Definition: Although there are different perspectives on what constitutes services learning, there are several specific criteria that must be met for an experience to be considered a service learning experience. Service learning requires a combination of meeting specific learning objectives by completing some type of community service work. It is different from other forms of experiential education in that it requires that the recipient and the provider of the service both benefit in some way and are both changed equally by the experience. These are very structured programs that require self-reflection, self-discovery along with gaining the specific values, skills, and knowledge required to fully understand the challenges that the community faces in dealing with these issues.
Oftentimes students will do a presentation on their experience to share what they learned and how it’s affected them. Oftentimes the recipient of the service will be invited to attend the presentation and may discuss the experience from their point of view. These experiences are generally closely supervised by a faculty advisor on campus and someone working at the service learning site. Service learning has been growing rapidly on campuses over the course of the last few years.
