Servicelearning.org, the national clearinghouse for Serve and Learn America, defines service learning as “a teaching and learning strategy that integrates meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen communities.”
NCC has been involved in service learning since 1999 and seen its program grow from three faculty members and a handful of students participating in the first year, to over 20 faculty and 400 students engaged in service learning activities during the 2006-07 academic year. Administrators from NCC and four other colleges recently had a chance to hear a presentation on service learning by one of the most foremost authorities on the subject, Robert Franco.
Franco, an anthropology professor who is also director of Planning and Grants at Kapi’olani Community College, University of Hawaii, serves as the senior fellow for community colleges at National Campus Compact, an organization that seeks to build civic engagement into campus and academic life. The workshop was part of a grant Northampton Community College was awarded by Pennsylvania and New York Campus Compact and the Corporation for National and Community Service.
Franco said service learning “prepares students for lives of ethical, responsible community involvement by offering opportunities for increased civic engagement – active participation in the public life of a community … with a focus on the common good.” This type of learning, Franco emphasized, ultimately will produce “can-do, will-do citizens.”
According to Deb Bohr, Service Learning administrator at NCC, “Bob Franco provided the participants with a concise framework on the pedagogy of service learning. We were very fortunate to have such an esteemed colleague present at this workshop.”
NCC is the lead college in a regional network that includes Raritan Valley Community College in Somerset, NJ; Kingsborough Community College in Brooklyn, NY; Queensborough Community College in Queens, NY; and Montgomery Community College in Bluebell, PA.
You can learn more about NCC’s service learning efforts here.
