Academic Service-Learning

"Service-learning is the various pedagogies that link community service and academic study so that each strengthens the other. The basic theory of service-learning is Dewey's: The interaction of knowledge and skills with experience is key to learning. Students learn best not by reading the Great Books in a closed room but by opening the doors and windows of experience. Learning starts with a problem and continues with the application of increasingly complex ideas and increasingly sophisticated skills to increasingly complicated problems."

- Thomas Ehrlich, from "Barbara Jacoby and Associates. Service-Learning in Higher Education: Concepts and Practices." San Francisco, CA: Jossey-Bass 1996.

Meet the NLU Service-Learning Team.

Contact these faculty members for help with service-learning inclusion in your courses, questions regarding service-learning pedagogy, and to volunteer as a team member to advance service-learning involvement throughout NLU.

Service-Learning Faculty Manual

Need an introduction to service-learning? Having trouble defining a service-learning project for your class? The Service-Learning team has compiled this Service-Learning Faculty Manual to guide professors of any curriculum to utilize service-learning in their courses:

• Introduction
• Understanding Service-Learning: History, Pedagogy, Philosophy
• Service-Learning at National Louis University
• Planning, Developing and Implementing Service-Learning Projects
• Service-Learning and Diversity Issues
• Service-Learning Activities at NLU and beyond
• Appendices

Illinois Campus Compact (ILCC)

Campus Compact is a national organization with representation in 32 states that supports service-learning in higher education. NLU is a member of the Illinois Campus Compact. Visit their Web site at www.illinoiscampuscompact.org. Here is a list of syllabi with service-learning inclusion by discipline. The Service-Learning Team frequently hosts workshops and other events as a resource for NLU students, faculty and staff. See events page for a list of upcoming events. 

Service-Learning Resources

Tools

• Faculty Toolkit for Service-Learning in Higher Education
• Chicagoland Community Based Organizations: A listing of community based-organizations arranged by interest/subject category

Research, Assessment, and Evaluation

• Assessment, Evaluation, and Performance Measurement: Selected Resources: A bibliography of selected resources on how to assess service-learning programs and impact provided by the NSLC
• National Service Research and Policy: Assorted reports compiled by the Corporation for National & Community Service (CNCS) on impact and methods of various nationally mobilized service programs
• IssueLab: An archive of open license research on social issues catering to non-profit organizations

NLU Faculty

If you are already utilizing service-learning and want to let us know, or to find out ways you can utilize service learning in your classroom, please fill out the form found here and we will contact you.

Partial List of Service-Learning
Courses Available @ NLU

NLU faculty syllabi with service-learning assignments.

National College of Education

• Jagla - MLE 500/502 Intersession Syllabus
• Jagla - MLE 500/502 AUSL Syllabus
• Karlin - SEC 592 Syllabus
• Lukenchuk - FND 510 Syllabus
• Roth - ECE 315/FND 503 Syllabus
• Roth - ECE 315/FND 503 Advocacy Assignment Instructions