Linking the Classroom with the Community


A SDSU pre-dental student teaching kids about dental hygiene. A pre-dental student teaching kids about dental hygiene.

Hands-on Experience in Community Based Service-learning

Lucy and Elvia have dreamed of being dentists since they were little girls. Now, as students in the pre-dental program at SDSU, they hope to become dentists with both professional expertise and care and compassion for their patients.

In 2004, they enrolled in their first service-learning course in the pre-dental program, Barbara Huntington's Preventive Dentistry course. As part of their course assignments, they and fellow students staff dental clinics, offering free examinations and teaching children about dental hygiene. In the process, they receive direct training from experienced dentists. Through their service-learning experiences, Lucy and Elvia have developed a better understanding of what a dental career is like.

This pre-dental class is only one of the service-learning courses offered in conjunction with the Center for Community Based Service-Learning (CCBSL). Service-learning courses are also offered in communication, accounting, women's studies, and child and family development, just to name a few. Through active participation in meaningful community service experiences, students have the opportunity to relate course content to real-world situations.

Student Learning Outcomes for CCBSL

Academic Performances

Value Cultivation

Career Opportunities

Beyond Essays and Exams

By creating opportunities for students to apply course knowledge to real-life situations, service-learning promotes the development of practical skills in addition to academic learning. Through service-learning experiences, students learn to communicate with community members with diverse backgrounds. They learn to work effectively as team members and develop their leadership skills. They learn to think critically, analyze and identify the needs of communities and then generate strategies to address those needs.

A key component of service-learning is reflection. Through journals, class presentations, and other exercises, students focus on making connections between their community experiences and course content. They gain a deeper understanding of the discipline and of important social issues. Through active reflection, students become aware of the importance of civic participation, of their own ability and responsibility to effect change in their communities.

What do students gain from CCBSL programs?

 

 

 

 

 



There are multiple methods to evaluate students' achievements. During courses, faculty might visit at field location and assess students' performance. After courses, students turn in reports or other related products reflecting what they have learned.

Service-Learning Projects

Because service-learning reaches across disciplines, service-learning projects differ from course to course and from instructor to instructor.   In the pre-dental course, students gain knowledge and training from class lectures and experienced dentists. As the semester progresses, they enter the service settings, such as orphanages, pre-schools and kindergartens, teaching children about dental hygiene and examining patients. They also learn to handle difficulties such as patients' anxiety and fear about dental procedures.

For Mark Freeman's service-learning,documentary video workshop in the Television, Film and New Media department, students contact clients, establish communication with and gain trust from them, schedule interviews, and conduct videotaping. Students also engage in personal reflection through class assignments.

Here is an example of a video produced by students from Film and New Media department.

Through service-learning projects, students demonstrate the ability to research, develop and produce a community-based video for a non-profit client to the client's satisfaction.

Although the process differs among courses, service-learning projects share the same key steps, including establishing relationships with community members, applying knowledge in community contexts, addressing community issues, reflecting on their experiences, and submitting final projects and reports.

 

Evaluating CCBSL student achievement:

Because each service-learning course is unique, the means of evaluating student achievement varies from class to class. In addition, because many of the service-learning outcomes are values-based, it can be challenging to measure achievement in those areas. However, many faculties rely on student projects, journals, and class presentations as measures of student achievement in service-learning.

Evaluating the CCBSL program:

Currently, a service-learning faculty member is developing an assessment tool to measure student learning outcomes related to service-learning. Once completed, the surveys will be distributed to students in service-learning courses at the beginning and end of service-learning courses. The surveys will measure student attitudes regarding civic responsibility, personal values, cultural awareness, course content, communication skills, critical thinking, and commitment to service. Answers of the surveys reflect students' feelings about benefits and deficiencies of service-learning courses, thus helping instructors improve the courses.

Making CCBSL better:

Once we begin using the pre- and post-course surveys, CCBSL will be able to assess more effectively our progress in meeting our goals for student learning. We are continually working to implement the best practices for service-learning that are currently in use, adapting them for our particular context.

Click here for more information about CCBSL.