Service Learning and Education
What is Service Learning?
"Service-learning means a method under which students learn and
develop through thoughtfully-organized service that: is conducted in and
meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an institution
of higher education, and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility;
is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students
enrolled; and includes structured time for students to reflect on the
service experience."
- American Association for Higher Education
The University's take on Service Learning
A major purpose of a liberal education is to prepare students for citizenship.
We do this in part by linking student engagement with classroom experiences.
A liberal education is one that helps students cultivate an attitude -
intellectual and social -that is at once playful and responsible. It is
playful in its willingness to play with ideas, to imagine different worlds,
and to resist habits of thought; responsible in its fundamental worldly
connections.
That is why connecting our students to society through public engagement
is so important. For example over a two semester period, students in an
architectural design studio undertook a challenge to design a low-cost
yet energy efficient home for the Habitat for Humanity. The driving force
for creating this unique home was a complex set of values and choices
rooted in civic responsibility to make homes affordable (for low income
families) and yet use sufficiently sophisticated technology to ensure
energy conservation. Students also participated in building the house
and now engineering students are monitoring the energy consumption compared
to conventionally built Habitat homes. Through this project the students
were able to be creative and "playful" while at the same time
expressing their sense of responsibility that will be critical in their
work-a-day lives. < http://brc.arch.uiuc.edu/Habitat/project.htm>
Nancy Cantor
Chancellor
University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign
University Service Learning Opportunities:
Including classroom and residential service opportunities.
Resources/Links: Including
links on service learning and issues in service.
Copyright 2002 Office of Volunteer Programs.
Send comments to ovp@uiuc.edu | 
