Introduction

Service-learning is a practice in which students carry out community service as part of the requirements of a course so that the experience and reflection about it helps them meet their learning objectives. I have been doing it in my own English Composition courses at the Miami Dade College InterAmerican campus for about three years, and I've seen examples of effective service-learning in fields as diverse as Medieval History and Algebra. In addition to supporting the learning of skills and concepts, service-learning helps students build an emotional and social foundation for what they're learning. Because students meet real people in real places with real problems as they complete their assingments, they have an opportunity to link their heads and hearts. The pedagogy connects with an educational philosophy that says educators have a responsibility to not only teach skills and facts, but to encourage citizenship and critical thinking about issues of power and oppression.

Student Work

Resources

The Blog Connection


An integral part of service-learning is sharing the service with the community. Sharing gives the work meaning for the student, strengthens the bond with the community partner, and advances academic objectives, like improving writing and critical thinking skills. But many times, sharing work in an interesting way—both inside and outside the classroom—is difficult. Through E-portfolios, the opportunity to publish what students are giving back and learning about for a mass audience, and in a colorful and thoughtful way, is a remedy to what is one of the biggest challenges in service-learning.
Here is one of my reflections about the effectivness of E-Portfolios as tools for sharing:
One of the initial attractions of E-Portfolios to me was their affinity to service-learning work, and the expectations have been met. As students did their presentations, I saw what a powerful tool portfolios are in sharing the results of service-learning, in terms of the impact on both the learner and the community. In particular, seeing pictures of students with the children and adults they were working with at schools, summer camps, parks, hospitals and homes for the elderly and all over the city was moving. I was also struck by the power of the taped interviews and reflections. One popular soundbyte, for example, captured Mr. Rolle, a crew member at an Overtown gardening project who is a lifelong resident of the neighborhood, discussing the changes it has undergone and the fear outsiders feel toward it—now a valuable resource for future discussions and portfolios. Until sharing happens, service-learning is not complete, and I’ve found an excellent vehicle for this final stage of the process in E-Portfolios. The other important observation I made was that in presenting their portfolios, students must search for connections between the essays they post that may not otherwise be made explicit during the semester. The process of building a well-designed portfolio encouraged students to explore how disparate readings, research projects, images and experiences fit together into a larger picture. It was interesting to see students vary the order of the assignments they discussed to smoothly weave these connections.

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