Kansas State University

As Kansas State University puts forward its strategic plan with emphasis on applied learning, how can our faculty prepare to engage with community and create stronger, efficient, mutually-beneficial relationships that enhance the student experience and fulfill a community need? One way is through service-learning.  

In spring 2023, the Staley School of Leadership welcomed Lori Kniffin, former K-State instructor, to campus for a guest lecture on engaged learning experiences. Here, Kniffin introduces a strategy for examining and strengthening relationships with partners.  

This is the fourth blog in a series about service-learning, its origins, and how to incorporate service-learning into classrooms and programs. Read more posts from this series: What is service-learning?

Creating and deepening relationships for service-learning

In a previous blog in this series, Advancing our work through democratic engagement, an important distinction is made between technocratic and democratic engagement—democratic being more aspirational. Democratic engagement entails a multi-directional flow of knowledge, sharing of power, and asset-based thinking. To move toward this type of engagement, it’s helpful to consider the relationships at the core of that interaction.

Service-learning relationship participants and forms

Relationships among community and campus members are a key aspect of service-learning. The SOFAR Model summarizes the categories of people involved in service-learning relationships. From the campus, Students, Faculty, and Administrators can be involved and from community, community Organization representatives and community Residents can be involved (Bringle et al., 2009).

These relationships can take different forms: Continue reading “Creating and deepening relationships for service-learning” →