Integrating & Assessing Service and Civic Learning into the Curriculum & Co-Curriculum

Campus Compact (2003) identified that “In a service-learning experience, students learn not only about social issues, but also how to apply the new knowledge to action that addresses real problems in their own communities” (p. 7).  Service-learning is generative pedagogy that connects academic courses with theory and practice in an effort to address and learn from community issues, while advancing civic knowledge and competencies. Like faculty, student affairs administrators also have an opportunity to blend service experiences and civic learning into the co-curriculum, especially through partnerships with academic affairs colleagues and local community organizations. As Palmer (2011) articulated in his notion of a hidden curriculum, “Students learn not only from what is taught; they also learn from how it is taught” (p. 132). Service and civic learning, within the curriculum and co-curriculum, provide opportunities for higher educational professionals to foster the principles of democratic civic engagement through innovative learning experiences with and within the community.