Student Choice in Service-Learning: Relationships Between "Best Practices" and Undergraduate Student Outcomes

• In Event: Design of Informal Learning Environments

Abstract

Service-learning practices vary drastically across programs, courses, and locations with little consideration for these variations in the research. This study serves as an introduction to a research agenda exploring the components of service-learning practices—particularly those “best practices” recommended with little or no basis in the current research—in an effort to better understand the impacts of the variations in these methods. The researchers analyzed relationships between student choice in selecting placements for their service-learning requirements and students’ academic and civic learning outcomes. Chi-square analyses found significant relationships between student choice and students’ self-reported academic and civic learning outcomes. For all variables, heightened restrictions on student choice was associated with a decrease in students’ learning outcomes.

Authors

• Ashley Kathryn Vaughan, Washington State University - Pullman

• Reanne Cunningham, Washington State University - Pullman