Higher education can be intimidating at times. Students walk into a classroom, sometimes with 100 plus other students. A professor stands in front of all of them and begins to lecture for an hour or two... or three. Students find comfort in familiarity with this form of teaching. Is this the best way to teach? Or learn? Perhaps it works for certain students. They attend class and listen intently. Then they take a test on the material.
With service learning, the environment is quite different. Lecturing doesn't always occur in the classroom. Students begin to listen to people other than the professor, like nonprofit employees, peers, and those they serve. This environment can be intimidating as well, because they don't know what to expect. Yet, that feeling of uncertainty is also learning. Once they question what their role is and what they should be doing, they begin to learn through those reflective questions. Students must embrace the unknown, which supports the skill of flexibility. Their schedules may change based on the nonprofit they are serving, and the activity they are doing. It's not the Tues/Thurs at 9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. expected schedule. They are working with a variety of people, some of them being homeless, the elderly, or even developmentally disabled adults. Students need to be open to a changing environment, as consistency doesn't always occur in these locations. This allows students to understand that not everything will go accordingly to a schedule, and that they need to adjust and accomodate accordingly. That will help them in future job positions, because that is "real life".
With service learning, the environment is quite different. Lecturing doesn't always occur in the classroom. Students begin to listen to people other than the professor, like nonprofit employees, peers, and those they serve. This environment can be intimidating as well, because they don't know what to expect. Yet, that feeling of uncertainty is also learning. Once they question what their role is and what they should be doing, they begin to learn through those reflective questions. Students must embrace the unknown, which supports the skill of flexibility. Their schedules may change based on the nonprofit they are serving, and the activity they are doing. It's not the Tues/Thurs at 9:00 a.m. to 10:15 a.m. expected schedule. They are working with a variety of people, some of them being homeless, the elderly, or even developmentally disabled adults. Students need to be open to a changing environment, as consistency doesn't always occur in these locations. This allows students to understand that not everything will go accordingly to a schedule, and that they need to adjust and accomodate accordingly. That will help them in future job positions, because that is "real life".