Framing Service Learning in Social Work: An Interdisciplinary Elective Course Embedded within a University-Community Partnership

While academic service learning has grown in popularity across disciplines and universities, the pedagogical strategies for service learning courses vary greatly, especially for courses focused on development in underserved communities. Ideally, service learning pedagogy should place equal importanc...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:Social work education 2014-11, Vol.33 (8), p.1037-1053
Main Authors: Gerstenblatt, Paula, Gilbert, Dorie J.
Format: Article
Language:English
Subjects:
Academic Disciplines
Biological and medical sciences
College Students
Community Engagement
Community-university Partnerships
Feedback
Frame analysis
Health staff related problems. Vocational training
Interdisciplinary
Interdisciplinary aspects
Learning
Medical sciences
Pedagogy
Popularity
Professional training
Psychology. Psychoanalysis. Psychiatry
Psychopathology. Psychiatry
Qualitative research
Rural Areas
Rural communities
Service Learning
Social Justice
Social psychiatry. Ethnopsychiatry
Social work
Social Work Education
Student teacher relationship
Students
Teaching
Treatments
Underserved populations
Universities
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Summary:While academic service learning has grown in popularity across disciplines and universities, the pedagogical strategies for service learning courses vary greatly, especially for courses focused on development in underserved communities. Ideally, service learning pedagogy should place equal importance on student and community benefits, build reciprocal relationships with community partners, and engage students in deep reflection about social cultural and economic issues. In designing a new service learning elective course to engage students in a rural town revitalization project, we intentionally framed the course to meet the aforementioned goals. We used a three-component service learning pedagogy model that: (1) embedded the course in an existing university-community partnership; (2) mobilized interdisciplinary teams of students for community-identified projects; and (3) promoted reflection on complex economic and social justice issues by integrating students' processing through blog, faculty-student-community discussions, and community feedback. Benefits to students and community based on two qualitative studies are discussed, as are implications for social work education and research.
ISSN:0261-5479
1470-1227
DOI:10.1080/02615479.2014.935731