Service-learning is a type of Experiential Education that combines and pursues both Academic Achievement and community service in a seamless weave, requiring the use of effective Reflection exercises. The goal of service-learning, through linking academics to the community, is to develop the skills, sensitivities, and commitments necessary or effective Citizenship in a democracy.

Discussion of key elements of this definition:

Service-learning is a type of experiential education that when done properly enhances student learning and teacher effectiveness. It should be evaluated alongside other teaching techniques such as lecture, discussion, reading assignments, exercises, use of PowerPoint presentations, use of various media, and the like. As with any pedagogical method, it fits some instructors’ teaching styles better than others and some courses better than others, and should be used where appropriate.

Service-learning integrates academic achievement with community service. Both academic study and community service must be maintained in equal importance for service-learning efforts to be successful. The interests of the community must be served; students are not sent to placements merely for academic enhancement. The academic objectives of the course must also be enriched by the community service, otherwise the service-learning effort becomes irrelevant to the educational purposes of the course and may seem a disjointed, unrelated act of volunteerism, distracting to the course’s educational purposes.

Service-learning requires effective reflection. This point relates closely to the integration of academic achievement and community service. Studies have shown that for the community service to be effectively woven into the course and made educationally relevant for students, reflection exercises must play an important role in any service-learning project. Studies have shown that the community service, without reflection, often seems to students to be added work, lacking any relevance to the course and, thus, lacking value. Service done in such a context runs the risk of actually creating a backlash and solidifying prejudices and poor citizenship attitudes and practices.

Service-learning has citizenship as its goal. There are many types of experiential education, each with its own learning objective in view. Service-learning is a type of experiential education that has citizenship as its goal. It seeks to contextualize academic subject matter within the greater society, highlighting for the students the role that the academic disciplines play in building a healthy community. Students should come away with a sense of connection with the democracy and with a greater commitment to serve the community through their careers and throughout their lives. Service-learning, then, recaptures in a focused way the civic purpose that Thomas Jefferson had envisioned for higher education.