Problematizing Service-Learning

Problematizing Service-Learning
Author: Trae Stewart
Publisher: IAP
Total Pages: 383
Release: 2010-12-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 161735211X

Interest in and research on civic engagement and service-learning have increased exponentially. In this rapid growth, efforts have been made to institutionalize pedagogies of engagement across both K-12 and higher education. As a result, increased positive attention has been complemented equally by well-founded critiques complicating experiential approaches’ claims and questioning if institutional, financial, and philosophical commitment is warranted. A key complaint from these critical voices is the tightly woven, protective insular core in the field of service-learning. This claim is not unfounded, nor necessarily bad. Initial efforts to legitimize service-learning and other forms of community-based education required group cohesion. The concern, however, is that the initial group cohesion has led to groupthink wherein group members have avoided critical analysis and evaluation. This book aims to prevent groupthink within the field of service-learning by allowing for the examination of effective alternatives by new voices who can serve as “critical evaluators” from within the field itself. Myriad perspectives are offered, including empirical, theoretical, practical, and community perspectives. Authors challenge preconceived notions of service-learning, who is benefited by this pedagogy, outcomes of participation and implementation, and most importantly the theoretical, conceptual, and methodological lenses through which service-learning is even considered. The book allows servicelearning’s major criticisms to be examined, challenges to be voiced, and research agendas to be laid. This book parallels service-learning’s presence and popularity across various disciplines/fields. Chapters are written from broad perspectives and are aimed to inform service-learning researchers and educators, community organizations, and policy makers who consider service-learning as a means to address civic responsibility. Authors expose theoretical and philosophical concerns circulating in the field, and often still occupying spaces on the fringe of discourse, action, and research. The book raises fundamental questions for undergraduate and graduate courses with social justice themes by considering the implications that pedagogies of engagement have on learners and communities.

The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice

The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice
Author: Darren E. Lund
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 513
Release: 2018-08-17
Genre: Education
ISBN: 111914437X

A comprehensive guide to service-learning for social justice written by an international panel of experts The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice offers a review of recent trends in social justice that have been, until recently, marginalized in the field of service-learning. The authors offer a guide for establishing and nurturing social justice in a variety of service-learning programs, and show that incorporating the principles of social justice in service-learning can empower communities to resist and disrupt oppressive power structures, and work for solidarity with host and partner communities. With contributions from an international panel of experts, the Handbook contains a critique of the field’s roots in charity; a review of the problematization of Whitenormativity, paired with the bolstering of diverse voices and perspectives; and information on the embrace of emotional elements including tension, ambiguity, and discomfort. This important resource: Considers the role of the community in service-learning and other community‐engaged models of education and practice Explores the necessity of disruption and dissonance in service-learning Discusses a number of targeted issues that often arise in service-learning contexts Offers a practical guide to establishing and nurturing social justice at the heart of an international service-learning program Written for advanced undergraduate students, graduate students, scholars, and educators, The Wiley International Handbook of Service-Learning for Social Justice highlights social justice as a conflict‐ridden struggle against inequality, xenophobia, and oppression, and offers practical suggestions for incorporating service-learning programs in various arenas.

Problematizing Public Pedagogy

Problematizing Public Pedagogy
Author: Jake Burdick
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 261
Release: 2013-10-08
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1136285156

The term ‘public pedagogy’ is given a variety of definitions and meanings by those who employ it. It is often used without adequately explicating its meaning, its context, or its location within differing and contested articulations of the construct. Problematizing Public Pedagogy brings together renowned and emerging scholars in the field of education to provide a theoretical, methodological, ethical, and practical ground from which other scholars and activists can explore these forms of education. At the same time it increases the viability of the concept of public pedagogy itself. Beyond adding a multifaceted set of critical lenses to the genre of public pedagogy inquiry and theorizing, this volume adds nuance to the broader field of education research overall.

Service-Learning Essentials

Service-Learning Essentials
Author: Barbara Jacoby
Publisher: John Wiley & Sons
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2014-11-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1118627946

Service-Learning Essentials is the resource you need to help you develop high-quality service-learning experiences for college students. Written by one of the field's leading experts and sponsored by Campus Compact, the book is the definitive work on this high-impact educational practice. Service-learning has been identified by the Association of American Colleges and Universities as having been widely tested and shown to be beneficial to college students from a wide variety of backgrounds. Organized in an accessible question-and-answer format, the book responds clearly and completely to the most common questions and concerns about service-learning. Each chapter addresses issues related to individual practice as well as to the collective work of starting and developing a service-learning center or program, with examples drawn from a variety of disciplines, situations, and institutional types. The questions range from basic to advanced and the answers cover both the fundamentals and complexities of service-learning. Topics include: Determining what service-learning opportunities institutions should offer How to engage students in critical reflection in academic courses and in cocurricular experiences Best practices for developing and sustaining mutually beneficial campus-community partnerships Integrating service-learning into the curriculum in all disciplines and at all levels, as well as various areas of student life outside the classroom Assessing service-learning programs and outcomes The dilemmas of service-learning in the context of power and privilege The future of service-learning in online and rapidly globalizing environments Service-learning has virtually limitless potential to enable colleges and universities to meet their goals for student learning while making unique contributions to addressing unmet local, national, and global needs. However, in order to realize these benefits, service-learning must be thoughtfully designed and carefully implemented. This easy-to-use volume contains everything faculty, leaders, and staff members need to know about service-learning to enhance communities, improve higher education institutions, and educate the next generation of citizens, scholars, and leaders.

Reflexivity and Change in Adaptive Physical Activity

Reflexivity and Change in Adaptive Physical Activity
Author: Donna Goodwin
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 200
Release: 2022-12-05
Genre: Sports & Recreation
ISBN: 1000803112

This provocative and challenging book argues for the vital importance of critical self-reflexion in the field of adaptive physical activity (APA). It makes a powerful case for embracing discussions of the harm caused by ableist assumptions of the ideal body, maximizing capabilities and perfecting normative-based movement that dominate contemporary discourse in APA, and calls for more critical introspection about what APA is, how it is performed, and what might be needed to bring a collaborative relational ethic to this field. The book focuses on two key themes. Firstly, how ableism as a foundational belief system of APA is present in the undergraduate curriculum, professional preparation, professional practice, and organizational policies. Secondly, how to make the comfortable uncomfortable by openly debating the harm that results from non-reflexive (nondisabled) hubris in APA. The goal is to spark an exchange of ideas among scholars, practitioners, and organizational leaders and therefore to shift the paradigm from one of professional expertism to one that centres disability wisdom holders, bringing a fundamental change to how we perform adaptive physical activity. This book is important, progressive reading for anybody with an interest in adaptive physical activity, adapted physical education, disability sport, inclusive education, the philosophy and ethics of disability and sport, or disability in wider society.

Service-Learning and Educating in Challenging Contexts

Service-Learning and Educating in Challenging Contexts
Author: Timothy Murphy
Publisher: A&C Black
Total Pages: 260
Release: 2012-12-06
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1441162844

Service-Learning and Educating in Challenging Contexts explores the potential of service-learning identified as a way to integrate community service with academic study to enrich the on-going professional development of educators, especially in schools that are located in challenging contexts. This collection offers a further refinement of what typically comes under the remit of service-learning, switching the focus from the learning experience of the learner, to the educator and the deep and enriching professional learning opportunities that service-learning can offer. This approach to service-learning promotes collaborative practices amongst professional and in-service educators, and encourages an integration of theory and practice. The international contributors use their own experiences as well as current research to provide a thorough exploration of service-learning from national and international perspectives.

Decolonizing International Service Learning

Decolonizing International Service Learning
Author: Michael O'Sullivan
Publisher: BRILL
Total Pages: 165
Release: 2023-04-24
Genre: Education
ISBN: 9004547487

Despite the existence of a robust literature reviewed throughout this text which critiques salvationist models of international Service Learning (ISL), including literature that advocates deeply reciprocal relationships between global northern sending organizations and global southern host organizations, neocolonial models of ISL remain the dominant practice. The authors pose an ISL model that puts north/south reciprocity at the entre of ISL planning and implementation – based on their research and engagement in multiple ISL experiences and, importantly, from the input of representatives of global southern host organizations at a south-south gathering (encuentro). This constitutes a rupture with the current model that views the host village as an extension of a group leader’s classroom; rather, it makes the host community a space for difficult learning based on what hosts want their visitors to take home. The interruptions of ISL travel represented by COVID constituted an opportunity to consider alternative models; despite the awareness of environmental impacts of travel, it is likely that ISL trips will resume. It is, therefore, increasingly important that the ISL experience becomes a means of generating solidarity rather than the reinforcement of neocolonial “helping imperatives” associated with the traditional model.

Reflecting on Service-Learning in Higher Education

Reflecting on Service-Learning in Higher Education
Author: M. Gail Hickey
Publisher: Lexington Books
Total Pages: 232
Release: 2016-05-12
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1498523714

Reflecting on Service-Learning in Higher Education: Contemporary Issues and Perspectives examines forms of pedagogy such as service-learning, experiential learning, and problem-based learning in order to determine how students make connections between and among abstract academic concepts and real-life issues. This edited collection is divided into three sections—“Reflecting on Community Partnerships,” “Reflecting on Classroom Practice,” and “Reflecting on Diversity”—so as to represent interdisciplinary subjects, diverse student populations, and differing instructional perspectives about service-learning in higher education. Contributors provide service-learning programs and plans that can be replicated or adapted at other institutions of higher education. This book is recommended for scholars and practitioners of education.

Research on Service Learning

Research on Service Learning
Author: Patti H. Clayton
Publisher: Taylor & Francis
Total Pages: 314
Release: 2023-07-03
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1000981592

The purpose of this set is to improve service learning research and practice through strengthening its theoretical base. Contributing authors include both well-known and emerging service learning and community engagement scholars, as well as scholars from other fields. The authors bring theoretical perspectives from a wide variety of disciplines to bear as they critically review past research, describe assessment methods and instruments, develop future research agendas, and consider implications of theory-based research for enhanced practice. This set constitutes a rich resource that suggests new approaches to conceptualizing, understanding, implementing, assessing, and studying service learning. Each chapter offers recommendations for future research.Research on Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Assessment will be of interest to both new and veteran service learning instructors seeking to enhance their practice by integrating what has been learned in terms of teaching, assessment, and research. Staff and faculty who are responsible for promoting and supporting service learning at higher education institutions, evaluating community service programs, and working with faculty to develop research on service learning, will also find this volume helpful. For scholars and graduate students reviewing and conducting research related to service learning, this book is a comprehensive resource, and a knowledge base about the processes and outcomes of innovative pedagogies, such as service learning, that will enable them to locate their own work in an expanding and deepening arena of inquiry.Both volumes open with chapters focused on defining the criteria for quality research. Volume 2A, then begins with research related to students, comprising chapters that focus on cognitive processes, academic learning, civic learning, personal development, and intercultural competence. The concluding faculty section presents chapters on faculty development, faculty motivation, and faculty learning. Volume 2B addresses community development, and the role of nonprofit organizations in service learning. It then focusses on institutions, examining the institutionalization of service learning, engaged departments, and institutional leadership. The final section on partnerships in service learning includes chapters on conceptualizing and measuring the quality of partnerships, inter-organizational partnerships, and student partnerships.Both volumes are also available separately.

Service Learning as a Political Act in Education

Service Learning as a Political Act in Education
Author: Kortney Hernandez
Publisher: Routledge
Total Pages: 142
Release: 2017-09-01
Genre: Education
ISBN: 1351730851

Disrupting assumptions and commonsensical ideologies of "service," Service Learning as a Political Act in Education presents a clear and systematic analysis that unveils the rampant contradictions within the service learning field. By providing a careful, critical bicultural examination of the field, this book questions the relentless insertion of service learning programs into working-class, bicultural communities. Through a decolonizing lens, this book offers a radical political confrontation of service learning ideologies and practices.