Transcript Finding the Buried Treasure: Research Opportunities Using

Dr. April Heiselt
Associate Professor and Director
Center for the Advancement of Service-Learning Excellence (CASLE)
Department of Counseling and Educational Psychology
Center for Teaching and Learning Workshop
February 27, 2013
Introductions
 Dr. April Heiselt
 Associate Professor & Student Affairs Program
Coordinator
 Director of the Center for the Advancement of ServiceLearning Excellence (CASLE)
 Courses taught with service-learning pedagogy:

Introduction to Assessment, Administration of Student
Personnel Services, Student Affairs in Higher Education,
Literature of Student Affairs, Internship in Student Affairs, Day
One Leadership Community
Brief Program Overview
 CASLE Description
 What is service-learning?
 Research and service-learning
 Peer-reviewed journals
 Preflection Experience
 Grant Opportunities
 Examples of service-learning research
 Question and Answer Period
Center for the Advancement of
Service-Learning Excellence
 Learn, Serve, Become.
 Learn. – The Light Bulb
 Students are able to learn more, with more depth, and critical
thinking than in a typical classroom setting
 Serve. – The Hand
 Students give their time to help, assist, provide knowledge,
and to in essence “give a hand” to an entity who needs it.
 Become. – The Infinite Arrow
 Students will take this knowledge with them throughout their
experience at MSU and into the future as independent,
critical thinkers, who (ideally) will want to become civically
engaged, active citizens.
References/Adaptations
 Learn and Serve America
http://www.learnandserve.org
 Service-Learning Research Primer
http://www.servicelearning.org/service-learningresearch-primer/service-learning-research-primer
 National Service Learning Clearinghouse (Research)
http://www.servicelearning.org
 National Service Learning Partnership
http://www.service-learningpartnership.org/site/PageServer?pagename=ABT_index
Service-learning is NOT
 One-time volunteering experience
 One sided (only the student or community benefits)
 Logging community service hours in order to
graduate
 Service assigned as a form of punishment
 An “add-on” to other assignments
What is Service-Learning?
Service-learning is a pedagogy . . .
A method of teaching and learning linking
meaningful community service with instruction
and reflection to…
1. Meet the needs of a community organization
2. Enrich the learning experience and enhance student
understanding of course material
3. To teach civic responsibility and critical thinking
4. Strengthen communities
What types of research could I
conduct?
 Each discipline is unique; but, there are common
possibilities…
 Study of the service-learning pedagogy in a specific field
or discipline
 Impact studies – on students, the community partner
Adapted from: Bringle & Hatcher, 2000
Research and Service-Learning
 What types of research are “counted” here at
Mississippi State University?
 Peer-reviewed Journal Articles – 100’s of opportunities
 Note: There are other opportunities for publication (non-peer
reviewed articles), but these are not typically used for tenure
and promotion
 Research Presentations
 Obtaining of grant funds to support research
Peer-Reviewed Writing
 “There is no peer-reviewed journal in my field that
would print this type of research.”
 Illustration of efforts that bring about new concepts in
your field.
 Highlight the impact your research is having on other
fields
 The stimulation of knowledge can build your
reputation as a researcher
Peer-Reviewed S-L Journals
 Service-Learning Research – theoretical
 Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning
www.umich.edu/~mjcsl/
Article Examples:

Service-Learning and Critical Emotion Studies: On the Perils
of Empathy and the Politics of Compassion

Revitalizing South Memphis through an Interdisciplinary
Community-University Development Partnership

International Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and
Research
Peer-Reviewed S-L Journals
 Journal of Community Engagement and Scholarship
www.jces.ua.edu
Article Examples:

Fostering a Listening Community Through Testimony: Learning with
Orphans of the Genocide in Rwanda

Including Latino Communities in the Learning Process:
Curricular and Pedagogical Reforms in Undergraduate Spanish
Programs
 Publishing Opportunities Resource List

Published by The Center for Information and Research on Civic Learning and Engagement
(CIRCLE)
www.civicyouth.org/PopUps/SR_Homana.pdf
Journals for Scholarship of
Teaching and Learning
 Journal of the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning
www.iupui.edu/~josotl
 Journal of Community Engagement and Higher
Education www.indstate.edu/jcehe
 Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement
openjournals.libs.uga.edu/index.php/jheoe/
Common Problems in S-L Research
 Small sample sizes
 Drawing conclusions about all service-learning students by
interviewing eight seniors about one class
 Correlation ≠ Causation
 Correlating hours of service at a site to attitudes about
diversity, and then concluding, "serving more hours at a
homeless shelter caused students to have more open attitudes
about diversity." Without additional evidence, a more
appropriate inference would be something like, "students
who served more hours at a homeless shelter had higher
scores on the diversity scale."
 Self-selection bias (non-random assignment)
Common Problems in S-L Research
 Social desirability bias
When the behaviors and attitudes that the researcher
wants to measure are "socially desirable" (i.e. social
responsibility), students are inclined to make
themselves look good when they give responses.
 “Creaming the crop”
Overgeneralization of results to draw conclusions
about another group of students (i.e. all students in
college vs. students in a particular first-year course).
Preflection
 Used to enhance the overall reflection process
 In preflection students are asked to:
 Imagine what the experience will be like and express any
feelings they anticipate their involvement
 Comments are reviewed after the service has been
completed
 Looking back on these thoughts/feelings provides for
some comparative analysis and brings about focused
discussion and deepening insights
Service-Learning and Research
Preflection Experience
 What were your thoughts about coming to this
workshop on service-learning research?
 What did you think you might learn?
 What ideas did you have (publication, presentation,
grant idea) that you thought you could create based on
this discussion today?
Presentation Venues
 Depending on your discipline… the sky is the limit!
 International Association for Research on ServiceLearning and Community Engagement Conference





National Association for Student Personnel Administrators
(NASPA)
Gulf-South Summit on Service-Learning and Civic
Engagement
National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA)
Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math Administrators
Conference
American Library Association National Conference (ALA)
First-Year Experience and Students in Transition Conference
Grant Opportunities
 Federal
 Regional
 Local
 Foundation
Grant Opportunities
 Federal Grants
 National Institutes of Health
 National Endowment for the Arts
 US Department of Education
http://www.ed.gov/fund/grants-apply.html
 Federal Grant Opportunities www.grants.gov
Federal Grant Example
 Department of Health and Human Services
*Support for Economic Development Projects to Help
Low-Income Individuals
 The Job Opportunity for Low Income Individuals
Projects program provides support for new business
ventures, business expansion, and self-employment
and micro-enterprise projects designed to address the
economic needs of low-income individuals and
families. The application deadline is March 29, 2013.
Regional Grant Example
 Delta Rural Health Network Development Grant
 Website: http://1.usa.gov/Viv4rP
 Information: Funds organizations located in the eight
Delta states to address unmet local health care needs
and prevalent health disparities in rural Delta
communities.
Grant Opportunities
 Foundations
 Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation (Education)
http://www.gatesfoundation.org/Grants/
 Ebay Foundation Community Grants (Technology)
http://pages.ebay.com/community/aboutebay/foundation/
 Ben and Jerry’s Foundation (Environment)
http://www.benjerry.com/foundation/index.html
 Community Foundation Locator
http://www.communityfoundationlocator.org/search/inex.cfm
Grant Example
 Local Grants – MSU has campus grants too!
 Cross-college Research Grants
http://www.research.msstate.edu/funds/

Starting small with matching funds is a great indicator of
success
 Teaching grant – Schillig Special Teaching Grant
Examples of Service-Learning
Research (involving a class)
 ARC 4990: Habitat Prototype, Professor Gregory
 MSU IRB Approval
 Purpose of the project is to gather information on the
perceptions of service-learning by architecture
students to better understand the impact of servicelearning on architecture education.
References
 Ash, S. L., Clayton, P. H., & Atkinson, M. P. (2005). Integrating reflection and assessment
to capture and improve student learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service
Learning, 11(2), 49-60.
 Astin, A. W., & Sax, L. J. (1998). How undergraduates are affected by service
participation. Journal of College Student Development, 39, 251-263.
 Bringle, R. G. (2003). Enhancing theory-based research on service-learning. In S. H. Billig
& J. Eyler (Eds.), Deconstructing service-learning: Research exploring context,
participation, and impacts (pp. 3-21). Greenwich, CN: Information Age Publishing.
 Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1995). A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan
Journal of Community Service Learning, 2, 112-122.
 Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (2000, Fall). Meaningful measurement of theory-based
service learning outcomes: Making the case with quantitative research. Michigan Journal
of Community Service Learning, 68-75.
 Eyler, J. (2002). Stretching to meet the challenge: Improving the quality of research to
improve the quality of service-learning. In S. H. Billig & A. Furco (Eds.), Service-learning:
Through a multidisciplinary lens. Advances in service-learning research series (pp. 3- 14).
Greenwich, CT: Information Age.
 Eyler, J. & Giles, D.(1999). Where's the learning in service-learning? San Francisco, CA :
Jossey-Bass Publishers
 Furco, A., & Billig, S. (2002). Service-learning: The essence of the pedagogy. Greenwich,
CT: Information Age Publishing, Inc.