Just for Faculty

Students in a service learning project

Why include Service-Learning in the traditional curriculum?

Service-Learning is a strategic goal for ETSU

East Tennessee State University with plans for increasing the number of courses with service-learning components. It also serves as a factor in performance funding for ETSU. Service-Learning is a way to address the growing level of interest and sense of urgency about community and public service issues. Service-Learning can promote connections between students learning in the classroom and the applications of that learning in the real world. Service-Learning links education, work/community and personal development. Service-Learning is a way to meet the mission of East Tennessee State University.

How to incorporate Service-Learning into your course

To qualify as service-learning an activity must meet the following criteria at ETSU:
1. The students efforts must help other individuals, groups or communities achieve goals or meet needs which to date have not been adequately addressed. Serving others must be a central, planned aim of the activity. Service to others cannot be a secondary benefit of an activity designed chiefly to help students practice vocational skills or gain work experience.
2. The activity must engage students in conscious reflection about what they learned from the activity. Students must present the results of their reflection to the instructor and/or others involved in the service-learning activity.
3. Service-Learning activities must require at least 10 hours of work per team, not including time spent in reflection on the activity.
4. All parties in the service-learning activity must formally negotiate their responsibilities and expected benefits prior to the start of the service-learning activity. Results of this agreement must be documented in writing. If a service-learning activity will occur within a for-credit course, it must appear on the course syllabus.
5. The activity must be registered with the office of Service-Learning in the Department of Counseling and Human Services.
Optional elements of service-learning:
1. Service-Learning will most often occur off campus and serve people who are not ETSU students or employees. However, service-learning may occur on campus or provide special services to ETSU students or employees.
2. Service-Learning may be done for academic credit or as noncredit, volunteer work.
3. Service-Learning will most often be unpaid, except for compensated expenses. However, receiving minimal pay for an activity does not exclude it from service-learning status, if the activity meets criteria under item 1.
4. Service-Learning will most often occur in governmental or non-profit settings. It may occur in for profit settings, if it meets criteria under item 1.
Ordinarily, these community-based learning experiences will not count as service-learning:
1. Student teaching
2. Clinical experience in the health professions
3. Student internships and cooperative education assignments
4. Fraternity and sorority service projects
5. Work done primarily to benefit ETSU student organizations
6. Religious evangelism
7. Military service
8. Work done on behalf of political parties or candidates
9. Work done primarily to create new businesses or increase the profitability of existing businesses, except where there are significant benefits for community development
10. Activities in which the sole or primary task is fund raising for non-profit organizations. If you are unsure, please contact us at taylort@etsu.edu.
ETSU asks that all service-learning courses be registered with the Office of Service-Learning. Please complete the course registration form and return to the Office of Service-Learning, Dept. of Counseling and Human Services, PO Box 70701, Johnson City, TN 37614 or fax to 423-439-7790 before the semester begins. Tracking students, courses, as well as course evaluations and assessment key roles assigned to the Office of Service-Learning.

How can the Office of Service-Learning assist faculty?

Develop relevant site placements for the course
Provide paperwork to document service-learning (student application, waiver of liability/release hold harmless agreement, agency site contract, service hours log, agency evaluation of student)
Inform students about the service-learning process and placement sites
Placement of students
Monitor and maintain service-learning forms
Provide updates on students progress and completion of hours
Conduct site visits
Evaluate the service-learning program
Consultation on developing service-learning course components (syllabi revision, reflection, etc.)
Resource Library - we maintain a collection of books, articles, journals, simulation activities, tool kits, etc.

The Office of Service-Learning is part of the Department of Counseling and Human Services. It is located on the third floor in Room 307 in Warf-Pickel. The phone number is 423-439-7776 or 423-439-7775.

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Just for Faculty

To promote student learning and development