The Futures of Service-Learning?

Abstract

In the previous two chapters I argued that while there was a theoretical opportunity and need for the disciplining of service-learning, the actual on-the-ground realities of most service-learning programs were far from achieving such a goal. In this chapter I present multiple models for potential futures of service-learning as a deeply embedded component within higher education. I suggest that there are in fact multiple means by which to develop sustained and deeply engaging practices in higher education that foster engaged teaching, learning, and scholarship and the role and voice of the community as central components of their programs. These models, I suggest, offer multiple visions of how service-learning may be rethought in the academy. Yet I also conclude that all of these models are premised on and structured around a departmental and disciplinary notion of teaching, learning, and scholarship.