Faculty Information

Service-Learning Course Designation Criteria

During the Fall 2005 semester, the All-College Committee on Academic Programs and Standards approved the formation of a Service-Learning Subcommittee. Its first task was to approve a set of criteria for designating service-learning courses. Such courses will be designated on the Registrar's Page with an "SL." Each year, the subcommmittee members review eligible courses for SL designation.

A course will be designated as a service-learning course when it meets all of the following criteria:
1. It is a credit-bearing course.
2. It integrates service or community-based research and academic course content so that each significantly informs and enhances the other.
3. There are planned benefits for the community partner and the students; and the service or research addresses a need and follows processes that are mutually agreed upon by the partner agency and the faculty member.
4. Student course assessment and credit are based upon the demonstration of student learning, including critical reflection, regarding the integration of the service or research and the academic course content.
5. The course actively guides and supports students in critical reflection regarding the integration of the service or research and the academic course content.

The APSC Subcommittee on Service-Learning includes: Kirsten Guss(liaison to APSC), Susan Rose (Director, Community Studies Center), Sarah Bair, and Wendell Smith.