| As a part of the Learn and Serve grant program,
the systemwide office began the first CSU systemwide assessment
about the impact of service learning on students. The program began
in spring 2002, and lasted three academic terms to examine whether
service learning impacts attitudinal change in students in four
cluster areas. These areas are academic learning, community involvement,
career preparation, and personal development. Using campus and national
models as a guide, pre-course and post-course surveys were developed.
By clicking here you can download the pre-course
and post-course surveys. The Office of
Community Service Learning would like to acknowledge that several questions
were used and adapted from assessment tools developed by the Center
for Academic Excellence at Portland State University.
To support the fourteen CSU campuses that are involved with this
project, administration guidelines and an introduction letter to
students were developed by the Office of Community Service Learning
at the CSU Office of the Chancellor. To see these examples, click
here.
Some of the facts and figures that are known as a result of this
project:
- On average, students estimate they provided about 20 hours
of community service for each service-learning course. Seniors
and graduate/postbaccalaureate students spent an average of six
more hours in service activity than did freshmen, sophomores,
and juniors. The number of hours spent in service learning systematically
increased from freshman to graduate level.
- Between 70 percent and 85 percent of the students engaged in
some form of reflective activity during the course. Students most
often discussed their service experience with other students,
but more than two out of three students also talked abut their
experience with their instructors and/or wrote about it.
- In CSL courses where the service-learning experience was given
as an option to students, most students (78%) “opted”
for the experience.
- Almost 90 percent (88%) of the students rated the quality of
their service-learning experience highly (i.e., excellent, very
good, or good).
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