Michigan Journal Of Community Service Learning

Launched in 1994, the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL) is an international, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary academic journal for college and university faculty and administrators, with an editorial board and cadre of peer reviewers representing faculty from many higher education disciplines and professional fields. It is a publication of the University of Michigan's Ginsberg Center. Each issue consists of articles at the cutting edge of research, theory, pedagogy, and other matters related to academic service-learning, campus-community partnerships, and engaged, public scholarship in higher education that extend the knowledge base and support and strengthen researchers' and practitioners' work. We also publish review essays of newly-released books pertinent to service-learning and community engagement.

Launched in 1994, the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL) is an international, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary academic journal for college and university faculty and administrators, with an editorial board and cadre of peer reviewers representing faculty from many higher education disciplines and professional fields. It is a publication of the University of Michigan's Ginsberg Center. Each issue consists of articles at the cutting edge of research, theory, pedagogy, and other matters related to academic service-learning, campus-community partnerships, and engaged, public scholarship in higher education that extend the knowledge base and support and strengthen researchers' and practitioners' work. We also publish review essays of newly-released books pertinent to service-learning and community engagement.

Launched in 1994, the Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning (MJCSL) is an international, peer-reviewed, multi-disciplinary academic journal for college and university faculty and administrators, with an editorial board and cadre of peer reviewers representing faculty from many higher education disciplines and professional fields. It is a publication of the University of Michigan's Ginsberg Center. Each issue consists of articles at the cutting edge of research, theory, pedagogy, and other matters related to academic service-learning, campus-community partnerships, and engaged, public scholarship in higher education that extend the knowledge base and support and strengthen researchers' and practitioners' work. We also publish review essays of newly-released books pertinent to service-learning and community engagement.

Presents innovations in research methodology as these are implemented in the study of service-learning, and provides recommendations to professionals doing research on service-learning and on any form of experiential education or educational reform.

For scholars seeking to undertake consequential research in service-learning and community engagement (SLCE) at a time when there is widening interest in and increasing acceptance of research in this field as a primary area of scholarship, this book provides accounts by preeminent scholars about the trajectories of their research, their methodologies, lessons learned along the way, as well as their views about the future direction of the field.The contributors to this volume represent a range of disciplines and fields including education, history, organizational leadership, political science, philanthropic studies, psychology, and public health, as well as both qualitative and quantitative traditions, and offer models of scholarly learning that contribute to a knowledge base that can guide practice and further the broader public purposes of the academy.They articulate how they view their research on SLCE as having broader purposes that matter to them personally as well as professionally and illustrate how the “why” and “to what end” of their research can evolve as a program of research develops and matures across time. They identify key choices they made in terms of inquiry and methodology, describe both successes and challenges in establishing and navigating a SLCE research agenda across their careers, and share lessons learned from their research journey to advance the field both domestically and abroad. Emerging from these narratives is a theme of practical wisdom that arises through the learning of researchers, students and communities as they engage with complex social contexts.

The purpose of this series of books is to advance the knowledge in the service-learning research field. More importantly, this research is to be used to transform the field. This transformation will come from realizing both the history of service-learning and trying to imagine what the future may look like. The chapters in this book all demonstrate just how far service-learning research has come. Researchers, practitioners, and students alike have benefited from its dissemination and use the research to improve practice. The research does not simply inform educators how to create a better pedagogy. Rather, it informs a service-learning practice that can transform both individuals and institutions.

In this volume in the IAP series on Advances in Service-Learning Research, top researchers present recent work studying aspects of program development, student and community outcomes, and future research directions in the field of service-learning and community engagement. These chapters, selected through a rigorous peer review process, are based on presentations made at the annual meeting of the International Research Conference on Service-Learning and Community Engagement, held in October, 2008, in New Orleans. This volume features efforts in research and practice to support and expand service-learning and engaged scholarship in both K-12 and higher education. Models of effective partnerships between institutions of higher education and their community partners are developed in chapters looking at relationships between campus and community in terms of partnership identity or in terms of shared understanding by campus and community partners. Outcomes for K-12 and college students engaged in service learning are the focus of several studies. The impact of high-quality service-learning on K-12 student achievement and school-related behaviors is described. Racial identity theory provides a useful frame for understanding developing student conceptualizations, while another chapter emphasizes aspects of self-exploration and relationship building as bases for gains in student attitudes and skills. In a final section, chapters deal with service-learning and community engagement as a coherent research field with a distinct identity, reviewing current work and proposing directions for future research.