Service-Learning Essentials: Questions, Answers, and Lessons Learned

Preface

It was a beautiful morning on a rolling green campus of a regional Midwestern university. As faculty members arrived for the 9:00 a.m. workshop on service-learning course design, I asked them, as I always do, to jot down on Post-it Notes their reasons for coming to the workshop and their most important questions about service-learning. I looked over the questions while members of the university's technology services staff set up the podium and projector. I was not surprised to see familiar questions such as: “How is service-learning different from internships?” “Could it work in my discipline?” and “How do I get started?” Those who have some experience with service-learning wondered, “How can I develop sustained community partnerships?” ...