Review and Evaluate the Effectiveness of Your Service-Learning Program.

Success is usually a matter of small adjustments. Car engines run better after just a little adjustment to a computer chip deep within the electronics under the hood. Families draw closer together by adding traditions slowly over the days, months, and years of family interaction. Successful service-learning programs are continually under the microscope of a dedicated teacher who wants to make his/her program more and more effective. Each service-learning program should be evaluated on three fronts:

1. To what degree did learning occur through the service experience?
   
2. To what degree are the Principles of Good Practice being followed?
   
3. What feedback do the interested parties (students, agency personnel, the people being served, department chairman) have that can help improve the program? Some possible evaluation procedures are listed below.
   
   
1. To what degree did learning occur through the service experience?
   The best source for an answer to this question would be the reflection sessions you held with your students. Did the students gain a greater comprehension of the issues that exist in your discipline? You might share your original learning objectives (as you first began to imagine service-learning experience) with the students and have them respond to them.
   
   
2. To what degree were the principles of good practice followed?
   Most faculty are using these principles as a guide to continually tighten up their service-learning model. As you revisit your syllabus, make continued contacts with your Community Partner, and receive feedback from the participants in your program, you can always modify your plans and measure your success in terms of these Principles.
   
   
3. What feedback do the participants have that can help improve your program?
   

From Students...

• The standard campus student evaluations can be administered with specific questions added to the instrument. Contact Scott Bergstrom, KIM 290C, ext. 1136 for ideas.
  
• An anonymous half-page response to the following questions, written on the chalkboard before class, can provide helpful feedback.
  
  • “What were the best things that happened in your service-learning experience?”
    
  • “What could be changed to enhance this experience?”
    
  • “What would you tell your friend about this experience?”
    
    

From Your Community Partner...

• An open relationship, fostered over months and years of helpful communication, will be the best way to get feedback on your service-learning program. You might begin this exchange by asking the Community Partner supervisor to write up a list of ideas he/she would suggest to make the program better.
  
• Making the Community Partner a “true partner” in developing and maintaining the service-learning program will ensure a successful experience for your students. Ask him/her to respond to your learning objectives. Let them conduct some of the reflection sessions. Use their evaluation of the students to assist with grading. Visit their agency often and send notes of appreciation frequently. When this relationship exists, he/she will be able to help you evaluate your program objectively.
  
• Ask your Community Partner to send you a periodic letter outlining his/her appraisal of the program. Forward a copy of these letters to your department and college administration.
  
  

From the People Being Served...

• Your Community Partner can suggest means of obtaining reliable feedback from this group of individuals.
  
• Student responses in journals and final reports can provide insights into how the clients being served feel about the student servers.
  
  

From the Department Chairman and Other University Administration...

• Share your experiences often with members of your department. Let your department chairman read representative student and client comments. Ask him/her about their perception of what you are doing and invite them to reflection sessions so they can see the learning experiences associated with service-learning programs.
  
• Since BYU-Idaho does not have faculty rank, you do not need to worry about service-learning activities competing with research activities. If you are a new faculty and working on receiving Continuing Faculty Status, service-learning can be a supplement to your resume showing teaching success. Refer to your successful experiences with service-learning as you report on your teaching methods and activities.
  
  

Academic Research on Service-Learning

Perhaps you would like to join many other academic scholars across the nation who are studying the processes and outcomes of service-learning. Read the latest publications on service-learning by visiting the Service-Learning Library in the Leadership and Service Institute, MC 380, or looking at the service-learning site found on the University’s home page under the “Faculty Resource” section.