This quasi-experimental study investigates the effects of an intensive intercultural service-learning program on the intercultural competence of undergraduate students by utilizing pre- and post-course assessments of intercultural competence as measured by the cultural intelligence (Van Dyne, Koh, & Ang, 2008) and intercultural sensitivity…

Undergraduate students' reports of their service-learning course experiences and their gains from participation in those courses were investigated with a sample of 250 students at Tulane University. The students completed a survey in which they rated their service-learning courses in terms of three aspects: Value of Service, Focus on Service, and…

Recommends bringing practitioners and researchers together to strengthen future service learning research, suggesting a more empirically based approach to practice and more practical approach to research. The empirically based approach would help practitioners strengthen programs and influence the direction of research. The practice oriented…

A significant number of community service-learning projects in higher education involve the teaching or tutoring of immigrants in English. As in related service-learning scholarship, these projects are commonly informed by perspectives on cultural difference, social justice, and power relations in U.S. society. Yet while faculty pair their…

Introduces a theme issue, discussing the journal's purposes and evolution, and reviewing historical landmarks related to service learning research. Reviews the articles within this issue, discussing planned next steps, and concludes with a call for service learning research efforts to broaden the knowledge and practice bases and further expand the…

Research emphasizes the impact of service learning on college students' development. Less evidence exists of its cognitive impact. To improve academic learning quality, researchers must identify intellectual outcomes best facilitated through service learning, create measures of these outcomes to embed into instructional processes, and conduct…

Discusses reasons for the lack of research on the community dimensions of service learning, noting that community-focused research is possible. Presents a four-dimensional model for doing research with community partners on the process and outcomes of community service learning, arguing that it should emphasize the community-university partnership…

Highlights three areas of research on the relationships between college service learning and citizenship. Discusses the need to: understand relationships between different approaches to service learning and conceptions of good citizenship; connect service learning research to scholarly issues and frameworks from related disciplines; and examine…

Advocates for studies designed to promote understanding of how service learning fits with the historical traditions and norms, key concerns and perspectives, and basic assumptions of the various academic disciplines. This agenda can only be successfully addressed by enlisting the active cooperation of national and regional disciplinary and…

Discusses the need to develop a comprehensive research agenda to build knowledge about service learning assessment and refine concepts of best practice for assessment, examining: what is known about the subject; principles of good practice for service learning assessment; what knowledge is needed to develop the research agenda; and how this agenda…

Examines the interplay between service learning policy and research, noting their impact on practice. Discusses traditional roles of research in policymaking, describing an alternative approach to understanding policy. Recommends that service learning practitioners and researchers make usable knowledge available to help clarify contested concepts…

Action research is an approach to knowledge generation that can strengthen communities and institutions and is ideally suited to the advancement of academically-based service learning. Presents the history and goals of this approach to service learning, defining current challenges, providing examples from three action research projects responding…

Explores the rationale for establishing a national center for research on service learning, outlining various current issues and challenges in conducting service learning research and describing how the establishment of a national center can raise the standards and visibility of service learning research. Offers several suggestions about how the…

Little research exists on the critical role of faculty in service learning. Recommends focusing increased and immediate attention and resources on research related to: motivations and attractions of faculty to service learning; supports needed by faculty; impact or influence of service learning on faculty; satisfaction reported by faculty; and…

Examines the design of service learning research using psychologist-philosopher Ken Wilber's fourfold scheme. By interfacing Wilber's two dichotomies (interior versus exterior and individual versus group), researchers can access a comprehensive framework for conceptualizing the full range of service learning outcomes to study. Wilber's framework…