A Qualitative Approach to Exploring Short-Term Service Learning and Civic Engagement.
Community-Engaged Learning and Service-Learning – important pedagogical techniques in which students learn by engaging in organized service activities – have gained in popularity within higher education curricula. For the purpose of this article, SL includes community engagement, civic engagement, and other terms used on across campuses.
Some researchers have argued that, in order for SL to have a significant impact on student outcomes, the experience must occur over a considerable time span. It may be, however,
that particularly meaningful short-term SL experiences can have a significant impact on student development, especially if these experiences involve key processes for high-impact SL experiences:
construction of knowledge via student reflection on their experiences, the development of new conceptualizations, and experimenting with these new conceptualizations.
Kolb, as well as Yates and Youniss, argue that SL experiences are likely to have a significant impact on student development to the extent that they involve the following key processes: construction of knowledge via student reflection on their experiences, the development of new conceptualizations,
and experimenting with these new conceptualizations. These high-impact experiences then provide students opportunities to develop the skills and values necessary in democratic building and
full civic participation.
Finally, service-learning aims to develop civically engaged student populations. Conway et al noted that short-term SL has limited impacts on citizenship outcomes, illustrating the importance of further investigating what types of SL experiences and components may lead to a civically-minded graduate. In this study, we considered the three citizenship outcomes described by Westheimer and Kahne: personal responsibility , participatory citizenship and justice-oriented citizenship.
Soc Behav Res Pract Open J. 2018; 3(1): 10-19. doi: 10.17140/SBRPOJ-3-111