The concept of and approach to service-learning across higher education has changed dramatically over the last two and a half decades. Historically, one of the primary goals of service-learning was to prepare undergraduate students to become engaged citizens and to introduce them to the challenges experienced by individuals from marginalized or…

This article provides a description of service learning implemented in an introductory special education course focused on the culture of disability. Collaborating with liaisons from five community service organizations, students provided services to individuals with disabilities in a variety of projects across two semesters. Communication and…

According to social scientists Herfried Munkler in Germany and Colin Crouch in England, major developments in Western industrial societies--individualism, increasing social complexity, globalisation--present serious threats to basic requirements of stable societies and expose democracy to the corrosion of its socio-moral resources such as social…

Students making the transition into college typically come face to face with increased independence and decreased external structure. This may be especially problematic for students with learning disabilities who may be less capable of managing in times of change than others. The outcome is often chronic procrastination, absenteeism, and…

This article describes the opportunities and challenges encountered in the service-learning adaptation of an early childhood primary prevention program through the University of Southern Maine's Lewiston Auburn College. In the face of economic and social challenges confronted by many communities, service-learning models are proposed as essential…

This article describes a model of civic engagement based on four key community organizing practices, created at Occidental College and implemented since 2001. The foundations of this model do not include confrontation, mass mobilization, or demonstrations--tactics commonly associated with the term community organizing. This model, instead,…

For over a decade, Jobs for the Future has worked with school districts committed to help high schoolers make the transition to adulthood. Key program principles include rigor and relevance, community-connected learning, small learning communities, and safe passage to adulthood. A program in North Clackamas, Oregon, is described. (MLH)

Describes the evolution of DePaul University's (Illinois) efforts to build ties with its surrounding community through service learning and a week-long freshman immersion in issues related to Chicago. The institution's own history is chronicled briefly, and some of the inherent difficulties in establishing and sustaining meaningful community-based…

Describes an effort to institutionalize service learning within the academic departments of the University of Utah. A community service center at the university, through its faculty advisory committee, developed campus-wide support for incorporating service learning into the core offerings of 14 academic units. Models developed by the academic…

Hudson, Massachusetts, an industry-based, socioeconomically diverse community with 2,800 students in six schools, developed a comprehensive preK-12 service-learning program. Parent support, ongoing professional development, curriculum planning time, administrative support, and sustained funding have helped the program achieve districtwide…