1. Service-Learning is practiced at over 1,000 universities and by over two million college students nationwide. Service-Learning is offered at an increasing number of colleges and universities.
2. Service-learning has a positive effect on students’:
- personal and interpersonal development
- leadership and communication skills
- reducing stereotypes and facilitating cultural & racial understanding
- sense of social responsibility and citizenship skills
- commitment to service
- academic learning
- ability to apply what they have learned in “the real world”
- career development
- relationships with faculty involved in service-learning
- satisfaction with college
- physical health (benefits of volunteering)
3. Service-Learning is part of a national movement in higher education to increase civic and political engagement. See the national survey findings of civic engagement in U.S. colleges and universities.
4. Service-Learning helps prepare students for the job market. Seventy-three percent of employers would like to see “The ability to apply knowledge and skills to real-world settings through internships or other hands-on experiences” emphasized more in higher education.
5. Service-Learning provides useful services in the community and communities report enhanced university relations. See the study.
Additional SL Research Resources
The Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
National Service-Learning Clearinghouse, insert “Research” into search box
Campus Compact’s SL resources for research universities
National Society for Experiential Education