There are human and reference resources available to explore service-learning options. One of the best ways is to talk to people involved in service-learning. At the Alexandria campus, there are several people who are actively involved: Bruce Wahl (SAT), Stuart Werner (Counseling), Ahmad Noor (Business), Carmen Goodman (Community Education), and Richard Risk (Volunteer Center). Any of these people would be happy to share their experiences in creating service-learning options in courses, locate available opportunities in the community, help faculty find the appropriate place for a service-learning option in almost any course, and recruit site supervisors.
Beyond the people at NVCC, other resources concerning service-learning are readily available in both print and electronic form. There is a database of about 34 community organizations ready and willing to accept students from NVCC (collected by the Statistics II class in the Spring 1997 semester). Each organization has stated their needs, making the process of matching project to need much easier. There are also other supplemental reading materials collected at various service-learning meetings, workshops, and conferences.
In the library, there are several books which can aid faculty in incorporating service-learning into their courses. The Internet is also an invaluable resource for answering often asked questions about service-learning. Two of the most useful sites are the AACC page for service-learning (includes many good references and connections to other relevant sites on the Internet) and The Big Dummy's Guide to Service-Learning supported by Florida International University (in the form of questions and answers, it contains over 100 project ideas that faculty have used in various courses). Furthermore, if any major search engine, such as Yahoo!, is used, type in "service+learning" and hundreds of "hits" will appear. These sites contain course syllabi, professor comments, examples of student projects, and other basic information on service-learning.
References
Galura, J., Howard, J., Waterhouse, D., and Ross, R. (Eds.). (1995). Praxis III: Voices in dialogue. Ann Arbor, MI: OSCL Press.
Howard, J. (Ed.). (1993). Praxis I: A faculty casebook on community service-learning. Ann Arbor, MI: OSCL Press.
Jackson, K. (Ed.). (1994). Redesigning curricula: Models of service learning syllabi. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.
Jacoby, B. & Associates. (1996). Service-learning in higher education: Concepts and practices. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Kendall, J.C. (1990). Combining service and learning: A resource book for community and public service. Raleigh, NC: National Society for Internships and Experiential Education.
Parsons, M.H., & Lisman, C.D. (Eds.). (1996). Promoting community renewal through civic literacy and service learning. New Directions for Community Colleges, no. 93. San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass.
Silcox, H.C. (1993). A how to guide to reflection: Adding cognitive
learning to community service programs. Philadelphia, PA: Brighton
Press.
Internet Sites
Cooper, M.C. (1997). The big dummy's guide to service-learning. Florida International University. Internet. http://www.fiu.edu/~time4chg/Library/bigdummy.html
Service learning. AACC. (1997). Internet. http://www.aacc.nche.edu/servicelearning/
At the time this document was being written, there was no dedicated space for the service-learning resources. There is a need to investigate a way to create a space to integrate human and physical resources for service-learning at the Alexandria campus. For the mean time, the reference resources, such as the Community Organizations database and material gathered at service-learning conferences, are in the renovated Faculty Center, Bisdorf 331.
Finally, a list of frequently asked questions
("FAQ's") has been compiled. See below for answers to questions faculty
have asked about service-learning (some compiled by the Statistics II class
in the spring 1997 semester).
Go to