As today's business world and society become more diverse, it is essential for colleges and universities to prepare students to work and live in that diverse world, and service-learning is one tool for that education. This study presents a critical review of 55 studies of the impact of service-learning participation on students' diversity…

Research studies reflect mixed results on whether or not service-learning increases student learning outcomes. The current study seeks to reconcile these findings by extending a meta-analysis conducted by Novak, Markey, and Allen (2007) in which these authors examined service-learning and student learning outcomes. In the current study, 11…

This paper illustrates an approach for using university-wide service-learning student outcomes to assess student work for the purpose of improving service-learning student and faculty learning and course design. The author and a colleague used this approach to study the author's service-learning course. The results of this study generated an…

This article presents the results of a narrative case study exploring the influences of social identity on the outcomes associated with a short-term immersion program focused on HIV/AIDS. Presented in the form of contextual, individual, and shared narratives, results suggest that participants crossed developmental, interpersonal, and cultural…

Stigmas toward those who have mental illnesses are wide-spread and detrimental to the health and well-being of those suffering from these debilitating conditions, and to society as a whole. Stigma-reducing programs are plentiful but many are only marginally effective. In this paper we describe and evaluate a course in Psychopathology that included…

This study considered the impact of the SERVE Program upon participating college students' belief in the American Dream. The SERVE Program is a community service learning program sponsored by the philosophy and theology departments at Ignatius University. Using a mixed methods approach, the authors found that participating students demonstrated…

Previous research has established numerous outcomes associated with taking service-learning coursework during college. However, most studies have examined the impact of three- or four-credit courses involving engagement of several hours per week, and other research has suggested that the gains associated with service-learning are directly related…

This study examined the civic outcomes of the Sustained Dialogue model. Qualitative interviews investigated the perceived impacts of dialogue experience on post-graduate civic life, generating an inventory of 29 dialogue civic outcomes across five domains: 1) cognitions, 2) behaviors, 3) attitudes 4) skills, and 5) hopes and plans for the future.…

Students from seven institutions of higher education reported their preferences for different paradigms of service at the beginning of their service-learning courses. At the end of the courses, they described the associated service activities in terms of the same paradigms and also completed scales describing their learning outcomes and attitudes…

International service-learning (SL) and study abroad (SA) courses are increasingly part of university curricula. A literature review shows these two types of experiential learning share similarities that offer potential synergies for the growing numbers of both types of experiences. This possibility is explored further by analyzing results from a…

This article presents a control group study of the influence of a partnership-centered, community-based learning program on students' academic writing. The improved writing of first-year students in the Chicago Civic Leadership Certificate Program (CCLCP), we argue, results from the deeply situated learning that took place in the context of…

Intentionally linking the assessment of student learning outcomes of service-learning with reflection allows each to inform and reinforce the other. This paper traces the evolution of a strategy that uses reflection products as data sources to assess and improve both individual student learning and program-wide approaches to reflection. Two tools…

This article presents a longitudinal research study that led to the development of a theoretical framework for explaining how students experience the process of transformational learning in service-learning. The article describes nonreflective and reflective dimensions of the process of transformational learning. The author recommends that future…

Little research has examined the effects of service participation and the level of integration of service into courses on alumni service-related attitudes and behaviors. In the present study, 481 alumni of a religious-affiliated liberal arts college participated in a phone survey that examined their present and past behaviors related to service…

We analyze a two-year Faculty Fellows Program designed to enhance the service-learning pedagogy and scholarship at a regional comprehensive university. The impact of the program was analyzed using initial questionnaires, meeting notes, final reports, and faculty reflective essays. Participation in a faculty fellows cohort program provided a sense…