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Energizing Philosophy Through Service: Service Learning in a Feminism and Philosophy Course— Ann Cudd

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Background

Graduates from the Women’s Studies program pointed out a way to improve our program: mixing the course work that we offer with outside experiences relevant to those studies. Our alumni who had done either service learning or an internship found it significant. They said the opportunity for application helped them learn how to meld their course work with their life plans; furthermore, they enjoyed what activism added to book learning. Other graduates who had not done either service learning or internships noted its absence, and they told us that application is a critical part of the Women’s Studies program. When I considered this feedback together with the ideas I had about service learning, I decided that adding service learning to course work would be the best way to prepare our students for their professional work.

In order to develop this portion of my teaching, I looked at other service learning portfolio work recently done at the University of Kansas (KU) and found two useful role models. In addition to their example, I also had to consider which of my courses would be most amenable to the addition of service learning. My area, Philosophy, often defies the addition of service components, but I decided that I could apply theory to practice for the course Philosophy/ Women’s Studies 381, Feminism and Philosophy. I also thought that my work could serve as a model for others. In particular, I hoped that it would exemplify how academic rigor can be maintained while using service learning, a concern for some professors.

| Implementation

Implementation

I introduced the service learning segment of the course on the first class day, and I had a lot of blank looks from students. However, I added incentives that I believed made it a viable option for students: if they did the service learning portion, they were exempt from writing two papers. I also thought that it was important for service learning be optional, because I had students from several different majors taking the course.

As the semester progressed, I tweaked the service learning requirement to strengthen its usefulness. For instance, I decided to ask the students to design electronic posters based on their project experiences. However, in order to do a complete job on the posters, the students had to develop content that I had not originally asked for. So, I made a deal with them: they could complete a shorter two-page reflection paper instead of a different, longer paper if they created a poster. Students who were presenting projects at the end of the semester used their posters in their final presentations. Those posters are now available for others to read on the Women’s Studies website and can be viewed from this course portfolio, as well.

| Student Performance

Student Performance

The final projects, which included a presentation, were done in pairs or groups if students had worked at the same setting. I was very pleased with how these joint presentations turned out. The academic projects demonstrated to me that students stepped up when they did service learning. They did amazing things, they handled more than I anticipated, and they did more work than was necessary just to get a good grade. In fact, the work of the students was so exemplary that we featured one poster at our annual department banquet.

Through the work done on joint presentations, I think some students learned more than they would have otherwise. Not only did they come to understand the entity that they worked with and how it fit into our course learning goals, but they also developed ideas about public presentations, group skills, and electronic presentation formatting. This benefit extended the academic learning that I thought would come from the addition of a service learning component.

| Reflections

Reflections

Service learning engages students with learning in more positive ways than I had anticipated. Doing this work captured student enthusiasm and got students excited about learning in ways that does not typically happen when book learning is the only educational strategy. This format answers the survey question that our graduates brought up about connecting the course work with outside experiences. It also led to deeper scholarly involvement for several students. Some students continued on with the volunteer work that they had done, and this has brought them employment opportunities.

I anticipate teaching with service learning again, and as such, I hope to further develop the relationships that I have established with the community entities involved. I asked the supervisors, “Was this really valuable for you or was it too much work?” The results were uniformly positive, even if I had questions regarding a student who had been working at a particular placement. We both benefited from this town-gown interaction, and I look forward to working with community entities in the future. When I teach this course again, I will also continue to make service learning optional, for the variety of students who enroll in this course suggests to me that while it works very well for many students, others may find writing more papers a better choice for their education goals.

| Summary

Project Summary

Adding an optional service learning component provided a better understanding of how academic coursework is connected to life, as well as increasing student enthusiasm for the curriculum.

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