This study reports on a pilot study of a public speaking class in which problem-based learning and service-learning were combined in a freshman engagement course. The paper describes how the two elements were combined and provides assessments that used the University of California-Berkeley Service-Learning Attitudinal Survey, narrative responses…

Articles extolling service-learning's benefits and discussing ways to use the pedagogy in the form of projects with organizations in the community are on the rise in the fields of composition and business/technical writing. One educator's classroom experiences with service-learning have shown students make important educational gains in such…

A composition instructor developed a course that has moral traction, a course intended to serve as a blueprint for students, a heuristic for enlarging social consciousness and effecting social change. On the first day of class, the instructor introduces the "fundamental theme" of poverty and a schedule of assignments/activities that…

Provides an example of how engagement with a public entity is incorporated into Portland State University's undergraduate curriculum. Details the development of a science-based service learning course that combines academic rigor with a community-based experience. (EV)

This paper describes an uncommon approach to service learning. The students in a class at California State University Los Angeles are placed with experts of the political advocacy process, not with charitable nonprofits. Making use of a variety of organizations located in the greater Los Angeles region, the course offers students the opportunity…

This document describes the experiences of three teachers who jointly taught a course entitled "Our Lives in Community" using the framework of a learning community to structure the course. Included in the document are the background for creating the course, a memorandum to the dean at Prestonburg Community College proposing the course,…

This paper presents a course outline, a list of required readings, and procedures for "Narrative, Community, and Communication," an honors class at the University of Southern Mississippi. The paper explains that the course focuses on volunteer community service--the idea being to place the student in a setting of genuine need to help…