Community Service and ServiceLearning at The Ohio State University

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Community Service and Service-Learning at The
Ohio State University

• AmeriCorpsVISTA
• White Paper Presentation
• June 24, 2005

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What is VISTA?

• One of many national volunteer programs under the
  umbrella of AmeriCorps
• The oldest national service program, created in
  1964
• Members participate in indirect service, working
  to build resources and capacities for
  organizations (e.g., recruiting volunteers).
• http//www.americorps.org/vista/index.html

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What is Ohio Campus Compact?

• OCC is an organization dedicated to promoting
  community and public service on college campuses.
• There are 46 member campuses throughout Ohio,
  including The Ohio State University.
• http//www.ohiok-16service.org/occ/occabout.cfm

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The Goals of OCC

• To improve, expand, or begin community service
  programs at member campuses.
• To develop service projects that explore the root
  causes of community problems and have a
  significant impact on their solution.
• To integrate service and academic study.
• To advance knowledge about effective community
  service programs through symposia, workshops,
  conference, and meetings.
• To build public awareness of the value of student
  contributions to their communities.
• To leverage funding for mini-grant programs from
  government sources and from corporate and private
  foundations.

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What is an OCC VISTA?

• The Ohio Campus Compact VISTA program was started
  in 1998 with 6 VISTAs.
• Currently there are 22 VISTAs on 20 different
  member campuses.
• http//www.ohiok-16service.org/occ/occvista.cfm

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OCC VISTA Goals

• Integrate service into faculty instruction and
  students studies, making community service and
  service-learning a valued element of the
  undergraduate experience.
• Enhance students responsibility, citizenship,
  and awareness of the community while
  reinvigorating higher educations concern for
  improving the quality of life in society.
• Strengthen the impact of that service on the
  welfare of communities and the education of
  students in institutions of higher education.

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Project Community

• Provides direct service opportunities for OSU
  students.
• Provides outreach to student organizations.
• Provides large-scale service programs.
• Develops respectful and sustainable relationships
  with community agencies.
• http//ohiounion.osu.edu/studentorgs/leadership_se
  rvice.asp

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VISTA and Project Community

• Community Commitment
• Make a Difference Day
• The Weinland Park Spring Clean-Up
• Alternative Spring Break and the Civil Rights
  Tour
• Non-Profit Job and Internship Fair
• EDPL 271 Leadership and Community Service

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The Presentation

• Overview of the research
• Application of the research to Project Community
• Application of the research to the University
• Discussion

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Overview of the Research

• Community service as involvement
• Motivations and barriers to service
• Positive outcomes of service participation
• Components of high-impact service programs
• The Dark Side of service
• Student development through service

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Involvement

• Student involvement refers to the amount of
  physical and psychological energy that the
  student devotes to the academic experience. The
  greater the students involvement in college, the
  greater will be the amount of student learning
  and personal development.
• - Alexander Astin, 1999

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Volunteer Motivation

• Opportunity to meet other people
• Being involved in a club or class
• Sense of satisfaction from helping others
• Duty to correct social problems
• Desire to acquire career skills and experience
• See Winniford, Carpenter Grinder (1997) Sax
  Astin (1997) Prichard (2001) Astin (1999)
  Jones Hill(2003) Marks Jones (2004)

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Barriers to Involvement

• New demands on students time
• Difficulty locating organizations or departments
  through which they can be involved
• Being left on their own to find service
  placements
• Lack of follow-up on the part of community
  agencies, student organizations, or volunteer
  programs
• Mismatch between volunteer motivations and
  volunteer programs
• See Jones Hill (2003) Sax Astin (1997)
  Marks Jones (2004)

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Outcomes

• Civic Responsibility
• Academic Outcomes
• Life Skills
• Real World Value
• Long-Term Impacts
• See Sax Astin (1997) Neururer Rhoads (1998)
  Myers-Lipton (1996) Astin, Sax Avalos (1999)

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Civic Responsibility

• Stronger commitment to serving the community
• Increased likelihood to plan to do volunteer work
  the next term
• Strengthened commitment to promoting racial
  understanding, participating in community action
  programs, and influencing social values (Sax
  Astin, 1977 28).

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Academic Outcomes

• Small increase in GPA
• More faculty interactions
• Doing extra work for classes
• Less decline in aspirations for pursuing a
  graduate degree

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Life Skills

• Greater understanding of community problems
• Knowledge and acceptance of different races and
  cultures
• Interpersonal skills
• Ability to work cooperatively
• Conflict resolution
• Critical thinking

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Real World Value

• Opportunity to develop leadership skills
• Preparation for future career
• Increase self-confidence

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Long-Term Impacts

• Lifelong commitment to volunteering and/or
  activism
• Commitment to promoting racial understanding
• Increased likelihood of donating money to their
  undergraduate university
• Increased likelihood of pursuing a graduate degree

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Components of Service-Learning

• Placement Quality
• Community Voice
• Diversity
• Depth and Meaningfulness

• Reflection
• Peer Interaction
• Student Voice

Not all service is created equal.
See Eyler Giles (1999) Jones Abes (2004)
Neururer Rhoads (1998) Berger Milem (2002)
Jones Hill (2003) Marks Jones (2004)
McCarthy (1996) Rhoads (1997) Scheuermann
(1996) Fisher Wilson (2003)
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Placement Quality

• The extent to which students in their community
  placements are challenged, are active rather than
  observers, do a variety of tasks, feel that they
  are making a positive contribution, have
  important levels of responsibility, and receive
  input and appreciation from supervisors in the
  field (Eyler Giles, 1999 170)

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Community Voice

• The extent to which the service being provided
  meets needs identified by members of the
  community (Eyler Giles, 1999 178)

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Diversity

• The extent to which students are able to
  interact with those different from themselves.

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Depth and Meaningfulness

• Depth the amount of time and effort that
  students put into the service experience.
• Meaningfulness the ability of students to
  understand the larger social context of their
  service and to see the impact of their actions.

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Reflection

• Reflection is being able to step back and be
  thoughtful about experience to monitor ones
  own reactions and thinking process (Eyler
  Giles, 1999 171).

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Peer Interaction

• The extent to which service activities give
  students an opportunity to meet and work with
  other students.

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Student Voice

• Just as service-learning practitioners have
  recognized the propensity of campuses to do
  unto community partners through relationships
  built on unhealthy power imbalances,
  practitioners are too often prone to act upon
  students and regard them as less knowledgeable,
  less able, less worthy of trust in the context of
  service-learning partnerships (Fisher Wilson,
  1996 86).

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The Dark Side of Service

• Victim-blaming
• Feelings of powerlessness and frustration
• Reinforcement of stereotypes and prejudices
• Its true that we can learn from experience. We
  may also learn nothing. Or we may, like Mark
  Twains cat who learned from sitting on a hot
  stove lid never to sit again, learn the wrong
  lesson (Conrad Heddin, 1990 87-88).
• See Hollis (2002) Miller (1997) Neururer
  Rhoads (1998) Perreault (19997) Rhoads (1998)

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Student Development

• Service-Learning Model of Development
• (Delve, Mintz Stewart, 1990)
• Phase 1 Exploration
• Phase 2 Clarification
• Phase 3 Realization
• Phase 4 Activation
• Phase 5 Internalization

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Cocurricular Service-Learning

• Service-learning is a form of experiential
  education in which students engage in activities
  that address human and community needs together
  with structured opportunities intentionally
  designed to promote student learning and
  development. Reflection and reciprocity are key
  concepts of service-learning (Jacoby, 1996 5).

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Benefits of Cocurricular Service-Learning

• Stronger positive outcomes than generic community
  service (i.e., Hollis (2002) Myers-Lipton
  (1996) Denson, Vogelgesang Saens (2005)
  Vogelgesang Astin (2000))
• Minimizes or eliminates potential negative
  outcomes
• Provides a wide variety of service-learning
  opportunities for students at all phases of
  development
• Provides an opportunity for students in
  service-learning courses to continue to engage in
  and benefit from service-learning after their
  course is over
• Increases support for curricular service-learning
• Increases support for cocurricular service
  programs

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Application of the Research Project Community
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1. Create opportunities for students to
be involved in ongoing, cocurricular
service- learning through a structured program.
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2. Turn one-day service projects into
service- learning opportunities.
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3. Continue developing Alternative Spring Break
as a service- learning program.
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4. Improve support for students who use
Community Connection as a tool for getting
involved in service.
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5. Develop issue-based marketing materials to
get students involved in service.
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6. Promote an ethic of student leadership
within service-learning programs.
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Application of the Research The University
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Integrated Model of Service-Learning
Infrastructure

• Partnerships on and off campus
• Shared responsibility for service-learning
  throughout the University
• Gateways through which students can become
  involved in service
• Concentration of key players
• See Pigza Troppe (2003)

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Benefits of the Integrated Model

• Service-learning becomes more central to the
  day-to-day operations of the university
• Ability to reach more students through a variety
  of university and community entities
• Adaptable to changes in leadership, funding, etc.
  within any one unit
• Provides a cohesiveness to service efforts that
  reduces duplication and allows for easier access
  by students and community members

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Creating a Concentration of Key Players

• Create a service hub at the University that
  includes university and community partners.
• Each partner retains their own identity and
  programs.
• The hub acts as a one-stop-shop for students
  looking to get involved in service.
• Each partner is familiar with other programs, and
  would be able to provide appropriate referrals to
  students interested in expanding and developing
  their involvement.
• Students have central leadership roles, including
  developing the hub, recruiting volunteers, and
  matching students with service placements.

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Questions?