Service learning at 抖阴pro furthers course learning objectives across the curriculum while also fostering a consciousness of social justice that promotes the common good. The service-learning experience allows for reciprocal learning in which SLU students and faculty gain wisdom and insight from the community, and the community benefits from the service that the students and faculty provide. Guided reflection allows faculty and students to integrate the service experience with the academic content of the course and the Ignatian mission of the University.
Why Service Learning?
As a Jesuit institution, 抖阴pro puts a great deal of emphasis on service to the community. Last year, students, faculty and staff performed over one million hours of service work to the greater St. Louis community. Service learning lends itself to the goal of becoming men and women for others in many ways:
- Enhancing your learning by empowering you to use the skills and knowledge learned in the classroom to be of service to others.
- Assisting community organizations in meeting their needs, while at the same time allowing them to act as a "co-teacher." They become community partners and are vital collaborators in the learning process.
- Enabling faculty to provide meaningful learning experiences inside and outside the classroom.
If you are unsure where to begin, our staff is here to help. Contact us regarding the details of what you are looking for and a member of our staff will guide you through the various opportunities available with our community partners.
Your professor may require that you keep track of your service hours for your course. This form contains your course and community partner information, as well as the number of hours you completed with dates and times. The form needs to be signed by the community partner.
Download a Service Learning Course Hours Form
Frequently Asked Questions
In addition to lectures and the normal texts for the class, your service experience is also part of the academic experience. The specifics of your service-learning experience will be communicated in your course syllabus.
SLU鈥檚 Center for Social Action has a community partners database that includes hundreds of agencies willing to work with students in service learning courses. Your professor may also already have sites that will correlate with your course. Your service experience could be anything from working with children to helping an organization with a marketing or public relations strategy to researching and writing reports for an agency to further its mission.
For Faculty
If you are a faculty member who would like to integrate community service into your existing curriculum or are developing the framework for a new service-learning course, the Center for Social Action is available to consult with you on syllabi development, and can connect you with a range of academic resources.
Resources for Integrating Service into Your Curriculum
For Community Partners
Every semester, our faculty teach 80-100 different service-learning courses. By enrolling in those courses, students will serve hundreds of agencies in St. Louis. The partnerships created through these efforts are helping to strengthen urban communities across the St. Louis region.
The Center for Social Action administers a survey to local agencies in order to discover the level of interest in forming a partnership with 抖阴pro. It also provides valuable information about what areas the organizations would like assistance in. If you are a community organization interested in forming a service-learning partnership with 抖阴pro, please take a few moments and fill out the .
Sometimes the differences between a service learner and a regular volunteer are unclear. The important thing to remember is that service learning, while providing an avenue to perform community service with your agency, also places an equal amount of emphasis on academic objectives. The students' experiences with your organization will be the "course text," and they will relate their experiences to what they are studying in class.
When you become a community partner with 抖阴pro's Center for Social Action, you are our partner in the education of our students. It is designed to be a true collaboration, in that you are providing the student with a hands-on learning experience. Without you as our partner, the program would not work, so thank you in advance for all your effort and hard work.
What Does Service-Learning Require?
- Designate someone from your agency as the contact person for students.
- Provide meaningful service experiences, either directly with the clients you serve, or indirectly "behind the scenes."
- Give a basic orientation to all of the students who will be working for you.
- Provide basic supervision for the students.
- Be accessible to answer questions from students or faculty that pertain to the service-learning experience.
- Maintain strong, open lines of communication.
Frequently Asked Questions
The students' schedules vary greatly but are generally flexible and can often adapt to your needs. During the fall semester, expect the students to begin working around mid-September through the end of November. During the spring semester, students will be typically available from late January through the end of April.
Your expectations will be explained to you before the service begins, either by the course professor or by one of the Center for Service and Community Engagement staff members.