retention and integrating SL in the core

Sylvia,

I'm responding to both of your email requests for information.  First,
regarding service learning and its relationship to retention.  There are not
too many studies that have been published that address this issue.  Research
has shown us that students who participate in community service (not service
learning) are more likely to graduate than students who don't (Astin & Sax,
1998), and we also have evidence that students who engage in 
service-learning
(and community service) report stronger faculty relationships than those who
are not involved in service learning (or community service) (Astin & Sax,
1998,
Eyler & Giles, 1999).  Alexander Astin's involvement theory can be related 
to
service learning - students who are more engaged in college, are more
likely to
graduate.  Greater student involvement in college (academic coursework,
extracurricular activities, and interaction with faculty and college
personnel), has been found to positively influence a student’s learning and
personal development (Astin, 1984, 1993, 1996).  Thus, a heightened level of
engagement in a service-learning course suggests that students will learn 
more
in these types of courses.  This in turn may suggest a positive influence on
student retention (Astin, 1975, 1993).  Citations are listed below.  

There is a study that was done at Oberlin College that looked at retention,
but
I'm not sure how to obtain a copy of this article:  Roose, D., Daphne, J.,
Mill, A. G., Norris, W., Peacock, R., White, C., & White, G.  (1997). Black
Student REtention Study:  Oberlin College.  This one looked at whether or 
not
involvement in community service (not service learning) predicted 
retention. 
They found that for those who graduated from Oberlin, involvement in 
community
service was the factor most strongly correlated with graduation in this 
entire
study. 

Astin, A. W. (1975).  Preventing students from dropping out.  San 
Francisco: 
Jossey-Bass.

        Astin, A. W. (1984).  Student involvement:  A developmental theory 
for
higher education.  Journal of College Student Personnel, 25, 297-308.

        Astin, A. W. (1993).  What matters in college?  Four critical years
revisited.  San Francisco, CA:  Jossey Bass.

        Astin, A. W. (1996).  Involvement in learning revisited:  Lessons we
have learned.  Journal of College Student Development, 37 (2), 123-134.

        Astin, A.W. (1997, February).  Liberal education and democracy:  The
case for pragmatism.  Paper presented at Rollins College Colloquy, Winter
Park,
FL.        

        Astin, A. W. and Sax, L. J. (1998).  How undergraduates are
affected by
service participation.  Journal of College Student Development 39 (3),
251-263.

Eyler, J. and Giles Jr., D. E. (1999).  Where’s the learning in
service-learning?  San Francisco:  Jossey-Bass.


Second, you asked where to start on integrating service learning into core
courses.  First of all, I'd suggest that you identify some faculty who are
really interested in giving service learning a try.  Then, based on their
discipline, look at the AAHE (American Association for Higher Education)
monograph series to see if there is a book published for their discipline. 
These monographs are great resources for engaging faculty in specific
discipline areas.  You can find out more about the monographs by visiting
http://www.aahe.org/service/srv-lrn.htm; There are a lot of other good
resources
out there (Community Campus Partnerships for Health - for the health
disciplines, faculty manuals, etc.) and you can take a look at our website
(www.gseis.ucla.edu/slc/) under our Faculty Issues section to find other
resources and plenty of links.  

Sorry this is so long; hope it is helpful to you and others.  Elaine Ikeda


>
>
>At 03:15 PM 6/1/00 -0600, servlern servlern wrote:
>>Hi Listserv: 
>>
>>I am a graduate assistant for the Service-Learning Program at Boise State
>University in Idaho. Some university administrators are interested in any
>information or specific research out there regarding service-learning and
>how it directly relates to retention. Is there any specific information
>like this? Thanks for your help, Sylvia Dana - SL grad assistant
>
>Dear listserv: 
>
>I know there must be a ton of info out there on integrating 
>service-learning
in the core courses, i.e. ENG 101, BIO 101, PSYCH 101, etc. What resources 
do
some of you suggest I go to first? Our SL program is not currently connected
with any core courses, but we would like to be. Also, FYI, the information
will
be used to support a proposal for a Title 1 grant for the university. 
>
>Thanks, Sylvia Dana (soon to be king) Boise State Service-Learning Program
Grad. Assistant

**************************************************
Elaine K. Ikeda, Ph.D.
Project Director
UCLA Service-Learning Clearinghouse Project
esaito@ucla.edu
310-206-4815office
310-794-5004 fax
Check out our new resource website!
http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/slc/
**************************************************