Service learning promotes social responsibility

Professor Jeff Keshen (far right) and students help out with a mailing for Planned Parenthood's annual fundraising drive. Clockwise from left are 4th-year history students Josh Chartrand, Alexandra Lewis, and Carla Agatiello, and Service Learning Program manager, Kristina McDougall.

Service Learning is a relatively new, but powerful pedagogical approach that allows students to shape and improve their society, while gaining a deeper understanding of course material. The premise is that students engage in approved community service projects, typically for three hours weekly, and relate their experiences back to course content through means such as journal writing, classroom discussion and formal written reports.

While there are over 700 such programs in the United States, the University of Ottawa is among the first half-dozen institutions to import the concept in Canada. As of September 2004, ten professors from four faculties had placed nearly 100 students in volunteer jobs on both sides of the Ottawa River.

“The potential to learn and make important contributions is remarkable. It is limited only by the desire to help, the needs of society, and the imagination of students, faculty and community organizations,” said history professor Jeff Keshen, who coordinates the program with Professor Nérée St-Amand, of the School of Social Work.

“A women's studies student could help out at a shelter, a social work student might work at a food bank, or a business student could draw up a marketing plan for a non-profit group.”

“Service learning encourages social responsibility and builds greater understanding of and compassion toward society's most vulnerable,” Keshen said. “Participants often report gaining a greater sense of self-worth and self-confidence from helping and interacting with others. They also develop team-building skills.”

Keshen and St-Amand have been appointed on a part-time basis to promote and run the program. A student assistant manages day-to-day operations. Among other services, they will search through available postings – which will soon be on the Web – or contact organizations that might offer appropriate service learning assignments.

For more information about service learning, contact Jeff Keshen, Department of History (ext. 1287, keshen@uottawa.ca), Nérée St-Amand, School of Social Work (ext. 6391, nstaman@uottawa.ca), or Kristina McDougall, program manager, (ext. 1287, kmcdo029@uottawa.ca).