Integrated Service Learning Strategies for Student Engagement

This chapter explores the synergies experienced when a required upper level undergraduate course (entitled Family in the Community) at a public research university adapted a service-learning model and directly connected students with serving community programs for youth. The experience of faculty and staff seeking to contribute to a university's strategic goals for transforming lives and communities through outreach and engaged scholarship is described and discussed. Service-learning pedagogy and practice at the subject university are reviewed before moving on to description and discussion of how the course structure and content was adapted to foster authentic engagement among students, community programs, and service recipients. Stakeholder experiences and perspectives are shared and explored, including the reflections of the service-learning students. The chapter closes with implications for integrated service learning as a tool for preparing students for meaningful and sustainable community engagement.