If you want your students to contribute meaningfully to society, you might consider incorporating Community Service Learning (CSL) into your course unit. 

Community Service Learning: What? 

Community Service Learning (CSL) is a learning-based teaching method that combines academic education with civic engagement in real-world environments, such as communities or organisations. The outcomes are often mutually beneficial. Active community service enables students to apply their academic knowledge practically, while also addressing the specific needs of a community or organisation. For instance, Engineering Technology students might create a tool to help someone with a disability as part of their CSL project. Community Service Learning operates on the principle that students do not learn automatically from their experiences but rather through reflection—considering their contributions to society and their personal learning journey. There are three main components of CSL: service to society, academic transfer, and critical reflection. 

CSL aims for a balance between service to society and learning. Thus, it differentiates itself from volunteer work (which focuses on providing a service to the recipient) and from work placement (which focuses on the student's learning). During CSL, a co-creation occurs between the service provider and the receiver: the receiver's needs are addressed while students have the opportunity for a profound learning experience. CSL is most effective when your course unit contains the following intended learning outcomes:

• applying knowledge and concepts in (new) situations
• analysing and questioning one's own knowledge and values
• gaining an understanding of complex social issues
• solving complex issues and coming to deliberate judgments
• collaboration and communication

CSL in Your Course Unit: Why? 

CSL adds value for students, the community, the organisation, and the university.

As a university, our mission is to prepare students for their future roles in society. Civic engagement through CLS is one way to achieve this. The CSL teaching method promotes the development of students' academic, personal, professional, and social skills. 

Academic Growth

• Students attain a deeper and more meaningful understanding by integrating and demonstrating academic knowledge and skills in a (complex) practice.

Personal Growth

• Students collaborate with people from other communities, familiarise themselves with different cultures, and reflect on their personal values. This encourages personal growth. Think, for example, of moral, spiritual, or empathic development, or learning to take on one’s personal or social responsibilities. 

Social Growth

• Students collaborate with peers, lecturers, and the organisation or community to learn from each other, analyse and solve problems, make choices, look out for connections, etc. This collaboration visualises the community's strengths and needs for students.

Professional Growth 

• CSL contributes to discipline-specific knowledge and skills while also fostering generic competencies. This concerns important professional skills such as creative thinking, leadership, collaboration, critical thinking, and problem-solving.
• Students develop a network. They will be able to depend on that network later when searching for a work placement or job.
• Students acquire practical experience.

The students' involvement and academic expertise tackle the real social needs and issues identified by the community partner. These partners then have the chance to build a network of academics and students.

Furthermore, CSL enhances our university's social profile and the societal relevance of our education. CSL showcases how a university can assist in addressing specific issues identified by (local) communities or target groups.   

CSL: Principles of Design

Step 1 - Consider how CLS might be compatible with your course unit  

Can CLS contribute to programme- or course-specific learning outcomes? Although the teaching method of CLS should fundamentally suit all academic disciplines, some course units lend themselves more easily to particular civic engagement than others. If you decide to implement CLS, spend time preparing your students for it. Develop a theoretical framework, propose socially relevant themes, and teach them how to interact with others. 

Step 2 - Look for partners, or ask the students to

Look for partners or ask the students to do so: communities and organisations with which they can collaborate. Select these partners based on the intended learning outcomes and activities. 

• Determine outlined projects in consultation with these partners, then present them to your students.
• Provide the students with an overview of potential partners, from which they can select, and have the students outline their own project collaboratively with their chosen partner. 
• Hold the students accountable for finding a partner and outlining a suitable project with them.

Provide your partners with sufficient information about the goals you want your students to achieve, the course unit, the students’ knowledge and skills, and so on. This helps you to find an ideal match between your CSL project, the course unit, and the partner’s requirements.

Step 3 - Define your reflection and assessment strategy

A critical reflection, when aligned with the course unit's activities and goals, enhances the student's learning within the CSL context. The act of reflecting connects the student's experience with the theory covered in the course unit. When designing a CSL activity, consider in advance how you will structure and assess this element of reflection. 

Ghent University Examples

The following course units utilise CSL as a teaching method. Clicking the links will take you to an index card with more details about that specific course unit. 

• Co-creation
• Community-focused Primary Health Care
• Coaching and Supervision
• Coaching and Diversity
• Orthopedagogical Coaching and Consultation
• Society and Health (mp4)
• Diversity and Inclusion
• Seminar: Social Demography and Health Sociology
• Community Service Learning: Political Sciences Seminar
• Seminar: Topical Themes from Political Sociology
  

Want to Know More?

Looking for further details on how to implement CSL in your course unit? Explore Michigan State University's Service Learning Toolkit.

Any further questions? Please contact onderwijs@ugent.be.

References

Butin, D. (2010). Service-learning in Theory and Practice: The Future of Community Engagement in Higher Education. Springer.

Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement (2015). Service Learning Toolkit: a Guide for MSU Faculty and Instructors, van https://communityengagedlearning.msu.edu/upload/toolkits/Service-Learning-Toolkit.pdf 

McIlrath, L., Aramburuzabala, P., & Opazo, H. (2019). Europe Engage: Developing a Culture of Civic Engagement through Service Learning within Higher Education in Europe. Embedding Service Learning in European Higher Education: Developing a Culture of Civic Engagement, 69-80.

Taylor, A., Butterwick, S. J., Raykov, M., Glick, S., Peikazadi, N., & Mehrabi, S. (2015). Community Service-Learning in Canadian Higher Education. https://dx.doi.org/10.14288/1.0226035

Tijsma, G., Hilverda, F., Scheffelaar, A., Alders, S., Schoonmade, L., Blignaut, N., & Zweekhorst, M. (2020). Becoming Productive 21st-century Citizens: A Systematic Review Uncovering Design Principles for Integrating Community Service Learning into Higher Education Courses. Educational Research, 62(4), 390-413.

Wade, R. C. (Ed.). (1997). Community Service Learning: A Guide to Including Service in the Public School Curriculum. SUNY Press.