Service Learning
Mission, Vision and Values
Mission
The Center of Community-Based Learning at Geisler Library is located on 2nd floor north in the Global Experiential Learning Suite. We engage students, faculty and community members in sustained partnerships that foster collaborative learning and civic participation in a diverse society.
Vision
A community of collaborative learners who value civic responsibility, critical thinking and diversity.
Values
- Learning: Service-learning is an effective pedagogy that positively impacts academic learning, critical thinking, personal development, cultural awareness, and civic participation.
- Civic Engagement: Higher education is “uniquely positioned” (Campus Compact ) to shape students’ civic responsibility and values development.
- Community: Expertise resides within community, and we seek to give voice to all our community partners and those they serve.
- Integrity: Ethical service-learning depends upon authentic respect for and sustained commitment to community.
- Social Justice. Our work is motivated by a commitment to justice, fairness, and compassion.
Goals of Service-Learning at Central
- To enhance classroom experience by reinforcing existing course concepts and providing opportunities to practice what they are learning.
- To encourage critical thinking, civic responsibility and engaged citizenship
- To provide opportunities for students to interact with diverse populations and communities.
- To offer a means for the college to engage in reciprocal partnerships with organizations and agencies who service the common good in our community and state.
Approaches to Service-Learning
- Service-learning requirement or option in a course
- Service-learning module
- Experiential module (CRCL 283x)
- Service-learning internship
Service-Learning
A credit-bearing, educational experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility. (Bringle and Hatcher, 1995)
Community Engagement
The collaboration between institutions of higher education and their larger communities (local, regional/state, national, global) for the mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and resources in a context of partnership and reciprocity (Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching)
