The Volunteer UCF Community Connectors and Community Builders Program provides a connection between students and their community. The goal is to develop meaningful service opportunities for UCF students that contribute measurable results and systemic change through capacity building among adult learners. The ongoing, sustainable service experience…

Building on J. Dewey's (1907) original work with the laboratory school, the College of Education and Health Professions at the University of Texas-Arlington is expanding the original concept to include partners throughout a school system and the community in order to support and advance learning in multiple learning environments. The goal is to…

Service-learning has become a popular method for connecting the theory taught in undergraduate methods courses with real-world practice in the field while also promoting volunteerism. It exposes undergraduates to relevant learning experiences and provides them with an opportunity to apply their skills in the service of others who are in need. One…

The familiar advertising slogan, "Up here it's different," used to attract visitors to the rugged beauty of County Donegal, was correct in highlighting that things are different in Donegal, although not for the reasons one might connect with tourism. For many, Donegal evokes nostalgic images of old, rural Ireland such as close community…

This paper describes one effort to establish a collaborative around the issues of at-risk youth. The Annie E. Casey Foundation's New Futures Initiative was an attempt to build formal structures of collaboration among public and private organizations to address at-risk youth. Data were gathered over 5 years from the six cities in which the program…

This article applies theories of giving from philanthropic studies to enhance understanding of service-learning relationships between students and community partners. Focusing on the participation motivations, outcome expectations, and satisfaction levels of community partners who have recently completed work with service-learning students, the…

This article focuses on a model for incorporating academic service learning into a teacher preparation program intended to enable preservice teachers to develop an understanding of social justice and diversity through school and community relationships. Linked to the theme of knowledge construction, diffusion, and transformation, this article…

Objective: The purpose of this article was to examine how an initiative of 10 collaborative projects focused on children and youth have applied principles of participatory research, collaboratories, and technological solutions. Method: The study analyzed multiple forms of qualitative data, including semiannual formative evaluations and…

This paper describes the development of a new university physics course designed to integrate physics, education, research, and community partnerships. The coordinated system of activities links the new course to local community efforts in pre-college education, university education, university outreach, and research on teaching and learning. As…

A study examined how research concerning an educational innovation such as service learning can be enhanced by the involvement of practitioners. The context was the Service Learning Impact Study, a multifaceted 3-year study of the impact of the Helper Model of service learning on a target population of 1,400 middle school students for whom service…

This document contains 13 papers on advances in service-learning research. The following papers are included: "Introduction" (Andrew Furco, Shelley H. Billig); "Community Service and Service-Learning in America: The State of the Art" (Ivor Pritchard); "Is Service-Learning Really Better Than Community Service? A Study of…