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, we asked Lori to reflect on her personal experiences a little more in depth, and share more examples of service-learning.
This is the third 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?
Service-learning professional organizations and journals
Service-learning and civic engagement (SLCE) formed as a movement in American higher education starting in the 1980s. For a quick synopsis of how the movement evolved, see Chapter 3: A Brief History of a Movement in Post et al., 2016. Significant developments included the establishment of key associations and journals focused primarily on SLCE. In this blog, I highlight five associations (two of which K-State is a member institution) and five journals (all open-access). It is likely that even if you do SLCE work as a faculty member, administrator, student, or community member, you have another primary field of study and practice. These associations and journals provide a dedicated space to learn, collaborate, and share about SLCE practice and research and embrace interdisciplinary perspectives. These lists of associations and journals are not exhaustive, but they are a great place to start connecting.
Associations
- Engagement Scholarship Consortium: A non-profit educational organization composed of higher education member institutions with a goal to work collaboratively to build strong university-community partnerships anchored in the rigor of scholarship and designed to help build community capacity. (Membership is at the institutional level. K-State is a member.)
- Imagining America: An organization that brings together scholars, artists, designers, humanists, and organizers to imagine, study, and enact a more just and liberatory ‘America’ and world. Working across institutional, disciplinary, and community divides, IA strengthens and prompts public scholarship, cultural organizing, and campus change that inspires collective imagination, knowledge-making, and civic action on pressing public issues. (Membership is at the institutional level. K-State is a member.)
- International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement: An international organization whose expressed primary purpose is to cultivate, encourage, and present research across all engagement forms and educational levels. The Association prompts high quality trans-disciplinary research across a wide range of approaches and forms and builds the capacity of scholars, practitioners, and community partners to engage such research. (Individuals can be members. K-State has some individual connections.)
- Community-Based Global Learning Collaborative: A network of educational institutions and community organizations that advances ethical, critical, and aspirationally de-colonial community-based learning and research for more just, inclusive, and sustainable communities. (Individuals or institutions can be members. K-State has some individual connections)
- Campus Compact: A national coalition of colleges and universities committed to advancing the public purposes of higher education. (Membership is at the institutional level. K-State is not a member, but there are resources still available to non-members.)
The Engagement Scholarship Consortium, Imagining America, and the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement all have specific programs for graduate students interested in SLCE. If you have questions about K-State’s memberships,email leadership@ksu.edu.
Journals
- International Journal of Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement: a peer-reviewed online journal dedicated to disseminating high-quality research focused on service-learning, campus-community engagement, and the promotion of active and effective citizenship through education. The journal is international in scope, with an interest in service-learning and community engagement both in the United States and around the world.
- Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning: an open-access journal focusing on research, theory, pedagogy, and other matters related to academic service-learning, campus-community partnerships, and engaged/public scholarship in higher education. MJCSL is published by the University of Michigan’s Edward Ginsberg Center, with support from Michigan Publishing.
- Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement: an interdisciplinary journal to advance theory and practice related to all forms of outreach and engagement between higher education institutions and communities.
- Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship: a peer-reviewed international journal through which faculty, staff, students, and community partners disseminate scholarly works. JCES integrates teaching, research, and community engagement in all disciplines, addressing critical problems identified through a community-participatory process.
- Journal of Community Engagement and Higher Education: an on-line, refereed journal concerned with exploring community engagement and community-based learning perspective, research, and practice.
These journals include a variety of article types including research and theory articles, application papers, reflective essays, dissertation overviews, book reviews, and more. Due to the nature of SLCE work being a partnership among faculty, students, administrators, and community partners, authorship from all roles are welcome and encouraged.
References
Post, M. A., Ward, E., Longo, N. V., & Saltmarsh, J. (2016). Publicly engaged scholars: Next generation engagement and the future of higher education. Stylus.
