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FACULTY and SERVICE FAQS Below is a list of frequently asked questions that faculty often have about service and service learning. If you have suggestions about additional FAQS which we might include here, please contact us and let us know about them!
Service learning is an instructional strategy that integrates course content with a relevant service activity. Ideally, service learning will not only enhance students' ability to understand and retain course content, but it will also give them an opportunity to work with diverse peoples and cultures, to contextualize what they are learning in a "real world" experience, and to develop their sense of civic responsibility. In service learning, the service activity is often viewed as an "alternative text" through which students are able to explore their coursework within the larger context of issues of social justice and social policy. Service learning differs from volunteering in that, while there may be an aspect of "learning" in every service activity, there is no intentional academic component to voluntary service. For more on service learning, please visit the Faculty Service Learning section of our website by clicking here. How many hours should I assign for a service learning activity? We suggest that faculty frame their discussion of "how many hours are required" for a service activity in terms of a "service commitment." For example, instead of stating "Students must do 15 hours of service," you might say "Students must register for a weekly service project that begins the week of x and ends the week of y. Your service should be for 1-2 hours per week excluding travel time." If you do not require weekly, sustained involvement and would instead prefer a project-based service learning activity, then we recommend that you specify the number and nature of the service projects expected. How do my students sign up for a service activity? Typically, participating in service through the Center for Service and Social Action is a three-step process which involves:
Your students will find complete details in the "Students--Getting Started" section of our website, which you may access by clicking here. Can my students find their own service learning activities? If a student is participating in service as part of a service learning course and wishes to set up a service activity at a site of his/her own choosing, the student will need to discuss the possibility of arranging for a Self-Placement with the instructor. STUDENTS ASSUME ALL RISKS AND RESPONSIBILITIES FOR SELF-PLACEMENT SERVICE ACTIVITIES. If the student and instructor wish to have our office track the student's Self-Placement service hours, we are more than happy to do that as long as the Self-Placement service activity meets the following requirements:
What happens if my student enrolls or registers late? If your course requires a service activity with a weekly commitment, we can assist your students in finding an appropriate service placement during the first three weeks of the semester. (Because weekly service must begin the fourth week of the semester in order to ensure that it is completed by the end of the term, we cannot place students for weekly service after that time.) However, students may enroll and register for voluntary service placements at any time, but they should know that these service opportunities are limited and available on a first-come-first-served basis. What if my student is ill or too busy to attend their service activity? We ask that sick students do NOT go to their service site, especially if they are working with vulnerable clients, such as children or the elderly. Should a student need to miss service because of illness, s/he should immediately contact our office at 216.397.4698 or 216.397.1662 so that we can notify the service site supervisor to make them aware that the student is unable to attend. Students who give our office at least 24 hours advance notice of their absence will be logged as "Excused" if that absence is due to illness or a family emergency. (A student who does not notify us in advance of an absence will be logged as having missed service.) While illness or other unforeseen circumstances may cause a student to miss a weekly session, service participants are expected to fulfill their service commitments. Our Community Partners rely on this assistance, and plan their weekly activities based on their anticipated number of service participants. In addition, the people with whom our students serve look forward to their visits and rely on their being available to help them. "Studying for an exam," "writing a paper," or "feeling tired from being up late" are considered time management issues that students need to address. Of course, service participants who are experiencing a chronic or emergency medical condition, family emergency, or other serious issue requiring a termination of service should call the Center for Service and Social Action at 216.397. 1662 as soon as possible. What happens if a service site closes or a service activity is cancelled? The Center for Service and Social Action tries to maintain accurate information regarding service schedules and special events, holidays, breaks, and other calendar events which might result in a cancellation of service. Students will be notified of all scheduled days of service for their activity when they register for it. However, sometimes service sites close because of weather conditions, equipment failures, illness, etc. If a service site cancels, we will make every attempt to notify students of the cancellation as soon as possible by email or phone. (This is why we emphasize that students need to provide us with accurate contact information when they enroll as a service participant with our office.) We will log such events as "site closed" on your students' service hour records, so you are aware that students missed service on that day due to circumstances outside of their control. What if something goes wrong at the service site? Before adding a site to our Community Partners list, each site undergoes an assessment process. Key elements of this assessment include a review of their procedures for supervising volunteers and a safety assessment. While we make every effort to monitor the safety factors of our Community Partners, sometimes there are incidents or accidents. Participant safety is an important element of any service experience. The Center for Service and Social Action has a Critical Incident Report procedure; we take any concerns related to service participant safety extremely seriously. If your or a student have any concerns about a service site or if service participant reports an incident to you, please contact the Center for Service and Social Action as soon as possible. The Center for Service and Social Action has established Critical Incident Report procedures which can be made available to faculty members upon request. How are my students' service hours tracked? If someone has registered for a service activity sponsored by our office, we will record their service hours. In order for us to do that, all the participant needs to do is sign in and out of the Center for Service and Social Action Service Hour Tracking Sheet at the agency where they are performing service. They will need to do this every time they are there, because if they forget to sign the sheet, we have no other way of verifying that they indeed attended the service. The agency then faxes these sheets to us and our staff records all participants' service hours in our database. Students who have "self-placed" or set up their own service activities but who still want our office to track their service hours must take responsibility for handling their own Tracking Sheets (which we provide to them). They'll need to take a Service Hour Tracking Sheet with them to their placement site every time they participate in service, and then have the site supervisor sign off on their hours. Every other week, the student will need to bring the signed sheet to our office so that we can enter their service hours. (Service Hour Tracking Sheets are not accepted after the final week of service.) Can students check their service hours? Yes. Students can check their hours online by accessing the Center’s website and logging in with their user name and password. They can check their service hours by semester or by total, and they can print out a report log of their service dates, service sites/activities, and hours. If their most current hours are missing, we may have not received confirmation from the service site; hours are updated when the information is received. Can I check my students' service hours? Yes. Faculty have the capability of checking the service hour record of all students registered for their courses during the semester. This record includes a log of service dates, service sites/activities, other courses to which the hours are being attributed, and service hours. You can do this by enrolling with us as a Service Learning Faculty member; simply call our office at 216.397.4698 for details!
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