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Service Learning

Overview

The Roanoke College Pathways program seeks to improve student learning by enhancing the quality of experiential learning opportunities available to our students. The three essential elements of these quality enhancements are: Preparation and Planning, Ongoing Guided Reflection, and Post-Experience Public Showcasing (see Pathways-Service-Learning document for details). Under this program, students will be guided through preparing for a service-learning experience, prompted to reflect critically throughout the experience, and articulate their learning through a public showcasing event and final reflection paper.

Award: $400 stipend for the faculty mentor and up to $500 for expenses related to the service-learning project/experience.

Faculty Requirements

To receive Pathways support for a service-learning course or project, faculty must:

  1. Provide excellent mentorship to the student.
  2. Develop a learning agreement in consultation with your students. For service-learning courses, the learning agreement can be less formal and built into the course content through class discussions or assignments. The main point here is that students should go into the service project understanding its purpose and knowing the learning goals associated with the project.
  3. Provide the framework and support for your student's ongoing guided reflection. This must include developing prompts as framed by the DEAL model and provide feedback on your student's reflections. This can be done orally during regular meetings or through writing as part of a journaling process.
  4. Guide your student through the final reflection process leading to the submission of a final reflection paper.
  5. Guide your students in their poster and presentation skill development prior to a showcasing event.

Application Process

To apply for Pathways support, please complete this application form by August 14th for a course/project in the Fall semester (or for full-year projects) or January 6th for a course or project in the Spring semester.

Award Recipients

Faculty who receive an award are required to turn in the following documents:

  • A sample learning agreement or description of how you plan on preparing students for the service-learning experience. Please submit this within two weeks of the beginning of the semester.
  • A short list of reflection prompts you plan to use to help guide your student's reflections.
  • An electronic copy of your student's final reflection paper in Word or PDF (not scanned PDFs).
  • An evaluation form at the end of the semester (form will be provided).

Detailed descriptions of each required element of a Pathways project can be found in the Pathways-Service-Learning document.

Developing a Course?

It's not all about housing and hunger. There are many organizations we partner with in ways which enhance the classroom experience and connect to the community. If you are considering including a service-learning component to your course but are not sure how it might work, please contact Rich Grant or Jesse Griffin to help you think through the process. A list of current community partners can be found here, but we are willing to develop new relationships with the community if needed. Contact information for these partners can be found here.

Have questions? Please contact:

Dr. Travis Carter
Director of Experiential Learning
experience@roanoke.edu
540-375-2483