Service-Learning Students
As part of the Community Engagement pathway for USCConnect, service-learning provides students with a meaningful opportunity to integrate their learning. Service-learning prepares students to be full and responsible participants in both their profession and their communities.
In order to actively engage students, service-learning ties community service to academic content by giving students the opportunity to extend their academic courses beyond class. Students apply their course lessons to real community problems, establishing a link between service and learning.
Service-learning provides an opportunity to become engaged in public issues concerning the community. A growing body of research shows that meaningful service to the community interwoven with high quality classroom instruction has significant positive effects on:
- Academic performance
- Values
- Self-efficacy
- Leadership
- Choice of a service career
- Plans to participate in service after college
- Increased degree of interest in subject matter
(Astin, Vogelgesang, Ikeda, & Yee , 2000; Kuh, 2008)