Digital media play an increasingly dominant role in reinforcing and challenging power inequality in social and institutional relationships. This paper describes how a service-learning component engaged students in community-based interactions that not only deepened their understanding of course content but also increased their commitment to…

This chapter explores elements that should be included in a service learning style internship program in urban community colleges. It provides theoretical background and descriptions of best practices for forming community partnerships, collaboratively developing learning outcomes, and aligning program design with institutional general education…

A growing body of research has found community service learning to have a positive effect upon participating college students' civic development; however, far less scholarship has considered the impact of particular components of a community service learning program. This article presents two preliminary but promising strategies for enhancing the…

Lauded as a rewarding pedagogical approach, community-engagement can be time-consuming, resource-intensive, and difficult for instructors to manage for effective student learning outcomes. Collaborative teaching can allow instructors working in the same classroom to draw from each others' expertise and share resources. In this essay, we propose a…

Poverty has caused enormous pressures and urgent needs in the city of Fresno. In an effort to incorporate a deep awareness of social, cultural, and environmental needs of the Fresno area in engineering and design education, a pilot design-build program entitled Eco-village at California State University, Fresno, has been established. Students from…

The Downtown Education Collaborative (DEC) is an innovative collaborative which includes public and private colleges working with community organizations in interdisciplinary community service learning. This article reviews DEC's development, from its inception as a shared vision aspired to by its partners, to a functioning collaborative. We…

At a time when the OECD (2007) is advocating more local engagement for higher education institutions, this study looks at a number of community initiatives in Australia where local universities have played a key role. All were studied as part of the PASCAL Universities and Regional Engagement (PURE) project, which involves a total of 19 regions…

Tennessee State University has a rich history of public service and civic engagement--thus the motto "Think, Work, Serve." Founded in 1912, Tennessee State University has grown dramatically from a small college to two campuses. We actively engage in adhering to the cornerstone of the land-grant universities: teaching, research, and outreach. Our…

This article offers a case study of a graduate class in communication research methods with a service-learning approach. Students were engaged in evaluating the public information campaign of a nonprofit organization exposing human rights abuses in US prisons. They gained hands-on experience in the use of a variety of basic research methods and…

C. Wright Mills would be a friendly critic of service learning, acknowledging its benefits for providing students with experiential learning opportunities to connect personal troubles with social issues. Yet he would be critical of service-learning practices that perpetuate institutional power inequalities and that do not advance the social change…

Schools are facing major problems today that are only marginally addressed by most reform initiatives or by standards-based federal and state legislation. New and different strategies are required if schools are to adequately serve their students and communities. This article demonstrates that service-learning is one dynamic way to promote school…