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Building Capacity for Change:

An Introduction to Service-Learning Theory and Practice

Access Colorado AmeriCorps*VISTA Program 2009-2010

DRAFT

Course Description

Designed to complement Access Colorado VISTA members’ individual and collective experiences, this course will serve as introduction to service-learning theory and practice. Integral to the work of Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service, service learning is a methodology and movement that seeks to bridge classroom and community. Through a ten-month curriculum, members will both develop a shared definition of service learning and gain the tools and strategies needed to advance its practice in classrooms and communities throughout the state.

Course Objectives

Through a learning cohort, AmeriCorps*VISTA members will:

Deepen their understanding of service-learning concepts, theory, and design;
Apply service-learning theory and advocate for service-learning practice within the campus and local community;
Identify opportunities to build capacity for service-learning practice within the campus and local community;
Develop and demonstrate a variety of public skills, including facilitation, collaboration, and leadership skills; and
Participate in a statewide network of service-learning practitioners, advancing shared educational outcomes.

Course Structure & Assignments

Access Colorado VISTA members will meet monthly for four-hour seminars, workshops, and discussions at Regis University. Outside the classroom, members and their supervisors will share best practices and resources; reflect on personal experiences; and engage in course readings via an online message board. Members may also complete the following optional assignments during their term, which are designed to both advance outlined Access Colorado goals and support members’ work on campuses and within Colorado communities. In addition to submitting assignments for feedback, members may chose to incorporate completed assignments in their individual member portfolios, which are due at the end of their term of service.

Reflection Journal

Members are encouraged to maintain a journal to reflect on the relationship between their individual experience and the course material. While journals usually take the form of written narratives, they could include illustrations, cartoons, poetry, or other forms of communication. To assist the process, members will be provided prompts based on identified course readings and shared objectives throughout their term of service.

Community/Assets Maps

In addition to expanding regional assets maps designed by their predecessors, VISTA members may develop more detailed or localized maps throughout their term of service. Based in large part on the work of Kretzmann and McKnight (Assets-Based Community Development), assets maps aim to uncover community resources, talents, and capacities. Community organizers also develop assets maps to identify individuals with whom to pursue public relationships via relational meetings.

Relational Meetings

Opportunities to build social capital, members may choose to conduct one-to-one relational meetings with members of the campus, K-12, or local community whom they identify as potential stakeholders. Members should allocate thirty minutes per meeting, and summarize their experience at the end.

MLK Day Grant/Project Proposals

Members are encouraged to coordinate service-learning projects that engage local secondary and college students in conjunction with MLK Day 2010. In addition to coordinating events with community partners, Access Colorado VISTA members will have opportunities to develop grant proposals for project-related expenses.

Service-Learning Program Proposal

Members are encouraged to develop a comprehensive service-learning program proposal for their individual host site that outlines opportunities for service-learning implementation and/or expansion. A collection of recommendations based on relational meetings, personal reflections, assets maps, and other relevant research, the proposal should serve as both a guide for future Access Colorado VISTA members, and a resource for members’ host sites and their respective community partners. Members are specifically encouraged to design opportunities for engagement in national service events, including MLK Day and Global Youth Service Day.

Course Schedule

Date	Topic	Reading
September	Befriending Service Learning	Wade's Community Service Learning, 19-34;
	Training: Preparing for MLK Day 2010	Jacoby's Service-Learning in Higher Education, 3-25 &
		Loeb's Generation at the Crossroads, 231-247
October	Making the Connection: Service Learning	Boyte's The Citizen Solution, 11-34;
	and Public Work	Block's Community, 55-72
	Training: TBD	Lappe's The Quickening of America, 19-35
November	Exploring Participatory and Experiential	Dewey's Experience and Education;
	Service Learning	Freire's Pedagogy of the Oppressed, 71-86 &
	Training: Facilitation Skills	Hook's Teaching to Transgress, 13-22
December	Making the Connection: Service Learning	Maybach's Investigating Urban Needs;
	and Social Justice	Henry's I Can Never Turn My Back, 45-66 &
	Training: Diversity	Howard's We Can't Teach What We Don't Know, 69-86
January	no training
February	Selling Service Learning: Benefits, Research	Furco's Is Service-Learning Really Better?, 23-50;
	& Curricular Models	Lappe's The Quickening of America, 107-136 &
	Training: Working with the Media	current drop-out prevention and service-learning research
March	Cultivating Campus and Community	Enos' Developing a Theory and Practice, 20-41;
	Partnerships	Pickernal'sPartnerships with Elementary and Secondary Schools, 174-191
	Training: Building Public Relationships	& Lappe's Getting a Grip, 73-84
	via Power Mapping and Relational Meetings
April	Uncovering Best Practices	Putnam's Better Together, 142-165 &
		Boyte's The Citizen Solution,107-123
	Training: TBD
May	Overcoming Challenges and Recognizing	Jones' Getting Inside the Underside of Service-Learning, 3-24 &
	Possibilities	Wade's Challenges to Effective Practice, 301-313
	Training: TBD
June	Planning for Program Sustainability and	Zlotkowski's Students As Colleagues, 49-63 &
	Expansion	Heffernan's Course Organization, 1-21
	Training: Fundraising Part II
July	Expanding the Service Relationship	Loeb's Soul of a Citizen, 243-281 &
		Fisher's Integrating Service Learning in Postcollege Choices, 208-228

Course Readings/Videos

Access Colorado VISTA members will have an opportunity to review and discuss excerpts from the following texts:

Berger Kaye, C. (2004). The Complete Guide to Service Learning. Minneapolis: Free Spirit

   Publishing.

Block, P. (2008). Community: The Structure of Belonging. San Francisco: Berrett-Koehler

   Publishers.

Boyte, H. (2008). The Citizen Solution: How You Can Make a Difference. St. Paul, MN:

   Minnesota Historical Society Press.

Butin, D. (2005). Service-Learning in Higher Education. New York: Palgrave Macmillan.

Chambers, E. (2005). Roots for Radicals: Organizing for Power, Action, and Justice. New York:

   The Continuum International Publishing Group.

Dewey, J. (1997). Experience & Education. New York: Simon & Schuster.

Eyler, J. & Giles, D. (1999). Where’s the Learning in Service Learning? San Francisco: John

   Wiely & Sons, Inc.

Freire, P. (1970). Pedagogy of the Oppressed. New York: Continuum.

Furco, A & Billig S. (2001) Service-Learning: The Essence of Pedagogy. Greenwich, CT:

   Information Age Publishing

Jacoby, B. (2003). Building Partnerships for Service-Learning. San Francisco: John Wiely &

   Sons, Inc.

Jacoby, B. (1996). Service-Learning in Higher Education: San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Heffernan, K. (2001). Course Organization. Fundamentals of Service-Learning Course

   Construction. Providence: Campus Compact.

Hooks, B. (1994). Teaching to Transgress. New York: Routledge.

Howard, G. (2006). We Can’t Teach What We Don’t Know. New York: Teachers College

   Press.

Kaner, S. (1996). Facilitator’s Guide to Participatory Decision-Making. Philadelphia: New

   Society Publishers.

Kretzmann, J. & McKnight, J. (1993). Building Communities for the Inside Out: A Path

   Toward Finding and Mobilizing a Community’s Assets. Skokie, IL: ACTA Publishers.

Lappe, F. & DuBois, P. (1994). The Quickening of America: Rebuilding Our Nation, Remaking

   Our Lives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass, Inc.

Lappe, F. (2007). Getting a Grip: Clarity, Creativity and Courage in a World Gone Mad.

   Cambridge, MA: Small Planet Media.

Loeb, P. (1999). Soul of a Citizen: Living with Conviction in a Cynical Time. New York: St.

   Martin’s Press.

Longo, N. (2007). Why Community Matters: Constructing Education with Civic Life. Albany:

   State University of New York Press.

Maybach, C. (1996). Investigating Urban Needs: Service Learning from a Social Justice Perspective.

   Education and Urban Society. 28(2).

Mathews, D. (2006). Reclaiming Public Education by Reclaiming Our Democracy. Dayton:

   Kettering Foundation Press.

Putnam, R. and Feldstein, L. (2003). Better Together: Restoring the American Community.

   New York: Simon and Schuster.

Wade, R. (1997). Community Service-Learning: A Guide to Including Service in the Public

   School Curriculum. Albany: State University of New York Press.

Zlotkowski, E., Long, N. & Williams, J. (2006). Students as Colleagues: Expanding the Circle

   of Service-Learning Leadership. Providence. Campus Compact.

The following videos will also be viewed during scheduled meetings:

Hudson & Hudson, Southern Poverty Law Center. (2005). The Children’s March. Montgomery,

AL: Teaching Tolerance & Home Box Office.

Marrow, J., Learning Matters, Inc. (2005). Declining by Degrees: Higher Education at Risk.

PBS Home Video.

Marrow, J., Public Broadcasting Service (U.S.). (2003). Public Schools, Inc. PBS Home Video.

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