Faculty and Staff Resources Service-Learning Definitions and Examples

 

• FACS Guide to Service-Learning
• Definitions and Examples
• Development Guidelines
• FAQs
• Faculty with Experience in Service-learning
• Resources

Definitions and Examples

FACS working definition of service-learning:

"Service-learning in the College of Family and Consumer Sciences is a philosophy and methodology involving the application of academic skills to address or solve real-life needs or problems in the community, in collaboration with community partners."

Sample characteristics of a service-learning experience in FACS

• Creating a tool that can be left behind in a community setting
• Helping community members acquire a skill or set of skills that can be used later
• FACS students developing skills that they can apply in other settings (although this characteristic, by itself, does not make a course activity a service-learning project)

What service-learning is NOT

• A "we know best" attitude on the University's part
• Going in and telling the community what they need
• Bringing a completely planned and formulated project to a community, without giving them opportunity to help shape it
• Community service without a reflective component done by the student
• Service activity that is separate from the content of a university course (i.e., service-learning must be integrally connected to course content)

Examples of service-learning experiences at FACS

• Growing Up With Good Nutrition: A Curriculum for Promoting a Healthy Lifestyle for 4-6 Year Olds -Created by University of Georgia students enrolled in a collaborative study abroad program from the departments of Human Development and Family Science and Human Nutrition and Foods.