CBL Impacts on Student Learning
The evidence both nationally and on campus show that community based learning is one of the most important components of a quality liberal arts education. It allows students to apply classroom theories in the community to gain better understanding of how the real world works. National studies have found that a majority of service-learning students report that they learn more and are motivated to work harder in service-learning classes than in regular classes. Overwhelming, the scholarship on the effects of CBL on student learning finds that it enhances critical and analytical skills, a deeper understanding of complex concepts and improved grades (Eyler, Giles and Gray 1999). From a social perspective, the experience tends to have a transformative effect on students; they abandon stereotypes and can see the world from the perspective of others. Others have found that students who engage in CLB tend to be more likely to stay involved in community issues both while in college and after Battistoni 2003; Catlin-Sullivan 1999).
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Myths about Community Based Learning
It isn’t academic. Students should not be given academic credit for working in a soup kitchen. No student will receive academic credit for their work in the community. Grades are earned solely by the quality of the student’s reflection.
CLB courses are not rigorous or challenging . This can be true depending on the demands and expectations of the professor. All things being equal, however, CBL courses should be more challenging than non-CBL courses. The reasoning is simple: CBL should not change the content or expectations of a course. It will, however, add a layer of complexity that will require students to engage the material in ways they never had before.
I don’t really have any room for CBL – One of the concerns of many faculty members is that incorporating community based learning means sacrificing something else. That should not be – CBL is a pedagogy designed to meet course learning goals and objectives. It should not replace specific course content but enhance a students understanding of that content.
I don’t have the right as an instructor to mandate service Community Based Learning is not forced labor; it is a method of teaching. As faculty we do not have to justify employing methods of teaching that we believe enhance student learning, rather only have to justify the outcomes (Heffernan 2003)
CBL is simply not applicable to my courses . This should not be true. If what a professor is teaching has no applications outside of your classroom, then s/he should consider another line of work.
CBL is not academics, it’s a left wing ideology. As a pedagogy, CBL is as politically neutral or biased as any other pedagogy. Again, the degree to which the CBL champions a particular ideology is up to the professor. Yes, there is a social justice dimension to CBL, given the assumption that community needs will be met, but that should not affect course content.
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Characteristics of a Community Based Learning Course
CBL is a pedagogy that requires planning, assessing course objectives in relation to CBL activities and thinking about outcomes. A CBL course is more than a class that involves student placement in the community. So here are the criteria for a CBL course:
Community participation in and of itself is not worthy of academic credit. Students are not graded on the basis of how well they served meals to the poor or how well they cared for tots at a day care center. Service Learning and volunteerism is not the same; “community service becomes CBL when there is deliberate connection between service and learning opportunities, and when that integration is accompanied by thoughtfully designed occasions to reflect on the service experience.” (Heffernan 2003)
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All CBL courses should integrate community experiences with course material . Assignments should be designed to ensure ample opportunity to critically reflect on personal experiences in the community.
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Students should be adequately prepared to enter the community . This might entail initial readings and/or bringing in members of the community to class.
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All students in a CBL course should be placed and working in their community agency no later that the end of the add/drop period . Students who do not have a placement by the end of add/drop will be removed from the course.
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Community partners should share in the learning experience as equals.
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It is recommended that CBL courses should require approximately 40 hours of community participation per semester for a one unit (or more) course. The number of hours in the community, however, should be determined by the goals of the course and the make-up of the students. Placement hours should be spread across the 14 weeks of the semester calendar rather than done in large blocks over a short period of time. This does not preclude CBL models where students may be immersed in a community for concentrated period (eg., an alternative spring break). These types of community experiences are clearly limited in the sense that students are only getting a brief snap shot of community life. But, if the students are properly prepared, these courses can easily satisfy the expectations of a CBL course.
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All Students in a course should be required to participate. Past experience has found that having some members of class take on an optional community learning experience can produce problems in the classroom.
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The addition of partial units – for example .5 or .25 is an excellent way to include CBL into the course. However, it should not be done on the assumption that CBL is an add-on. The key is to ensure that the community placement experiences are integrated into the course. Also, additional units should not be allotted simply to account for the time in the community. Time in the community does not equal contact hours. Faculty member in preparing their CBL courses should consider placement time in the community the equivalent of study time and may want to play their assignments and week readings accordingly.
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