Support for Faculty
Each year faculty at The Ohio State University include service-learning in over 70 courses to enrich the understanding of course content, broaden appreciation of the discipline, and enhance development of civic responsibility. Faculty engaged in community-based scholarship have increased opportunities not only to enrich teaching and integrate service, but also to design research to improve future learning and service outcomes. The Service-Learning Initiative offers a variety of resources to support faculty in service-learning courses.
Support Services
- Technical assistance with course development
- Grants for course development or enhancement
- Faculty development workshops and other events
- Identification of community partners
- Assistance with service placement and management
Contact the Service-Learning Initiative for assistance.
Course Management Tools
- Process for Requesting the S Designation (This process is currently being revised and the page will be updated when it is complete.)
- Course Design Resources
- Pre- and post-course evaluation instruments for service and learning outcomes
- Training Materials to Prepare Students for Service
- Preparing Students for Meaningful Service
- Youth Connection (preparing to work with children and teens)
- A Guide to Tutoring: Literacy (intended for new and veteran literacy tutors)
- Using Reflection in Service-Learning (PDF, 68KB)
- Photo Consent Form and Photo Consent Form for a Minor (PDFs, 25KB)
- Sources for Volunteer Background Checks
- My Background Check
- Personnel Security Incorporated
- Ohio Bureau of Criminal Investigation (fingerprinting)
- Pay It Forward, an online database of community service opportunities
Resources
- Listing of service-learning courses
- Best practice guides and sample syllabi in a variety of disciplines (available in the SLI office, 400 Stillman Hall)
- Service-Learning Contract Templates
- Service-Learning Publication Outlets
- Service-Learning Teaching Resources
- National and State Service-Learning Organizations
Reporting of Service-Learning Involvement
The Faculty/Staff Service-Learning Involvement survey is designed to gather information about service-learning activities. It requests the following information:
- Service-learning courses you teach in order to maintain a current listing of courses incorporating a service-learning component
- Professional development needs and interests related to service-learning
- Scholarly work related to service-learning, including publications, presentations, grants, honors, and awards
Please share your information through this survey to help document service-learning at Ohio State. Preview the questions asked in this Word document. Take the survey in Survey Monkey.
Service-Learning Scholars Roundtable
The Service-Learning Scholars Roundtable was instrumental in developing service-learning at The Ohio State University and establishing the Service-Learning Initiative. In 1998, Dr. Martha Garland, Vice Provost and Dean for Undergraduate Studies, convened a group of eight faculty to begin discussions about service-learning at Ohio State University and to identify ways to promote it. This group, the Service-Learning Scholars Roundtable (SLSR), was structured as a forum and advisory group for discussion of approaches, challenges, and outcomes associated with community-based scholarship.
Coordinated by faculty members, Golden Jackson, College of Human Ecology, and Dr. Susan R. Jones, College of Education, the SLSR was initially charged with considering ways of improving the quality of the undergraduate experience through engaging students in teaching, research, and/or service activities, with particular attention to the role of service-learning as an effective strategy for engaging faculty, students, and community members in community-based teaching/learning/inquiry. The SLSR met monthly during the 1998-1999 academic year, beginning in November 1998. The group made recommendations focused on faculty development, a common definition and visibility, and development of infrastructure. As its membership grew, the Roundtable played an active role in development of a successful proposal for funding from the Corporation for National Service that led to the establishment of the Service-Learning Initiative in 2000-2001.
The SLSR, with a current membership roster of just over 100 members from a variety of disciplines, advises Service-Learning Initiative staff on vision and direction for service-learning; maintains collaborative linkages with the P-12 Project, John Glenn Institute for Public Service and Public Policy, and the Office of Faculty and TA Development; and assists with planning and implementation of faculty development workshops.
