Strengthening Institutional

Support for Service Learning

and Civic Engagement

Robert G. Bringle, Ph.D.

Chancellor’s Professor of Psychology and Philanthropic Studies
Director, Center for Service and Learning
Indiana University-Purdue University Indianapolis
rbringle@iupui.edu
 Boyer’s Civic Engagement

The scholarship of engagement means

connecting the rich resources of the university
to our most pressing social, civic, and ethical
problems, to our children, to our schools, to
our teachers, and to our cities.
-Boyer (1996)
 Boyer’s Civic Engagement

What is needed is not just more

programs, but a larger purpose, a larger
sense of mission, a larger clarity of
direction.

Ultimately, the scholarship of engagement

also means creating a special climate in
which the academic and civic cultures
communicate more continuously and
more creatively with each other.
 Criterion Five: Engagement
and Service
• Learn from constituencies and
analyze capacity to serve
• Commitment and capacity to engage
and provide service
• Demonstrate responsiveness to
dependent constituencies
• Internal and external constituencies
value the organization’s services
 Engagement, Outreach, and
Public Service
• Civic Education • Partnerships
• Civic Engagement • Professional Service
• Community • Public Scholar
engagement • Public Service
• Community-based • Scholarship of
Learning Engagement
• Community Service • Scholarship on
• Engaged Scholarship Engagement
• Experiential Learning • Service
• Service Learning
• Outreach
• Student Engagement
• Participatory Action
Research • Voluntary Service
Faculty and Student Activities In the
Community

Distance
 Community Involvement

• Teaching, research, and service in the

community

• Occurs in profit, nonprofit, and

government sectors

• Has no geographic boundaries

 Differentiation of Terms
Community Involvement
– Defined by location
– Occurs in the community
Civic Engagement
– Defined by location and process
– Occurs in and with the community
– Demonstrates democratic values of participation
– Impact + Partnerships
 IUPUI Definition of Civic Engagement

Civic engagement is active

collaboration that builds on the
resources, skills, expertise, and
knowledge of the campus and
community to improve the quality of
life in communities in a manner that
is consistent with the campus
mission.
Faculty and Student Activities In the
Community

Distance
 AAC&U’s Survey of Employers
Best methods for ensuring that graduates have
knowledge/skills:

• Internship/community-based project where

students apply college learning in real-world
setting.
83% “Very Effective” and “Fairly Effective”
• Senior project incorporating depth of
knowledge, problem-solving, writing, and
analytic reasoning skills. 79%
• Essay tests 60%
• Electronic portfolio 56%
• Multiple Choice Exams 32%
 Community-Based Learning
Not all community-based instruction is service
learning
• Field work experiences (e.g., Museum Studies, Anthropology)
• Cooperative Education
• Internship
• Practicum
• Service Learning
• Pre-professional field experiences: Clinicals, Student Teaching
• Applied Learning
• Experiential Learning
• Public Service-Focused Learning
• Academically-Based Community Learning
• Academic Service Learning
• Student Engagement
 Service Learning

A course-based, credit bearing educational

experience in which students
• Participate in an organized service activity
that meets identified community goals
• Reflect on the service activity in such a way
as to gain further understanding of course
content, a broader appreciation of the
discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic
responsibility
(Bringle & Hatcher, 1997)
 Key Elements of Service Learning

• Reflection
– “Perplexity” (Dewey, 1933)
– Activities to structure learning from the
service experience

• Reciprocity
– Partnerships
– Dialogue to structure the service experience

• Civic Education

define 4
 Distinctions Among Approaches to
Service & Experiential Learning

Recipient BENEFICIARY Provider

Service FOCUS Learning

SERVICE LEARNING

COMMUNITY SERVICE FIELD EDUCATION

VOLUNTEERISM INTERNSHIP

(Furco, 1996)
 Why Service Learning in
Higher Education?
• Good Pedagogy
• Structures Educationally Meaningful
Service
• Addresses Community Needs
• Promotes Civic Responsibility
• Student Development
• Student Persistence and Retention
• Supports an Expanding Role of Higher
Education
 Promoting Learning for
Understanding

• Active Engagement

• Frequent Feedback

• Collaboration

• Cognitive Apprenticeship

• Practical Application
Marchese
Why do we need more than
a vocational education?
In part, because we live
more than a vocational
life: we live a larger civic
life and we have to be
educated for it.
- D. Mathews
 What is Good Citizenship?

Battistoni (2002)
• Civic Professionalism
• Social Responsibility
• Social Justice
• Connected Knowing: Ethic of Care
• Public Leadership
• Public Intellectual
• Engaged/Public Scholarship
Faculty and Student Activities In the
Community

Distance
 Professional Service
Service applies a faculty member’s knowledge,
skills, and expertise as an educator, a member
of a discipline or profession, and a participant in
an institution to benefit students, the institution,
the discipline or profession, and the community
in a manner consistent with the mission of the
university.

Service @ Indiana University: Defining, documenting, and evaluating.

(http://csl.iupui.edu/servicelearning/facultydevelopment.html)
 Unsatisfactory
(Documentation of) Service?
• Only listing university committees
• No evidence of nature of activities or
results
• Evidence on outcomes, but no evidence
of individual role
• No review by others
• No evidence on how service work is
consistent with professional
development or goals
 Issues Related to Service

• Time on task: Difficult to use as a

criterion, although scope may be
relevant
• Remuneration: Typically not relevant
• Process vs. Outcomes: Must be
balanced, but process should not be
emphasized to the detriment of
demonstrating outcomes
 Differentiation of Terms

Doing An Activity
– Teaching, Research, or Service
Well-informed
– Scholarly Teaching
– Scholarly Discovery
– Scholarly Service
Contributing to Knowledge
– Scholarship of Teaching
– Scholarship of Service
– Scholarship of Discovery
Advancement And Tenure Are Decisions
About The Academic Nature Of Work

There are differences between professional

service as scholarship and
• Doing good
• Doing one’s job well
• Administrative work
• Clerical work
• Evaluation for a merit increase
• Collegiality
• Citizenship
 Promotion & Tenure
for Professional Service
• Service documented as academic work
• Evidence of significance and impact from
multiple sources
• Evidence of individual contributions
• Evidence of growth and leadership
• Dissemination, including publications (some
of which are peer-reviewed academic ones)
• Dissemination to peers, clients, patients
• Peer review of professional service, including
process and outcomes
Faculty and Student Activities In the
Community

Distance
 Participatory Action Research

• Collaboration between the campus

and community Partnerships
• Democratization of knowledge that
acknowledges different ways of
knowing and different types of
knowledge
• Social change through actions based
on the research that promote social
justice.
Strand et al., 2003
 Participatory Action Research

• Focus on the adequacy of the process

as well as the outcomes
• Peer review by multiple stakeholders,
including academic
• Outcomes for multiple stakeholders
• Dissemination to multiple stakeholders
 Harkavy: Why Emphasize
Civic Engagement?

• Responsible and Moral Choice

• Improve the Quality of All Academic

Work

• Self-interest
 Mission
President

University Administration

Promotion & Tenure

School

Dean

Department

Chair

Faculty

Students

Staff

Support Services
 Two Types of Engagement

Institutionalization of
Service Learning
Institutionalization

Low High
Of Engagement
Of Other Types

Research I Liberal Arts

Low
Liberal Arts Community
Colleges

Boyer’s New
High

Land Grant American

College
To institutionalize service-learning
effectively, service-learning must be
viewed not as a discrete “program”
but as a means to accomplish other
important goals for the campus.

Furco & Holland

 Comprehensive Action Plan for Service
Learning (CAPSL)

P
l
a
nn
i
ng
Bringle, R.G., & Hatcher, J.A. (1996). Implementing service learning in higher education. Journal of Higher
Education, 67, 221-239.
Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (2000). Institutionalization of service learning in higher education. Journal of Higher
Education, 71(3), 273-290.

A
w
a
r
e
ne
s
s
Bringle, R. G., Hatcher, J. A., Hamilton, S., & Young, P. (2001). Planning and assessing campus/community
engagement. Metropolitan Universities, 12(3), 89-99.
 Holland’s Areas of Development

• Mission,
• Organizational structure
• Faculty Involvement
• Promotion and Tenure
• Student Involvement
• Community Involvement
• Publications and University Relations
 Service Learning as a
Subversive Activity
• Develops the public purposes of higher education
• Change the traditional assumptions about faculty work
• Change the way faculty teach
• Increase interdisciplinary work
• Contribute to the nature of first-year, honors,
scholarships, capstones
• Promote democratic values in the academy and with the
community
• Broaden assessment
• Broaden promotion and tenure
• Increase the salience of service in the campus culture
• Change campus/community relationships
• Change institutional accreditation and quality assurance
 NCA Accreditation Process and
Carnegie Documentation
• Focuses institution-wide attention
• Assures public of institutional quality
• Supports institutional improvement
• Expands literacy and understanding
• Creates critical data sets
• Facilitates decisions, planning
• Spurs institutional, strategic change
•Connects CE to other institutional work
 IUPUI NCA: Three Primary Tasks*

• What are we doing in CE?

• How well are we doing CE?

• What should we, as a campus, be doing in

central Indiana?

*NOTE: Prior to release of 2003 Criterion 5

 NCA Self-Study of Civic Engagement
I. Enhance capacity for civic engagement
A. Demonstrate advocacy and support
B. Expand internal resources and infrastructure
C. Secure external funding
D. Document the quality and impact
II. Enhance civic activities, partnerships, and patient and client
services
A. Offer academic community-based learning opportunities
B. Engage in community-based research
C. Provide professional services
D. Create opportunities for community service
III. Intensify commitment and accountability to Indianapolis
Central Indiana, and Indiana
A. Establish widespread community participation
B. Establish widespread campus participation
C. Conduct regular forums on the campus community agenda
for central Indiana.
IV. Identify strengths and challenges for future work
 Civic Engagement Inventory
• Document/categorize CE activities
– Topical issues (e.g., homeless)
– Academic unit
• Increase understanding of CE
– Internally (e.g., planning, collaboration)
– Externally
• Provide recognition for CE
– Schools/campus reports
– Individual faculty
• Contribute to quality and impact
• Hope to replace with eFAR
 Institutional Portfolio

A focused selection of real work, combined

with narrative interpretation and reflection,
that demonstrates institutional
achievements and shows learning and
improvement over time—i.e., “institutional
effectiveness.”
 Why Electronic?
• Information more accessible, transparent,
authentic, dynamic, interactive—you can
show something, not just describe it
• Can be updated
• Accommodates multiple types of evidence
• Focus on evidence and alignment
• Information accessed/linked more efficiently
(e.g., to support recommendations and
conclusions, contextualize information)
• Facilitates campus involvement
www.iport.iupui.edu
 Contents

• Primary materials from students and faculty

• Assessment and performance data and
reports
• Survey results and reports
• Statistical information
• Narrative analysis, interpretation, and
reflection
 Levels of Aggregation

• Individual (examples)

• Program or other unit (reports)

• Institution (performance indicators)

 Portfolio Audiences

• Accrediting agencies
• Community leaders and members
• State governments
• Prospective/current students
• Prospective/current faculty, administrators,
staff
• Employers
 Purposes

• Internal Objectives (e.g., strategic planning,

reports, exemplars)
• External Representations
• Accreditation
• Carnegie Pilot Project
• Quality Assessment
• Research
 Benefits
• Can foster ongoing conversation about
learning, improvement, and assessment
• Catalyst for making improvement efforts
more continuous, coordinated,
collaborative, and complete
• Promotes faculty development in ways
compatible with institutional needs
• Enhances stakeholder understanding of
institution’s special mission, roles. and
accomplishments
• Demonstrates accountability and credibility
• Can be updated
 Institutional Maturity

• Lots of counting
• Lots of counting of what’s available
• Look for the intersection of (a) practical to
collect and (b) meaningful
• Need more on outcomes, evaluation, impact
• Developing partners to help (e.g., Institutional
Research)
 Tips

• Identify leadership for CE assessment

• Customize process to advance campus
goals
• Use to expand capacity of institutional
research
• Use to develop community voice and
participation
• Identify multiple purposes
• Analysis must be mission driven
 What we see
in IUPUI’s future
1. Assessing knowledge, skills,
and dispositions of civic
outcomes through narratives from
– Service learning classes
– Civic engagement programs
– School-based curricular outcomes
2. Developing a campus/community agenda
3. Community impact– 1 study completed
4. Faculty outcomes (e.g., publications)
 Fundamental Issue!

In what significant ways is the

intellectual culture of YOUR
CAMPUS incompatible with
programs that embrace civic
engagement?
 Walshok

• Are you asking faculty to account for the

PUBLIC MEANING and impact of their
scholarship beyond the discipline or
profession?
• How is civic engagement presented as an
INTELLECTUAL IMPERATIVE?
• How is the institution INTENTIONALLY
supporting faculty (e.g., enabling
infrastructures) with an interest in civic
engagement activities?
 Resources for Civic Engagement

Battistoni, R. (2001). Civic engagement across the curriculum: A resource book for
service-learning faculty in all disciplines. Providence, RI: Campus Compact.
Boyer, E. (1991, March 9). Creating the new American college. Chronicle of
Higher Education, A18.
Boyer, E. (1996). The scholarship of engagement. The Journal of Public Service
and Outreach, 1(1), 11-20.
Bringle, R., Games, R., & Malloy, E. (1999) Colleges and universities as citizens.
Needham, MA: Allyn and Bacon.
Checkoway, B. (2001). Renewing the civic mission of the American research
university. Journal of Higher Education, 72(2), 125-147.
Colby, A., Ehrlich, T., Beaumont, E., Stephens, J.(2003). Educating citizens. San
Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
Driscoll, A., & Lynton, E. (1999). Making outreach visible: A guide to documenting
professional service outreach. Washington, DC: American Association of
Higher Education.
 Resources for Civic Engagement

Ehrlich, T. (Ed.) (2000). Higher education and civic responsibility. Phoenix,

AZ: Oryz Press.
Glassick, C.E., Huber, M.T., & Maeroff, G.I. (1997). Scholarship assessed:
Evaluation of the professoriate. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass.
IUPUI institutional portfolio on civic engagement: North Central Association
accreditation. (www.iport.iupui.edu).
Langseth, M., & Plater, W. M. (in press). Public work and the academy: A
guidebook for academic administrators on civic engagement and service-
learning. Anker Press.
Lynton, E. (1995). Making the case for professional service. Washington, DC:
American Association for Higher Education.
National Review Board for the Scholarship of Engagement
(http://schoe.coe.uga.edu/about/FAQs.html)
Service @ Indiana University: Defining, documenting, and evaluating.
(http://csl.iupui.edu/servicelearning/facultydevelopment.html)
 Websites
IUPUI P&T Guidelines
• http://www.academicaffairs.iupui.edu/appd/faculty_appts.htm
Center for Service and Learning
• http://csl.iupui.edu
Community-Campus Partnership for Health
• http://www.futurehealth.ucsf.edu/ccph.html
National Review Board Scholarship of Engagement
• http://www.scholarshipofengagement.org
Committee on Institutional Cooperation
• http://www.cic.uiuc.edu/groups/CommitteeOnEngagement/archive/docume
Campus Compact
• www.compact.org
National Clearinghouse for Service Learning
• http://www.servicelearning.org/