UU150 Study Guide - Final Guide: Illinois Wesleyan University
Learning in and with the Community
Defining Community Service-Learning
Defining Community Service-Learning is difficult. Terminology
carries with it different meaning and associations for different
people. For example, service to some may imply a one-way
transaction, such that you are giving something to a community
agency, but may not necessarily get anything back. Moreover,
that one-way transaction is sometimes imagined in terms of a
power relationship in which a superior (the one giving) is
imagined as helping an inferior (a collectively disenfranchised
group). This understanding is problematic, and as a result some
prefer to use a different term than “service-learning”.
It is therefore a challenge to come up with terms that are not
considered offensive or misleading. As an extension, the
difference between Community Service and Service-Learning is
also difficult to define. Some prefer the term “community-
engaged” learning because it emphasizes reciprocity while others
would include reciprocity as a guiding value of Community
Service-Learning.
We struggle with terminology and the conceptualizations we
associate with these terms at Laurier. If you come from another
institution, think about what your home institution calls “CSL”.
Here is an example from Illinois Wesleyan University that helps
clarify the differences (Sweet, 2012).
find more resources at oneclass.com
find more resources at oneclass.com
Document Summary
Terminology carries with it different meaning and associations for different people. For example, service to some may imply a one-way transaction, such that you are giving something to a community agency, but may not necessarily get anything back. Moreover, that one-way transaction is sometimes imagined in terms of a power relationship in which a superior (the one giving) is imagined as helping an inferior (a collectively disenfranchised group). This understanding is problematic, and as a result some prefer to use a different term than service-learning . It is therefore a challenge to come up with terms that are not considered offensive or misleading. As an extension, the difference between community service and service-learning is also difficult to define. Some prefer the term community- engaged learning because it emphasizes reciprocity while others would include reciprocity as a guiding value of community. We struggle with terminology and the conceptualizations we associate with these terms at laurier.
