Community Service and Service Learning
Service Learning Center
Bellarmine University offers service-learning
opportunities abroad and here at home. Service-learning projects, which
tie classroom learning to community service, are typically available
each year in Belize, Guatemala, Jamaica, New Orleans, the Appalachians
and in Louisville.
What is Service Learning?
"Service learning is a teaching and learning strategy that integrates
meaningful community service with instruction and reflection to enrich
the learning experience, teach civic responsibility, and strengthen
communities." (National Service Learning Clearinghouse, 2008)
“Service learning
is a methodology of teaching that uses meaningful service as a way of
helping students learn the academic material and understand the
real-world relevancy of the discipline, while at the same time meeting a
real community need." (Kentucky Campus Compact, 2008)
What is the difference between service-learning
and community service?
Service-learning, like community service, seeks to make a
valuable contribution to the community. Unlike community service,
however, service-learning is designed to promote the curricular goals of
a specified course through the application of classroom learning in
service settings. Community service that is not integrated into the
curriculum is not service-learning; it is simply service.