Draws from self-descriptions of national and community service organizations, and from service-learning history and literature, to reveal and examine underlying metaphors of service. Then describes and develops purposeful metaphors for service, which can be used to clarify service-learning's multiple meanings and facilitate reflective learning.…

Examines service learning as a bridge between practical courses such as professional communication, which are linked to the market economy, and the ideal of public service. Explores the charge of "vocationalism" regarding service learning and describes a partnership with a non-profit organization over several semesters that illustrates…

This multi-site study of candidates in programs in the National Service Learning in Teacher Education Partnership measured gains in participants' teaching efficacy, commitment to teaching, service ethic of teaching, and acceptance of diversity, as well as their intent to personally engage in community service and use service learning in their own…

Explores "service" as a continuum from charity to social change, and describes implications for service-learning in higher education. Based on a review of alternative theories, a student survey (n=83), and interviews with five practitioners, argues that there exist related but distinct community service models (charity, project, social change),…

Students (n=327) participating in an undergraduate community service learning course were surveyed at the beginning and end of a semester concerning their sense of power to impact the world. Contrary to expectation, they reported a lesser sense of power following the experience, with the effect strongest for particular students and settings,…

John Dewey's writing is explicit concerning the moral responsibilities of education in democracy. These moral dimensions provide a framework for identifying characteristics of good undergraduate education consistent with recent reports and the pedagogy of service learning. Articulation of these characteristics supports the value of service…

Responds to the argument that service-learning must be supported by a theory of knowledge--antifoundational pragmatism--holding that this characterization of the pragmatist model retains the dualism seen as a fault of traditional epistemology. Suggests a remedy, and then extends the original argument by setting more restrictive limits on the range…

Every college or university must understand its academic priorities, including the role of service as an aspect of its mission, and must set clear goals for a level of commitment that matches those priorities. A matrix that links organizational factors to service commitment levels is proposed as one possible approach to setting institutional…

Argues that service-learning practitioners have much to learn from previous struggles within higher education, particularly the history of extension programs during the progressive era (1908 to 1910). In view of this history, it is proposed that service-learning programs will have a difficult time in their current efforts to convert universities…

Identifies five specific areas in which John Dewey's writings contribute to service-learning: linking education to experience; democratic community; social service; reflective inquiry; and education for social transformation. Argues that these contributions form the basis of a cultural and political critique and reconceptualized pedagogy aimed at…

Faculty development in the pedagogy of service-learning is essential to the knowledgeable and sustained implementation of combined community service and academic study. A semester-long faculty-development seminar at Eastern Michigan University using small group interaction is described. The program achieved both cognitive and affective gains and a…

Providence College (Rhode Island) has institutionalized service-learning into its liberal arts curriculum by creating an academic degree program in Public and Community Service Studies. The Feinstein Institute for Public Service administers this new major and minor, using the program as a catalyst for promoting service-learning throughout the…

Relates Carol Gilligan's two perspectives on moral reasoning (care and justice) to discussions in service learning circles concerning the relationship between charity and social change as orientations of service and service-learning and to the nature of "self." The discussion informs the questions of what constitutes "mature"…

Describes and critiques the theory of knowledge that undergirds conventional pedagogy in higher education. Pragmatism is suggested as an alternative epistemology to illuminate the contextual nature of knowledge and affirm community, diversity, and engagement as pedagogical virtues. Comments on the significance and limitations of philosophical…

Discusses indirect service-learning, in which students do not participate directly in fieldwork but learn about some sector of the community through their teacher's research and/or community service, and use knowledge acquired through the course to create a service or product meeting community need. Argues that this approach improves student…