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ABSTRACT:
When Service-Learning goes right --- we credit the learners and the community. But, when Service-Learning goes wrong ---who is responsible for salvaging it? Drawing upon years of personal “lessons learned” and student feedback this presentation will propose the possibilities of Professors in salvaging off-track Service-Learning Experiences.
When Service-Learning goes right --- we credit the learners and the community. But, when Service-Learning goes wrong ---who is responsible for salvaging it? Drawing upon years of personal “lessons learned” and student feedback this presentation will propose the possibilities of Professors in salvaging off-track Service-Learning Experiences.
The Professor Factor:
Published on Sep 06, 2017
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PRESENTATION OUTLINE
The Professor Factor:
Salvaging Off-Track Service-Learning Experiences
ABSTRACT:
When Service-Learning goes right --- we credit the learners and the community. But, when Service-Learning goes wrong ---who is responsible for salvaging it? Drawing upon years of personal “lessons learned” and student feedback this presentation will propose the possibilities of Professors in salvaging off-track Service-Learning Experiences.
When Service-Learning goes right --- we credit the learners and the community. But, when Service-Learning goes wrong ---who is responsible for salvaging it? Drawing upon years of personal “lessons learned” and student feedback this presentation will propose the possibilities of Professors in salvaging off-track Service-Learning Experiences.
Dr. Lauren E. Burrow
Asst. Prof. Elementary Education, Stephen F. Austin State University
My Service-Learning Experience
WHY we do it...
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When it goes WRONG...
Service-Learning is the pedagogy our university students need and the type of partnerships that university-adjacent communities deserve. S-L has the ability to un-learn and re-learn students’ attitudes in order to break down stereotypes and expose them to positive multi-cultural interactions. But, unfortunately, an ill-planned S-L can confirm that which the professor was seeking to dispel.
can do harm to the community it was meant to serve and learn from.
can do harm to the community it was meant to serve and learn from.
"Service-learning has potential to do actual harm to individuals, particularly to children with whom students work. Because students come and go, relationships are short term. What may be a casual relationship for a student may be very significant relationship for a child or young adult in the program. Breaking the relationship at the end of the service-learning assignment can be traumatic and can add to the fragmentation already typical of poor communities. Students may reflect ethnocentrism and racism in ways that are harmful. Idealistic students may inappropriately criticize agency practices and policies.
" -Eby, 1998
WHY it goes wrong...
potential pitfalls of a poorly executed Service-Learning experience --- that an ill-planned, ill-performed experience could actually perpetuate the stereotypes that were meant to be disrupted and reshaped.
Quite simply, the best answer to avoiding missteps in S-L experiences is probably: better planning. But, that response would occur only after the damage has been done and that response is an over-simplification of the reality of working with humans. Since we cannot always “plan for” what can result from human interactions during S-L experiences, this researcher calls upon professors to act in the moment to salvage S-L experiences going awry so that no experience is ever labeled a “bad” experience again.
Quite simply, the best answer to avoiding missteps in S-L experiences is probably: better planning. But, that response would occur only after the damage has been done and that response is an over-simplification of the reality of working with humans. Since we cannot always “plan for” what can result from human interactions during S-L experiences, this researcher calls upon professors to act in the moment to salvage S-L experiences going awry so that no experience is ever labeled a “bad” experience again.
Because Service-Learning
- ...grows from mixed motives
- ...based on a simplistic understanding of service
- ...teaches a false understanding of need/response to need
- ...diverts attention from social policy to volunteerism
So, what do we do? ...the "Professor Factor"
- Be PRESENT
- Be PARTICIPATIVE
- Be POSITIVE
- Be PRO-ACTIVE
Be PRESENT
In order to be able to act when S-L goes wrong, a professor must attend the S-L sites their students are attending. It is impossible to fix S-L missteps if you are not present in the moment in which the misinformation or miscommunication are occurring. Waiting until students reflect on negative experience after the S-L has ended, can often be too late to correct or change a developed/confirmed stereotype.
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you have to show up!
how do you get your students to participate ... I am there too!
how do you know when things aren't going "right" ... because I am there too!
how do you get your students to participate ... I am there too!
how do you know when things aren't going "right" ... because I am there too!
Be PARTICIPATIVE
Asking students to participate in experiences designed to attack and re-teach long-held misinformation and/or life-long negative beliefs and attitudes can be a daunting task for students. This professor has received positive feedback regarding her willingness to “do as we do.” Participating in those activities that you ask your students to complete can position a professor in a place of authenticity, thereby also positioning their recommendations as less detached from the experience.
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going through the experience yourself helps you connect and realize how something might be being perceived
I bring my own kids to the experiences so I can partake not just as a professor, but as a community PARTICIPANT
I bring my own kids to the experiences so I can partake not just as a professor, but as a community PARTICIPANT
Be POSITIVE
When a professor is present and participative in a S-L experience they can model positive responses to S-L that goes as un-planned. For example, during a recent S-L project in which none of the invited community members showed up for the event, all of the student participants still labeled the experience a success because they got to witness how the researcher [their professor] kept a positive attitude about the would-be-parent participants and turned the event into a new type of learning experience.
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Be PRO-ACTIVE
Finally, professors must maintain a pro-active role throughout the S-L experience. Instead of just letting interactions to play out and referring back to them, days later, during class reflection time, professors should be being willing to step in to teach when interactions are not leading to transformative experiences.
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have the TOUGH TALKS
address then, not later
make this FORMATIVE, not summative!
address then, not later
make this FORMATIVE, not summative!
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make it right... right away!
