Two Austin Community College students host a preschool storytime as their
Service Learning project in a speech class.

Last spring, several Austin Community College speech students were leading storytime at a local library while accounting students were completing tax returns for low-income families.

They were part of the Service Learning Program, a growing movement here and across the nation that places students in the real world to practice what they’re learning inside the classroom.

ACC officials hope to spread the movement even further. It is the focus of this fall’s collegewide General Assembly, scheduled for Friday, August 21.

“We want to get the word out to more faculty about Service Learning and its benefits,” says Cecile Durish, government associate professor and ACC Service Learning facilitator.  “We hope more faculty will consider adopting the program once they learn more about it.”

Service Learning is an instructional method that incorporates civic engagement or community service into a course curriculum. Faculty establish activities for students to complete, either optional or required, that provide a needed service and reinforce subject material. Government students can work on political campaigns, and art students can help organize an exhibit, for example.

“Service Learning is more than volunteer work,” Durish says. “Students are able to see meaningful connections between their academic world and their real world, through their activities and follow-up reflections they submit.”

National studies demonstrate Service Learning not only improves learning but also increases classroom participation and student retention. At least 40 instructors currently use Service Learning at ACC, according to a spring survey.

Developmental Reading Professor Ann Palmer adopted the program  seven years ago and is a passionate proponent of its benefits. Her students work with a community organization of their choice or complete service-related research activities.

“During the semester my students do research on Service Learning in the library and online so they also develop their research and computer skills,” Palmer says. “It is an opportunity for them to learn about the needs of their communities, and they also learn that they have skills they can share with others.”

Durish saw a difference when she required her government students to participate in a political activity during the spring primary season. “My students started talking more, and they got to know each other,” she says. “They had great things to say about what a difference it made not just in their learning, but in their lives.”

“My employer recognized my newfound confidence,” says student Blair Johnson, who registered over 180 new area voters. “Volunteering my time was a very small price for the experience and knowledge I gained.”

Starting this fall, ACC will work with Texas Campus Compact to incorporate Service Learning into science, technology, engineering, and math curricula. The Office of the Governor has awarded a $102,040 Wagner-Peyser grant to Texas Compact, and its partner ACC, to develop the Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Community Impact (STEM in Action CI) Program for high school and college courses. (See news release.)

“Our STEM in Action CI program model is a direct response to the predicament our nation is experiencing with minority underrepresentation in science, technology, engineering, and math fields,” says Patricia Paredes, executive director of Texas Campus Compact.

“The incorporation of service learning into STEM education will enable us to positively impact the future productivity of Texas’ economy,” Paredes says. “Community-based civic engagement opportunities, centered around STEM competencies, will reinforce to participants the strong correlation that exists between STEM and workforce development.”

Visit the Service Learning website for information and resources.