Article
Bringing service learning to scale in an undergraduate reading foundations course: A quasi-experimental study
Journal of Excellence in College Teaching
(2012)
Abstract
This study documents the effects of service-learning as it was introduced and brought to scale in an introductory undergraduate course in Reading Foundations for students seeking to become early and middle childhood education teachers. Participants included multiple cohorts of students in multiple instantiations of the course taught with and without service-learning over five years. Results from within- and between-instructor comparisons showed that the service-learning experiences had beneficial effects on students' ability to make connections between theory and practice and on their overall experience of the course. These effects were observed both in the initial pilot of service-learning and when service-learning was brought to scale in subsequent quarters. Results showed, however, that the service-learning had no effect on students' content knowledge related to reading processes and pedagogy.
Keywords
- Service Learning,
- Introductory Courses,
- Education Courses,
- Preservice Teachers,
- Reading Teachers,
- Preservice Teacher Education
Disciplines
Publication Date
2012
Publisher Statement
Published in the Journal of Excellence in College Teaching.
Citation Information
I. A. Wilkinson, Gina M Doepker and D. Morbitt. "Bringing service learning to scale in an undergraduate reading foundations course: A quasi-experimental study" Journal of Excellence in College Teaching Vol. 23 Iss. 2 (2012) p. 93 - 120 ISSN: 1052-4800 Available at: http://works.bepress.com/gina-doepker/9/