For Service Learning Faculty

COVID-19 Updates

  • All Service Learning activities are encouraged to be performed virtually/remotely. We are currently resuming face-to-face placements. Students must complete the steps below.
    • ALL students participating in Face-to-Face activities MUST submit a current copy of the sites COVID-19 Guidelines by completing the Student Placement Request: COVID-19 Site Safety Review for Face-to-Face Activity in Stan Serves S4 when completing the placement forms.
    • Students participating in virtual/remote Service Learning need to complete the required documents on the StanServes S4 website.
  • Please contact Breanna McIntyre at bhale1@csustan.edu regarding questions about the placement process. 

Quick Links:

The quick links below are to help with starting service learning project or request a new service learning site.

What is Service Learning?

Service learning is an innovative pedagogy (educational approach) that empowers students to learn through active participation in meaningful and planned community service experiences that are directly related to course content. Through reflective activities, students enhance their understanding of course content, sense of social responsibility, general knowledge, self-awareness, and commitment to the community.

[Service learning as pedagogy] decenters the authority of knowledge in the classroom and intentionally places the community in the center of the learning process.

John Saltmarsh and Kerri Heffernan, Integrating Service with Academic Study, Campus Compact

StanServes S4 Database


StanServes S4 website is where you and your students go to manage the required risk management documents for your service learning or internship course(s). You can also add documents to your course and determine opportunities for student activities.
 

Tutorials for faculty using StanServes S4:

Tutorials for students using StanServes S4:

Student Learning Objectives for Service Learning

The Service Learning program goals are framed through the lens of student learning, and the faculty have developed specific student learning objectives to accompany these important service learning program goals.  Students participating in service learning are expected to achieve the following student learning outcomes:  

  • Apply discipline‐specific and/or interdisciplinary knowledge and critical thinking skills to community issues. (Program Goals 1,2)
  • Demonstrate critical self‐reflection of oneʹs own assumptions and values as applied to community issues.  (Program Goals 2,3,4)
  • Demonstrate knowledge and sensitivity to issues of culture, diversity, and social justice as applied to community engagement. (Program Goals 2,3,4)

Service Learning as an Effective Method for Teaching

  • Incorporating service learning into your curriculum is an effective teaching strategy that increases faculty-student interaction while contributing to student social, intellectual, and professional development.
  • As a High Impact Practice pedagogy, service learning can be an important component to deepen student learning and participation more fully in their disciplines through off-campus activities in addition to the traditional, lecture-driven curriculum.
  • It requires active student participation in developing learning objectives and interacting in our society in a way that challenges their assumptions and strengthens critical thinking.

Service learning represents an opportunity for an engaged scholarship for students and faculty. Engaged scholarship connects the knowledge of the University with the knowledge in our communities to address public issues that include artistic, social, cultural, scientific and economic development. Through this engaged form of teaching and research, faculty become leaders in their contributions to the core mission of the University.

What can the Office of Service Learning do to support your academic work?

The Office of Service Learning is a resource for service learning faculty. We are available to discuss any aspect of experiential education you may be considering. The Office of Service Learning may also assist you in the following ways:

  • developing syllabi
  • developing community partnerships
  • exploring funding opportunities
  • implementing University risk management policy associated with service learning activities on- or off-campus
  • connecting you with other Stanislaus State service learning faculty

Service Learning Instructional Support Mini-Grant Program

The Office of Service Learning also supports faculty community-based curriculum and research through the annual Instructional Support Mini-Grant Program. Grants up to $1,000.00 are awarded to full-time faculty and full-time lecturers that support efforts to enhance instruction and promote innovative teaching and learning strategies around service learning and community-based coursework.

Please contact Julie Fox at jfox@csustan.edu for more information about this program.

California Campus Compact

Stanislaus State is a member of this network of diverse colleges and universities who share a common commitment to advance civic and community engagement and learning for a healthy, just and democratic society. As a member, faculty and students have access to valuable resources to develop and implement community-based learning and research programs that bridge the classroom with our communities. Campus Compact also hosts conferences to showcase your community-based work, learn what other innovative work is being done by peers, and network with like-minded civic-engaged colleagues.

Please visit the California Campus Compact website to explore the resources available to you.  

Turlock Community Collaborative Directory

Due to requests for community services and resources during the current stay-at-home period, we are making available this valuable local resource guide listing many service agencies in Stanislaus County. Please go to Turlock Community Collaborative Directory to open a pdf copy of the directory.  Please note that agency personnel may change at any time; however, you can always contact the general contact information.

Benefits of Service Learning

Working in accord with Stanislaus State's Mission Statement, service learning seeks to "promote academic excellence in the teaching and scholarly activities of our faculty, encourage personalized student learning, foster interactions and partnerships with our surrounding communities, and provide opportunities for the intellectual, cultural, and artistic enrichment of the region." Service Learning is recognized as a High Impact Practice to deepen faculty and student awareness of the responsibility we all share to improve the quality of life in our communities. The Office of Service Learning and Academic Internships facilitates and supports these connections that benefit our students, our faculty and our community.

The benefits of service learning are equally shared among the community, the student, the faculty, and the university. When the stage is set for a high-impact service learning experience, the performance will result in any number of academic, professional, social, political, or individual enhancements.

Service Learning Benefits
Faculty Students Community University
Identifying areas for research and publication related to current issue. Opportunities to provide valuable services to the community. Assistance in carrying out solutions to community needs. Faculty and student engagement in meeting community needs.

Connecting meaningful service to current issues as they relate to academic areas of interest.

 Real-life experience to enrich and apply classroom knowledge.

Accessing affordable professional development.

Positive relationships with community and agencies.

Engaging students with a teaching method that departs from the lecture-driven classroom.

 Skills development and career exploration.

Contributing to the educational process.

 Better prepared and qualified university graduates ready for the workforce.

Providing increased student contact while contributing to student development.

 Civic development and cultural literacy.

Building a positive relationship with the university.

 

Extended knowledge of and resources for the university.

Connecting academic discipline to social issues and problems.

 Fostering a sense of social responsibility, which improves citizenship.

Gaining access to the university's resources.

 Diverse research, enhanced teaching, and outreach to the community.
  Opportunities that accommodate different learning styles.

Involving future students in university life.

Extended knowledge of and resources for the university.