Service-Learning Australia

Standard.
Service-learning has sufficient duration and intensity to address community needs and meet specified outcomes.

Indicators.
Service-learning:

• Experiences include the processes of investigation of community needs, preparation for service, action, reflection, demonstration of learning and impacts, and celebration.
• Is conducted during concentrated blocks of time across a period of several weeks or months.
• Provides enough time to address identified community needs and achieve learning outcomes.

Sample supporting research.

A 1997 study by Eyler and Giles showed that more intense service-learning experiences provided participants with more opportunities to contribute to the community, more varied and challenging tasks, a greater sense of ownership over the project, more opportunities to form collegial relations with professionals, and more opportunities to apply academic content to real world situations. Each of these factors has been found in the literature to be associated with stronger academic and civic outcomes. Hours alone are not sufficient to determine quality, though, but rather the content of the experience and the teacher facilitation in addition to the hours is important (Blyth, Saito, & Berkas, 1997).Duration was related to multiple positive outcomes in the National Learn and Serve evaluation (Melchior & Orr, 1995), and Billig, Root, and Jesse (2005) found that duration of at least one semester was significantly related to all civic outcomes and enjoyment of subject matters. Billig and Brodersen (2007) also showed that duration was positively related to students’ valuing school, civic engagement, social responsibility, and locus of control. In addition, Scales, Roehlkepartain, Neal, Kielsmeier, & Benson (2006) showed that duration had a positive impact on young people’s commitment to learning.