Democratic Dilemmas of Teaching Service-Learning

Curricular Strategies for Success

David M Donahue author Christine M Cress author

Format:Paperback

Publisher:Taylor & Francis Inc

Published:5th May '11

Currently unavailable, and unfortunately no date known when it will be back

This paperback is available in another edition too:

Democratic Dilemmas of Teaching Service-Learning cover

A college student wants to lead a campaign to ban a young adult novel from his child’s elementary school as his service-learning project in a children’s literature course. Believing the book is offensive to religious sensibilities, he sees his campaign as a service to children and the community. Viewing such a ban as limiting freedom of speech and access to information, the student’s professor questions whether leading a ban qualifies as a service project. If the goal of service is to promote more vital democratic communities, what should the student do? What should the professor do? How do they untangle competing democratic values? How do they make a decision about action?This book addresses the teaching dilemmas, such as the above, that instructors and students encounter in service-learning courses.Recognizing that teaching, in general, and service-learning, in particular, are inherently political, this book faces up to the resulting predicaments that inevitably arise in the classroom. By framing them as a vital and productive part of the process of teaching and learning for political engagement, this book offers the reader new ways to think about and address seemingly intractable ideological issues.Faculty encounter many challenges when teaching service learning courses. These may arise from students’ resistance to the idea of serving; their lack of responsibility, wasting clients’ and community agencies’ time and money; the misalignment of community partner expectations with academic goals; or faculty uncertainty about when to guide students’ experiences and when direct intervention is necessary.In over twenty chapters of case studies, faculty scholars from disciplines as varied as computer science, engineering, English, history, and sociology take readers on their and their students’ intellectual journeys, sharing their messy, unpredictable and often inspiring accounts of democratic tensions and trials inherent in teaching service-learning. Using real incidents – and describing the resources and classroom activities they employ – they explore the democratic intersections of various political beliefs along with race/ethnicity, class, gender, ability, sexual orientation, and other lived differences and likenesses that students and faculty experience in their service-learning classroom and extended community. They share their struggles of how to communicate and interact across the divide of viewpoints and experiences within an egalitarian and inclusive environment all the while managing interpersonal tensions and conflicts among diverse people in complex, value-laden...

"With great candor and sophistication, this book explores the complexities of preparing democratic citizens through service learning. Drawing on many disciplines, the authors pair insights about the task's often surprising points of resistance with practical strategies for negotiating its many shoals. Vivid and engaging stories about teaching dilemmas and the students who inhabit them provide something like a wise and supportive friend and counselor to readers who wish to take on this work themselves."

Anne Colby Senior Scholar

The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

"A perfect road map for faculty to assist them in taking their students to the next level of awareness, service, and engagement.

This book provides faculty with thought provoking scenarios on how to address dilemmas encountered in implementing service learning. It provides useful illustrations on how “to handle” the dilemmas without infringing on intellectual freedom, values, or judgment of all parties involved by utilizing civil public discourse and reinforcing the importance of civic engagement. Excellent work by all the authors."

Lyvier Conss Executive Director

MESA Community College National Center for Community Engagement

"Democratic Dilemmas critically examines the diverse and complex dimensions of our democracy when approaching community engagement through service-learning. By using real life case studies, the authors have created for faculty an invaluable contribution to the growth and success of this pedagogy."

Maureen F. Curley President

Campus Compact

"Over the course of recent decades, I have been increasingly concerned by the evidence that our democracy is in serious trouble. College students are not alone responsible for fixing the messes that the generations before them have created. But unless they are educated to engage in democracy—and not simply sit on the sidelines—the mess can only get worse—much worse. This book is a powerful set of lessons about how to engage college students in ways that are challenging, provocative, and that, most important, provide learning that lasts for active citizenry. I cannot imagine a more important task."

Thomas Ehlich, former president of Indiana University

and Senior Scholar at the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching

“The value of this book is no dilemma. For the first time we have a collection of critically framed teaching cases that deals with the often unspoken challenges of teaching service-learning courses. Over twenty faculty scholars from diverse disciplines identify these dilemmas, share curricular designs, and suggest instructional approaches. Whether teaching a service-learning course for the first time or for decades, this book is a required resource to foster democratic, political engagement in our students.”

Dwight E. Giles, Jr, Professor

University of Massachusetts, Boston

ISBN: 9781579224318

Dimensions: unknown

Weight: 317g

220 pages