Community Partners

Service Learning Handbook

Community Partners

Service Learning Handbook

WHAT IS SERVICE LEARNING?

Service Learning Defined

At MSU Denver, service learning is defined as a form of experiential learning in which students combine classroom experience with community-based service that:

Meets an identified community need,
Provides a structured opportunity for students to reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content,
Balances student goals and community goals through collaborative development of course content and service opportunity, and
Engages students in structured preparation for, participation in, and reflection on the service experience.

Characteristics Include:

An intentional “learning agenda” is structured into the experience
An effort is made to establish a reasonable balance between the students’ learning goals and the specific work an organization needs to have done
Service learning promotes academic, career, and personal development
Service learning is part of an educational program, and includes monitoring and evaluation by the faculty member teaching the course

Principles of Good Community-Campus Partnerships*

Partners have agreed upon mission, values, goals, and measurable outcomes for the partnership.
The relationship between partners is characterized by mutual trust, respect, genuineness, and commitment.
The partnership builds upon identified strengths and assets, but also addresses areas that need improvement.
The partnership balances power among partners and enables resources among partners to be shared.
There is clear, open and accessible communication between partners, making it an ongoing priority to listen to each need, develop a common language, and validate/clarify the meaning of terms.
Roles, norms, and processes for the partnership are established with the input and agreement of all partners.
There is feedback to, among, and from all stakeholders in the partnership, with the goals of continuously improving the partnership and its outcomes.
Partners share the credit for the partnership's accomplishments.
Partnerships take time to develop and evolve over time.

*FromCampus-Community Partnerships for Health, Principles of Good Practice for Combining Service and Learning. (n.d.). Retrieved July 17, 2015.

How Does Service Learning Benefit Community Based Organizations?

Students bring new perspectives to old problems
Visibility of your organization is increased on campus
Quality candidates for temporary or seasonal positions and projects
Freedom for professional staff to pursue more advanced projects
Flexible, cost‐effective work force not requiring a long‐term employer commitment
Opportunity to provide feedback to the university to shape the training of future professionals

How Does Service Learning Differ from Internships or Community Service Volunteer work?

Internships

Are structured training experiences
Usually require weekly time commitment from the interns for a semester or longer
Require specific learning objectives from each student
Primarily benefit the interns, although the organization will receive some benefit as well
May be paid or unpaid positions
Include student interns as staff
Usually are limited in number of students working for an employer/ agency

Community Service

May be one-time or on-going experiences
Primarily benefit the community or organization, although the volunteers may receive some benefit as well
Are not tied to a specific class
Generally do not require learning objectives (although reflection activities might be included to help volunteers process their experience)
May involve anywhere from 1 to 100s of students or volunteers

STEPS TO MANAGING A SERVICE LEARNING PROGRAM

Step 1: Set Expectations and Write a Plan

What does your organization hope to achieve from the program? Draft a duties or position description that clearly explains the duties students will be performing.

Questions to consider:

Where will you put the students? Do you have adequate workspace for them? Computer, phone, e-mail address if necessary? Is free parking available?

What qualifications do you want in students? Determine if you want to pre-screen students or let the instructor or students self select. If specific skills will be required, establish those expectations for skill requirements beforehand — it will help you or the instructor pre-screen the applicants and find the best candidates. Keep your expectations realistic. Students want to learn and be challenged, but they are new to their fields and are seeking opportunities to enhance their skills and experience as well as to contribute to your organization.

Who will have primary responsibility for the students? A very important part of your plan should be the assignment of a supervisor — such as a volunteer coordinator.

What will the students be doing? Be as specific as possible when determining what the students will be doing Students, like others in the process of learning, need structure so they don’t become lost, confused or bored.

Step 2: Recruit Students

Unlike internships, service learning agreements are an arrangement between community-based organizations (CBOs) and faculty teaching a service learning course. Unless you establish a different process ahead of time, placements for specific students will be arranged between the students in that faculty’s service learning class and the CBO volunteer supervisor.

Timing is everything! Faculty usually need lead time to develop relationships with the community well before the semester in which the course will be offered. Once the semester begins, students will generally contact the organization within the first 2-3 weeks. Keep in mind the semester schedule for MSU Denver:

· Spring Semester Dates: Mid-January to early May

· Summer Semester Dates: Mid-May to early August

· Fall Semester Dates: Mid-August to early December

Step 3: Accept Students

You’re making an investment: Time and money will go into this relationship. You may accept students based on your relationship with your faculty partners or you may prefer to do a face-to-face interview. Interviews are a chance to determine if the student has the level of education and skills you need. (Not all agencies wish to interview scores of students for service learning; that will depend on your needs.)

Will the student(s) fit into your organization’s culture? A service learning student provides an opportunity to bring diversity to your organization, so consider the benefits of potential differences in perspective from the rest of your staff. For the student, it is important to have the opportunity to find out if your organization is the right match for his or her objectives.

Step 4: Manage the Student Experience

Service learning projects can vary in amount of involvement and length of time that students are with your organization. Projects of different lengths and involvement will require different levels of management.

Orient your students to your workplace. Introduce them to co‐workers and provide a complete tour of the facility. Cover organizational structure, safety regulations, security or confidentiality policies, and acceptable dress and appearance standards. Be sure to get contact information and emergency contact information for each student.

Give your students the resources and structure they need to do the project. Develop challenging work assignments relative to the students’ abilities and academic background. Provide opportunities for increasing responsibility for students who stay on for longer commitments. Design a list of work activities and potential projects to guide the student workflow. Efforts should be taken to provide guidance in long term project goals, day-to-day responsibilities, and overflow work assignments for down times.

Keep an eye on your students. Remain accessible and schedule intentional times to meet and discuss the tasks and responsibilities. For students with longer commitments, we suggest that you meet with your students regularly to provide feedback concerning performance. During these meetings students can report on the status of projects, ask questions, and get an idea of what kind of work lies ahead.

Provide lots of feedback to your students. Make sure to address both positive observations as well as recommendations for improvement. Discuss learning objectives and goals in your meetings and make sure to monitor the successful completion of tasks.

Step 5: Evaluate the Student

Host a site visit. Your faculty partner may contact you to schedule a site visit to see how it’s going. We appreciate your partnership and the opportunity to see how students are involved at your organization.

WHAT HAPPENS IF…

Issues arise with your Student(s)?

Although uncommon, performance and/or professionalism issues may arise with your students. When a situation arises, address your concerns immediately and directly with the student. If you are unable to reach agreement, or if the student is unresponsive to suggestions, please involve the student’s faculty. Appropriate handling of performance issues can be a beneficial learning experience for students.

There is an accident?

For credit-bearing, service learning courses, MSU Denver provides coverage for Workers’ Compensation and limited liability insurance. MSU Denver does not provide coverage for paid internships or unpaid, non-credit-bearing volunteer work.

TOP RECOMMENDATIONS

- FROM COMMUNITY ORGANIZATIONS

Make advance arrangements with the Faculty teaching the class.

Ensure there is staff capacity to mentor service learning students.
Make class presentations to tell students about their programs.
Determine the organization’s role in evaluation.
Discuss definition of service learning, learning objectives, and liability/risk management issues (background checks, transportation, etc.).
Work together to develop goals and process for student cultural competency.
Agree on the criteria and process that will be used to evaluate student.
Agree on how to communicate--phone, email, or the preferred face-to-face meeting--and how often.
Limit paperwork: perhaps use a phone call interview or email response instead of forms. Determine who grades or checks that hours and duties have been completed.

Provide Supervision and feedback.

Evaluate midway and at end of the course; use the evaluations to improve course
Help students understand and reflect on social status and self-identity.
Provide feedback on student cultural competency, including student reflection writing.
Work together, with students, to handle cultural conflicts as they occur.
Communicate challenges or problems with students to faculty in a timely fashion.

Excerpted from Community Standards for Service Learning, developed by community focus groups in Madison WI - Available at http://comm-org.wisc.edu/sl/files/cs4slbrochure.pdf.

- FROM STUDENTS

Give me real work

It can’t be said too many times that students want to work and learn. They want to contribute to your organization and become discouraged if they feel they are just doing busy work or routine administrative work that should be done by paid support staff.

Please provide feedback

Remember that students are students, and they may not have the business skills and experiences that you take for granted. If your student makes an oversight, just pull him or her aside and explain how the situation should be handled in the future.

I want to be included too

Include them in the daily life of your workplace. After all, if you help them gain a broader perspective, it will help everyone involved.

Please explain

When you assign work, make sure you give a detailed explanation. While the work may seem trivial and obvious to you, it may not be obvious to someone who’s never done it before. Patience and a few extra minutes at the beginning will pay off later when your student can produce good work independently.

I want to see my supervisor, please

As newcomers, students may not speak up if they’re feeling ignored or need help, so the burden of making sure they’re okay is on the mentor. Regular times should be scheduled to meet with the student.

Be prepared for my arrival

Brief your staff of the student’s impending arrival, and help the student get started on a positive note. Also, make sure you provide the student with a clear list of roles and responsibilities, highlighting any relevant deadlines and expectations.

Appreciate me

Remember to enjoy your student! You will both benefit if you take time to appreciate the contributions made by your student.

OTHER RESOURCES

Connecting Communities with Colleges and Universities (a longer, in-depth handbook [64 pages] for those who are interested) can be downloaded at https://www.msudenver.edu/media/content/appliedlearningcenter/servicelearning/documents/Connecting%20Communities%20with%20Colleges%20and%20Universities.pdf

NEED MORE INFO?

Contact MSU Denver’s Applied Learning Center303-556-3290 |

325 Administration Building, Auraria Campus | www.msudenver.edu/appliedlearningcenter/servicelearning

Metropolitan State University of Denver | Applied Learning Center | 303-556-3290 |