Welcome, Faculty

As educators, we understand how important it is to make learning meaningful to students. Discover ways to enrich your students' academic experience through service learning. There are numerous benefits for not only the students, but for teachers and the community as well.

• Develop more powerful curricula by providing students with a "real world" context for theory and discipline-specific knowledge.
• Provide opportunities to accommodate different learning styles
• Enhance teaching effectiveness by becoming a "facilitator" rather than a "giver" of knowledge.
• Engage and motivate students, leading to student retention in courses.
• Raise awareness of current social issues as they relate to academic areas of interest.
• Foster a culture of student participation and leadership on campus

Service Learning & General Education Outcomes

Service Learning Supports General Education Outcomes

1. Cultural and Historical Understanding:
Demonstrate understanding of the diverse traditions of the world, and an individual's place in it.

a. International service learning fosters genuine understanding of diverse traditions of the world.

b. Local service learning develops understanding of the different cultures in the area.

c. Both types of service learning foster civic responsibility to meet the needs of the global and local community.



2. Quantitative and Scientific Reasoning:
Use processes, procedures, data, or evidence to solve problems and make effective decisions.

a. Service Learning includes identifying a community need and through the analysis of data and evidence to devise a project to meet the needs of the community through problem solving.



3. Communication Skills:
Engage in effective interpersonal, oral, written communication.

a. Through service learning, students communicate with community partners in both oral and written form.



4. Ethical Responsibility:
Demonstrate awareness of personal responsibility in one's civic, social, and academic life.

a. The foundation of service learning is to invoke the sense of civic and social responsibility.



5. Information Literacy:
Locate, evaluate, and effectively use information from diverse sources.

a. Because of the nature of service learning, students use various resources to identify the nature of the problem. They use interviews, technology, and print materials in the research stage of service learning.



6. Critical and Creative Thinking:
Effectively analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply information and ideas from diverse sources and disciplines.

a. In a service learning project, students meet community needs through the development of a service project. In order to identify the problem and possible solutions, students must analyze, evaluate, synthesize, and apply information and ideas from diverse sources and disciplines.

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Service Learning & Valencia's Vision, Mission, and Values

Valencia's vision states that Valencia:

1. Transforms lives.
Service learning opens the mind of student to a whole new level of understanding of the community. The new level of understanding transforms the lives of the students.
2. Strengthens the community.
Service learning is one of the best ways to strengthen the community because it meets the needs of the community and empowers the community to meet their own needs.
3. Inspires individuals to excellence.
Service learning inspires students to be the best that they can to help the community. By taking the learning outside of the classroom, students gain a whole new motivation to excel.

1. provides opportunities for academic, technical, and lifelong learning in a collaborative culture...
Service learning epitomized a collaborative culture. The students work together with each other and with the community through service to meet the goals and outcomes of a particular course or to meet personal goals through independent service learning.
2. is dedicated to inquiry, results, and excellence.
Service learning opens the doors to a real world type of inquiry that is not possible in the classroom. Students identify the needs in the community and develop solutions to meet those needs. The results are beneficial for the student and the organization served. Excellence is the end result.

1. Learning.
Service learning is committed to each of the core competencies and develops student learning at the highest level.
2. People.
One of the best ways to show how Valencia values people is to serve others in the community and to create rich opportunities for growth through service.
3. Diversity.
Through service learning, students learn to appreciate diversity as they work with people from different ethnic and socio-economic backgrounds. They develop an understanding of different situations and build relationships with these people and organizations.
4. Access.
Service learning is a great way to reach out to the community, increase awareness of Valencia's services and invite others to learners to participate in learning.
5. Integrity.
Service learning not only respects the ideals of freedom, civic responsibility, and courage to act, it embraces and promotes these ideals. Through service students value freedom, participate in civic responsibility, and act to help community members.

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Service Learning & the Strategic Plan

Goal 2, Objective 2.1 Learning Outcomes

Through service learning, students will have the opportunity to engage in authentic learning by applying the theoretical concepts learned in the classroom to the community as it exits around the college and around the world. This type of experience will enhance learning and engage students beyond anything that is possible within the confines of the classroom.

Goal 2, Objective 2.5 Close Achievement Gaps

Research has shown that engaging in service learning helps to close the achievement gaps between students.

Goal 4, Objective 4.3 Community Engagement

Through service learning, Valencia Community College will increase documented engagement with community organizations and business. Through service learning, Valencia Community College will contribute to meeting the community needs. The first step in service learning is identifying the community needs, followed by collaboration community members to meet those needs. The possibilities are endless.
Through service learning, the community will be aware of Valencia Community College as an active contributor to the community. Organizations that may not have had contact with Valencia will learn about the mission and services provided by the college, which will raise our profile in the community.

Through service learning, many students undergo a shift in career plan as a result of the new experiences. Students become aware of new career options and begin to prepare for the new career through courses at Valencia. When they graduate, they are satisfied that Valencia has prepared them for the workforce.

Service Learning & TVCA

Service Learning Aligns with the Core Competencies:

Think

Service learning requires students to analyze the ideas, principles, and perspectives of the people and organizations they are working with and integrate ideas from the different disciplines in order to draw conclusion and come up with solutions to meet the community needs.

Value

Through service learning, students are exposed to new situations and begin to recognize the values of others and begin to distinguish personal, ethical, and cultural values. Students gain different cultural perspectives and elevate their values to incorporate a global or universal perspective.

Communicate

Through service learning, students learn to communicate with different audiences and for different purposes.

Act

Through service learning, students act purposefully, effectively, and responsibly. Students implement effective problem-solving, decision-making, and goal-setting strategies to meet the needs of the community. They learn to respond appropriately to their changing circumstances.

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