74 and 57, respectively. One student at the Senior Center commented, “They made me feel so important to them. I love the center and I love the people there … it is a place that is filled with care, support and love.” A student at the Senior Residence wrote, “I love spending time with [senior] because she is so full of wisdom and [she] gives me the best advice … I feel so much better every time I leave …” These positive feelings gave the authors the impression that the student participants liked being around seniors and were in fact gaining a benefit from their interactions.

Theme 3: Attitudes/Behaviors toward Seniors

Attitudes/behaviors toward seniors garnered 110 coded comments, with 66 from the Senior Center, 44 from the Senior Residence. Many students discussed their own biases about the physical health of seniors when they came face-to-face with their own misperceptions. The following are examples of comments written by students at the Senior Center, “After 30 minutes stretching, I felt my body begin to sweat … they [seniors] can bend their knees for the entire class, but I could only bend my knees for 10 minutes.” “I was impressed and exhausted with the class. I never had in mind seniors were so active.” “I must say it was hard keeping up with those seniors, found myself getting really tired during the dance class, am still wondering how they manage to keep up.” Finally, this student sums up a common stereotype concerning the frailty of seniors:

I was very impressed with these seniors because I never realized how strong these seniors were … people think that seniors are usually slow and aren’t capable of doing things like ongoing exercise, but I’m sure that if anyone were to join in the class too, they would be pretty shocked as well.

Students also described being surprised by how alert, communicative, warm, wise, and experienced seniors were. It is clear to the authors that the students’ service-learning experiences dispelled myths that they once considered “truths.”

Theme 4: Reflective Learning about Self and Seniors

A total of 77 coded comments (38 for the Senior Center and 39 for the Senior Residence) focused on reflective learning about self and seniors. One student at the Senior Center wrote:

I have always asked myself the same question at different times in my life. Where are we going to end once we become seniors? Almost every time I asked myself that question I get a different answer or similar to a previous response. This time my answer was maybe one day I’ll be coming to [Senior Center] to spend my time here.

Another comment from the Senior Center:

I parked my car about 10 feet away from the main entrance so I was able to see a few seniors go inside…. I started to think about what is going to happen to me once I become a senior.

Interacting with seniors affected these students in such a way that they started to reflect on their own mortality and to develop empathy toward seniors. These are outcomes of Allport’s (1954) contact theory. As students are placed in the reality of a senior’s world, they realize this could be their life someday. Facing this reality sparks introspection and consideration about what it means to be an older adult.

Theme 5: Negative Feelings

Negative feeling comments were lower at the Senior Residence (5), with 18 identified at the Senior Center. While only conjecture, this could be due to the luxurious nature of the Senior Residence facility. Most students placed at this site commented on how nice the accommodations, service, and amenities were at the location. As for negative feelings, some students did not want to participate in service-learning, conveying that they needed their time to work and do other things. Some students wrote about how nervous, scared, or anxious they were about interacting with seniors for the first time. One student at the Senior Center wrote: “Before walking in I felt a bit nervous to just walk in and start a conversation with them.” A student at the Senior Residence wrote: “I thought to myself, ‘What am I going to talk about with this old man for as long as I possibly can?’ I realized I was giving myself doubts about how this meeting was going to be.”

While some students expressed negative feelings at the prospect of interacting with seniors—for example, “I was nervous because usually, I feel like I’m not good at being around elderly people. So this was like the ultimate test for me”—in most cases their feelings became positive after the students met the seniors and got to know them. One student wrote: “Us meeting each other ended up not being so bad after all. My partner was really sweet and nice and very alert for her age. We were able to talk to each other easily.” Students whose comments initially reflected anxiety typically revealed that as soon as they met their senior for the first time, anxious feelings were replaced with positive and hopeful feelings.

Theme 6: Professional Development

A total of 14 comments (11 at the Senior Center and 3 at the Senior Residence) discussed how the service-learning experience provided focus on future careers while at the same time encouraging students to contemplate what they were doing to prepare for the future. Students mentioned that they gained new knowledge of careers involving working with seniors. One student at the Senior Center wrote:

This semester it was brought to my attention from one of my professors to get a minor in gerontology. I’ve been thinking about it but now with the experience gained from this opportunity, I will declare the minor. It will open more doors for me and having the experience to work with seniors is beyond words.

A student at the Senior Residence wrote that she was asked by the preceptor whether she considered skilled nursing as a career option. The student added: “An insightful question that had led me to thinking about my future.” Another student at the Senior Center wrote about how he was asked to create an Excel spreadsheet and while working on the task realized that his Excel skills were weak. Knowing this, the student admits in his blog that he needs additional training to strengthen his understanding of Excel.

Theme 7: Observation about Character Arcs

Observed character arcs (changed attitudes toward seniors) were found in 16 coded comments (8 at the Senior Center and 8 at the Senior Residence), with students commenting on how their attitudes toward seniors changed positively because of their service-learning experience. A student at the Senior Center reflected on the orientation meeting where students were asked, “What is a senior to you.” At the end of the experience, the student wrote: “Now when I think back about that question … seniors are not ‘old people’ they are people of ages 55 and older. I learned that the word ‘seniors’ has been overlooked by the youth nowadays.” A student at the Senior Residence wrote about a thought-provoking realization he had:

On this particular Wednesday afternoon, as I headed to the [Senior Residence], with my windows down, stereo on full blast, and with the wind blowing in my hair … I thought to myself, “wow … I have made myself a friend who is OLD!” It was a dramatic drive over.

Another student wrote that talking to older adults was just like “talking to people that were my age!” Again, these comments are reflective of Allport’s (1954) contact theory. Once the veil of bias is lifted, the truth is revealed. Students begin to restructure their former ideas of what “old” is and begin to incorporate facts to develop their new knowledge of who seniors are.

Follow-up Survey Results

Fourteen of the initial 36 students responded to the follow-up survey, which asked the open-ended text question: “Please describe if there was anything about this service-learning experience that affected your current career development, your personal development and/or your professional development.” A sample of 14 returned surveys out of 36 email requests represents a response rate of 38.8%. Five of the Senior Center students, three of the Senior Residence students, and six of the Health Center students responded to the follow-up question. Only the responses from the senior facilities are included in the final analysis. Five themes emerged from this data that investigators felt had relevance to student development and career direction: (1) positive reflections, (2) negative reflections, (3) positive attitudes about seniors, (4) professional skill development, and (5) career choice/interest. Overall, service-learning students who were placed with seniors wrote that the experience continued to have an impact on their attitudes toward seniors and on their professional development, and inspired a career interest in elder care. Table 2 displays the frequency counts for these themes as well as examples of student commentaries.

Follow-up Email Survey Theme Counts and Example Commentaries

Responses to the study questions that relate to a change in attitude regarding seniors are of particular interest. The investigators identified seven positive commentaries about seniors from the Senior Center, and three from the Senior Residence. To be concise, only one example was placed in the table, but all 10 of these comments indicate a positive impact that a service-learning experience with seniors can have on changing students’ attitudes. One Senior Center student wrote: “The one-on-one interaction helped me change my perspective on seniors and [I] was able to relate and get to know them [on] a personal level.”

Another set of interesting comments came from the one student at the Senior Residence who had a negative experience. After initially indicating she was looking forward to the opportunity with “high hopes,” she noted that she was disappointed when the seniors she was assigned to work with were distant and uncooperative. Additionally, the student, who came from a low-income household, observed that the site was “very prestigious,” and only affordable to the wealthy. This increased her awareness of disparities based on socio-economic status and raised concern in her over the safety and well-being of her own parents as they age. Identifying factors that make the difference between a positive and a negative experience for the student could be beneficial for faculty, students, and the placement organizations.

The study investigated a proposed method of expanding the elder care workforce by using service-learning to change the perceptions, attitudes, and mindsets of college students with the aim of motivating career interest in elder care services. When taking a deeper look at the commentaries, meaningful observations can be made with respect to student attitudes about seniors in general, and specifically about working with them in the health field. Additionally, the text reveals potential constructs and variables for further study. Evaluating the data from this approach, the investigators made the following observations:

• Students contemplated working with seniors as a health professional, in addition to envisioning their own process of aging.
• Some career choice comments include an intention to pursue gerontology and to collect more information about careers working with older adults.
• Comments indicating attitudes and behaviors toward seniors revealed that participants experienced moments of sudden insight and change in perspective about seniors, e.g., seeing seniors as people “just like us.”
• As discussed in the Results section, Theme 5: Negative Feelings, students tended to experience a sequence of emotions beginning with being nervous and moving to experiencing surprise, followed by accepting new learning, and for some eventually developing a new interest in the health field as a career choice.

The reflective blog commentaries show that students at the senior placements discovered that older adults possess a wealth of information, and gained a realization that seniors are resilient, seniors have been here before them, and seniors have had life experiences that these students may have only read in history books. Some of these comments clearly indicated a positive change of attitude and an appreciation of seniors. It is important to note that although subjects were not specifically asked to reflect on their opinions of seniors, the majority of their self-inspired reflections were focused on seniors.

Best Practices and Lessons Learned

To further debrief the project, investigators identified what worked well (best practices) and opportunities for improvement (lessons learned) to be applied to future senior care workforce development studies.

Best Practices

• Service-learning projects should be clearly relevant to the health administration course objectives, allowing students to receive on-site training and making real-time connections between course material and their projects.
• Integrating the service-learning projects into the course discussions not only helped to further the connections between theoretical concepts and real life, but also provided students the support space to share challenges and successes.
• Holding mandatory orientations at each site was effective in giving students the sense that they were now important members of the placement community. Orientations included a meeting with members of the leadership team, risk management information, and a tour of the host facility.
• It is imperative that the services provided by service-learning participants are meaningful to the placement and meet an essential need for the organization. This ensures benefit to both the students and the placement by providing intrinsic motivation and rewards for being of service.
• The weblogs provided a space not only for honest reflective learning, but also for creative expression. Students activated and developed their own blog space. Some students included photographs of their engagement activities. In general comments displayed a comfort with providing honest reactions to what they were doing and how they were feeling. As an example, investigators read early comments on how service-learning was a waste of time and not worth the effort (disengagement), e.g., “Why do we have to do this?” “Doesn’t the professor care that I have other classes and responsibilities? I don’t have time for this!” These disengaged comments stand in contrast to comments made after the experience by the same students, who are now engaged and invested: “It took a lot of time, but in the end I’m glad I did it.” “A lot of work…but a good experience. I would recommend this to other students.”

Lessons Learned

A few challenges and opportunities for improvement arose for the instructor. The most challenging aspect of the project was handling the logistics of two distinct locations throughout the city. With site visits of critical importance, the time spent traveling to placements and scheduling with preceptors was greater than initially anticipated.

A second unanticipated challenge involved the personalities of the preceptors, who were all employed at the director level in their facility. While it is a good strategy to have support and engagement from members at the highest levels of the organization, it should be noted that personnel near the top of the hierarchy are leaders by position and nature, and therefore some high-level preceptors might want to take control of the project and divert the students to work on something that was not initially agreed upon. An example of this issue occurred during the current investigation. Without first consulting the instructor, one of the preceptors made additions to the assignment midway in the semester, causing stress and confusion among the students. Fortunately, the instructor was able to collaboratively work with the preceptor to create a compromise that met the needs of the facility and the students while still maintaining the integrity of the project.

At the end of the study it occurred to the researchers that it would have been invaluable if the recipients of the service-learning (the facilities’ staff and the older adults) were asked to provide feedback about the impact the service-learning had on them. A review of the literature finds that very few studies have surveyed the impact of service-learning on the recipients ( Roodin, Brown & Shedlock, 2013 ).

Solutions to the logistical challenge are simple in nature but not necessarily easily implemented, with an emphasis on good time management being the most obvious remedy. A second practical solution is to train and employ graduate assistants to support the program with communication and site visits.

To address the possible challenge of a controlling preceptor, we suggest a process solution. Upfront and as clearly as possible, define the scope and expectations of the project and the boundaries of supervision that the preceptor has with the students. Ideally this will occur first through dialogue to achieve consensus and ensure understanding. Additionally, a written agreement memo should be drafted by the faculty in charge and would be reviewed and signed by the preceptor.

When students are paired with seniors, faculty members would be wise to work with on-site preceptors to develop a screening process to ensure that the senior will be cooperative and available barring any unforeseen events such as health issues. A mechanism should also be in place for changes in assignment if the match between student and senior does not feel comfortable to either party in the early stages of the project.

Finally, to facilitate the gathering of feedback on the impact of the service-learning on the recipients, the faculty member should make contact with the preceptor on a regular and mutually agreed upon basis (at least twice a month for a semester-long project). Ignoring the salient reactions of the recipients of service-learning before, during and after the service-learning was a limitation of the present effort and should be addressed in future study.

Service to the Organizations

In addition to the rich learning experience reported by the student participants, each organization received the anticipated services from its student group. The Senior Center now has a professional DVD that it currently uses at health fairs, fundraising events and national conferences. The Senior Residence now has an archived video documentary of oral histories that detail the various lives of a number of its seniors. The successful delivery of these products continues to enhance the relationships between the community service providers and the University.

Although the sample size in this study was not large, several contributions to the field addressing eldercare workforce needs can be identified. The techniques and lessons learned here, once applied more broadly in educational settings, will provide data for further study eventually leading to evidence based practices in workforce planning. Notable on this point were the observed arcs in the minds of the undergraduate students expressed in the weblogs (Theme 7: Observed Character Arcs). These particulars revealed that a student, who is afraid and lacks confidence or desire to work with seniors, once exposed to a positive experience in a care delivery setting may experience a positive shift in attitude, and also spark career interest. This change may motivate the student to take further steps in the direction of senior care as a career choice (Theme 6: Professional Development). Knowing this detail can encourage future instructors to work through student resistance and include more service-learning opportunities in senior care settings in their curriculum. Additionally, the use of reflective practice combined with qualitative analysis can help instructors understand specific sources of both resistance and reward, helping them to better manage expectations for the students as well as the preceptors on site. Expanding on this, student experiences can be analyzed for driving and restraining factors in developing the elder care workforce, leading to enhancements in curriculum and increases in motivation to explore career paths in related areas.

Another potentially powerful contribution to understanding multiple stakeholders perspectives’ in the overall health system is the opportunity to reflect on one’s own experience of aging (Theme 4: Reflective Learning about Self and Seniors). Whether a healthcare management student ends up specializing in elder care, or chooses a career in a general health delivery setting, understanding the process of aging and having empathy for seniors will be beneficial to strategic planning as well as the selection of implementation tactics. Furthermore, this self-reflection could lead to proactive steps in preparing for one’s future as an aging adult.

With this study as confirmation of previous findings about the connections between exposure to and relationship building with seniors and students’ positive attitudes about seniors, service-learning and other engagement methodologies should continue to be explored. One important area of continued research on this topic would be longitudinal tracking of 10 or more years on variables such as long-term career choice, job satisfaction, and compensation rates.

Service-learning augments the course curriculum by providing students and teachers with real-life opportunities to apply theory to practice. Incorporating the use of weblog technology is an effective way to involve students deeply in the reflective process while they participate in service-learning and can be used as a source of data for researchers to evaluate service-learning experiences. The service-learning experience can be transformational, giving health administration students the opportunity to critically reflect, learn from their mistakes, discover their own untapped potential, adjust attitudes and discover previously unexplored areas of career opportunity. Learning through experiences not only engages students while in the moment of service-learning, but also offers positive personal and professional development that can potentially be sustained for a lifetime. The application of service-learning to workforce development in a focused area such as elder care for health providers should continue to be developed, enhanced and assessed for long-term impacts.

Contributor Information

Frankline Augustin, California State University, Northridge, Phone Number: (818) 677-4250.

Brenda Freshman, California State University, Long Beach, Phone Number: (562) 985-1962.

• Allport GW. The nature of prejudice. Cambridge, MA: Perseus Books; 1954. [ Google Scholar ]
• Center for Workforce Studies. The impact of the aging population on the health workforce in the United States: Summary of key findings. University at Albany, School of Public Health; Rensselaer, NY: 2006. [ Google Scholar ]
• Cone D, Harris S. Service learning practice: Developing a theoretical framework. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. 1996; 3 (1):31–43. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from https://www.wartburg.edu/cce/cce/establishing%20sl%20curiculum/Developing%20a%20theoretical%20framework.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Cooper LA, Powe NR. Disparities in patient experiences, health care processes, and outcomes: The role of patient-provider racial, ethnic, and language concordance. Washington, DC: The Commonwealth Fund; 2004. (Publication No. 753) Retrieved September 8, 2014, from http://www.commonwealthfund.org/publications/fund-reports/2004/jul/disparities-in-patient-experiences--health-care-processes--and-outcomes--the-role-of-patient-provide . [ Google Scholar ]
• Dewey J. Democracy and education: An introduction to the philosophy of education. 1916 [Project Gutenberg]. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/852 .
• Dorfman LT, Murty SA, Ingram JG, Evans RJ, Power JR. Intergenerational service-learning in five cohorts of students: Is attitude change robust? Educational Gerontology. 2004; 30 (1):39–55. doi: 10.1080/03601270490248446. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Downe-Wamboldt BL, Melanson PM. Attitudes of baccalaureate student nurses toward aging and the aged: Results of a longitudinal study. Educational Gerontology. 1990; 16 :49–59. doi: 10.1080/0380127900160104. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Duke P, Cohen D, Novack D. Using a geriatric mentoring narrative program to improve medical student attitudes towards the elderly. Educational Gerontology. 2009; 35 (10):857–866. doi: 10.1080/03601270902782412. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Giles DE, Jr, Eyler J. The theoretical roots of service-learning in John Dewey: Toward a theory of service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning. 1994; 1 (1):77–85. Retrieved September 14, 2014, from https://www.american.edu/ocl/volunteer/upload/Eyler-and-Giles-1994.pdf . [ Google Scholar ]
• Gonzales E, Morrow-Howell N, Gilbert P. Changing medical students’ attitudes toward older adults. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2010; 31 (3):220–234. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2010.503128. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Greenhill ED. An evaluation of nursing students’ attitudes and interest in working with older people. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 1983; 4 (1):83–88. [ PubMed ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Gross PE, Eshbaugh EM. Tuning them in versus turning them on: How do we interest students in working with older adults? Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2011; 32 (2):122–134. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2011.572037. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Harahan MF. A critical look at the looming long-term-care workforce crisis. Generations-journal of the American Society on Aging. 2011; 34 (4):20–26. [ Google Scholar ]
• Hsieh H, Shannon SE. Three approaches to qualitative content analysis. Qualitative Health Research. 2005; 15 (9):1277–1288. doi: 10.1177/1049732305276687. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Hutchison P, Fox E, Laas AM, Matharu J, Urzi S. Anxiety, outcome expectancies, and young people’s willingness to engage in contact with the elderly. Educational Gerontology. 2010; 36 (10–11):1008–1021. doi: 10.1080/03601271003723586. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Institute of Medicine (IOM) Retooling for an aging America. Washington, DC: The National Academies Press; 2008. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jacoby B. Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practices. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass; 1996. [ Google Scholar ]
• Jakubowski LM. Beyond book learning: Cultivating the pedagogy of experience through field trips. Journal of Experiential Education. 2003; 26 (1):24–33. doi: 10.1177/105382590302600105. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Jonas-Dwyer DR, Abbott PV, Boyd N. First reflections: Third-year dentistry students’ introduction to reflective practice. European Journal of Dental Education. 2013; 17 (1):E64–E69. doi: 10.1111/j.1600-0579.2012.00763.x. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• King BJ, Roberts TJ, Bowers BJ. Nursing student attitudes toward and preferences for working with older adults. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2013; 34 (3):272–291. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2012.718012. [ PMC free article ] [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Kolb DA. Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice-Hall; 1984. [ Google Scholar ]
• Kovner CT, Mezey M, Harrington C. Who cares for older adults? Workforce implications of an aging society. Health Affairs. 2002; 21 (5):78–89. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.21.5.78. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Laveist TA, Nuru-Jeter A. Is doctor-patient race concordance associated with greater satisfaction with care? Journal of Health and Social Behavior. 2002; 43 (3):296–306. doi: 10.2307/3090205. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lowe LA, Medina VL. Service-learning collaborations: A formula for reciprocity. Families in Society. 2010; 91 (2):127–134. doi: 10.1606/1044-3894.3970. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Lun MW. Students’ knowledge of aging and career preferences. Educational Gerontology. 2012; 38 (1):70–79. doi: 10.1080/03601277.2010.500584. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pettigrew TF, Christ O, Wagner U, Stellmacher J. Direct and indirect intergroup contact effects on prejudice: A normative interpretation. International Journal of Intercultural Relations. 2007; 31 (4):411–425. doi: 10.1016/j.ijintrel.2006.11.003. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Pettigrew TF, Tropp LR. A meta-analytic test of intergroup contact theory. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology. 2006; 90 (5):751–783. doi: 10.1037/0022-3514.90.5.751. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Robert R, Mosher-Ashley PM. Factors influencing college students to choose careers working with elderly persons [Abstract] Educational Gerontology. 2000; 26 (8):725–736. doi: 10.1080/036012700300001386. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Roodin P, Brown LH, Shedlock D. Intergenerational service-learning: A review of recent literature and directions for the future. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2013; 34 (1):3–25. doi: 10.1080/02701960.2012.755624. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Rose-Colley M, Eddy JM. Interactions of university students with elderly individuals: An investigation into the correlates. Educational Gerontology. 1988; 14 (1):33–43. doi: 10.1080/0380127880140103. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Smith M, Trede F. Reflective practice in the transition phase from university student to novice graduate: Implications for teaching reflective practice. Higher Education Research & Development. 2013; 32 (4):632–645. doi: 10.1080/07294360.2012.709226. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Stone R, Harahan MF. Improving the long-term care workforce serving older adults. Health Affairs. 2010; 29 (1):109–115. doi: 10.1377/hlthaff.2009.0554. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• U.S. Department of Health and Human Services Administration on Aging (AoA) Aging statistics. n.d Retrieved January 28, 2015, from http://www.aoa.acl.gov/Aging_Statistics/index.aspx .
• Wesley SC. Enticing students to careers in gerontology. Gerontology & Geriatrics Education. 2005; 25 (3):13–29. doi: 10.1300/J021v25n03_02. [ PubMed ] [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]
• Wilderom CM, Press EG, Perkins DV, Tebes JA, Nichols L, Calkins E, Cryns A, Schimpfhauser F. Correlates of entering medical students’ attitudes toward geriatrics. Educational Gerontology. 1990; 18 :429–446. doi: 10.1080/0380127900160501. [ CrossRef ] [ Google Scholar ]

• Reference Manager
• Simple TEXT file

People also looked at

Original research article, service-learning in europe. dimensions and understanding from academic publication.

• 1 Grupo de Investigación Esculca, Departamento de Pedagogía y Didáctica, Universidad de Santiago de Compostela, Santiago de Compostela, Spain
• 2 Grupo de Investigación en Educación, Ciudadanía y Carácter-GIECC, Departamento de Aprendizaje y Currículum, Universidad de Navarra, Pamplona, Spain
• 3 Grupo de Investigación sobre Cultura Cívica y Políticas Educativas (CCyPE), Departamento de Pedagogía, Universidad de Castilla-La Mancha, Cuenca, Spain

Service-learning began within the framework of the New School in which constructivist experiential methodologies were particularly important following various studies, such as those by John Dewey and his “Learning by Doing” approach. From then on, this pedagogical practice has spread all over the world at varying rates. In Europe it was slower to spread than in the Americas. In this regard it is especially interesting to look at the current state of the matter. The object of this study was to analyze the academic publication in Europe since the year 2000 with a detailed bibliographic review of publications with roots in Europe. We examined the main databases and used an analysis matrix with various content levels. We found that service-learning has different names in Europe, and that there have been uneven epistemological advances depending on the countries examined. We also noted that, in general, it was about higher education that most literature had been published. One of our significant conclusions was the exponential growth of contributions over the last 20 years, particularly in Spain, which produced the most academic literature on this topic. We believe that service-learning faces the challenge of effective consolidation based on educational quality criteria, and which includes combining elements of virtuality, reality, and academic rigor.

Introduction

The unforeseen events of 2020 have threatened both advances in society and the ideas that lie behind them. To the already well-worn crisis of the welfare state something which is non-negotiable for some and mortally wounded if not subject to reinvention for others we have to add the social crisis that is a consequence of SARS-Cov-2. Numerous political, healthcare, environmental, and social challenges are forcing old inflexibilities to adapt to new realities in a global sense. Education is of course no exception. Challenges that only a short time ago seemed obvious to us in a sea of uncertainty ( Caride, 2017 ) and which needed to be approached through various lenses beyond the four walls of the classroom must necessarily be reviewed again ( Úcar, 2018 ). In the particular case concerning us, for example, the ubiquitous shift towards Information and Communication Technology (ICT) and its connection with service-learning ( Santos-Rego et al., 2020 ; Sotelino et al., 2020 ; Tapia, 2020 ) that must now take place to deal with an unprecedented scenario of confinement. In this regard, the focus once again is placed on who will be responsible for educating more creative, more flexible professionals and citizens who will know how to respond to continued uncertainty ( Arbués et al., 2012 ), and also on the determinants of how , which not only ties our hands but also (forcibly) opens our minds.

Technological and methodological responses to this situation have appeared in various educational areas which have been validated through practice, but with pedagogical specialists also at the forefront. Service-learning is one of the methodologies which is gaining importance in the various levels of the school system, and also in non-formal educational spheres ( Sotelino et al., 2019 ). This pedagogical approach, increasingly used in Spain ( Aramburuzabala et al., 2019 ), aims to bring together curricular competencies with contextualized service in the community ( Puig et al., 2011 ; Santos-Rego et al., 2015 ; Deeley, 2016 ). In this way, participants consolidate their learning from their experiences and the reflections that occur. More specifically, in terms of the latter, these types of projects have their origin in the Chicago school at the hands of John Dewey, who had already studied cognitive meaning from experience-based learning ( Giles and Eyler, 1994 ; Sotelino, 2015 ; Gonzalez-Geraldo et al., 2017 ) which catalyzed what he called “reflective learning” or “reflective inquiry” ( Saltmarsh, 1996 ).

The European history of service-learning is marked by some milestones. In 2003, the European Service-Learning-Asociation (ESLA) was created, the first meeting of which was attended by representatives from Germany, the Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Spain. One significant event at this level was the CIVICUS European research project, promoted by the Vytautas Magnus University in Lithuania—a country whose service-learning roots are directly tied to the United States—the framework of which explored forms of cooperation between universities, businesses, institutions, local government, and organizations ( Santos-Rego, 2013 ). From that point onwards, service-learning started to develop rapidly in Europe, although unevenly distributed by country ( Aramburuzabala et al., 2019 . In addition to projects, in Europe there have been in-depth studies that have looked at the quality, dissemination, and development of this practice and its educational efficacy. In the United Kingdom, Spain, Switzerland, the Netherlands, and Ireland, to name some clear examples, various statewide general and subject-based (by educational level or sphere) networks have appeared. In recent years international networks have advanced the development of service-learning in Europe, such as The European Network of Service-Learning in Higher Education launched in Galway in September 2017. In 2019 the European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education was created. Similarly, The International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE), created in 2005 with the aim of promoting research and discussion about service-learning and the participation of the community ( Sotelino, 2014 ; IARSLCE, 2016 ). Currently in Spain, together with the various research groups and experts dedicated to service-learning, there is a general network encompassing the various fields and educational levels, together with other more specific networks ( Batlle, 2013 ).

Service-learning currently has sufficient scientific support to indicate that it is a route to acquiring relational and cooperative skills while not diverting attention from the curriculum or educational project of reference. We should not forget that service-learning is, above all but not to the exclusion of all, a teaching method. This idea is similar, but differs in terms of the activism and political positioning applied, from the substrate of critical pedagogy which it has, to the religious reminiscences present in some countries, such as Spain ( Igelmo and Jover, 2019 ). However, nowadays, to look more at the present and the future of service-learning in the new normality and the more desired post-new normality (derived from the influence of COVID-19), there needs to be a balance between the different contributions, and future challenges need to be faced that affect this methodology. In this regard, it is worth asking questions that will guide our work. Is the academic production about service-learning the same throughout Europe? In which field, research area or European country has service-learning progressed most in terms of publications? These questions must be answered in order to locate the state of service-learning in Europe, knowing those areas of study, educational levels and European countries where it is being implemented to a greater extent.

In order to this, the objective of our study is to review the academic literature from Europe about service-learning from the last twenty years (2000–2020). We say from Europe rather than in Europe because our searches will locate European experts who may have been published in non-European journals, not surprising given the American roots of service-learning.

Before describing the study, it is a good opportunity to briefly look at the conceptual and pedagogical aspects of service-learning. This will help us understand some of the keys which have driven the expansion of this methodology and the academic literature about it.

Service-Learning: Concept and Pedagogy

The term service-learning was coined and began to be conceptualized in North America at the end of the 1970s in the framework of a proliferation of both obligatory and voluntary youth service programs. It was born out of the New School pedagogical movement occasionally also called active schooling where experiential constructivist methodologies were particularly important following various studies. The thinking of William James and John Dewey and their premise of “Learning by Doing” was especially influential ( Tapia, 2012 ; González-Geraldo et al., 2017 ). Paulo Freire also played an important role, as at that time the North American tradition of experiential learning combined with the Latin American social experience. From that point on, this pedagogical practice has spread all over the world, albeit unevenly.

The methodology of service-learning has been most developed in the United States and that is where most of the literature on the topic can be found. Because of that, it would be a mistake not to refer to the United States development of service-learning, as it arose there, it was constructed there, and it spread from there to many countries ( Santos-Rego, 2013 ). The United States was where the term service-learning was first used, in 1967 when William Ramsay, Robert Sigmon, and Michael Hart used it to describe a local development project implemented by students and teachers from the OAK Ridge Associated Universities in Tennessee, although the expression was not consolidated until the first Service Learning Conference , which took place in Atlanta in 1969 ( Sotelino, 2015 ).

In Latin America it is possible to find good examples of service-learning with governmental and social support in countries such as Mexico, Argentina, Chile, Uruguay and some Central American countries. In Central and South America there is a consolidated tradition of service-learning both in schools and universities, as well as in other kinds of civic-social organizations. It may be understood as the citizen response to the profound crises many Latin American countries suffered through in the 1980s and 90s, leading to many community service projects being implemented by various institutions. Service-learning arose as a resource that helped make more sense of these community minded practices. In this respect, the role played by CLAYSS (The Latin American Center for Service-Learning) was not trivial, as they drove the spread of this methodology to various countries ( Tapia, 2010 ).

European development was slower than in the Americas, and one might even say that in some cases it was a direct consequence of American development ( Mažeikienė, 2019 ), but its production is being extensive, especially in countries where its expansion is increasing. In Europe, the cradle of service-learning was in English-speaking countries, and was linked to the idea of community education ( Luna González, 2010 ). In recent years projects such as the Europe Engage Project have appeared, supported by the European Union with the objective of promoting the use of service learning. This project emphasizes that, at the university level, for example, future professionals must be trained through practical learning linked to the social environment, helping to solve problems for the community ( Europe Engage, 2014 ). Even so, as McLeod and McLeod (2015) noted, the first experiences of this in some Eastern European universities were not until 2004, and we can currently talk of a two-speed Europe; one group of countries in which service-learning is consolidated (United Kingdom, Ireland, Spain, and Germany), and another group where it is emerging (Austria, Belgium, the Netherlands, and Portugal, to name a few). This is a duality which may lead to service-learning becoming less visible in countries where it is more accepted through a process called blackboxing in which, paradoxically “the more science and technology succeed, the more opaque and obscure they become’ (Latour, quoted in Mažeikienė, 2019 ).

From a methodological perspective, service-learning combines two methods from active pedagogies: learning through experience and action in service to the community. As Castle and Osman (2003) noted, service-learning offers opportunities to integrate learning, research, and communication at the same time as offering a service, intensifying the social aspect of education.

Both elements, learning and service, are key to understand what service-learning is. By overlapping, they produce a new reality to which reflection is added as the combining element that enriches the significance of the experience ( Campo, 2008 ). If a reciprocal relationship can be achieved between the two components, the academic learning will have an impact on the delivery of a quality service to the community, and at the same time the service will strengthen and enhance the students’ learning, providing benefits to both the students and the community from improvements at the cognitive and social level ( Mella-Nuñez et al., 2015 ; Santos-Rego and Lorenzo, 2018 ).

Throughout its existence, service-learning has accumulated various definitions. Bringle and Hatcher (1996) understood it “as a credit-bearing educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility” (p. 222).

For Eyler and Giles (1999) , service-learning is a form of experience-based education in which learning is constructed through a cycle of action and reflection. Students work with other classmates in a process of applying what they have learned to issues in the community and, at the same time, reflecting on their experience of trying to achieve improvements for the community and increasing their own understanding and skills.

Puig et al. (2007) understood service-learning as an educational approach that combines learning processes and serving the community in a single, well-articulated project in which the participants learn while working on real needs in their environment with the aim of improving it.

After examining nine definitions, De la Cerda et al. (2009) identified seven common traits. They are: responding to social needs or carrying out an action to benefit the community, learning something, performing a service, having a meaningful experience, performing activities of reflection, collaborating with other social institutions, and contributing to training for citizenship. In turn, they analyze the service-learning journey based on their definitions. Finally, Furco and Norvell’s (2019) synthesize that service-learning is an innovative pedagogical approach that integrates meaningful community service or engagement into the curriculum. They also indicate that the service-learning brings together resources, academics and the community whereby all became teaching resources, problems solvers and partners.

The variety of possibilities and the many practical approaches combine to give rise to multiple definitions such as those mentioned above. Its geographical demarcation and the scope of application also influence this question. What seems clearer, and where all the definitions coincide, is that service-learning seeks experiential learning while carrying out an action that improves community life, the natural or cultural environment, or intervenes in specific areas such as health or educational causes. Although each of the definitions are consistent with the idea of experienced-based learning, it is important to remember that activities that provide a service to the community are not always service-learning. As Furco (1996) noted, many service programs share similarities such as allowing students to get close to their future professional roles and to work on social and collaborative skills, or to explore their own interests. However, the idea of service-learning, which focuses on learning at the same time as service, should not be confused with other educational experiences which focus only on service or only on learning.

It is interesting to note that the spread of this “learning philosophy” has given rise to different labels in different areas; one might talk of “service-learning”, in the United States, “Social service”, in Mexico, “Practical Social Experience Semesters”, in Colombia, “Educational volunteerism”, in Brazil, “Community Service Learning”, in Turkey, “Communal work”, in Costa Rica, and “Learning Service”, in Bolivia, etc. ( Tapia et al., 2005 ; Kucukoglu, 2012 ; Alcón, 2014 ; Gezuraga, 2014 ). There are also differences within individual countries, such as the general use in Spain of the term Service-learning or Solidarity-Learning, although on some specific occasions the term “Learning and Solidarity Service” is used ( Gezuraga, 2014 ; García-Pérez and Mendía, 2015 ).

On occasion, when referring to service-learning, concepts such as “voluntary”, “community service”, “field studies”, and “community education” are used interchangeably, although in reality these terms do not always refer to the same thing. This, as Furco (1996) states, means that the student is faced with a certain terminological complexity when referring to these experiences.

Currently, and with the extensive published research, we can have some certainty of which experiences we can call service-learning, and which are not. From the field of Educational Theory it is fundamentally a certain way of understanding learning based on exploration, action, reflection, and social responsibility. Far from being a merely instructive approach of accumulating knowledge, it requires the student to be the protagonist of their learning, and that fundamentally they only learn what they do and reflect on. This aspect, the reflection that all service-learning experiences should trigger and which therefore must be evaluated, is usually ignored when service-learning is used and understood from a biased perspective placing the service at the center. Service-learning is a methodology that addresses everyday issues and contextualizes learning in real situations ( Uruñuela, 2011 ). The difference of service-learning from other methodologies such as internships, clinical experiences in health sciences, community research or field experiences, is that in addition to an explicit link with an educational plan or academic curriculum, there is a social commitment that entails the development of awareness ethics. Linking theory with practice and classrooms with professional surroundings allow students to approach a real professional learning environment ( Naval and Arbués, 2016 ). In addition, as Howard (1998) noted, it is important to emphasize that service-learning will not occur if there is not a solid union between the demands of the community, the service that is needed, and linked academic learning.

The main learning outcomes of service-learning projects are not only in the content, but also the overall experience and personal transformation, allowing the development of many varied, complementary competencies in different aspects of the individual. In addition, it is important to highlight the acquisition of civic learning that implies the execution of responsibility with the reference community group, its needs, and its potentialities. In this sense, social, educational, environmental, cultural, neighborhood or health entities take on a special role by becoming co-educators of the participants in service-learning projects ( Conway et al., 2009 ; Hatcher et al., 2017 ). Using this methodology combines learning various basic and specific competencies, such as working in interdisciplinary teams, interpersonal skills, ethical commitment, and critical reasoning ( Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación-ANECA, 2005 ). Studies and experience have shown that this methodology positively affects students in various areas, including motivation to study ( Flournoy, 2007 ), civic responsibility and commitment ( Hébert and Hauf, 2015 ), the development of critical thinking ( Deeley, 2010 ), personal and interpersonal development ( Eyler, 2000 ), the development of life skills ( Fullerton et al., 2015 ), and ethical and moral awareness ( Rhoads, 1998 ). The study by Warren (2012) showed that it is a methodology that improves students’ learning compared to other previously used teaching methods. There have also been multiple studies that support the argument that service-learning combines several dimensions of learning in a single methodology: civic, academic, social and political ( Novak et al., 2007 ; Celio et al., 2011 ; Yorio and Ye, 2012 ). Despite this, we must reiterate that the difference of the service-learning in relation to other dynamics of pedagogical work is the civic-social component that the participants develop in their bond with the community ( Conway et al., 2009 ; Mella-Nuñez, 2019 ).

In summary, and as a proper definition, we believe that service-learning is a pedagogical methodology (with what this implies) that requires the explicit connection between curricula or educational plans and the performance of a community service in a single project. Thus, service-learning participants develop complex cognitive strategies that require questioning what they have learned, and their own role in the social and environmental framework.

Although the academic trajectory around service-learning is broad, there are many challenges that arise today, opening new avenues for researchers. We highlight two of them. The first one is the internationalization, as a connection between different physical spaces for the performance of services; and on the other hand, virtuality, adapting projects to new needs derived from greater interconnectivity between people ( Santos-Rego et al., 2020 ). These are the lines that mark the future paths of the service-learning, without neglecting the advances in its optimal evaluation and maintenance of quality ( Sotelino et al., 2020 ).

The didactic and pedagogical potential of service-learning seems clear. This may be why in recent years there has been such an increase in interest in implementing it and in the academic literature about it. Our study looks at exactly this issue, with the main aim of creating a diagnostic map of the European academic literature about service-learning. We believe this is not a trivial question for two main reasons. Firstly, examining European academic publication development in various countries will provide information about the current state of service-learning in Europe and that will make possible to establish international collaborative networks. Secondly, identifying important aspects of European academic publication, such as type of document, language, area of study or education level where it is implemented, will improve our understanding of this methodology and its impact. Both issues will help improve our research in the international context.

Below, we describe the study we performed and the results we obtained.

The Academic Literature on Service-Learning in Europe

To carry out this study we reviewed the main international databases: Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, the Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC), and the Directory of Open Access Journals (DOAJ), in order to find documents related to the various aspects of service-learning (e.g., academic, social, community, cognitive). We followed a qualitative methodology using a matrix review method, followed by a quantitative analysis of the results. We used an analysis instrument created ex professo in which we established different levels of content.

Our objectives were as follows:

a. Determine how many academic publications there were about service-learning in the main international databases.

b. Evaluate how the diffusion of the service-learning methodology in different types of publication has increased over time.

c. Compare the academic literature, mainly in terms of research productivity and geographic variables.

We planned a bibliographic document analysis using the main international databases (WoS, Scopus, ERIC, and DOAJ). These databases were chosen because WoS and Scopus are very significant international databases, while ERIC is one of the most important database in education and DOAJ include Open Access Journals.

Our research methodology has broad epistemological support. As Clausó (1993 , p. 11) noted, this concept has been dealt with by many authors and has developed in step with the documentation, one can state that there are two tendencies with respect to how it is conceived, one which considers document analysis to include various phases, of which bibliographic description is one, and another which believes that document analysis must be exclusively considered as the description of content and not as a formal description. In our case we adhered to a quantitative description based on our objectives, laying out the current state of service-learning in Europe. Nevertheless, in a more qualitative approach, we also examined educational fields and/or educational levels of study referred to the various documents.

At the applied level, we created an instrument in the form of a table in which the rows correspond to the levels of analysis created, and the columns to those criteria we examined in each stratum. They are as follows: number of documents, document type (article, book, chapter, doctoral theses, other), language (English, Spanish, other), and country of publication. Secondly, and in order to have complete information where available in the databases, we also recorded, but not explored their content in depth, the number of publications per year and the research area or field they referred to.

We established two search criteria referring our study objectives. We focused on reviewing documents published between 2000 and 2020 (September). In this case, it has been considered this range of 20 years because, after trying to make searches with other range of years, it was possible to check that the vast majority of documents were included in this period of time.

We also only looked at publications referring to European countries, and in the search criteria we restricted it to countries belonging to the European Higher Education Area (EHEA). We did not limit the publication language, as that would be an indicator in our subsequent analysis.

Once the general criteria were set, we established the different levels of document analysis. To that end, we considered the labels used for service-learning in different areas. Keywords used were taken after analyzing a significant number of potential options and checking which were mostly used in different documents related to the topic of this article. Finally, we establish two levels of filtering. The first one refers to the terms that most frequently name it (“service-learning” and “service learning”). At the second level, we choose terms referring to commitment to the community (“community engagement”) and participation in it (“community service activities”). These levels of analysis were considered after checking that some documents about service-learning (despite referring to the same reality) use the idea of participation and commitment to the community instead of just the term “service-learning”.

In relation to the language, we have carried out the search only in English, because this is the most widespread language in academic publications. In addition, both keywords and abstracts of articles and other works are usually identified in this language. For this reason, regardless of the language of origin of the academic work, the existence of its translation into English is very common to favor its dissemination. The levels were as follows:

• “service learning” OR “service-learning”

• Second level:

• “service-learning” OR “community engagement”

• “service-learning” AND “community engagement”

• “service-learning” OR “community service activities”

• “service-learning” AND “community service activities”

Following the bibliographic search, we give the results for each of the databases. The tables provide the data extracted from the document review. The results of the study, in addition to comparing the data from different databases, allowed us to gauge European interest in the service-learning methodology.

Web of Science—WoS (JCR)

The search engine for the Web of Science indexes a large number of publications, and allows classification using numerous filters, including year of publication, countries, languages, topic areas, type of document, authors, financing bodies, participating universities and many more, all of which is continually updated.

From the “Web of Science Core Collection” database, we gathered the data detailed below (note that the number in the data may be variable owing to the continual updating). More than 500 documents were identified using “service learning” or “service-learning” as the search term for the topic. This number changed depending on the combinations used for the search. If we added (OR) “community engagement”, the number rose considerably to over 1900, however when we looked for both terms together (AND), it fell to below 20. The same happened when we added other combinations such as “community service activities”, slightly increasing the number of hits when either term was used, but lowering it when both terms were used together (note that some documents were recorded as multiple document types simultaneously). In terms of publication type, articles stood out, with more than 300 compared to other documents such as conference papers, book chapters, or reviews. The results are given in Table 1 .

TABLE 1 . Total number and type of documents (WoS).

In terms of the countries with the most published content about service-learning, the number varied depending on the combination of levels used. Looking at the keyword “service-learning”, the country with the most publications was Spain (291 documents) followed by the United Kingdom-England (68), Ireland (28), Turkey (23), and Germany (20). However, this changed when we used combinations such as “service-learning” OR “community engagement”, and “service-learning” AND “community engagement”, with the United Kingdom leading the way. When we searched for “service-learning” AND “community service activities”, Turkey had the highest number of publications. English was by far the most common language of publication, followed by Spanish and other languages as shown in Table 2 (please note that some documents are in more than one language).

TABLE 2 . Number of documents by country and numbers published (WoS).

In terms of production in the last 20 years as indicated by this database, there has been a notable rise, especially in the last 5 years. The first publications were in 2002, and there was a significant increase in 2015 with more than 50, then in 2019 there more than 100. So far this year (September 2020) more than 40 documents have been indexed.

The area of study producing most documents was “Education and educational research” (works on education, theoretical and applied) (345), followed by “Education scientific disciplines” (educational resources in the different scientific disciplines) (21), “Green sustainable science technology” (19), “Environmental sciences” (18), “Business” (14), “Environmental studies” (13), and “Management” (13). These research areas are which the database shows because every document covered by Web of Science core collection is assigned to one category or another depending on the journal where it has been published.

Lastly, the main collaborations were with the United States and Canada, where we found countries such as the Czech Republic, Kazakhstan, and Lithuania; a large proportion of their scarce publication on the topic was in collaboration with the aforementioned countries.

Scopus—SCIMAGO (SJR)

The Scopus database contains a significant number of publications and also allows the use of different filters, including country, language, type of publication, authors, financing bodies, annual publication, etc.

In our search we found that the total number of articles returned varied depending on whether the “Title-Abstract-Keywords” search terms were “service-learning” or “service learning” alone (525 documents) or whether they were combined with other terms such as “community engagement” (2249/32 documents) or “community service activities” (529/0 documents). In this regard, the number of documents increased when “community service activities” was added as it includes Turkish publications that would not appear otherwise but which are about service-learning (which is called community service learning/experiences in Turkey). In all of the searches, most of the hits returned were articles, followed by book chapters and conference papers in similar numbers, then reviews and other documents such as books, editorials, letters, etc. This is detailed in Table 3 .

TABLE 3 . Total number and types of documents (Scopus).

There were also variations in country depending on the search terms used. Searching only for “service-learning” returned the most documents from Spain (176 documents) followed by the United Kingdom (139 documents) and Ireland (42 documents), and then other countries with five or fewer publications. However, when the search included “community engagement”, the United Kingdom overtook Spain as shown in Table 4 . Furthermore, in this database, the majority of documents found were in English, followed by Spanish, then other languages.

TABLE 4 . Number of documents by language and countries with most publication (Scopus).

One thing which stood out was the growth in published documents about service-learning indexed in this database over the last 20 years (2000–2020), with a particular increase in the last 5 years. The first publication was in 2002 and there were fewer than 10 per year until 2008, when 18 publications were recorded. This rose gradually and then rapidly to around 50 in 2017/18 and 88 in 2019. This year so far 40 documents have been recorded.

Most of the documents were in the social sciences area (373 documents), which, in this case, was considered as a single research area because it was not possible to obtain the results by separate due to the characteristics of this database. Despite this, it is known that other subareas, such as “Education” or “Developmental and Educational Psychology” among others, are included in this category. Other popular areas were “Business, Management, and Accounting.” (61), “Psychology” (53), and “Computer science” (52). We found smaller, although not insignificant, numbers of publications in “Engineering” (49), “Medicine” (44), “Arts and humanities” (38), “Environmental Science” (25), and “Nursing” (21). On occasion, one document could belong to multiple areas.

Finally, there were various collaborations between European publication overall and publication in other countries, mainly the United States. In some countries such as Bulgaria, Hungary, and the Czech Republic work on this subject was scarce and much, or all of it has been in collaboration with countries outside the EHEA.

Educational Resource Information Center—ERIC

The Educational Resource Information Center (ERIC) database is the most important database in the field of education sciences. It was created with the support of the United States Department of Education Institute of Education Sciences, the National Library of Education, and the Office of Educational Research and Improvement, indexing articles from around a thousand journals.

Before looking at the bibliographic analysis from this resource, it is important to note some limitations in its use that will help interpret the results. ERIC provides some predetermined filters that appear based on the search, grouping results depending on the relationships between publications. Although this makes rapid investigation easier, it also restricts systematic selection and because of this, with ERIC was not possible to specified, for instance, the accurate year of the first publication or the most productive year. In this regard the general results we present are at a global level ( Table 5 ), although in a second table we have selected the results more in line with our study objectives. It is also important to remember that ERIC only searches texts in English, which means a bias when it comes to work in other languages.

TABLE 5 . Total number and type of documents (ERIC).

This table refers to a global analysis given the nature of ERIC searches. However, there are some aspects that follow the trends that we have already pointed out. Most of the work is located in the United States and in the field of higher education, which is possible to be known because this database, in comparison to the others, shows results related to the education level. In addition, the academic publication obtained through the search for “service-learning” or “community service activities” stands out.

At this level of analysis, we looked at the European countries that most often appeared in this database ( Table 6 ). Because ERIC is limited to searching texts in English, it was clear that the United Kingdom and Ireland would dominate in the rankings, although Turkey’s position is curious. The United States Department of Education database only shows the first 25 results, which leads us to conclude that publications from other countries are below that. It is also important to note that ERIC does not group by country, but instead by areas (states, zones, areas) where there are a series of studies under a single criteria, leading to the first positions being occupied by North American States. Additionally, it is necessary to take into account that it was not possible to obtain information about concreted fields because of the characteristics of the database.

TABLE 6 . Number of documents by country with most published (ERIC).

Directory of Open Access Journals—DOAJ

Unlike the previous cases, the DOAJ is not a database but rather an online directory giving access to high quality scientific and academic journals. Its purpose is to increase the visibility of open access journals and make them easier to use, increasing their use and impact. The directory aims to be global, and covers all of the open access journals which use quality control systems. It includes publications from 133 countries.

It was founded in 2003 and initially administered by the University of Lund (Sweden). Nowadays it is managed by Infrastructure Services for Open Access CIC, a non-profit organization based in the United Kingdom. It is funded by donations from members and indexes around 15,000 journals and more than five million articles.

In this case, the only document type found by the search will be articles, although the directory offers the possibility of accessing information about the open access journals related to this topic. When searching, the directory offers some preset filters related to topic, publication, and year. However, it is not possible to filter by country of publication, which means it is impossible to determine which are European in origin. When using “service learning” or “service-learning” as the search term, the total number of articles returned was 684. This changed when adding other search terms. When additionally searching for (OR) “community engagement”, the number of hits rose to 2039. However, when searching for the two terms together (AND) the number of hits fell to 60. The same happened when adding “community service activities” to the search term. Looking for either term gave 790 hits, whereas looking for both terms together gave only three articles. In addition, the same as happen with ERIC database, it was not possible to have access to information about research areas due to the filters that this database uses.

A total of nine open access journals published articles on the topic. They were published in the United States, Australia, and Indonesia, in English and in Indonesian. They were:

United States: Partnership: A Journal of service-learning and Civic Engagement; Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning; International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering .

Indonesia: ASEAN Journal of Community Engagement; Abdihaz; Riau Journal of Empowerment; Jurnal Pengabdian Kepada Masyarakat (Indonesian Journal of Community Engagement); Jurnal Abdi .

Australia: Gateways: International Journal of Community Research & Engagement .

The fact that this number of journals provide open access to original papers on service-learning and community participation gives us an idea of the amount of research on the topic. However, the absence of open access journals at the European level is clear.

The search results are shown in Table 7 .

TABLE 7 . Total number of documents (DOAJ).

The first article on the topic was published in 1997. Over the following ten years there was a gradual increase, with 116 articles published in 2012 and 383 in 2019. So far in 2020, there have been 229 articles on the topic.

Limitations

One of the strengths of our work comes from the broad study of international databases. However, like any study, it is not without its limitations. We are aware that the nature of the literature review we performed brings with it a limitation in how deep the analysis can be. We have presented a more quantitative and descriptive than analytical view. It is true that quantity does not necessarily mean quality but, after the results that are being found, it is possible to think that there has been an evolution. There is a significant number of researches by comparison with some years ago and these publications are registered in relevant databases, which means that they has passed a review process previously and, because of that, they are reliable and relevant.

The main obstacle we found was related to the differences between the databases, which apply different search filters, that is why they were analyzed by separated. We addressed this by balancing the levels of investigation and creating our own instrument to balance the analysis. The second limitation was also related to the nature of the databases, some do not reference autonomous city-states (The Vatican, San Marino, Monaco, etc.), and there were also issues around the topic classification of the work contained therein.

Finally, there were questions of interest we did not address but nor did we forget. Future lines of research may, for example, look more deeply into the researchers and research groups producing documents, as well as the institutions and the various financing bodies for service-learning. The content of service-learning programs themselves, now put to the test as social distancing makes certain community practices particularly difficult, would be another issue to address in a society where service-learning is ever more ubiquitous ( Tapia, 2020 ).

Discussion and Final Considerations

The main objective of this paper is to study the evolution of service-learning in Europe, through academic publications. In addition, we have reviewed some questions such as place of publication or educational level/field based on the information provided by different databases.

In this sense, service-learning is already a reality in Europe in curricula at all educational levels as well as in other non-formal education projects. The progressive increase of the academic literature supports this idea, and as we noted previously, this is also demonstrated in the broad range of different types of publications we found, especially regarding higher education as it was commented on the ERIC results. Additionally, the presence of some associations like European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education 1 (cited in the theoretical framework), the increasing existence of research projects about service-learning in higher education (that can be verified in the different resolutions of regional, state and European research projects 2 3 4 ) and different meetings and educational activities focused on higher education could presuppose that there is a tendency to implement this methodology in this educational level. Beside this, the general growing interest in this methodology was shown by the year on year growth in publications on the topic.

One of the main results, and which responds to one of the proposed objectives, is the prominent role played by Spain, which highlighted in the European publication on service-learning, followed by the United Kingdom, and Ireland. This has also been confirmed by other recent studies in which the production of literature in Spain was graded “exceptional” and “extremely high” compared to other European countries, avoiding the aforementioned blackboxing that threatens practices that become institutionalized ( Mažeikienė, 2019 ). It is also worth noting that the United Kingdom stood out in publications linked to Community Engagement. These terms are related but they are not synonyms and a deeper look could distinguish in which educational context are they mainly being used it seems as though the domination of the United Kingdom and Spain in publication is waning and there are more publications in different countries and areas, notably Turkey, which appears in this ranking. Something else that clearly stands out was the number of publications that refer—due to their title, abstract and/or keywords—to the university environment, where the greatest growth and development has occurred in the last 20 years. At the macro level, publications referring to projects and studies in non-formal education were much more scarce than those to do with all phases of formal education, from infant to higher education. In relation to research areas, the filters of the databases make difficult to define which are more related to service-learning, even so, in general, it could be possible to assume that it might be Social Sciences and, specifically, areas of study related to education.

The methodology called service-learning has different labels, which could be interpreted as different trends based on terminological, historical, social or even epistemological issues. Even so, and accepting a broad conceptualization of the service-learning, the philosophy behind all of them points towards a common theoretical denominator (see González-Geraldo et al., 2017 ). In this regard we have been able to integrate the different aspects to produce a general map of the spread of service-learning in Europe. We found that the most commonly used labels were “service-learning” (both hyphenated and not), “Learning and Solidarity Service”, and “community engagement”. However, other options arose in the search referring to this experience-based methodology as “community service activities” or “community service experiences/learning”. Again, a deeper look could determine if these adjacent terms are being progressively used frequently, something that could help us to see if and how this methodology spreads and is considered not only geographically but also along time.

In summary, and to respond to the objectives of this paper, we confirm the development and progress of service-learning in Europe. At least in terms of academic production. Thus, and with the data presented, an evolution in research and knowledge transfer in relation to service-learning was confirmed, which is a clear symptom of how this methodology is also consolidating, specially within our higher education institutions. Although it arrived on the continent with relatively little fanfare, it seems that its academic spread is bearing fruit in Europe at two speeds. There has been uneven progress in different countries and academic fields, with the spread of service-learning having been weaker in some countries. At the present moment, there are various challenges that service-learning must face, and it must adapt to the coming virtualization, as well as develop better quality control for projects so that cognitive and sociocommunity objectives are met with rigor.

The current situation of strengthening the presence of service-learning in the educational context and in social entities also poses challenges that must be faced. This includes the need to establish an appropriate theoretical foundation of its pedagogical dimension. It will be useful to understand service-learning as a teaching tool—a path towards a broader aim- in the framework of a community-based educational paradigm ( Naval and Arbués, 2016 ) and not simply as a means to a laudable end that the service aspires to. This will help win the argument for its pedagogical contribution to a broad vision of education for social transformation. The contributions it can make to this transformation include the promotion of active citizenship, its contribution to social justice, and its contributions to the challenges of sustainability.

In terms of the civic dimension, including students’ real, committed intervention in the search for common good is a fundamental educational mechanism for achieving comprehensive and holistic citizen education regarding all the dimensions of the learner. The concept of practical citizenship allows service-learning to be posed as an ideal methodology to achieve the education of a participative citizenry capable of contributing to the common good ( Puig et al., 2011 ). The services performed in the various entities often contribute to civic education, as it helps improve political understanding, citizen responsibility, awareness and understanding of social issues, and express commitment to community service. Students end up contributing to the development and well-being of a community that requires intercultural and civic skills and abilities ( Priegue and Sotelino, 2016 ).

All service-learning projects, when they comply with their basic requirements (such as the aforementioned reflection and subsequent assessment), have the potential to develop a vision of social justice. Students learn to question society from a critical perspective, and to analyze the situations that they will find in their lives with a reflective approach to these realities, where they come from, how to prevent them, how to deal with them, and the impact of service in improving unfair situations and in social change ( Aramburuzabala, 2013 ). Thus, service-learning, as the data we found indicate, is a teaching tool that is mostly used in higher education, where the students are mature enough to better understand the complex reality of our time. It is reasonable therefore, to consider service-learning as an excellent teaching approach to make universities truly aspire to be institutions of higher education ( González-Geraldo, 2014 ).

In terms of sustainability, it would be useful to train professionals to be able to use their knowledge, not only in the academic context, but also for social and environmental needs. This means addressing the entire process holistically, introducing competencies for sustainability transversally so that students learn to take decisions and carry out actions from sustainable criteria ( CRUE/Comisión de Sostenibilidad, 2015 ). There is no doubt that service-learning is a potentially appropriate strategy to encourage the transformation and development of skills and competencies in students that are needed for the sustainable development of our societies ( Vázquez-Verdera, 2015 ).

It is worth noting that service-learning is a methodology that has many proponents, including experts, teachers, and members of community organizations, who advocate its institutional use to promote, for example, knowledge transfer ( Santos Rego, 2020 ). It stands as a methodology that will allow students and participants in educational projects to gain new adaptive skills that will be indispensable in the historic times we are living through, and with which we will have to respond to the new needs thrown up by uncertainty. We believe that teachers at all levels should seek new ways to guide their subjects so that, in addition to learning specific content, students can develop social and civic values and incorporate skill-based learning ( Naval and Arbués, 2017 ). Finally, as we showed, this paper contributes to identify how the European academic production increases along time and the countries in which this methodology is progressively developed. A clear symptom of the good health of this research framework within the European scholar community. But, of course, there is still a lot to say regarding the content of this academic production, their institutions and their research groups and researchers. Future lines of research in which quality awaits to meet quantity.

Before concluding, we believe that we must incorporate a brief reflection because the year 2020 has implied a change in human relations due to COVID-19, restricting presence in the different educational processes (formal and non-formal), and therefore in the service-learning projects. This fact has led to the adaptation of this experiential methodology opting for a greater virtuality both in the field of service and in its pedagogical link ( Tapia and Peregalli, 2020 ). Thus, The European Association of Service-Learning in Higher Education (EASLHE), in collaboration with the Latin American Pact for Human Quality Education (Palech), the European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education and the National Distance Education University (UNED) have developed a Practical guide on e-Service-Learning in response to COVID-19 to support adapting Service-Learning courses to new reality ( Albanesi et al., 2020 ). There are also multiple academic publications that have emerged in these months identifying the adaptation of multiple service-learning projects to the new needs arising from this pandemic ( Red Española de Aprendizaje-Servicio, 2020 ; Beaman and Davison, 2020 ; Martínez-Vivot, et al., 2020 ; Morton and Rosenfeld, 2021 ). In this way, we can observe that this type of initiative can be adjusted to different realities, even the most extreme, as it has been the case of the outbreak of the coronavirus, we even reaffirm the words of Krasny (2020) when he tells us that social distancing is no reason to stop service learning, just do it online.

Finally, the path of service-learning in Europe is still under construction, but with this review we can see that the joint knowledge that is being built is increasingly solid. Now the challenge is clear, the service-learning must penetrate other educational fields, and even generalize its regular expansion in European countries. All of this cannot go against the quality of the initiatives, because in pedagogy, talking about quantity does not always mean an educational improvement.

Data Availability Statement

Publicly available datasets were analyzed in this study. This data can be found here: Web of Science; Scopus; ERIC; DOAJ.

Author Contributions

The AS-L author together with JLG-G have been working on the theoretical justification of the paper. These authors have carried out analyzes of the different databases, completing their interpretation. On the other hand, LG-D has been the person who has created the instrument for evaluating the databases, and making the inquiries in the different repositories. EA-R has contributed to building the theoretical body of the article, reviewing the entire content, and ordering the results obtained.

This work is derived from a project of the Spanish State Program of Research, Development and Innovation oriented toward the Challenges of Society (EDU2017-82629-R) and a Research Network of the Spanish State Program for Knowledge Generation and Scientific and Technological Strengthening of the R&D&I System (EDU2017-90651-REDT)— http://www.usc.es/apsuni/ .

Conflict of Interest

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

1 www.eoslhe.eu

2 https://www.usc.es/apsuni/

3 https://ec.europa.eu/programmes/erasmus-plus/about_en

4 https://www.fh-krems.ac.at/en/research/projects/service-learning-in%20europe/

Alcón, M. (2014). El aprendizaje-servicio en los estudios superiores de las artes: el ejemplo de América Latina. Observar 8, 71–85.

Google Scholar

Agencia Nacional de Evaluación de la Calidad y Acreditación-ANECA (2005). Libro blanco para el título de grado en Magisterio . Madrid, Spain: Agencia Nacional de evaluación de la calidad y acreditación .

Aramburuzabala, P. (2013). Aprendizaje-Servicio: una herramienta para educar desde y para la justicia social. Rev. Int. Educ. Justicia Soc. 2 (2), 5–11.

Arbués, E., Reparaz, C., and Naval, C. (2012). Los alumnos y la educación para la ciudadanía. Rev. Esp. Pedagog. 70 (253), 417–440.

Batlle, R. (2013). El aprendizaje-servicio en España: el contagio de una revolución pedagógica necesaria . Madrid, Spain: PPC .

Beaman, A., and Davison, P. (2020). Global service-learning and COVID-19—what the future might look like? J. Clin. Nurs. 29, 3607–3608. doi:10.1111/jocn.15369

PubMed Abstract | CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Bringle, R. G., and Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing service learning in higher education. J. Higher Educ. 67 (2), 221–239. doi:10.1080/00221546.1996.11780257

CrossRef Full Text | Google Scholar

Campo, L. (2008). “El aprendizaje servicio en la universidad como propuesta pedagógican,” in Aprendizaje servicio y responsabilidad social de las universidades . Editor M. Martínez (Barcelona, Spain: Octaedro ), 81–91.

Caride, J. A. (2017). Cruzando límites: Sobre los desafíos de la educación social en tiempos de incertidumbre. Rev. Educ. Soc. 25, 8–29.

Castle, J., and Osman, R. (2003). Service learning in teacher education: an institutional model for an emerging practice. S. Afr. J. High. Educ. 17 (1), 105–111. doi:10.4314/sajhe.v17i1.25199

C. Albanesi, I. Culcasi, and P. Zunszain (Editors) (2020). Practical guide on e-service-learning in response to COVID-19. European Association of Service-Learning in Higher Education (EASLHE). Avaliable at https://www.eoslhe.eu/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/Practical-guide-on-e-Service-Learning_web.pdf (Accessed January 28, 2021).

Celio, C. I., Durlak, J. A., and Dymnicki, A. (2011). A meta-analysis of the impact of service-learning on students. J. Exp. Educ. 34 (2), 164–181. doi:10.1177/105382591103400205

Clausó, A. (1993). Análisis documental: el análisis formal. Rev. Gen. Inf. Doc. 3 (1), 11–20.

Conway, J., Amel, E. L., and Gerwien, D. P. (2009). Teaching and learning in the social context: a meta-analysis of service Learning’s effects on academic, personal, social, and citizenship outcomes. Teach. Psychol. 36 (4), 233–245. doi:10.1080/00986280903172969

CRUE/Comisión de Sostenibilidad (2015). Institucionalización del aprendizaje-servicio como estrategia docente dentro del marco de la responsabilidad social universitaria para la promoción de la sostenibilidad en la Universidad . Documento técnico aprobado por el Comité ejecutivo y plenario de la Comisión de sostenibilidad, celebrado en León el día 29 de mayo de 2015. Avaliable at: http://roserbatlle.net/wp-content/uploads/2015/05/2015-Institucionalizaci%C3%B3n-del-ApS-en-las-UNIVERSIDADES.pdf (Accessed June 11, 2020).

De la Cerda, M., Graell, M., Martían, X., Muñoz, A., and Puig, J. M. (2009). “Aprendizaje servicio: ejemplos y definiciones,” in Aprendizaje servicio (ApS). Educación y compromiso cívico . Coord. J. M. Puig (Barcelona, Spain: Editorial Graó ), 15–32.

Deeley, S. (2016). El Aprendizaje-Servicio en educación superior. Teoría, práctica y perspectiva crítica . Madrid, Spain: Narcea .

Deeley, S. (2010). Service-learning: thinking outside the box. Active Learn. High. Educ. 11 (1), 43–53. doi:10.1177/1469787409355870

Europe Engage (2014). Europe engage–developing a culture of civic engagement through service learning within higher education in Europe. Avaliable at: https://bit.ly/2J2jp45 (Accessed May 28, 2020).

Eyler, J., and Gilers, D. E. (1999). Where´s the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA: JosseyBass .

Eyler, J. S. (2000). What do we most need to know about the impact of service- learning on student learning?. Mich. J. Community Serv. Learn. 7, 11–17.

Flournoy, C. (2007). Investigative reporting and service learning. Journal. Mass Commun. Educ. 62 (1), 47–61. doi:10.1177/107769580706200105

Fullerton, A., Reitenauer, V. L., and Kerrigan, S. M. (2015). A grateful recollecting: a qualitative study of the long-term impact of service-learning on graduates. J. Higher Educ. Outreach Engagem. 19 (2), 65–92.

Furco, A. (1996). Is service-learning really better than community service? a study of high school service program outcomes. Service learning, general. paper 154. Avaliable at: https://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/download?doi=10.1.1.944.380&rep=rep1&type=pdf (Accessed June 10, 2020).

Furco, A., and Norvell’s, K. (2019). “What is service learning? making sense of the pedagogy and practice,” in Embedding service-learning in higher education. developing a culture of civic engagemente in Europe . Editors P. Aramburuzabala, L. MacIlrath, and H. Opazo (New York, NY: Taylos and Francis ), 13–35.

García-Pérez, A., and Mendía, R. (2015). Acompañamiento educativo: El rol del educador en aprendizaje y servicio solidario. Profesorado 19 (1), 42–58.

Gezuraga, M. (2014). El aprendizaje-servicio (A-S) en la Universidad del Pais Vasco (UPV/EHU). En el camino hacia su institucionalización. Doctoral thesis. Madrid (Spain): Universidad Nacional de Educacói a Distancia. Avaliable at: https://dialnet.unirioja.es/servlet/tesis?codigo=44335 (Accessed June 10, 2020).

Giles, J., and Eyler, J. (1994). The theoretical roots of service-learning in John Dewey: toward a theory of service-learning. Mich. J. Community Serv. Learn. 1, 77–85.

González-Geraldo, J. L. (2014). Hacia una Universidad más humana. ¿Es superior la educación superior? . Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva .

González-Geraldo, J. L., Jover, G., and Martínez, M. (2017). La ética del aprendizaje servicio en la Universidad: una interpretación desde el pragmatismo. Bordón. Rev. Pedagog. 69 (4), 63–78. doi:10.13042/Bordon.2017.690405

Hébert, A., and Hauf, P. (2015). Student learning through service learning: effects on academic development, civic responsibility, interpersonal skills and practical skills. Active Learn. High. Educ. 16 (1), 37–49. doi:10.1177/1469787415573357

Howard, J. P. F. (1998). Academic service learning: a counternormative pedagogy. New Dir. Teach. Learn. 73, 21–29. doi:10.1002/tl.7303

IARSLCE (2016). Conference conveners: foundation for intercultural exchange, Europe engage . Bologna, Italy: IARSLCE Avaliable at: http://globallyengaged.org/aboutconf (Accessed October 27, 2020).

Igelmo, J., and Jover, G. (2019). Cuestionando la narrativa del aprendizaje servicio a partir de dos iniciativas de extensión social universitaria de orientación católica en la década de 1950 en España. Utopía Y Praxis Latinoamericana 24 (87), 151–162.

J. A. Hatcher, R. G. Bringle, and T. W. Hahn (Editors) (2017). Research on service learning and student civic outcomes: conceptual frameworks and methods . Sterling, VA: Stylus .

Krasny, M. (2020). Social distancing is no reason to stop service learning–just do it online. Conversation J. May 2020. Avaliable at: https://theconversation.com/social-distancing-is-no-reason-to-stop-service-learning-just-do-it-online-137034 (Accessed January 27, 2020).

Kucukoglu, A. (2012). Service learning in Turkey: yesterday and today. Procedia Soc. Behav. Sci. 46, 3083–3087. doi:10.1016/j.sbspro.2012.06.015

Luna González, E. (2010). Del centro educativo a la comunidad: Un programa de aprendizaje-servicio para el desarrollo de ciudadanía activa. Doctoral thesis. Barcelona (Spain): Universitat de Barcelona. Avaliable at: https://www.tdx.cat/handle/10803/81944 (Accessed June 11, 2020).

Martínez-Vivot, M., Paolicchi, G., Abreu, L., and Baso, F. (2020). Aprendizaje-servicio en tiempos de pandemia: campaña contra el dengue a través de Juegotecas Virtuales destinadas a niñas y niños en aislamiento. Rev. Iberoam. de Tecnol. del Aprendiz. 10, 12–22. doi:10.1344/RIDAS2020.10.2

M. A. Santos-Rego, and M. Lorenzo (Editors) (2018). Guía para la institucionalización del aprendizaje servicio en la universidad . Santiago de Compostela, Spain: Universidad de Santiago de Compostela .

Mažeikienė, N. (2019). “Understanding the evolution of service learning at European universities: insights from actor-network theory,” in Embedding service-learning in higher education. developing a culture of civic engagemente in Europe . Editors P. Aramburuzabala, L. MacIlrath, and H. Opazo (New York, NY: Taylor & Francis ), 23–108.

McLeod, A., and McLeod, I. S. (2015). How can teacher trainers address inequalities in the curriculum and in society? the lessons (in theory and in practice) from the south east Europe case. Int. J. Appl. Linguist. English Lit. 4 (1), 226–230. doi:10.7575/aiac.ijalel.v.4n.1p.226

Mella-Nuñez, I. (2019). Aprendizaje-servicio y rendimiento académico del alumnado universitario. La evaluación de un programa. Doctoral thesis. Santiago de Compostela (Spain): University of Santiago de Compostela Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10347/20158 (Accessed October 28, 2020).

Mella-Nuñez, I., Santos-Rego, M. A., and Malheiro-Gutiérrez, X. M. (2015). Aprendizaje-Servicio y rendimiento académico del alumnado universitario. J. Stud. Res. Psychol. Educ. 12, 35–39. doi:10.17979/reipe.2015.0.12.569

Morton, P., and Rosenfeld, D. (2021). “Reconceptualizing service-learning during the COVID-19 pandemic: reflections and recommendations,” in Shared trauma, shared resilience during a pandemic . Editor C. Tosone (New York, NY: Springer ), 331–339.

Naval, C., and Arbués, E. (2017). “El aprendizaje-servicio en la educación superior: las competencias profesionales,” in Educación y capacidades: hacia un nuevo enfoque del desarrollo humano . Editors J. A. Ibañez-Martín, and J. L. Fuentes (Madrid, Spain: Dykinson ), 189–207.

Naval, C., and Arbués, E. (2016). “El aprendizaje-servicio y la transición desde la educación superior al mundo del trabajo,” in Sociedad del conocimiento. Aprendizaje e innovación en la Universidad . Editor M. A. Santos-Rego (Madrid, Spain: Biblioteca Nueva ), 219–239.

Novak, J. M., Markey, V., and Allen, M. (2007). Evaluating cognitive outcomes of service learning in higher education: a meta-analysis. Commun. Res. Rep. 24 (2), 149–157. doi:10.1080/08824090701304881

P. Aramburuzabala, L. MacIlrath, and H. Opazo (Editors) (2019). Higher education. developing a culture of civic engagemente in Europe . New York, NY: Taylos & Francis .

Priegue, D., and Sotelino, A. (2016). Aprendizaje-Servicio y construcción de una ciudadanía intercultural: El proyecto PEINAS. Foro de Educ. 14 (20), 361–382. doi:10.14516/fde.2016.014.020.018

Puig, J. M., Batlle, R., Bosch, C., and Palos, J. (2007). Aprendizaje servicio. Educar para la ciudadanía . Barcelona, Spain: Octaedro .

Puig, J. M., Gijon, M., Martín, X., and Rubio, L. (2011). Aprendizaje-servicio y educación para la ciudadanía. Educ. Mag. Spec. Iss. 1, 45–67.

Red Española de Aprendizaje-Servicio (2020). Proyectos de aprendizaje-servicio en tiempos de COVID-19. Avaliable at: https://www.aprendizajeservicio.net/wp-content/uploads/2020/10/CATALOGO-APS-EN-TIEMPOS-DE-CORONAVIRUS-.pdf (Accessed January 27, 2021).

Rhoads, R. A. (1998). In the service of citizenship: a study of student involvement in community service. J. high. Educ. 69 (3), 277–297. doi:10.1080/00221546.1998.11775135

Saltmarsh, J. (1996). Education for critical citizenship: John Dewey's contribution to the pedagogy of community service learning. Mich. J. Community Serv. Learn. 96 (3), 13–21.

Santos-Rego, M. A. (2020). La transferencia de conocimiento en educación. Un desafío estratégico . Madrid, Spain: Narcea .

Santos-Rego, M. A. (2013). ¿Para cuándo las universidades en la agenda de una democracia fuerte? educación, aprendizaje y compromiso cívico en Norteamérica. Rev. Educ. 361, 565–590. doi:10.4438/1988-592X-RE-2013-361-233

Santos-Rego, M. A., Mella, I., and Sotelino, A. (2020). Movilidad y TIC en aprendizaje-servicio: perspectivas para una sociedad global y tecnológica. Iberoam. J. Med. 23 (1), 67–84. doi:10.5944/ried.23.1.24180

Santos-Rego, M. A., Sotelino, A., and Lorenzo, M. (2015). Aprendizaje-servicio y misión cívica de la universidad: una propuesta de desarrollo . Barcelona, Spain: Octaedro .

Sotelino, A. (2015). A aprendizaxe-servizo en perspectiva. John Dewey como referente histórico. Sarmiento. Revista Hist. Edu. 18, 145–161. doi:10.17979/srgphe.2015.18-19.0.4048

Sotelino, A. (2014). Aprendizaje-servicio en las universidades gallegas: evaluación y propuesta de desarrollo. Doctoral thesis. Santiago de Compostela (Spain): Universidade de Santiago de Compostela Available at: http://hdl.handle.net/10347/10842 (Accessed June 11, 2018).

Sotelino, A., Mella, I., and Rodríguez-Fernandez, M. A. (2019). El papel de las entidades cívico-sociales en el aprendizaje-servicio: sistematizando la participación del alumnado en el tercer sector. Educ. Theory 31 (2), 197–219. doi:10.14201/teri.20156

Sotelino, A., Mella, I., and Varela, C. (2020). Aprendizaje-servicio, TIC y conocimiento compartido para promover la reflexión en red. Cuaderno Pedagog. Univ. 17 (34), 19–30. doi:10.29197/cpu.v17i34.393

Tapia, M. N. (2010). La propuesta pedagógica del “aprendizaje-servicio”: una perspectiva latinoamericana. Tzhoecoen 5, 23–43.

Tapia, M. N. (2012). La solidaridad como pedagogía: la propuesta del aprendizaje-servicio. Educ. Stud. 13 (1), 23–36.

Tapia, M. N., González, A., and Elicegui, P. (2005). Aprendizaje y servicio solidario en las escuelas argentinas: una visión descriptiva a partir de las experiencias presentadas al Premio presidencial de escuelas solidarias (2000–2001). Avaliable at: https://core.ac.uk/download/pdf/233215852.pdf (Accessed June 11, 2020).

Tapia, M. R. (2020). Un itinerario digital para el aprendizaje-servicio ubicuo. Iberoam. J. Distance Educ. 23 (1), 111–128. doi:10.5944/ried.23.1.25389

Tapia, M. R., and Peregalli, A. (2020). Aprender, servir y ser solidarios en tiempos de pandemias. Iberoam. Mag. Ser. Learn. 10, 49–61. doi:10.1344/RIDAS2020.10.5

Úcar, X. (2018). Metáforas de la intervención socioeducativa: implicaciones pedagógicas para la práctica. Rev. Esp. Pedagog. 76 (270), 209–224. doi:10.22550/REP76-2-2018-01

Uruñuela, P. M. (2011). Aprendizaje-Servicio, una metodología para el desarrollo de la convivencia. Rev. Amazónica 6 (1), 35–61.

Vázquez-Verdera, V. (2015). El aprendizaje-servicio: una estrategia para la formación de competencias en sostenibilidad. Foro Educ. 13 (19), 193–212. doi:10.14516/fde.2015.013.019.009

Warren, J. L. (2012). Does service-learning increase student learning?: a meta-analysis. Mich. J. Community Serv. Learn. 18, 56–61.

Yorio, P., and Ye, F. (2012). A meta-analysis on the effects of service-learning on the social, personal, and cognitive outcomes of learning. Acad. Manag. Learn. Educ. 11 (1), 9–27. doi:10.5465/amle.2010.0072

Keywords: service-learning, scientific publication, literature review, community engagement, Europe

Citation: Sotelino-Losada A, Arbués-Radigales E, García-Docampo L and González-Geraldo JL (2021) Service-Learning in Europe. Dimensions and Understanding From Academic Publication. Front. Educ. 6:604825. doi: 10.3389/feduc.2021.604825

Received: 10 September 2020; Accepted: 02 February 2021; Published: 12 March 2021.

Reviewed by:

Copyright © 2021 Sotelino-Losada, Arbués-Radigales, García-Docampo and González-Geraldo. This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) and the copyright owner(s) are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

*Correspondence: Alexandre Sotelino-Losada, [email protected]

This article is part of the Research Topic

Service Learning, Educational Innovation and Social Transformation

Center for Teaching

• What is Service Learning or Community Engagement?

• Benefits of Community Engagement

Models of Community Engagement Teaching

Ways to integrate community engagement into an existing course.

Community engagement pedagogies, often called “service learning,” are ones that combine learning goals and community service in ways that can enhance both student growth and the common good.  In the words of the National Service Learning Clearinghouse , it is “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”  Or, to quote Vanderbilt University’s Janet S. Eyler (winner of the 2003 Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service Learning) and Dwight E. Giles, Jr., it is

“a form of experiential education where learning occurs through a cycle of action and reflection as students. . . seek to achieve real objectives for the community and deeper understanding and skills for themselves. In the process, students link personal and social development with academic and cognitive development. . . experience enhances understanding; understanding leads to more effective action.”

Typically, community engagement is incorporated into a course or series of courses by way of a project that has both learning and community action goals.  This project is designed via collaboration between faculty and community partners, such as non-governmental organizations or government agencies.  The project asks students to apply course content to community-based activities.  This gives students experiential opportunities to learn in real world contexts and develop skills of community engagement, while affording community partners opportunities to address significant needs. Vanderbilt University’s Sharon Shields has argued that service learning is “one of the most significant teaching methodologies gaining momentum on many campuses.” Indeed, when done well, teaching through community engagement benefits students, faculty, communities, and institutions of higher education. Below are some of the benefits that education researchers and practitioners have associated with community engaged teaching.

Student Benefits of Community Engagement

Learning outcomes.

• Positive impact on students’ academic learning
• Improves students’ ability to apply what they have learned in “the real world”
• Positive impact on academic outcomes such as demonstrated complexity of understanding, problem analysis, problem-solving, critical thinking, and cognitive development
• Improved ability to understand complexity and ambiguity

Personal Outcomes

• Greater sense of personal efficacy, personal identity, spiritual growth, and moral development
• Greater interpersonal development, particularly the ability to work well with others, and build leadership and communication skills

Social Outcomes

• Reduced stereotypes and greater inter-cultural understanding
• Improved social responsibility and citizenship skills
• Greater involvement in community service after graduation

Career Development

• Connections with professionals and community members for learning and career opportunities
• Greater academic learning, leadership skills, and personal efficacy can lead to greater opportunity

Relationship with the Institution

• Stronger relationships with faculty
• Greater satisfaction with college
• Improved graduation rates

Faculty Benefits of Community Engagement

• Satisfaction with the quality of student learning
• New avenues for research and publication via new relationships between faculty and community
• Providing networking opportunities with engaged faculty in other disciplines or institutions
• A stronger commitment to one’s research

College and University Benefits of Community Engagement

• Improved institutional commitment to the curriculum
• Improved student retention
• Enhanced community relations

Community Benefits of Community Engagement

• Satisfaction with student participation
• Valuable human resources needed to achieve community goals
• New energy, enthusiasm and perspectives applied to community work
• Enhanced community-university relations

Discipline-Based

Discipline-based model.

In this model, students are expected to have a presence in the community throughout the semester and reflect on their experiences regularly.  In these reflections, they use course content as a basis for their analysis and understanding of the key theoretical, methodological and applied issues at hand.

Problem-Based

Problem-based model.

Students relate to the community much as “consultants” working for a “client.” Students work with community members to understand a particular community problem or need.  This model presumes that the students have or will develop capacities with which to help communities solve a problem.  For example: architecture students might design a park; business students might develop a web site; botany students might identify non-native plants and suggest eradication methods.

Capstone Course

Capstone course model.

These courses are generally designed for majors and minors in a given discipline and are offered almost exclusively to students in their final year. Capstone courses ask students to draw upon the knowledge they have obtained throughout their course work and combine it with relevant service work in the community. The goal of capstone courses is usually either exploring a new topic or synthesizing students’ understanding of their discipline.

Service Internship

Service internship model.

This approach asks students to work as many as 10 to 20 hours a week in a community setting. As in traditional internships, students are charged with producing a body of work that is of value to the community or site. However, unlike traditional internships, service internships have on-going faculty-guided reflection to challenge the students to analyze their new experiences using discipline-based theories.  Service internships focus on reciprocity: the idea that the community and the student benefit equally from the experience.

Undergrad Community-Based Action Research

Action research model.

Community-based action research is similar to an independent study option for the student who is highly experienced in community work.  This approach can be effective with small classes or groups of students.  In this model, students work closely with faculty members to learn research methodology while serving as advocates for communities.  This model assumes that students are or can be trained to be competent in time management and can negotiate diverse communities.

Directed Study Extra Credit

Directed study additional/extra credit model.

Students can register for up to three additional/extra credits in a course by making special arrangements with the instructor to complete an added community-based project.  The course instructor serves as the advisor for the directed study option.  Such arrangements require departmental approval and formal student registration.

There are many ways to integrate community engagement into an existing course, depending on the learning goals, the size of the class, the academic preparation of the students, and the community partnership or project type. Below are some general tips to consider as you begin:

• One-time group service projects: Some course objectives can be met when the entire class is involved in a one-time service project. Arrangements for service projects can be made prior to the semester and included in the syllabus. This model affords the opportunity for faculty and peer interaction because a common service experience is shared. One-time projects have different learning outcomes than ongoing service activities.
• Option within a course: Many faculty begin community engagement with a pilot project. In this design, students have the option to become involved in the community-based project.  A portion of the normal coursework is substituted by the community-based component.  For example, a traditional research paper or group project can be replaced with an experiential research paper or personal journal that documents learning from the service experience.
• Required within a course: In this case, all students are involved in service as an integrated aspect of the course. This expectation must be clearly stated at the first class meeting, on the syllabus, with a clear rationale provided to students as to why the service component is required. Exceptions can be arranged on an individual basis or students can transfer to another class. If all students are involved in service, it is easier to design coursework (i.e., class discussions, writing assignments, exam questions) that integrates the service experience with course objectives. Class sessions can involve agency personnel and site visits. Faculty report that it is easier to build community partnerships if a consistent number of students are involved each semester.
• Action research projects: This type of class involves students in research within the community. The results of the research are communicated to the agency so that it can be used to address community needs. Action research and participatory action research take a significant amount of time to build relationships of trust in the community and identify common research agendas; however, community research projects can support the ongoing research of faculty. Extending this type of research beyond the confines of a semester may be best for all involved.
• Disciplinary capstone projects: Community engagement is an excellent way to build upon students’ cumulative knowledge in a specific discipline and to demonstrate the integration of that knowledge with real life issues. Upper class students can explore ways their disciplinary expertise and competencies translate into addressing community needs. Other community-based classes within the department can prepare the student for this more extensive community-based class.
• Multiple course projects :  Community engagement projects with one or more partners may span different courses in the same semester or multiple courses over a year or longer.  These projects must be broad enough to meet the learning goals of multiple courses over time, and because of this they may have a cumulative impact on both student learning and community development that is robust.  Such projects may be particularly suited to course clusters or learning communities within or across disciplines, or course sequences, say, within a major, that build student capacity towards advanced learning and community action goals.

Other CFT Guides About Community Engagement Pedagogies

• A Word on Nomenclature
• Best Practices in Community Engaged Teaching
• Community Engaged Teaching Step by Step
• Challenges and Opportunities of Community Engaged Teaching
• Additional Resources

Teaching Guides

• Online Course Development Resources
• Principles & Frameworks
• Pedagogies & Strategies
• Reflecting & Assessing
• Challenges & Opportunities
• Populations & Contexts

Quick Links

• Services for Departments and Schools
• Examples of Online Instructional Modules

Reference Examples

More than 100 reference examples and their corresponding in-text citations are presented in the seventh edition Publication Manual . Examples of the most common works that writers cite are provided on this page; additional examples are available in the Publication Manual .

To find the reference example you need, first select a category (e.g., periodicals) and then choose the appropriate type of work (e.g., journal article ) and follow the relevant example.

When selecting a category, use the webpages and websites category only when a work does not fit better within another category. For example, a report from a government website would use the reports category, whereas a page on a government website that is not a report or other work would use the webpages and websites category.

Also note that print and electronic references are largely the same. For example, to cite both print books and ebooks, use the books and reference works category and then choose the appropriate type of work (i.e., book ) and follow the relevant example (e.g., whole authored book ).

Examples on these pages illustrate the details of reference formats. We make every attempt to show examples that are in keeping with APA Style’s guiding principles of inclusivity and bias-free language. These examples are presented out of context only to demonstrate formatting issues (e.g., which elements to italicize, where punctuation is needed, placement of parentheses). References, including these examples, are not inherently endorsements for the ideas or content of the works themselves. An author may cite a work to support a statement or an idea, to critique that work, or for many other reasons. For more examples, see our sample papers .

Reference examples are covered in the seventh edition APA Style manuals in the Publication Manual Chapter 10 and the Concise Guide Chapter 10

Related handouts

• Common Reference Examples Guide (PDF, 147KB)
• Reference Quick Guide (PDF, 225KB)

Textual Works

Textual works are covered in Sections 10.1–10.8 of the Publication Manual . The most common categories and examples are presented here. For the reviews of other works category, see Section 10.7.

• Journal Article References
• Magazine Article References
• Newspaper Article References
• Blog Post and Blog Comment References
• UpToDate Article References
• Book/Ebook References
• Diagnostic Manual References
• Children’s Book or Other Illustrated Book References
• Classroom Course Pack Material References
• Religious Work References
• Chapter in an Edited Book/Ebook References
• Dictionary Entry References
• Wikipedia Entry References
• Report by a Government Agency References
• Report with Individual Authors References
• Brochure References
• Ethics Code References
• Fact Sheet References
• ISO Standard References
• Press Release References
• White Paper References
• Conference Presentation References
• Conference Proceeding References
• Published Dissertation or Thesis References
• Unpublished Dissertation or Thesis References
• ERIC Database References
• Preprint Article References

Data and Assessments

Data sets are covered in Section 10.9 of the Publication Manual . For the software and tests categories, see Sections 10.10 and 10.11.

• Data Set References
• Toolbox References

Audiovisual Media

Audiovisual media are covered in Sections 10.12–10.14 of the Publication Manual . The most common examples are presented together here. In the manual, these examples and more are separated into categories for audiovisual, audio, and visual media.

• Artwork References
• Clip Art or Stock Image References
• Film and Television References
• Musical Score References
• Online Course or MOOC References
• Podcast References
• PowerPoint Slide or Lecture Note References
• Radio Broadcast References
• TED Talk References
• Transcript of an Audiovisual Work References
• YouTube Video References

Online Media

Online media are covered in Sections 10.15 and 10.16 of the Publication Manual . Please note that blog posts are part of the periodicals category.

• Facebook References
• Instagram References
• LinkedIn References
• Online Forum (e.g., Reddit) References
• TikTok References
• X References
• Webpage on a Website References
• Clinical Practice References
• Open Educational Resource References
• Whole Website References

Service-Learning as Values Education

• Reference work entry
• First Online: 15 November 2023
• Cite this reference work entry

• Andrew Furco 5  

Part of the book series: Springer International Handbooks of Education ((SIHE))

267 Accesses

1 Citations

While values education has become quite ubiquitous within today’s school systems across the globe, there is no consensus among educators as to which values are most essential for securing students’ character development and overall personal success. Traditionally, values education efforts have sought to advance the prosocial development of young people – broadly defined to include socio-moral cognition, personal morality, prosocial behaviors and attitudes, communicative competency, character knowledge, positive relationships, and active citizenship.

In recent years, the concept of values development has expanded to incorporate aspects of social-emotional character (e.g., self-concept, coping, problem solving), risk behaviors (e.g., protective skills, violence, and aggression), and school-based outcomes (e.g., school behavior, attitudes towards teachers, academic skills, school attachment). The narrative has expanded to include values education as a strategy for improving students’ academic performance and success, and this chapter speaks into that space, especially in relation to service- learning.

This is a preview of subscription content, log in via an institution to check access.

Access this chapter

Institutional subscriptions

Abdullah, I., Hudayana, B., Setiadi, Kutanegara, P. M., & Indiyanto, A. (2019). Beyond school reach: Character education in three schools in Yogyakarta, Indonesia. Journal of Educational and Social Research, 9 (3), 145–159.

Article   Google Scholar  

Arsenio, W. F. (1988). Children’s conceptions of the situational affective consequences of sociomoral events. Child Development, 59 (6), 1611–1622.

Article   PubMed   Google Scholar  

Arthur, J. (2014). Traditional approaches to character education in Britain and America. In L. Nucci, D. Narvaez, & T. Krettenauer (Eds.), Handbook of moral and character education (2nd ed., pp. 43–60). Routledge.

Google Scholar  

Arweck, E., & Nesbitt, E. (2004). Values education: The development and classroom use of an educational programme. British Educational Research Journal, 30 (2), 245–261.

Bandura, A. (1977). Self-efficacy: Toward a unifying theory of behavioral change. Psychological Review, 84 (2), 191–215.

Bandura, A. (1991). Social cognitive theory of moral thought and action. In W. M. Kurtines & J. K. Gewirtz (Eds.), Handbook of moral behavior and development (Vol. 1, pp. 45–103). Lawrence Erlbaum.

Bandura, A. (Ed.). (1995). Self-efficacy in changing societies . Cambridge University Press.

Bellah, R. N., Madsen, R., Sullivan, W. M., Swidler, A., & Tipton, S. M. (1996). Habits of the heart . University of California Press.

Berkowitz, M. W. (2011). What works in values education. International Journal of Educational Research, 50 (3), 153–158.

Berkowitz, M.W. & Bier, M. (2005). What works in character education: A research-driven guide for evaluators . Character Education Partnership.

Berkowitz, M. W., & Bier, M. C. (2007). What works in character education. Journal of Research in Character Education, 5 (1), 29–48.

Berkowitz, M. W., & Bier, M. C. (2017). Toward a science of character education: Frameworks for identifying and implementing effective practices. Journal of Character Education, 13 (1), 33–51.

Berkowitz, M. W., Bier, M. C., & McCauley, B. (2017). Toward a science of character education. Journal of Character Education, 13 (1), 33–51.

Bernacki, M. L., & Jaeger, E. A. (2008). The impact of service learning on moral development and moral orientation. Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 14 (2), 5–15.

Billig, S. H., Jesse, D., Broderson, R. M., & Grimley, M. (2008). Promoting secondary students’ character development through service-learning. Advances in Service-Learning Research , 57–83.

Brown, E., Chen, D., Davies, I., Urbina Garcia, A., & Munguia Godinez, I. (2021). Educating young people about society in China, England, Mexico and Spain: Similar approaches to values education from different contexts. Compare: A Journal of Comparative and International Education, 51 (4), 529–545. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057925.2019.1647513

Brown, M., McGrath, R. E., Bier, M. C., Johnson, K., & Berkowitz, M. W. (2022). A comprehensive meta-analysis of character education programs. Journal of Moral Education , 1–19. https://doi.org/10.1080/03057240.2022.2060196

Burton, L., Furco, A., Toussaint, D., Kent, K., & Glatze, K. (2011). Project heart, head, hands (H 3 ): A language arts-based character education program for elementary schools . Final research report . Alameda County Office of Education, California.

Celio, C. I., Durlak, J., & Dymnicki, A. (2011). A meta-analysis of the impact of service-learning on students. The Journal of Experimental Education, 34 (2), 164–181.

Cheung, C. K., & Lee, T. Y. (2010). Improving social competence through character education. Evaluation and Program Planning, 33 (3), 255–263.

Cooks, L., Scharrer, E., & Paredes, M. C. (2004). Toward a social approach to learning in community service learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 10 (2), 44–56.

Damian, R. I., Spengler, M., Sutu, A., & Roberts, B. W. (2019). Sixteen going on sixty-six: A longitudinal study of personality stability and change across 50 years. Journal of Personality and Social Psychology, 117 (3), 674–695. https://doi.org/10.1037/pspp0000210

Diggs, C. R., & Akos, P. (2016). The promise of character education in middle school: A meta-analysis. Middle Grades Review, 2 (2), 1–19.

Dunn, J., Brown, J. R., & Maguire, M. (1995). The development of children's moral sensibility: Individual differences and motion understanding. Developmental Psychology, 31 (4), 649–659.

Eisenberg-Berg, N. (1979). Development of children's prosocial moral judgment. Developmental Psychology, 15 (2), 128–137.

Ellenwood, S. (2007). Revisiting character education: From McGuffey to narratives. Journal of Education, 187 (3), 21–43.

Etzioni, A. (1988). The moral dimension . Free Press.

Fox, J., Jones, K., Machtmes, K., & Cater, M. (2012). A qualitative examination of a character development service learning project and its impact on internalizing virtues in college students. Journal for Civic Commitment, 19 , 1–19.

Freud, S. (1930). Civilization and its discontents . Norton.

Furco, A. (2002). Is service-learning really better than community service? In A. Furco & S. H. Billig (Eds.), Service-learning: The essence of the pedagogy . Information Age (pp. 23–52).

Furco, A. (2010). The community as a resource for learning: An analysis of academic service-learning in primary and secondary education. In H. Dumont, D. Istance, & F. Benavides (Eds.), The nature of learning: Using research to inspire practice (pp. 227–249). Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development.

Chapter   Google Scholar  

Furco, A., Burton, L., Toussaint, D., Kent, K., & Glatze, K. (2010). Project heart, head, hands (H3): A language arts-based character education program for elementary schools – final research report . A report to the Partnership in Character Education Program. Submitted to the U.S. Department of Education, Washington, DC.

Grusec, J. E., & Kuczynski, L. (Eds.). (1997). Parenting and children's internalization of values: A handbook of contemporary theory . Wiley & Sons.

Handsman, E. (2021). From virtue to grit: Changes in character education narratives in the U.S. from 1985 to 2016. Qualitative Sociology, 44 , 271–291.

Hoffman, M. L. (1984). Interaction of affect and cognition in empathy. Emotions, Cognition, and Behavior , 103–131.

Hoffman, M. L. (2000). Empathy and moral development: Implications for caring and justice . Cambridge University Press.

Book   Google Scholar  

Jerome, L., & Kisby, B. (2019). The rise of character education in Britain. In Heroes, dragons, and the myths of character . Palgrave Macmillan. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-030-27761-1

Jeynes, W. H. (2019). A meta-analysis on the relationship between character education and student achievement and behavioral outcomes. Education and Urban Society, 5 (1), 33–71.

Kahne, J. E., & Sporte, S. E. (2008). Developing citizens: The impact of civic learning opportunities on students’ commitment to civic participation. American Educational Research Journal, 45 (3), 738–766.

Killen, M., & Hart, D. (Eds.). (1995). Morality in everyday life . Cambridge University Press.

Kohlberg, L. (1984). The psychology of moral development: The nature and validity of moral stages (Vol. 2). Harper & Row.

Komalasari, K., & Saripudin, D. (2018). The influence of living values education-based civic education textbook on students' character formation. International Journal of Instruction, 11 (1), 395–410.

Lerner, R. M., Lerner, J. V., & Benson, J. B. (2011). Positive youth development: Research and applications for promoting thriving in adolescence. In R. M. Lerner, J. V. Lerner, & J. B. Benson (Eds.), Advances in child development and behavior (Positive youth development) (Vol. 41, pp. 1–17). Elsevier Academic Press.

Lickona, T., Schaps, E., & Lewis, C. (2002). Eleven principles of effective character education. Special Topics, General. 50. https://digitalcommons.unomaha.edu/slcestgen/50

Lovat, T. J. (2010). Synergies and balance between values education and quality teaching. Educational Philosophy and Theory, 42 (4), 489–500.

Lovat, T. (2019). The art and heart of good teaching: Values as the pedagogy . Springer.

Lovat, T., & Dally, K. (2018). Testing and measuring the impact of character education on the learning environment and its outcomes. Journal of Character Education, 14 (2), 1–22.

Lovat, T., & Toomey, R. (Eds.). (2007). Values education and quality teaching: The double helix effect . David Barlow Publishing.

Lovat, T., Clement, N., Dally, K., & Toomey, R. (2010a). Values education as holistic development for all sectors; researching for effective pedagogy. Oxford Review of Education, 36 (6), 713–729.

Lovat, T., Toomey, R., & Clement, N. (Eds.). (2010b). International research handbook on values education and student well-being . Springer.

Marichal, J. (2010). You call this service? A civic ontology approach to evaluating service-learning in diverse communities. Journal of Political Science Education, 6 (2), 142–162.

Metz, E. C., & Youniss, J. (2003). A demonstration that school-based required service does not deter—But heightens—Volunteerism. Political Science & Politics, 36 , 281–286. https://doi.org/10.1017/S1049096503002221

Mohamad, N., Sihes, A. J., Bohari, N. M., & Rahman, S. N. H. A. (2019). Teachers' perceptions of values education implementation in school. International Journal of Recent Technology and Engineering, 8 (3), 884–891. https://doi.org/10.35940/ijrte.C1220.1083S219

National Youth Leadership Council. (2008). K-12 service-learning standards for quality practice . https://www.nylc.org/page/standards .

Noddings, N. (2005). The challenge to care in schools: An alternative approach to education . Teachers College Press.

Nucci, L. P. (2001). Education in the moral domain . Cambridge University Press.

Nucci, L. P., Narvaez, D., & Krettenauer, T. (Eds.). (2014). Handbook of moral and character education (2nd ed.). Routledge.

Piaget, J. (1948). The moral judgment of the child . Free Press.

Pisano, R. H., & Rust, V. D. (2007). Outcomes from cross-cultural service-learning. Academic Exchange Quarterly, 11 , 61–65.

Scott, J. H. (2012). The intersection of service-learning and moral growth. New Directions for Student Services, 2012 (139), 27–38.

Shek, D. T. L., Dou, D., Zhu, X., & Chai, W. (2019). Positive youth development: Current perspectives. Adolescent Health, Medicine, and Therapeutics, 10 , 131–141.

Shweder, R. A., Mahapatra, M., & Miller, J. G. (1987). Culture and moral development. In J. Kagan & S. Lamb (Eds.), The emergence of morality in young children (pp. 1–86). University of Chicago Press.

Smetana, J. G. (1981). Preschool children's conceptions of moral and social rules. Child Development, 52 (4), 1333–1336.

Stewart, T. (2007). Intertwining the emotional and civic: Affective impacts of mandatory community service-learning on adolescent dispositions toward future civic engagement. Journal of Cognitive Affective Learning, 3 , 18–28.

Thompson, R. A. (1989). Causal attributions and children’s emotional understanding. In C. Saarni & P. L. Harris (Eds.), Children’s understanding of emotions (pp. 117–150). Cambridge University Press.

Turiel, E. (1983). The development of social knowledge . Cambridge University Press.

Walker, L. J. (2020). The character of character: The 2019 Kohlberg memorial lecture. Journal of Moral Education, 49 (4), 381–395.

Winton, S. (2008). Character education: Implications for critical democracy. International Critical Childhood Policy Studies, 1 (1), 42–63.

Yorio, P. L., & Ye, F. (2012). A meta-analysis on the effects of service-learning on the social, personal, and cognitive outcomes of learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11 (1), 9–27.

Zahn-Waxler, C., Radke-Yarrow, M., Wagner, E., & Chapman, M. (1992). Development of concern for others. Developmental Psychology, 28 (1), 126–136.

Zajda, J. (2018). Researching values education in the classroom: A global perspective. Education and Society, 36 (2), 29–47. https://doi.org/10.7459/es/36.2.04

Download references

Author information

Authors and affiliations.

Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development at the University of Minnesota, Minneapolis, MN, USA

Andrew Furco

You can also search for this author in PubMed   Google Scholar

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Andrew Furco .

Editor information

Editors and affiliations.

The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, NSW, Australia

Terence Lovat

Victoria University, Melbourne, Australia

The University of Newcastle, Callaghan, Australia

Neville Clement

Kerry Dally

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

Copyright information

© 2023 Springer Nature Switzerland AG

About this entry

Cite this entry.

Furco, A. (2023). Service-Learning as Values Education. In: Lovat, T., Toomey, R., Clement, N., Dally, K. (eds) Second International Research Handbook on Values Education and Student Wellbeing. Springer International Handbooks of Education. Springer, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24420-9_23

Download citation

DOI : https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-031-24420-9_23

Published : 15 November 2023

Publisher Name : Springer, Cham

Print ISBN : 978-3-031-24419-3

Online ISBN : 978-3-031-24420-9

eBook Packages : Education Reference Module Humanities and Social Sciences Reference Module Education

Share this entry

Anyone you share the following link with will be able to read this content:

Sorry, a shareable link is not currently available for this article.

Provided by the Springer Nature SharedIt content-sharing initiative

• Publish with us

Policies and ethics

• Find a journal
• Track your research

Purdue Online Writing Lab Purdue OWL® College of Liberal Arts

Welcome to the Purdue Online Writing Lab

Welcome to the Purdue OWL

This page is brought to you by the OWL at Purdue University. When printing this page, you must include the entire legal notice.

Copyright ©1995-2018 by The Writing Lab & The OWL at Purdue and Purdue University. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, reproduced, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed without permission. Use of this site constitutes acceptance of our terms and conditions of fair use.

The Online Writing Lab at Purdue University houses writing resources and instructional material, and we provide these as a free service of the Writing Lab at Purdue. Students, members of the community, and users worldwide will find information to assist with many writing projects. Teachers and trainers may use this material for in-class and out-of-class instruction.

The Purdue On-Campus Writing Lab and Purdue Online Writing Lab assist clients in their development as writers—no matter what their skill level—with on-campus consultations, online participation, and community engagement. The Purdue Writing Lab serves the Purdue, West Lafayette, campus and coordinates with local literacy initiatives. The Purdue OWL offers global support through online reference materials and services.

A Message From the Assistant Director of Content Development 

The Purdue OWL® is committed to supporting  students, instructors, and writers by offering a wide range of resources that are developed and revised with them in mind. To do this, the OWL team is always exploring possibilties for a better design, allowing accessibility and user experience to guide our process. As the OWL undergoes some changes, we welcome your feedback and suggestions by email at any time.

Please don't hesitate to contact us via our contact page  if you have any questions or comments.

All the best,

Social Media

Facebook twitter.

American Psychological Association

The impact of transgender legislation

Psychological science points to an increased risk of suicide and poor mental health amid a record number of bills aimed at restricting the rights of the LGBTQ+ population

APA policy supporting transgender, gender diverse, nonbinary individuals

Membership in APA

APA Community

A new exclusive destination tailored for APA members

Membership benefits

Unlock the tools, discounts, and services included with your membership

Renew your membership

Keep your benefits and access to leading psychological information

Psychology topics spotlight

Misinformation and disinformation

Resources to navigate trauma

Tips to foster a healthy workplace

Science and practice of psychology

Ethics Code

Continuing Education

Grants, Awards, and Funding

Standards and Guidelines

Networks and communities

Network with peers, enhance your professional development, expand your personal growth, and more

APA Divisions

High school teachers

Undergraduate educators

Graduate students

Early career psychologists

Managing your career

Resources to help you throughout your career in psychology, including finding a job, salary data, finances and money management, mentoring and supervision, and training and professional development

Explore career paths

Psychologist profiles

How did you get that job?

Events and training

Featured jobs

Apa publications and products.

Write with clarity, precision, and inclusion

Children’s books

Monitor on Psychology

Newsletters

Reports and surveys

Continuing education

Merchandise

Real Siblings

Jacob's Missing Book

Harper Becomes a Big Sister

Attachment-Based Family Therapy for Sexual and Gender Minority Young Adults and Their Non-Accepting Parents

Dismantling Everyday Discrimination

APA Services

Learn how you can help APA advocate for psychology-informed federal policy and legislation, and support psychological research

APA Services, Inc.

A companion professional organization to APA, serving all members and advocating for psychology

Federal Rules of Civil Procedure

Primary tabs.

These are the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure, as amended to December 1, 2023 1 . Click on any rule to read it.

• RULES OF CIVIL PROCEDURE FOR THE UNITED STATES DISTRICT COURTS
• Rule 1 . Scope and Purpose
• Rule 2 . One Form of Action
• Rule 3 . Commencing an Action
• Rule 4 . Summons
• Rule 4.1 . Serving Other Process
• Rule 5 . Serving and Filing Pleadings and Other Papers
• Rule 5.1 . Constitutional Challenge to a Statute—Notice, Certification, and Intervention
• Rule 5.2 . Privacy Protection For Filings Made with the Court
• Rule 6 . Computing and Extending Time; Time for Motion Papers
• Rule 7 . Pleadings Allowed; Form of Motions and Other Papers
• Rule 7.1 . Disclosure Statement
• Rule 8 . General Rules of Pleading
• Rule 9 . Pleading Special Matters
• Rule 10 . Form of Pleadings
• Rule 11 . Signing Pleadings, Motions, and Other Papers; Representations to the Court; Sanctions
• Rule 12 . Defenses and Objections: When and How Presented; Motion for Judgment on the Pleadings; Consolidating Motions; Waiving Defenses; Pretrial Hearing
• Rule 13 . Counterclaim and Crossclaim
• Rule 14 . Third-Party Practice
• Rule 15 . Amended and Supplemental Pleadings
• Rule 16 . Pretrial Conferences; Scheduling; Management
• Rule 17 . Plaintiff and Defendant; Capacity; Public Officers
• Rule 18 . Joinder of Claims
• Rule 19 . Required Joinder of Parties
• Rule 20 . Permissive Joinder of Parties
• Rule 21 . Misjoinder and Nonjoinder of Parties
• Rule 22 . Interpleader
• Rule 23 . Class Actions
• Rule 23.1 . Derivative Actions
• Rule 23.2 . Actions Relating to Unincorporated Associations
• Rule 24 . Intervention
• Rule 25 . Substitution of Parties
• Rule 26 . Duty to Disclose; General Provisions Governing Discovery
• Rule 27 . Depositions to Perpetuate Testimony
• Rule 28 . Persons Before Whom Depositions May Be Taken
• Rule 29 . Stipulations About Discovery Procedure
• Rule 30 . Depositions by Oral Examination
• Rule 31 . Depositions by Written Questions
• Rule 32 . Using Depositions in Court Proceedings
• Rule 33 . Interrogatories to Parties
• Rule 34 . Producing Documents, Electronically Stored Information, and Tangible Things, or Entering onto Land, for Inspection and Other Purposes
• Rule 35 . Physical and Mental Examinations
• Rule 36 . Requests for Admission
• Rule 37 . Failure to Make Disclosures or to Cooperate in Discovery; Sanctions
• Rule 38 . Right to a Jury Trial; Demand
• Rule 39 . Trial by Jury or by the Court
• Rule 40 . Scheduling Cases for Trial
• Rule 41 . Dismissal of Actions
• Rule 42 . Consolidation; Separate Trials
• Rule 43 . Taking Testimony
• Rule 44 . Proving an Official Record
• Rule 44.1 . Determining Foreign Law
• Rule 45 . Subpoena
• Rule 46 . Objecting to a Ruling or Order
• Rule 47 . Selecting Jurors
• Rule 48 . Number of Jurors; Verdict; Polling
• Rule 49 . Special Verdict; General Verdict and Questions
• Rule 50 . Judgment as a Matter of Law in a Jury Trial; Related Motion for a New Trial; Conditional Ruling
• Rule 51 . Instructions to the Jury; Objections; Preserving a Claim of Error
• Rule 52 . Findings and Conclusions by the Court; Judgment on Partial Findings
• Rule 53 . Masters
• Rule 54 . Judgment; Costs
• Rule 55 . Default; Default Judgment
• Rule 56 . Summary Judgment
• Rule 57 . Declaratory Judgment
• Rule 58 . Entering Judgment
• Rule 59 . New Trial; Altering or Amending a Judgment
• Rule 60 . Relief from a Judgment or Order
• Rule 61 . Harmless Error
• Rule 62 . Stay of Proceedings to Enforce a Judgment
• Rule 62.1 . Indicative Ruling on a Motion for Relief That is Barred by a Pending Appeal
• Rule 63 . Judge's Inability to Proceed
• Rule 64 . Seizing a Person or Property
• Rule 65 . Injunctions and Restraining Orders
• Rule 65.1 . Proceedings Against a Security Provider
• Rule 66 . Receivers
• Rule 67 . Deposit into Court
• Rule 68 . Offer of Judgment
• Rule 69 . Execution
• Rule 70 . Enforcing a Judgment for a Specific Act
• Rule 71 . Enforcing Relief For or Against a Nonparty
• Rule 71.1 . Condemning Real or Personal Property
• Rule 72 . Magistrate Judges: Pretrial Order
• Rule 73 . Magistrate Judges: Trial by Consent; Appeal
• Rule 74 . [Abrogated (Apr. 11, 1997, eff. Dec. 1, 1997).]
• Rule 75 . [Abrogated (Apr. 11, 1997, eff. Dec. 1, 1997).]
• Rule 76 . [Abrogated (Apr. 11, 1997, eff. Dec. 1, 1997).]
• [Rule 71A. Renumbered Rule 71.1]
• Rule 77 . Conducting Business; Clerk's Authority; Notice of an Order or Judgment
• Rule 78 . Hearing Motions; Submission on Briefs
• Rule 79 . Records Kept by the Clerk
• Rule 80 . Stenographic Transcript as Evidence
• Rule 81 . Applicability of the Rules in General; Removed Actions
• Rule 82 . Jurisdiction and Venue Unaffected
• Rule 83 . Rules by District Courts; Judge's Directives
• Rule 84 . Abrogated, eff. Dec. 1, 2015
• Rule 85 . Title
• Rule 86 . Effective Dates
• Rule 87 Civil Rules Emergency
• XII. APPENDIX OF FORMS (U.S. Courts site)
• Rule A . Scope of Rules
• Rule B . In Personam Actions: Attachment and Garnishment
• Rule C . In Rem Actions: Special Provisions
• Rule D . Possessory, Petitory, and Partition Actions
• Rule E . Actions in Rem and Quasi in Rem: General Provisions
• Rule F . Limitation of Liability
• Rule G . Forfeiture Actions in Rem
• Rules 1 - 7

1 Title amended December 29, 1948, effective October 20, 1949.

Historical Note

The original Rules of Civil Procedure for the District Courts were adopted by order of the Supreme Court on Dec. 20, 1937, transmitted to Congress by the Attorney General on Jan. 3, 1938, and became effective on Sept. 16, 1938.

The Rules have been amended Dec. 28, 1939, eff. Apr. 3, 1941; Dec. 27, 1946, eff. Mar. 19, 1948; Dec. 29, 1948, eff. Oct. 20, 1949; Apr. 30, 1951, eff. Aug. 1, 1951; Apr. 17, 1961, eff. July 19, 1961; Jan. 21, 1963, eff. July 1, 1963; Feb. 28, 1966, eff. July 1, 1966; Dec. 4, 1967, eff. July 1, 1968; Mar. 30, 1970, eff. July 1, 1970; Mar. 1, 1971, eff. July 1, 1971; Nov. 20, 1972, and Dec. 18, 1972, eff. July 1, 1975; Apr. 29, 1980, eff. Aug. 1, 1980; Oct. 21, 1980, Pub. L. 96–481, title II, §205(a), (b), 94 Stat. 2330; Jan. 12, 1983, Pub. L. 97–462, §§2–4, 96 Stat. 2527–2530, eff. Feb. 26, 1983; Apr. 28, 1983, eff. Aug. 1, 1983; Apr. 29, 1985, eff. Aug. 1, 1985; Mar. 2, 1987, eff. Aug. 1, 1987; Apr. 25, 1988, eff. Aug. 1, 1988; Nov. 18, 1988, Pub. L. 100–690, title VII, §§7047(b), 7049, 7050, 102 Stat. 4401; Apr. 30, 1991, eff. Dec. 1, 1991; Dec. 9, 1991, Pub. L. 102–198, §11, 105 Stat. 1626; Apr. 22, 1993, eff. Dec. 1, 1993; Apr. 27, 1995, eff. Dec. 1, 1995; Apr. 23, 1996, eff. Dec. 1, 1996; Apr. 11, 1997, eff. Dec. 1, 1997; Apr. 24, 1998, eff. Dec. 1, 1998; Apr. 26, 1999, eff. Dec. 1, 1999; Apr. 17, 2000, eff. Dec. 1, 2000; Apr. 23, 2001, eff. Dec. 1, 2001; Apr. 29, 2002, eff. Dec. 1, 2002; Mar. 27, 2003, eff. Dec. 1, 2003; Apr. 25, 2005, eff. Dec. 1, 2005; Apr. 12, 2006, eff. Dec. 1, 2006; Apr. 30, 2007, eff. Dec. 1, 2007; Apr. 23, 2008, eff. Dec. 1, 2008; Mar. 26, 2009, eff. Dec. 1, 2009; Apr. 28, 2010, eff. Dec. 1, 2010; Apr. 2013, eff. Dec. 1, 2013; Apr. 25, 2014, eff. Dec. 1, 2014; Apr. 29, 2015, eff. Dec. 1, 2015; Apr. 28, 2016, eff. Dec 1, 2016.

References to Equity Rules

The Federal Rules of Civil Procedure supplant the Equity Rules since in general they cover the field now covered by the Equity Rules and the Conformity Act (former section 724 of this title).

This table shows the Equity Rules to which references are made in the notes to the Federal Rules of Civil Procedure.

• TITLE I. SCOPE OF RULES; FORM OF ACTION
• TITLE II. COMMENCING AN ACTION; SERVICE OF PROCESS, PLEADINGS, MOTIONS, AND ORDERS
• TITLE III. PLEADINGS AND MOTIONS
• TITLE IV. PARTIES
• TITLE V. DISCLOSURES AND DISCOVERY
• TITLE VI. TRIALS
• TITLE VII. JUDGMENT
• TITLE VIII. PROVISIONAL AND FINAL REMEDIES
• TITLE IX. SPECIAL PROCEEDINGS
• TITLE X. DISTRICT COURTS AND CLERKS: CONDUCTING BUSINESS; ISSUING ORDERS
• TITLE XI. GENERAL PROVISIONS
• XIII. SUPPLEMENTAL RULES FOR ADMIRALTY OR MARITIME CLAIMS AND ASSET FORFEITURE ACTIONS
• SUPPLEMENTAL RULES FOR SOCIAL SECURITY ACTIONS UNDER 42 U.S.C. § 405(g)

An official website of the United States government.

Here’s how you know

The .gov means it’s official. Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

The site is secure. The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

• American Job Centers
• Apprenticeship
• Demonstration Grants
• Farmworkers
• Federal Bonding Program
• Foreign Labor Certification
• Indians and Native Americans
• Job Seekers
• Layoffs and Rapid Response
• National Dislocated Worker Grants
• Older Workers
• Skills Training Grants
• Trade Adjustment Assistance
• Unemployment Insurance
• Workforce Innovation and Opportunity Act (WIOA)
• WIOA Adult Program
• Advisories and Directives
• Regulations
• Labor Surplus Area
• Performance
• Recovery-Ready Workplace Resource Hub
• Research and Evaluation
• ETA News Releases
• Updates for Workforce Professionals
• Regional Offices
• Freedom of Information Act
• Office of Apprenticeship
• Office of Foreign Labor Certification
• Office of Grants Management
• Office of Job Corps
• Office of Unemployment Insurance (1-877-S-2JOBS)

The Tools of Apprenticeship.gov

Learn How to File for Unemployment Insurance

Employment Services

ETA Workforce Data Hub

Workforce tools, strategies and technical assistance.

June 6, 2024

Unemployment Insurance Weekly Claims Report

May 30, 2024

May 23, 2024

Department of Labor awards nearly $3.8M in funding to Florida to continue support for temporary jobs, workforce training after Hurricane Ian

• Skip to main content
• Skip to search
• Skip to footer

Products and Services

Live stream splunk's user conference for free.

Global broadcast | June 11–12, 2024

Making AI work for you

Cisco AI is where the AI hype ends and meaningful help begins.

Certifications

Cisco Validated

Announced at Cisco Live

Cisco XDR with AI Assistant

Remediate the highest-priority incidents with an AI-first XDR solution.

Cisco Networking Cloud 

One platform experience. Assured, secured, and simplified.

Secure Firewall 1200 Series

Compact, all-in-one SD-WAN firewall for your distributed enterprise branch.

Catch up on what you missed

Keynote: Vision for the Future

CEO Chuck Robbins addresses how to connect and protect your business in the AI era.

Keynote: Go Beyond

Learn about Cisco, Splunk, and reaping the benefits of the AI revolution.

Deep dive sessions

See tech announcements and strategic direction from Cisco's senior tech leaders.

View keynotes and tech sessions in the on-demand library.

Press release

Cisco Live puts AI center stage and more. 

Cisco launches $1B global AI investment fund.

Validate your AI skills with certifications

Join all Cisco U. Theater sessions live and direct from Cisco Live or replay them, access learning promos, and more. It's time to Go Beyond the basics and level up your learning.

Identity is the new perimeter

Stop identity-based attacks while providing a seamless authentication experience with Cisco Duo's new Continuous Identity Security. 

Inside Cisco

• More events

Cisco reveals Nexus HyperFabric

Cisco Nexus HyperFabric makes it easy for customers to deploy, manage, and monitor generative AI models and inference applications without deep IT knowledge and skills.

Cisco and Splunk launch integrated Full-Stack Observability experience

Using Cisco and Splunk observability solutions, customers can build an observability practice that meets their IT environment needs for on-premises, hybrid, and multicloud.

ThousandEyes Digital Experience Assurance shifts IT operations

New Cisco ThousandEyes capabilities and AI-native workflows in Cisco Networking Cloud will deliver Digital Experience Assurance, transforming IT operations.