Service Learning Surpasses 100 Course Offerings for Fall 2020

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A student connects with her mentor over Zoom.

The Service Learning Initiative began in 2014 with the purpose of formalizing and expanding service learning opportunities on campus. Since then, the Service Learning Initiative has amassed offerings in each undergraduate college, the Graduate School and the Law School. For the first time, the university has offered more than 100 service learning course sections in one semester!

Students earn course credit while working with community partners in a real setting. The Service Learning Initiative has successfully administered both domestic and study abroad courses, including programs in Belize, Ghana, India, Mexico, Mozambique, and Vietnam.

Course Spotlights

One course, Nursing Concepts: Older Adults, provided students the opportunity to connect with a community senior who serves as a student's mentor. In addition to providing insight into the thoughts and feelings of active aging individuals, the pairs have discussions, activities, and ultimately develop a wellness plan for the senior. Lori Murray, course instructor, says that "This service learning experience provides students with a more positive view of aging as many students had assumptions that most older adults require nursing care. Students were able to provide home safety assessments and create healthy living plans to assist older adults in helping them stay well and reach their goals."

Another course, the Latino Youth Biliteracy Project, engages bilingual college students with the Latino community as tutors to help children to work on their Spanish skills. U of A students use their own bilingual/biliteracy skills and vocabulary to create culturally comprehensible and appropriate educational activities as mentors in one or more of the Sin Limiters biliteracy program sites. Dr. Raquel Castro Salas, course instructor, shares that, "Teaching service-learning courses has been a rewarding opportunity, as I see how my students connect with the Latino community of Northwest Arkansas in ways that benefit both parties. It is exciting for them to use their Spanish skills in real life situations and through these experiences learn academic material, life skills, cultural competence, and civic engagement."

Students pose with the Spanish Afterschool program that the Latino Youth Biliteracy Project worked with to help children maintain their heritage language. 

Service learning students also work with national organizations. Integrative Marketing Communications, for instance, works with a different company every semester. Students hear about the client's advertising needs, then develop and propose an advertising campaign for them. Students have worked with major corporations like Reckitt Benckiser, helping them develop their ExSTInct campaign to fight the spread of sexually transmitted infections, to another like Core Brewery and their Scarlett Letter Hard Seltzers campaign. Anne Marie Velliquette, course instructor, says "I believe in active learning and really try not to lecture all the time. In this course, students engage with each other, the project, the client, and the community. It's such a rewarding experience to not only help the students learn hands-on, but to know that we are also helping the client."

Students working with Reckitt Benckiser on their ExSTInct campaign.

In recent service learning course assessments, students reported positive outcomes in academic learning, civic learning, and career readiness. Students who participated in service learning courses gained in empathy, morality, and the question of being a better citizen. One survey respondent, for instance, said that "I have greatly benefitted from this course. All of the things I have been learning in my classes up to this point have finally come to life while working through this course."

Students want more opportunities in more departments. Therefore, now is the perfect time to incorporate service learning into your teaching pedagogy! Student success and retention benefits have been broadly demonstrated. Community partners praise our students. Faculty gain access to travel and material grant opportunities. Please visit the Course Offerings page on our website to see current course availability. More information on the designation process and how to apply can be found on the Course Designation page. Questions should be directed to Jennie Popp, Angela Oxford, or Rachel Grunert.