Project Planning:

If you are new to service learning partnerships, consider working with the Shaw Center for Public and Community Service (http://shawcenter.syr.edu/) to develop community partners. They work closely with the Connective Corridor and can arrange travel to partner sites, cover liability issues, and help you navigate university standards for community engagement.

However, the Shaw Center isn’t the only option available to you. Successful partnerships have included local partnerships developed through personal connections as well as partnerships with organizations not centered in Syracuse. No matter where your partner is located, it is useful for students to visit the partner site or for partners to visit them, whether in person or via video conferencing.

Successful conversations with partners often begin weeks or months in advance and allow you to negotiate expectations ahead of time. What sorts of deliverables will be expected? How will communication between students and designated partner representatives be managed? Will on site visits occur or not? What sort of feedback will students receive from the partner contact?

Work to ensure that the people being served by your course are the organization as well as the students. As you develop your design, ask: Who is benefiting? How much are various stakeholders benefiting? Where is the balance?

Understanding the role of instructor in relation to the students and community partner is essential. Consider how you will manage time concerns, both in terms of how much partner time your course will take up and how you will manage time required for check-ins. Also, it is entirely reasonable to place a considerable amount of responsibility for managing relationships with community partners on the students. These aspects need to be made explicit from the beginning in order to avoid miscommunications.

In order to succeed at this kind of work, it’s important to be able to be very present in your teaching of the class. You will need to maintain relationships with each of the students as well as the central community stakeholders.

Course Design:

Consider how you will discuss the concept of service and service learning with your students. What framework, if any, will you provide? Will you frame this as a purely client-based project or will you place this within larger social justice contexts? Either is viable, but it’s important to include this aspect in your planning and to include necessary resources in your design.

Allot sufficient time for enculturating students into this kind of work and the values of the community partner. Early, explicit discussions about the organization’s values, goals, protocols, etc. will help clarify their sense of internal and external dynamics. This is an excellent opportunity for students to interact directly with community partners or their representatives.

Consider the broad range of options that are available for assignments that meet the WRT 307 outcomes. For example, the instructions outcome can be met through development and testing of assessment plans, workshop lesson plans, instructions for how to revise websites for accessibility, usability testing protocols, and other end products.

Very often, service learning work requires extensive teamwork. You will need to clarify the role of teamwork from the beginning. Aspects to consider include: if self-selection is part of the design, if teams are static or shifting, if there will be opportunities to try different roles, and if you will include ample opportunities for discussing the negotiation of this sort of collaboration and project management skills. Low-stakes early assignments for teams will allow time for analyzing what can go wrong and how things can improve.

Plan as much as is reasonable for multiple ways that projects can develop or not develop. Be prepared to guide adaptation of a project during the course of the semester. Adjusting mid-stream can provide important teaching moments and demonstrations of agility and responsiveness.

Consider the variety of SU students’ backgrounds in relation to your partner organization and the potential emotional results of contact with your partner and their representatives. This impact shapes student investment, willingness to be visible in the class, and other factors that shape performance.

Remember that not everything is in your control in this sort of class. More often than not, service learning projects don’t go exactly as initially planned, and final deliverables are often quite different than what we had originally imagined in the beginning of the term. If you are uncomfortable with the variable control that you will have in this sort of classroom, service learning may not be for you. However, if you’re enthusiastic about this work, maintain open channels of communication, and remain flexible, good things will likely happen. There are multiple ways a project can benefit all those who are involved.

If you have additional questions about service learning and possible approaches, contact Karen Oakes at ksoakes@syr.edu.

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