Students at the University of Nebraska at Omaha (UNO) will take a variety of classes in their pursuit of graduation. These classes include basic courses, introduce students to different career paths and others focus on specific majors or interests. Some of these classes have a “service learning” component.
Service learning is a method of teaching that combines classroom instruction with meaningful, community-identified service, according to the Service Learning Academy’s website. The website also states that students’ learning goes beyond the classroom as they apply their knowledge to real-life solutions in the community.
It is understandable as a student why serving the community is important. Not only should you be aware of your surroundings but also become a productive member of society. However, I believe that service learning is not being taught or used properly in the education of students.
Having taken service learning classes myself, I’ve had many different experiences in the way that service learning is discussed and taught. For example, in a human relations course we were told to serve a group in Omaha and provide “community service.” It was on our own, but we had to provide proof that we did the service. There was no obvious reason for it to be part of the curriculum. Furthermore, there was no explanation on how it pertained to the class or what was considered “service.”
In one public relations course we were paired up in groups and given a community partner to work with. However, in this course we were never told why it was part of our grade or how it related to the textbook.
The overall problem with these classes is how they are being graded. Why are the professors deciding how it benefits the community rather than the community partners themselves? How do they benefit students who do service learning in their career fields?
The Service Learning Academy says that service learning will look good on a resume and help teach students new skills as well as sharpen the ones they already have. That’s fine, but how can these skills directly correlate to our future careers?
University of Nebraska-Lincoln also has a Service Learning Academy, but they call it the Center for Civic Engagement. Their office works the same as UNO’s Service Learning Academy but benefits their students better in three distinct ways.
First, UNL’s Center for Civic Engagement provides students the ability to apply for grant money to complete a project. Not only does this help students give back to the community, it also teaches them how to right proposals for projects that need funding. Information for how students can apply as well as the necessary criteria is easily found on the center’s website. At UNO, we are not told of any grant opportunities for service learning.
Second, UNL has a certificate program for their students to incorporate in their academics and student life experiences. To complete the certificate, UNL requires students to participate in an orientation, complete three checkpoints and attend a final reflection session. According to UNL, competition of the certificate program is at no additional cost to tuition or graduation time.
Lastly is the tax credit campaign. UNL has partnered with the Volunteer Income Tax Assistance program (VITA) to prepare low-income tax families, working families’ and students’ taxes for free. The Center of Civic Engagement lists three benefits to this campaign: community members have their taxes prepared for free, students have their taxes prepared for free and volunteers learn a new skill (tax law and tax preparation) by making a significant difference in the lives of others. Having this opportunity available to students who are not majoring in this profession benefits them and helps them gain applicable experience.
As a community-focused university, we should start to look inward when it comes to service learning. The first steps are educating our faculty on what service learning is and what it can be used for, making sure students are benefitting from it and offer programs for students who are seeking real-life skills.