Connecting Theory and Practice: Service-Learning at UNCPDanielle Holloway and Robert Sam

Service-LearningThe Office for Community and Civic Engagement

The University of North Carolina at Pembroke Pembroke, NC

Service-learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities. At UNCP, faculty and students take part in service-learning to enhance learning and achievement in a wide variety of majors and minors. Service-learning at UNCP is housed in the office for Community and Civic Engagement and is supported through a partnership between UNCP’s Office of Academic Affairs and Division of Student Affairs.

Service-learning is a form of experiential education that:• Is developed, implemented, an evaluated in collaboration with

the community;• Responds to community-identified needs and concerns;• Attempts to balance the service that is provided and the

learning that takes place;• Enhances the curriculum by extending learning beyond the

classroom and allowing students to apply what they’ve learned to real-world situations; and

• Provide opportunities for critical reflection and application of learned material.

Benefits of Service-Learning

Service-learning at UNCP helps students:• Clarify personal values while pursuing academic studies;• Gain a sense of personal inner satisfaction that comes from

doing something meaningful for others;• Identify and research a need within their communities and

evaluate ways to fulfill that need;• Participate in socially responsible activities that will have a

positive impact on others;• Gain experience about the world in a dynamic an interactive

way;• Gain knowledge and insights that will prepare them for active

civic engagement;• Reflect on how to maximize personal and academic

development to help achieve goals; and• Acquire skills that are transferrable to future work

environments.Service-Learning at UNCP

• 88% of students enrolled in service-learning courses agreed or strongly agreed that the community participation aspect of the course helped them to see how the course material can be applied to everyday life.

• 84% of students agreed or strongly agreed that participating in service-learning helped them to better understand the course material.

• 87% of students agreed or strongly agreed that participation in service-learning encouraged them to take more responsibility for their own learning.

• 3,250—number of hours students in service-learning courses spent engaging with the local community.

• 881 students (14% of the student body) were enrolled in a service-learning designated course this academic year.

• 54 courses with a service-learning component in a variety of disciplines were offered at UNCP this academic year. This is a 42% increase from the previous year. Focus Areas

Service-learning courses focus on a variety of needs in the community. The chart below identifies the areas targeted through service-learning courses during the 2012-2013 academic year.

UNCP student pictured with elder from Lumbee Tribe working together on “Someplace Like Pembroke: Work Histories of the Lumbee” project.

UNCP students and faculty reading to first graders at a reading party.