Service Learning at a Hispanic-Serving Institution

• In Event: Out of Your Chair and Into the Streets: Active Approaches to Civic Engagement

Abstract

In the current political climate, an emerging body of literature seeks to design, implement, and analyze best practices in service learning at undergraduate universities. What scholars have not examined as well is service learning at Hispanic-Serving Institutions (HSI's). Given that students at such universities are in unique learning environments, there is a question of how well standard practices in service learning apply to HSI's. In my paper, I will present my analysis of 2 semesters' worth of service-learning requirements in an Introduction to American Politics course at an HSI in Texas. Using a combination of student feedback on course evaluations and the final papers submitted by students, I note areas in which service learning at HSI's mesh with the existing research and suggest ways in which service-learning practices can be adjusted to apply better to HSI's.

Author

• Andrew Hewitt Smith, Univ of Texas Rio Grande Valley