Service-Learning in Online Courses

Minnesota Campus Compact Webinar: February 9, 2010

How are faculty currently using s-l online?

• Multiple Pathways for integration

– Individual students create an action and implementation plan with a local community partner

– Instructor and community partner joint plan for all students in the same course

Pathway 1- Individual partnership

• Students investigate course content and make personal linkage to local community partner

– Link course skills to community need– Create an individualized action plan and log– Create measurements to see effectiveness

Benefits of model 1

• Students have to link the content to the community

• Multiple issues are addressed

• Multiple communities have impact

Challenges

• With 30-40 students in a class, how can a faculty member keep track of 30-40 community partners?

• Does the community partner have access to the course, instructor, and university providing the course?

Potential Solutions

• Consider assigning students to work in small group teams of 5-6 with a community partner

• Have an area on the on-line course structure where community partners can meet/discuss with each other and the instructor

At the University Level…

• Work with your CBL office when planning

• Survey students to determine previous experience with s-l/CBL

Pathway 2: Faculty and Community design

• Faculty and community partner match course content with the community partner need

– All students work with ONE community site

– Students may work on different projects or needs at the same site

Benefits

• Instructor and community partner offer similar experience for all students in a course.

• Larger group of students can have a greater impact on one community partner vs. “drive-by” with multiple sites.

Challenges

• With distance learning, it is very difficult to have students in the same geographic location with one community partner.

• Like f-t-f service learning, 30-40 students will overwhelm a community partner.

What types of service are students engaging in?

• Early on (2003) models used separate place-based volunteering at individual community partner sites.

• Later models (2006) began using the community-based research model. – Here, students, instructors and community partners co-

create both the experience and assessment measures

My examples

• Bemidji State University—students chose individual partners and plan—most students were spread throughout the state of Minnesota.

• Hamline—students worked with one community partner—most students were local commuters

Current Model—Hamline UniversityEach One, Teach One

• LEAD based not course based• Goal: Keep middle school students IN school• Hamline students work with New Orleans middle

school students on-line for an academic year.• Hamline students travel to New Orleans for face-to-

face work 2-3 times per year and stay in the project for 2-3 years on average.

What opportunities could online s-l create?

• International

• Rural

• Areas without an institution of Higher ed.

What are the next steps for online s-l?

• Tools– Cell phones– Twitter– blue tooth– Holograms??

What are the next steps for online s-l?

• Building capacity– Experiment with variations on current models– Collective group to gather and disseminate research– Mentoring teams to create new models, research, and

tiered levels of service-learning.

What are the next steps for online s-l?

• Sharing resources across institutions/community partners

• Sharing resources within stakeholder groups– MCC– AACU– NYLC

What are the next steps for online s-l?

• What do you think the next steps are or should be?

• Where’s the research evidence for effective online

service-learning?

• How can online service-learning create transformational change in the community?