SERVICELEARNING at University of San Francisco

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SERVICE-LEARNING at University of San Francisco

• Star Plaxton
• Assistant Director
• Office of Service-Learning and Community Action
• JNEEHN, Spring 2007

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SL at USF

• Undergraduate requirement
• Required service connected to course content
• Meets community-identified need
• Reflection
• Assessment

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Office of Service-Learning and Community Action

• Faculty Seminar
• Community Partner Seminar
• ACE Program
• Workshops
• SL Orientation for New Students

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Why Service-Learning?

• Builds connections between student and community
• Honors role of student experience in construction
  of knowledge
• Cultivates cultural competency
• Lessens perception of town and gown separation

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Building Connections

• Interact and identify with a variety cultural
  groups
• Develop sense of responsibility to local
  community
• Discover local resources and services
• Engage with like-minded peers in service
• Experience personal efficacy through service

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Honoring Individual Experience

• Allows students to construct knowledge based on
  their life experience
• Goes beyond knowledge transfer model to
  accommodate diverse learning styles
• Applies knowledge to real-world situations

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Cultivating Cultural Competency

• Addresses stereotypes and misconceptions
• Joins diverse people around common goals
• Promotes dialogue about social issues
• Recognizes diversity of community as an asset

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Lessening Town/Gown Separation

• Through participation in Service-Learning, USF is
  perceived as
• part of the community
• contributor to solutions, not problems
• accessible to local potential applicants
• resource for future community leaders

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Service-Learning at USF