Service learning is taking over at Wayne State College by using an interactive learning style for students and allowing teachers to connect class concepts to the outside world.
A common struggle amongst college students is the feeling of disengagement from class material due to a lack of connection to real-world occurrences. This disconnect leaves room for the dilution of great young minds, a consequence that can lead to students not finishing college or ever pursuing further education after obtaining their first degree.
Service learning is a staple to both a new style of learning and a new style of teaching since it connects what students learn in college and how those teachings are connected to or usable in the real world.
Service learning was introduced to Wayne State in 1999 before being instated in 2000. During the late 80s and early 90s, service learning was funded through a federal grant. But when these grants dissipated over time, the service-learning courses dried up as well.
This was also the cause of colleges not wanting to allocate their funds towards service learning. Wayne State was different during this time since it was supportive of service learning and decided to keep what most colleges got rid of it.
Lisa Nelson, the director of WSC’s service-learning program, has been promoting the growth of advanced learning with her work for over 19 years through Wayne. Over the years, Nelson has noticed a drastic change in the way students react to hands-on application.
As they applied in-class curriculum to real-world events “Students’ wheels started to turn” provoking a genuine interest in classes, allowing them to perform better in class and future assignments. During her ascent to her position, Nelson always spoke about how she never understood when she was going to use geometry in the outside world. Completing tasks is a good accomplishment, but without showing how what was being taught was imperitive to real life it held no weight in the minds of students. Exposing this relevance of learning to students by giving them a connection to how their learning applies to them personally, allows for their experience to “Come alive” in Nelson’s words, sprouting a new love for both learning and contribution to the community in students. One of the main goals of service learning is to give an experience meaning. This way allows it to become special, making it stick with you in a better fashion.
Service learning has the tendency to formulate a stronger bond between teachers and students, through more genuine interactions than the average teacher-student relationships at Wayne State. As a student, you get to know your teacher and vice versa. Doing these proactive activities with students that allow them to get hands-on experience outside of the classroom, helps teachers become more of a familiar face, and reliable source for the future outside of their education. Alexander Peter, a current student at Wayne State is taking a class taught by Barbara Engebretsen on personal, public, and global health. Alexander said “Participating in our service-learning project which focused on Native American experiences was a transformative journey for me… One of the most significant strengths of the project was the opportunity for genuine conversation.”
During service learning as a student, you have to work a lot more with teachers to stay involved with the curriculum, to the point where they aren’t just learning about a topic but they are learning about themselves. Engebretsen said she uses service learning in her course to “Translate what I’m teaching in the class to action.” She continuously incorporates things from a paper and pen perspective into more hands-on work so that her students can start “Growing as a person and doing something for your community.” Finding this balance of both accomplishment and growth is what sets service learning apart from alternative styles of teaching. It’s rewarding on both sides, giving students a fresh and immersive way to learn, and giving teachers the chance to see the hard work that’s put into making curriculums and lessons pay off through the success of their students.
Allyn Lueders, a professor, and chair of the communications arts department incorporates service learning in her course on public relations at Wayne State College. Every semester she asks a representative of the organization that partners with Wayne State for service learning to come to class. They describe their organization and their goals so students can be divided in pursuit of each group creating material focused on helping the organization better achieve It’s goals. This exercise is meant for students to present their ideas to both the class and the organization, ending with a reflection on their project and the benefits they acknowledge from participating in service learning. Lueders said “This reflection is an essential part of service learning” allowing the students to step back and truly see what they gained in creativity and experience. Letting teachers watch the change in their students in this way has given them a sense of reason at Wayne State. Lueders even went as far as to say “I love using service learning for these classes because students seem to really appreciate the practical experience they gain, and immediately being able to apply class concepts makes things more exciting.”
Service learning is a firm pillar that helps hold the foundation of retention at Wayne State College. Being able to bridge the gap of both the real world and the academic world has a huge impact on how people teach and learn, yet it is still undervalued in schooling as a whole. Nelson described it in the best way by saying “They’re collaborating with the teacher… they’re not just sitting and listening to a lecture” which is the symbol of pride that Wayne State promotes.