Perhaps you have been volunteering in our community and think that your students could benefit from some of the same hands-on-experiences you have enjoyed. Maybe you want to incorporate community service into your teaching and are looking for some new ideas. Possibly you are searching for a new approach to bring more engagement into your classroom. Maybe you just want to recharge your batteries. Whatever the motive, this proven teaching pedagogy of service-learning might be for you.

Is it for you?

It is not intended to be a “new curriculum” which must be adopted by every teacher. It is one additional method which can enrich student learning, enhance your teaching, and revitalize your curriculum offerings.

Doesn’t service-learning water down academic rigor?

Academic credit should be given only for learning, not for service! If applied properly, this pedagogy can be more rigorous than traditional teaching methods. Students not only master the standard text and lecture material, but integrate their service experience into that context. This is a high-level skill designed to enhance your students’ understanding of the issues within your discipline.

How can this Faculty Guidebook help you?

It will give you the basics for integrating service-learning into your teaching. Reading through it will give you an understanding of service-learning and provide specific ideas on how to utilize this strategy in your classes. It contains a working definition of service-learning, shows how it relates to the mission of BYU-Idaho, provides principles to guide you in setting up a service-learning component in a course, answers important questions about liability and risk management, and gives you access to the forms which help establish a successful relationship between the faculty, student, and Community Partner.