This article describes a two-credit critical service-learning course at the University of Minnesota and its evolution to utilize both the Social Change Model and Social Action, Leadership, and Transformation models in complementary ways to support student leadership development.

Critical service learning, as outlined by Mitchell (2008), highlights the importance of shifting from the charity- and project-based model to a social-change model of service learning. Her call for greater attention to social change, redistribution of power, the development of authentic relationships, and, more recently with Latta (2020), futurity…

With the continued growth in online education, higher education institutions have moved community engagement further into virtual spaces through e-service learning courses (Faulconer, 2021). These courses have a history of being client-based, rather than critical or transformational (Strait & Nordyke, 2015). I argue that this conception of…

In this article we discuss the lived, embodied experience of home-making in relation to identity and belonging through the example of a service-learning project conducted during the COVID-19 pandemic in a higher education setting in London, UK. We also explore the notion of belonging-not-belonging as a cultural, material and embodied construct,…

Background: Service-learning is a pedagogical approach to teaching designed to create space for students to reflect critically on community service within an academic course of study with the aim of developing socially minded and actively engaged citizens. Purpose: As service-learning has moved away from the margins of educational practice, its…

Service-learning is defined and applied in myriad ways across the world. While the roots of this pedagogy lie in the well-intentioned acts of addressing unmet social needs and, in general, helping people, this has not always been the outcome of the interactions. In many cases, engaging in service-learning has led to harmful reproductions of…

This article examines how a particular set of critical pedagogical strategies was used in a critical service-learning course to shift student perspectives and serve community partners. A self-study of a critical service-learning course that asked university students at a predominantly White institution to serve in urban schools was performed to…

The Chicago Center for Urban Life and Culture is a non-profit organization that has been developing place-based education models since it was established in 1970. Situated in an urban environment, the Chicago Center operates at the intersection of higher education and place-based education with a pedagogical approach that centers and elevates…

Background/Context: A number of states across the United States are seeking to implement school redesign efforts to support greater equity and to empower youth. Because these initiatives require teachers to implement strategies they typically have not experienced as learners, there is a need for models to prepare them to enact these innovations.…

Initial teacher education programs regularly engage students in service-learning programs, providing an additional pathway to personal, professional and pedagogical transformation in their learning journey. One of those pathways is through service-learning placements in community arts projects. This paper reports on a study of arts-based…

In this paper we are concerned with the ways in which hosts are often excluded from scholarship and programming of global service learning. By global service learning (GSL), we mean a multiplicity of programs that occur facilitating service work for people across borders, generally with volunteers moving from the North to the South. We present…

The COVID-19 pandemic--coupled with ongoing prominent injustice related to race, poverty, healthcare, and education--has highlighted the interlocking and reinforcing nature of systemic oppression. Now more than ever, facilitators of experiential learning are galvanized to explore and deepen their understanding of systemic change and to enhance…

The impact of the COVID-19 pandemic on all levels of education has been well documented. In this article, the authors drew on self-study methodology to explore how one member of the research team applied principles of democratic pedagogy in response to COVID-19 enforced changes to a service-learning course in a three-year undergraduate degree. The…

This study centers BIPOC (Black, Indigenous, People of Color) students' experiences in service-learning courses at a predominantly White college. Researchers conducted eight semi-structured interviews using qualitative case study methods and analyzed the data through a critical consciousness framework. Data illuminated tensions in predominantly…

Background: Research demonstrating the positive outcomes of service learning among university students is robust and some describe the impact as transformative. Purpose: To help me better understand how I can support transformative learning in my classroom, this study explored how an intergenerational critical service learning project fostered…