Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
Fall 1997, pp. 5-15
The Impact of Service-Learning on College Students
Janet Eyler, Dwight E. Giles, Jr. and John Braxton
Vanderbilt University
While service-learning programs have become popular on college campuses across the country, there
has been relatively little empirical data about their effects on students. The Comparing Models of
Service-Learning research project has gathered data from over 1500 students at 20 colleges and universities to attempt to answer some of the pressing questions about the value added to students by combining community service and academic study. The study has found that students who choose servicelearning differ from those who do not in the target attitudes, skills, values and understanding about
social issues. And participation in service-learning has an impact on these outcomes over the course of
a semester
Introduction
"Service, combined with learning, adds value to
each and transforms both" (Honnet and Poulsen,
1989). This quote captures the core of widely held
practitioner belief about what is unique in servicelearning, i.e. programs which combine community
service with study of particular subject matter.
Learning improves the quality of service today and
more importantly helps sustain it throughout a citizen's life by developing attitudes toward community and a commitment to making a difference.
Service transforms learning, changing inert knowledge to knowledge and skills that students can use
in their communities. And this practitioner wisdom
about effective learning is consistent with a long
tradition of experiential learning theory from
Dewey to modem cognitive scientists. Addressing
authentic problems in the field and bringing critical
analysis to bear encourages students to generate
and answer real questions and helps them develop
a nuanced understanding of issues in situational
context. (Giles & Eyler, 1994)
This belief has led to a virtual explosion of postsecondary service-learning programs (O'Brien,
1993). While the political support on campuses for
such programs has grown, there is very little empirical research to go along with the social and theoretical justifications for service-learning, and what
research there is has been mixed (Giles & Eyler, in
press).
On many campuses there is debate about
whether community service should be co-curricu
lar or part of the curriculum. Some are requiring or
considering requiring community service or are
incorporating service activities into their student
orientation. There is a growing demand for
research information about the impact of service on
students to assist decision-making. This national
comparative study is among the first to focus on
filling the most critical gaps in the research literature, identified by practitioners and researchers in
the 1991 Wingspread Conference - Setting the
Agenda for Effective Research in Combining
Service and Learning in the 1990s (Giles, Honnet,
& Migliore, 1991).
Here we will address two critical issues for practitioners attempting to decide if service-learning
should be included in the college curriculum. First,
we examine whether students who choose servicelearning differ from those who do not in their attitudes, skills, perceptions and values. And second,
we determine what impact service-learning has on
those outcomes over the course of a semester.
The Project
The Comparing Models of Service-learning project is a national study of the impact of servicelearning programs on students' citizenship values,
skills, attitudes and understanding. The data discussed here were gathered from over 1500 students
at 20 colleges and universities during the spring of
1995; students completed surveys at the beginning
and end of their service-learning experience.
Colleges were selected which had a variety of service-learning activities and to represent different
