Service-Learning Australia

In normal classroom work, you know your students’ academic baselines and regularly monitor their progress towards meeting learning goals and the process used to achieve this.   In service-learning, the first step in monitoring progress is to establish clear, specific baselines for the academic learning goals, other learning goals (changes in values and attitudes, community, career, interpersonal, learning to be a learner etc.) and service goals.  These baselines should be very clear to you, the students, your community partners and the community you are serving.  They enable you to compare the baseline with the outcomes being achieved at each stage.  However, you must be careful to ensure that goals and outcomes are realistic, measurable and relevant to key stakeholders - avoid over-estimating the expected change as a result of the service being provided.