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In 2007, San Francisco State received the President’s Higher Education Community Service Honor Roll with Distinction.

 

In Academic Year 2007-2008, 10,851 SF State students performed Community Service Learning through 507 course sections, for a total of 532,267 hours of service. At California's minimum wage of $7.50 per hour, this represented nearly $4 million in services to the City and County of San Francisco.

 

For additional information, contact:
Perla Barrientos, Director of Community Service Learning
Pacific Plaza Ste 750
Ph: 415-338-3282
email: barrient@sfsu.edu

 

 

 

 

 

 

	CSL Student Placement Examples
	Service Reflection Faculty Guide

CCDB instructions for faculty

Last Update: April 23, 2009

ICCE Home >> Faculty - Community Service Learning

Community Service Learning (CSL)

Community service learning (CSL) is the combination of academic study with community service so that each is enhanced by the other. Through a process of structured reflection, the service experience is integrated with the lessons of the classroom to enrich learning outcomes. Research on CSL has repeatedly demonstrated that “students’ thinking and reasoning become more complex after taking community service-learning courses”. (From “Impact of Service-Learning and Social Justice Education on College”, Wang and Rodgers, National Association of Student Personnel Administrators (NASPA) Journal article, 2006.)

Though there are similarities with other forms of experiential learning, such as volunteering and internships, CSL differs in important ways. First, unlike a volunteer or community service experience, CSL requires a strong academic component, i.e. an intentional connection to academic study. Second, though the service experience may develop a student’s professional skills, the most lessons learned are usually civic knowledge and civic skills along with social responsibility. Thus, CSL sits at the intersection of three components: academic learning, experiential learning, and civic learning as depicted in the diagram below.

Creating a CSL Course

ICCE coordinates campus-wide Community Service Learning (CSL) into the undergraduate and graduate curricula at San Francisco State by: (a) helping faculty identify and/or develop their CSL courses; (b) identifying appropriate placement sites for the service component; and (c) helping community partners (businesses, non-profits, and public/government agencies) connect with appropriate departments and faculty.

 

Faculty wishing to develop a CSL course should follow the steps below:

 

Step #1: Design - Develop a course design that includes a service component and reflection activity. For assistance, please contact Perla Barrientos at 415-338-3282 or email: barrient@sfsu.edu

 

Step #2: Designation - Officially have the course designated as a Community Service Learning (CSL) course. If this has not been done, please contact Perla Barrientos at 415-338-3282 or email: barrient@sfsu.edu

 

Step #3: Identify Community Partner(s)) - Search our online Community Connections Database (CCDB) for appropriate placements. (ICCE staff can do this for you.) The CCDB lists organizations that meet SF State's risk management requirements and who have signed a formal CSL agreement with ICCE. ICCE can be reached by phone at Ph: 415-338-6419 or send email to icce@sfsu.edu

 

Step #4: Student Placement - Have students register in the Community Connections Database (CCDB), where they are informed of their rights and are given guidelines for student conduct.

Step #5: Track service hours - Provide students with a method of documenting their activities and hours of service. (This can be done by faculty or by the site supervisor.) Service hours can be recorded in SF State’s online e-grade system.

The benefits of CSL to community, faculty, students and to the University are numerous, including:

•  Capacity building for community organizations

•  The enhancement of civic learning

•  The development of innovative approaches to instruction

•  Opportunities for collaboration, research, and publication

Principles and Practices of CSL

1. Learning Objectives: Students learn best when academic objectives are clear and specific. Integrate questions of moral, ethical, and civic responsibility into the reflection assignment.
2. The Service Experience: Before placing students, consider the organization’s (a) stability and organizational structure; (b) reputation in the community; (c) ability to provide resources to students that support their work; and 4) the relevance of the service to broader civic and social issues. Make sure that tasks relate to learning objectives.
3. Context: Create balance between the students’ class time, community work, and the reflection assignment.
4. Relationship with Community Agencies: Relationships between faculty and community-based organizations work best when they are ongoing and when each party feels they are sharing equitably. Respond to the need as defined by the community organization. Share your syllabus and learning objectives for the course.
5. Supervision: Each student must have a supervisor at the community service site. To assure continuity and support, agencies are encouraged to accept more than one student per placement and to invite students to staff meetings. Supervisors are asked to contribute to student evaluations, provide orientations and/or training for the student, and be available for solving problems.
6. Academic Credit: Give academic credit for what is learned, not simply for services performed.