Project Title:
Moving Toward Quality Education through Service Learning
Project Director and Other Associated Faculty and Staff:
James Strandlie, Interim Dean of Academic Affairs, Northland C&TC, Contact: jimstrandlie@northlandcolege.edu, Tel.: (218)681-0852
Project Design:
Building on a partnership that included Northland C&TC and a consortium of secondary schools created to promote service learning, this project sustained that collaboration by pursuing following goals: (1) include service learning in the mission and strategic plan of Northland C&TC, (2) Increase student and faculty participation in service learning by ensuring that all faculty understand service learning possibilities, (3) Investigate incentives for student involvement in service learning.
Project Evaluation and Outcomes:
During 2004-05 academic year, the following outcomes were achieved: (1) Statements reinforcing the importance of community outreach were included in the College’s mission statement and strategic plan. (2) Faculty training in service learning was conducted during the College’s in-service training in Fall, 2004 and stipends were awarded to faculty members who wanted to incorporate service learning into their courses. (3) a survey of students was conducted in the Fall, 2004 to identify students involved in service learning and celebrations were conducted to provide certificates of appreciation to these students. (4) the Registrar agreed to document service learning activities by identifying these activities on the student’s transcript. Evaluations consisted of a faculty survey in Spring, 2005 which revealed that 80% of faculty understood service learning as an educational strategy and this reflected an increase of awareness over the last year. Northland C&TC has increased student involvement in service learning projects by growing from 6 students 2 years ago to 75 students in Spring, 2005.
Lessons Learned, Dissemination and Sustainability
Northland C&TC has made progress in improving awareness of service learning by undertaking several actions including: (1) making it part of the College’s strategic plan, (2) creation of a Service Learning Coordinator position who provides workshops and technical assistance for faculty who are interested, (3) formation of a community advisory board to provide information on current projects, volunteer recognition celebrations and give faculty to feedback, (4) provided incentives for faculty to participate in service learning and to attend conferences and workshops. The project director made a presentation on this project at CTL’s 2005 Realizing Student Potential conference.
