Dickens and the Public Humanities: A Service-Learning Approach

Abstract

Service-learning students meet academic learning objectives through community engagement integrated into a course, community partners’ real needs are addressed through the students’ work, and students engage in meaningful reflection about their service-learning experience. Victorian literature lends itself very well to this high-impact pedagogical practice; the Victorians valued civic responsibility at a time when the fabric of community life was becoming unraveled, and their issues are still largely relevant today. This chapter describes two service-learning public humanities projects used in different classes: (1) students partnered with a local museum that offers hands-on workshops for children and created a new activity based on Hard Times, and (2) students partnered with an after-school program on a series of classes and activities inspired by A Christmas Carol. The chapter provides explanation, guidance, and resources to encourage others to develop service-learning assignments.

Personally, I believe that service learning doesn’t work that well with me. I don’t get too much out of it, and I struggle to see how this way of learning is as effective as traditional methods.

—Victorian Fiction student remark at start of project ¹