Thomas W. Hahn - Böcker

At this time of a renewed call for colleges and universities to create campus cultures that support and develop students’ understanding and commitment to civic participation, what is known about the design of service learning courses and their effectiveness to achieve this goal? This volume presents research on--and deepens understanding of--teaching strategies that foster the knowledge, skills and dispositions of college graduates to be actively engaged in their communities as citizens and civic-minded professionals. The first section offers an overview of civic learning and the importance of intentional service learning course design to reach civic outcomes. The next section employs various disciplinary perspectives to identify theories and conceptual frameworks for conducting research on student civic outcomes. The third section focuses on research methods and designs to improve research using quantitative and qualitative approaches, cross-institutional research strategies, longitudinal designs, authentic data, and local and national data sets. Chapters also address implications for practice and future research agendas for scholars.

At this time of a renewed call for colleges and universities to create campus cultures that support and develop students’ understanding and commitment to civic participation, what is known about the design of service learning courses and their effectiveness to achieve this goal? This volume presents research on--and deepens understanding of--teaching strategies that foster the knowledge, skills and dispositions of college graduates to be actively engaged in their communities as citizens and civic-minded professionals. The first section offers an overview of civic learning and the importance of intentional service learning course design to reach civic outcomes. The next section employs various disciplinary perspectives to identify theories and conceptual frameworks for conducting research on student civic outcomes. The third section focuses on research methods and designs to improve research using quantitative and qualitative approaches, cross-institutional research strategies, longitudinal designs, authentic data, and local and national data sets. Chapters also address implications for practice and future research agendas for scholars.

For scholars seeking to undertake consequential research in service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) at a time when there is widening interest in and increasing acceptance of research in this field as a primary area of scholarship, this book provides accounts by preeminent scholars about the trajectories of their research, their methodologies, lessons learned along the way, as well as their views about the future direction of the field.The contributors to this volume represent a range of disciplines and fields including education, history, organizational leadership, political science, philanthropic studies, psychology, and public health, as well as both qualitative and quantitative traditions, and offer models of scholarly learning that contribute to a knowledge base that can guide practice and further the broader public purposes of the academy.They articulate how they view their research on SLCE as having broader purposes that matter to them personally as well as professionally and illustrate how the “why” and “to what end” of their research can evolve as a program of research develops and matures across time. They identify key choices they made in terms of inquiry and methodology, describe both successes and challenges in establishing and navigating a SLCE research agenda across their careers, and share lessons learned from their research journey to advance the field both domestically and abroad. Emerging from these narratives is a theme of practical wisdom that arises through the learning of researchers, students and communities as they engage with complex social contexts.