Osborne, Hammerich and Hensley
service-learning experiences that are most likely to
achieve those intended outcomes. Such was the case
with this course. The instructor considered the outcomes valued by the accrediting body, considered
those outcomes in light of what she felt a one-semester communications course could accomplish, and
worked with community-based placements to provide
practical experiences relevant to those outcomes.
The data in this study suggests that this combination of factors promoted significant positive changes
in service-learning students in comparison to their
non-service-learning counterparts. We believe that
the systematic design of this service-learning course
and the assessment procedures is a model applicable
to a research study in any discipline or course. We
strongly advocate that careful forethought can significantly enhance the likelihood that service-learning will lead to the outcomes a faculty person
intends when opting to employ this pedagogy.
Finally future research should systematically assess
the effect of all aspects of the service-learning experience (i.e., number of hours of service, type of reflection activities, etc.), document the menu of options
available for use in service-learning, and determine
the myriad of outcomes associated with each.
Notes
This research was funded in part by Service-Learning
Faculty Fellowship grants from the National Corporation
for Service subgranted through Indiana Campus Compact
to the first and second authors.
The authors wish to thank Indiana University East,
Butler University and Indiana Campus Compact for the
use of facilities and resources. In addition, we wish to
thank Bob Bringle, Cathy Ludlum Foos, and Brian
Hiltunen for their assistance with our professional development in the area of service-learning, Jennifer Kinnaman, Nancy Smith, and Marilyn Gabbard for their assistance as raters, and Diane Osborne for her invaluable
assistance in editing and enhancing the technical quality of
this manuscript.
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