NSTP2 Notes 1

Read and Learn Definition and Subject Matter

The Webster's Dictionary defines community as a body of people living in the same
place who work towards a common interest. This term is derived from the old French
word communite and the Latin word communitas (cum, "with/together" + munus,
"gift"). It is a broad terminology for fellowship or organized society.

The most common and simplest definition of community is that it is an aggregation

of families and individuals who have settled in a compact and contiguous
geographical area and share significant elements of common life as shown in their
manners, customs, traditions, and modes of speech.

A community could be characterized by age group, ethnicity, gender, religion,

location or profession.

Communities are sometimes overlapping and one person can belong to a vast number of
different communities all at once.

Regardless of the community you are a part of or the reason you joined; every
community has resources that help to fulfill its needs. These resources are known
as community assets.

Community assets include positive activities, facilities and services that help to
keep its members healthy.

It is obviously beneficial to have a large variety of assets in your community.

Just as important as the number of assets however, is how they work together to
serve the community.

Collaboration amongst people, and the efficient use of the resources of a community
can maximize the benefits of its members.

For Manalili (2009), nonetheless, a community refers to an organization of people

who are able to undertake projects based on its members' experience, resiliency,
motivation, and willingness to learn.

In archaeology, a community is understood in two ways. First, it is a place where

people actually reside, an idea quite similar to the concept of an ancient
settlement.

Second, it is a group of individuals who live near, and interact with, each other.
An active community is an organization of people who strategize, conceptualize,
implement, and evaluate a program (Bunagan et al., 2009).

The definitions of a community may vary, but certain commonalities are noticeable
when explaining and describing the concept (Norman, 1988).

In Genesis 1:27 of the Old Testament, the word community encompasses all God's
creation in the universe, including man and woman whom He created in His own image.
He allowed them to have dominion over all living things and other natural
creations. In addition, God placed the first man and woman in the Garden of Eden so
it could be guarded and cultivated.

Man and woman are not created to live in isolation from one another. The first
framework established in understanding the essence of a community concentrates on
the relationship of the Lord with His creation.

Sociological Concept of a Community

Sociologically speaking, the family is the smallest unit of society. It is composed
of the immediate and non-immediate members, while a community is composed of
different families living in the same place who share the same interests. The
activities of a family that are also done by a community include sharing common
resources, working for the common good, and building harmonious relationships.

These central qualities of a family are also the basic building blocks of any
community.

According to the Holy Scripture, the stronger the family, the stronger the
community. An individual person can form a family, a family can form a community,
and a community can form a nation.

Aesthetic and Moral Values of a Community

The aesthetic values and morals of a community consist of the guiding and sometimes
paradoxical ideas that its members hold, e.g., how they know what is good from bad,
beautiful from ugly, and right from wrong, as well as the justifications necessary
in explaining their actions.

As a community develops, its values change. A change in values may result from
innovations in technology or the social hierarchy. Examples of values include
solidarity, commitment, mutuality, and trust.

It was Aristotle who first postulated the concept of community as a group

established by men with shared values. That initial definition has been refined and
expanded throughout the years. It has been recognized, for example, people can
belong to a number of different communities at once: communities place; communities
of culture; communities of memory, in which people w technically be strangers share
"a morally significant history"; and psychological communities "of face-to-face
personal interaction" that is “governed by sentiments of trust, cooperation, and
altruism" (Boyles, 1996-1997).

Human beings have social instincts; they come into this world equipped with the
disposition to learn new ideas and values. As such, the concept of a community has
likewise evolved - from its simple to complex nature, and from its basic to multi-
dimensional nature.

NSTP2 Notes 2

Definition and Subject Matter

Service-learning provides students the opportunity to work with others, gain
valuable insights, and acquire different skills. Through varied community projects,
they can apply what they have been taught in class by formulating appropriate
solutions to the problems they encounter in their chosen communities.

As enrollees of NSTP-CWTS 2, students can use the insights that they gain in the
classroom and provide solutions to real-life problems in the community. They become
bona fide members of their assigned communities as they render service and perform
acts like the following:
1. Analyze the effect of natural disasters and use a kit to gather
important items during disaster preparation. Elementary students can design and
distribute these kits to the members of the community.
2. High school students can closely monitor the effects of poor nutrition
and lack of exercise by organizing health-related activities, concoct nutritious
recipes, and putting up fruit and vegetable stands in the schools in the community.
3. To eliminate invasive aquatic species, biology majors can study the
complexity and diversity of wetlands. Streams can also be monitored and the results
presented to the class.
4. University students can help struggling local non-profit organizations
cope with difficult economic conditions. Students who are enrolled in
communication-related courses can provide varied public relations services with
community partners, develop press kits, and provide assistance holding events.

Characteristics of Service-learning
The common characteristics of service-learning include the following:
1. It brings good, substantial, and practical results for the
participants.
2. It promotes cooperation rather than competition where the skills
associated with teamwork and active community involvement are developed.
3. It gives appropriate rather than simplified solutions to problems that
seriously affect the community.
4. It provides real-life experiences wherein students gain knowledge from
a particular community engagement activity rather than from a textbook. Through
these direct experiences, service-learning offers great opportunities for students
to develop their critical thinking skills and learn how to identify relevant and
emerging issues in community settings.
5. It gives students a deeper understanding of concepts and real-life
situations in the community through immediately observable results.
6. Through an immediate understanding of a situation in the community,
service- learning becomes a more significant experience for students, leading to
their emotional and social development and cognitive learning.

Service-learning is not:
1. An episodic volunteer program
2. An add-on course to an existing school or college curriculum
3. Logging a set number of community service hours in order to graduate
4. Compensatory service assigned as a form of punishment by the courts of
by school administrators
5. Only for high school or college students
6. One-sided, that is, beneficial only to the students or the community

The distinctive element of service-learning is that it enhances the community

through the service provided, and also results in the educational improvement of
the students and the other people providing the service. Service-learning is
rapidly growing and becoming popular because of its powerful impact on people and
their development. It is a dynamic process, through which the students' personal
and social growth are tightly interwoven into their academic and cognitive
advancement. According to Eyler and Giles (1999), the service-learning model
enhances understanding and leads to more effective action.

Service-learning Theory
Service-learning is a form of experiential education wherein learning occurs
through cycles of action and reflection. Students work with others in applying what
they have learned in class to solve community problems while, at the same time,
reflecting upon their experiences as they seek to attain their goals for the
community and a deeper understanding and skills for themselves (Eyler & Giles,
1999).

Legal Bases of Service-learning

Service-learning is based on RA 8292, also known as the Higher Education
Modernization Act of 1997. This law reiterates Section 2(1) of Article XIV of the
1987 Constitution by declaring that the “policy of the state is to establish,
maintain, and support a complete, adequate, and integrated system of education
relevant to the needs of the people and the society." This policy can be attained
through the HEIs' trilogy of functions - academics (teaching-learning), research,
and extension (community service) - and their keeping in mind their legal
responsibility to act as effective agents of change and development.
HEls on Service-learning
One of the trifocal functions of the university is community extension. According
to Tariman (2007), its duty to the youth is to make them literate and functional,
so they can make good decisions regarding the problems affecting their health,
families, and duties and responsibilities to the community. They should be provided
with opportunities for cooperative undertakings affecting the welfare of the entire
community, so they can develop into young men and women who look upon their own
interests in terms of the welfare of others.

Benefits of Service-learning
Service-learning has potential benefits to the students, faculty, and community.
Students in service-learning classes can benefit academically, professionally and
personally. They will:
1. Increase their understanding of the class topic
2. Gain firsthand experience (possibly leading to a future internship or
job)
3. Have the opportunity to act on values and beliefs
4. Develop critical thinking and problem-solving skills
5. Increase their knowledge of diverse cultures and communities
6. Learn more about social issues and their causes
7. Improve their ability to handle difficult situations
8. Be open to change and become more flexible
9. Develop or enhance their skills, especially in the areas of
communication collaboration, and leadership
10. Test out the skills, interests, and values required in a potential
career path and learn more about their field of interest
11. Connect with professionals and community members who will also learn
from the service-learning program
12. Grow a professional network of people, whom they can contact later for
career growth
13. Be encouraged in joining public service or social organizations

There are personal and professional benefits that faculty members can derive from
integrating service-learning into the courses they handle. Their decision to teach
SPL classes can:
1. Promote interactive teaching as well as reciprocal learning between
them and their students
2. Provide new concepts and subjects that will enrich the class
3. Open up new areas of concern for research
4. Motivate their students to engage in active learning and be exposed to
varied teaching styles
5. Enable their students to learn more and further develop themselves.
6. Increase enrollment by giving the proper motivation to highly engaged
and active students
7. Enhance the leadership potential of their students
8. Expose their students to networking activities with active faculty
members in other disciplines
9. Promote quality relationships between them and the members of the
community or the institution; this will facilitate collaborative endeavors.
10. Offer firsthand information or concepts and opportunities for community
involvement; this will help them understand and resolve issues.

Community partners involved in service-learning can:

1. Receive additional human resource assistance that can expedite the
achievement of organizational goals
2. Inspire a higher level of enthusiasm, perspective, and energy
3. Improve the organization's pool of volunteers; students engaged in
service learning will boost their own morale; this will lead them to share their
experiences with their classmates and friends.
 4. Enhance public awareness regarding significant issues confronting the
community
5. Ensure future support for the organization
6. Make students well informed regarding issues in the community;
community partners can also enlighten them regarding common misconceptions
7. Prepare the youth of today, particularly students, to become tomorrow's
responsible community leaders
8. Establish strong networks with partners in other organizations and
agencies
9. Gain access to the other resources of the university and strengthen
collaborative ties with its faculty members, students, and staff.

Service-learning is applied in a wide variety of settings, including schools,

universities, and community- and faith-based organizations. It can involve a group
of students, a classroom, or an entire school. Students build character and become
participants as they work with others in their school and community in various
projects designed for the development of education, public safety, and the
environment.

For example, student-volunteers collecting trash or dredging an urban or rural

river, stream, or waterway render a valuable service to the community. If students
also analyze their findings to determine the possible sources of pollution and
share the results with the residents of the neighborhood also engaged in service-
learning, they will be doing the community much good.
Service-learning provides an important service to the community. Students develop
an understanding of actual social, political, economic, and environmental issues in
their assigned communities. They may also reflect on their future personal and
career interests whether these be in the field of natural sciences, behavioral
sciences, public administration, values clarification/formation, environmental
studies, public policy, or other related areas. Through service-learning, both the
students and the community undergo a transformative experience.