When Does Service-Learning Work? Contact Theory and Service-Learning Courses

• In Event: Civic Engagement as Praxis for Community Involvement in Higher Education

Abstract

Service-learning experiences have the potential to improve participants’ attitudes and values towards those whom they serve, but if the experience is poorly designed or poorly implemented, it runs the risk of reinforcing stereotypes and deficit perspectives of the beneficiaries of service. This study examines the extent to which Contact Theory predicts service-learning courses’ efficacy in promoting positive attitude change among participants. Contact Theory stipulates the conditions under which attitude change towards an “out-group” becomes possible. Comparing pre-test and post-test scores for 357 students enrolled in service-learning courses in two different institutional contexts, we find that courses that reflect more tenets of Contact Theory are more effective in reducing students’ overall colorblindness and in improving their awareness of blatant racial issues.

Authors

• Jerusha Osberg Conner, Villanova University

• Joseph A. Erickson, Augsburg College