Running head: CASE STUDY #2

Case Study #2
Carlos Octavio Ballinas
ELPS 430: Curriculum Development in Higher Education
Loyola University

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For the purpose of this project, I chose to look at the service-learning websites from five
different universities that are part of the Big Ten Conference. Specifically, the universities I
chose are (1.) Michigan State University (2.) Penn State University (3.) Purdue University (4.)
Ohio State University (5.) and Rutgers University. When looking through the websites of each
university I was specifically looking and evaluating where the service-learning center is housed
in. Whether it is housed under a specific departments website or if its its own center. I was also
looking for what their goals and mission statement stated. Lastly, I was looking for what type of
services they offered and the level of accessibility and/or integration with the university as a
whole.
Part I. Describe
The Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement at Michigan State University
(http://www.servicelearning.msu.edu/) is part of University Outreach and Engagement and is
partnered with Campus and Community at MSU. The mission of MSUs service-learning space
is to advance community engaged learning at the University and to prepare students for lifelong
civic and social responsibility in an increasingly diverse and complex global society. The mission
statement is a wide ranging net that tries to encompass a variety of service, volunteer, and
community partnership initiatives. In its website, the Center provided information about the
types of partnerships it creates with the community, the kind of service-learning work that
students can engage in, and the ways in which community organizations can connect with the
center to create a partnership.
When it comes to academic based service learning, the center has a section devoted to
this on its website. MSU defines academic based service-learning as a teaching method that
combines community service with academic coursework and that centers on critical, reflective

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thinking, and civic responsibility. It also mentions that this type or learning addresses local needs
while at the same time developing academic skills. It then goes into detail about how academic
service learning is different from other forms of service learning and volunteerism. It doesnt
indicate in specificity the types of options students have for academic service-learning, but does
indicate that information will be made available soon. Though I should note that it states that
information for Spring 2015 will be made available soon. This leads me to believe that this
website might not have been updated in a while. I wonder how active academic service-learning
is at MSU this semester.
The Office of Service Learning at Ohio State University (http://service-learning.osu.edu/)
is a department within the Office of Undergraduate Education. The offices goal is to support the
development, implementation, and evaluation of sustainable service-learning courses and
encourage community-based scholarship across the curricula of OSU. In its website, the office
makes it a point to describe what service-learning, according to them. It indicates that servicelearning is something that is connected to specific learning outcomes, and that meets needs
identified by the community. This is similar to MSUs description of academic service-learning.
It adds to its description of service learning by indicating that service-learning also provides
structured time for student reflection. OSUs service-learning website indicates that through
service-learning based courses students can, among other things, develop personal and social
responsibility, critical thinking skills, improved knowledge on academic subjects, and expand
their world view.
The Center for Service Learning and Community-Based Research at Penn State
University (http://www.bk.psu.edu/Academics/33423.htm) is located at The Center within
Penn State Berks. The Centers goal is to create partnerships among students, faculty, and

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community organizations that will enhance student learning while fulfilling community needs.
The center also provides a definition of service-learning which compares to the definition of both
MSU and OSU. It provides specific information for students, faculty, and community members
regarding how service-learning can impact and benefit each of them. The Centers website does a
good job of providing information on upcoming courses that will engage service-learning. It also
provides a list of active and ongoing projects. It seems to be a space within the university which
is active and is given a good amount of attention too.
Service-learning at Purdue University is housed within the Center for Instructional
Excellence (http://www.purdue.edu/cie/learning/servicelearning/). Purdues goals when it comes
to service-learning is to have students apply their classroom experiences to solve real-world
problems in their communities. Purdue defines service-learning as something that is a course
based, credit-bearing educational experiences that meets identified community needs and is
related to a course or discipline. The Center offers a variety of faculty and student grant
programs and advertises a Coffee, Conversation, and Service-Learning Collaboration event
taking place at the end of this month. The purpose of the event it to inform faculty on current
resources available for service-learning and to provide a platform for networking and sharing
best practices. There is no information about specific courses which students can take on the
Centers website. Yet, there is a link to a journal which Purdue creates on Service-Learning.
Service-learning at Rutgers University (http://engage.rutgers.edu/index.php?optio
=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid=67) is based within the Collaborative Center for
Community-Based Research and Service. Specifically, service-learning is executed under The
Civic Engagement and Service Education Partnerships Courses (CESEP) within the Center. The
goal of these courses, and of service-learning at Rutgers, is to link faculty and students to local,

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state, and national community organizations. Through its goal, the Center is able to provide an
academic component to student service experience and connects on-campus learning with
genuine community needs. In essence, like the other four Universitys selected, service-learning
at Rutgers both accomplishes the goal of meeting community needs while at the same time
engaging an academic component to that need that will be satisfied through a credit-bearing
course. The Centers website provides a dedicated space that provides information for students,
faculty, and the community on how Service Learning engages each of them. It provides a list of
courses that are being offered for service-learning. Though, just like MSU, this portion of the
website has not been updated in over a year.
Part II. Compare and Contrast
As Ive stated throughout the descriptions, all five service-learning centers have a couple
of similarities. Each University provides a goal or mission statement that states how servicelearning is practiced. More or less, they all agree in that service-learning needs to meet the needs
of a community while at the same time engaging an academic component that is part of a creditbearing course. I think this is the most important similarity that I found among all of the Centers
I selected. Each service-learning center also has information on ways the faculty, students, and
community organizations, can engage in service-learning.
Along with the similarities, there were also quite a few differences between each servicelearning experience at each University. For example, not all service-learning centers provided
examples on the types of courses a student can sign up for during the upcoming semester that
engages in service-learning. Specifically, Ohio State University and Michigan State University
do not provide this information on their website. Also, while most service-learning centers
existed in a space dedicated to service learning, Rutgers Universitys service-learning experience

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existed within a larger space dedicated to community-based research and service. Lastly, the
service-learning centers at Purdue and Ohio State make mention of the goal of reflection as part
of the service-learning experience, while MSU, PSU, and Rutgers do not. I thought that this was
important difference as we learned in class last week, through the Cress Reading (2005), that
reflection is part of the service-learning experience. Just because reflection is not mentioned in
each centers website, does not indicate that reflection is not engaged, but it was not indicated on
the website.
Part III. Integrate
Chapter one of Cress (1999) talks about the correlation between service-learning,
becoming a more informed citizen, and being educated members of a democracy. Servicelearning programs allow students to apply academic knowledge to real world context. They also
engage the integration of both community and academics. The service-learning Centers in all
five universitys selected touched on the importance of becoming a more informed citizen or
member of the community through the service-learning experience. Each of them didnt
specifically state the need for reflection, or being more civic minded. Yet, it seems as if each of
them is trying to attain the goal of making their students more engaged citizens that are more
civic minded members of society.
In Principles of Good Practice for Service-Learning Pedagogy, Howard (1993) provides
ten principles to consider when engaging service-learning in a course. The goal of the principles
are to make sure that the service-learning environment upholds the tenets of good servicelearning. That means, among other things, that students still need to engage in learning while
doing service, that learning objectives must be established, that criteria for the selection of

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service-placements must be established, that students must be prepared to learn from the
community, and that faculty must rethink how they engage their instructional role.
Through their service learning websites, each school engages some aspects of Howards
principles. Rutgers makes it a point to provide Howards list to its faculty under the faculty
resources page under service-learning. Ohio State makes sure to establish foundational learning
objectives in its literature about student learning. Michigan State has a service learning tool kit
which includes literature about the instructors role as a facilitator in the classroom. Beyond
establishing general learning objectives for all service-learning, Purdue and Penn States servicelearning centers do not explicitly indicate the integration of Howards principles on their website.
Over all, it was quite difficult to find evidence of Howards principles in each Universitys
website. Yet, I think that just because these principles are not specifically indicated on each
website, it does not mean that the service-learning centers and the faculty in each of these centers
are not engaging the principles. Reading through each website, I wish each site would be more
explicit in how it applies these principles into their practice of service-learning.
In Service Learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education, Furco (1996) talks
about the struggle of coming up with an accurate definition of Service-Learning. The goal is to
have a balance between Service and Learning. Service programs like volunteerism and
community service tend to focus more on the service aspect of service-learning while programs
like field education and internships tend to focus more on the learning aspect of service-learning.
The overall goal of service-learning is to engage in both. Each of the goal / mission statements
for the universitys I selected made a point to indicate that service learning is both trying to focus
on the needs of the community (implying community service) while at the same time trying to
engage an academic component (implying learning).

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In trying to integrate, I found many of the service-learning center websites to be

somewhat ambiguous. This made the integration of the websites to the readings somewhat
frustrating for me. This was particularly true of the Howard reading. I see the principles which
Howard provides as something that is very useful in the practical creation of a service-learning
course. Yet, besides Rutgers who provides Howards actual list under the faculty resources
portion of its service-learning website, it is hard to see the integration of these principles in the
content each website provided. Beyond Howard, as Ive stated before, each website did a good
job of indicating that service-learning fulfills a community need while at the same time satisfying
the academic requirement of a credit based course which Cress and Furco both indicate is critical
in service-learning.

References
Cress, C. (2005) Learning Through Serving: A Student Guidebook for Service-learning Across
Disciplines. Stylus Publishing. LLC.

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Furco, A. (1996) Service-Learning: A Balanced Approach to Experiential Education.

Expanding Boundaries: Service and Learning. Washington DC: Corporation for National
Service
Howard, J. (1993).Community service learning in the curriculum. In J. Howard (Ed.), Praxis I: A
faculty casebook on community service learning. (pp. 3-12). Ann Arbor: OCSL Press.
Kolb, D.A. (1984). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development.
Englewood Cliffs, NJ: Prentice Hall.
Service Learning Website for Michigan State University. Retrieved from:
http://www.servicelearning.msu.edu/
Service Learning Website for Ohio State University. Retrieved from: http://service
learning.osu.edu/
Service Learning Website for Penn State University. Retrieved from:
http://www.bk.psu.edu/Academics/33423.htm
Service Learning Website for Perdue University. Retrieved from:
http://www.purdue.edu/cie/learning/servicelearning/
Service Learning Website for Rutgers University. Retrieved from:
http://engage.rutgers.edu/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=59&Itemid