I know this was supposed to be an outline of my paper, but to be honest, I haven’t gotten anything together for it. This is partly because I have no idea what I’m going to do with the paper and it’s kind of got me panicky because I’m overwhelmed by it and everything else I have to do before the semester ends. I also feel like I don’t have anywhere near enough service-learning time to draw on due to logistical conflicts, and I don’t know how much of the wikipedia articles I’m going to be able to edit.
For what it’s worth, these are some of my random thoughts:
- disconnect between readings & service learning (learning very basic, readings very theoretical/cerebral
- what are the long-term fruits of my service learning (will the teaching trickle down to the kids)?
- what I learned in service learning
- patience
- tough to know what people know & what they don’t
- people are really good with some programs but not others
- organization is key for inexperienced users so they don’t get overwhelmed
- unsatisfying service learning experience
- i was first to set up my experience, but perhaps got least out of it
Here are some articles & books I think I might use:
“Service-Learning as Postmodern Pedagogy” by Dan Butin in Service-Learning in Higher Education, ed. by Dan Butin
The Academic Citizen by Bruce Macfarlane
Learning to Serve: Promoting Civil Society Through Service Learning
Perspectives of Five Library and Information Studies Students Involved in Service Learning at a… in Journal of Education for Library & Information Science | 2001-0442:2, | 86(10)
Where’s the Library in Service Learning?: Models for Engaged Library Instruction.
Riddle, John S. | Journal of Academic Librarianship | 2003-0329:2
Service-Learning and LIS Education.
Yontz, Elaine; McCook, Kathleen de la Peña | Journal of Education for Library & Information Science | 2003-0144:1, | 58(11)
November 28, 2007 at 5:31 pm
Hi Chris,
Sorry to hear that your service learning was not the success you envisioned-a lot of us are in that boat and it’s difficult to write about in a constructive way. I’m thinking about examining my initial expectations and then step outside of my reaction in order to see if service learning has really occurred. There are a few oblique ways that it is probably occurring that may not be noted like learning how to approach people or situations you don’t know,etc. Looks like you have some good sources in your bibliography and although you may think your experience was unsuccessful you probably have a lot to offer in advice now that you have been through it.
Kate
November 28, 2007 at 7:41 pm
I haven’t done any one-on-one service learning, but in some ways, I imagine it would be harder than teaching a class, or observing a class. With a class, you can work from a curriculum, and everyone is there for an agreed upon topic, like Word, or Excel, or Powerpoint.
But from reading your blog, it seems like you are much more “directed” by someone if they’re your only client. The group I’m working with offers classes up to 25, or small groups, with sometimes only one person showing.
You really made me aware that service learning can be vastly different if you *fall* into a program that’s already set up, which is what happened to me, or have to find someone that understands what you’re trying to do.
November 28, 2007 at 8:42 pm
The disconnect between the readings and the actual service learning is something I contemplated including in my paper as well. I think that would be a great transition from a section on theory to a section on evidence.
I also taught one-on-one, and I think the uniqueness of that experience as opposed to teaching a large or even small group gives us a lot more to write about with regard to actual capabilities of individual users. At the very least, it is a perspective different from those teaching groups and will provide some variety in the sum of the classes efforts on the papers.
November 28, 2007 at 9:06 pm
I also think the disconnect between the theory found in scholarly writing and the mundane details of connecting with the community is a very ripe topic. The long-term effects are probably a harder nut to crack, but you can find material in the literature on service more generally that suggests one long term effect that is measurable is that people who do some service, any service, before turning 22, are much more likely to make service part of their adult life, whereas people who never try it before 22 are very likely to never serve their community for the rest of their life. Sally Beisser assures me this is an empirical fact.
About the unsatisfying part, I will share a story. My daughter came home despondent yesterday. Her best and seemingly only major new friend in Middle School is moving to France. Go figure. So we had a long talk about diversification, which is a principle important to people in politics, business, agriculture, etc, and in the natural world as well. Your emphasis on Frick made you dependent on Sharon and as such, when she bailed out or was pulled away, you were stuck. Is there anything to be said or written about the role of diversification in service-learning?
~Doc
November 29, 2007 at 6:44 am
Chris, I can feel your pain. I had a hard time to come up with an outline. I thought about this paper from October but couldn’t have any clue at all and I still do. I saw a couple of articles from the journal Doc brought to the class before about students’ reflection on service learning. So you could use that to compare with service learning with a group and with an individual or something like that.
November 30, 2007 at 11:08 pm
Hi Chris,
Well it seems as though you’ve gotten some pretty good suggestions from others. I like the idea about discussing the theory vs. practice topic as well. You can say a lot about the kinds of “divides” you’ve come across and how you approached them. Maybe looking back you would have done things differently (or not) if so, how? From what you’ve read are there other ways SIS students should engage in service learning? Or is the concept all the same? I think we have a lot of freedom to shape our papers in really creative ways. That is why my outline is all over the place. Good luck!
PS. I think you’ve got some great sources.
December 4, 2007 at 5:13 pm
Chris, Perhaps your client got more out of your experience than you think. I have found that sometimes my trainee adds to my knowledge base by the questions. It is a way for us to “bond”, by eliminating some of the trainer/trainee pedastel issue.
KatyL