Where's the Wisdom in ServiceLearning?

The servicelearning field is 50 years old in the United States. Much has been developed over that time in the fields of K12 schooling, higher education, and community organizations. People who have been involved in the movement have worked individually and collaboratively to include servicelearning as an effective pedagogy and program in educational settings. They have created opportunities for students, teachers, faculty, and community members to learn about academic content and personal commitment to serving others for social change and community impact. In this book we hear from individuals who have been involved in the effort for more than 30 or 40 years about what they have learned from their experiences and what wisdom they can share with others who will be involved for the next several decades. Their experience, insight, and understanding will hopefully help younger people to improve and expand on the movement and place servicelearning and community engagement as a regular part of American education. “Robert Shumer has been a stalwart of the service learning movement for decades. He’s a practitioner, a researcher, an experimenter. This book gives valuable perspective for all of us going forward.” ~ Paul Loeb, Author of Soul of a Citizen “At a moment when many are asking how higher education can better serve our democracy, Robert Shumer’s book reminds us that we still have much to learn from those who built the movement for community engagement through service learning. As befits the field, the chapters in this book derive wisdom from experience and, in so doing, give us insight and inspiration for identifying the way forward.” ~ Andrew J. Seligsohn, President, Campus Compact “This book provides a strong foundation for promoting discussions on how the servicelearning movement has evolved over the past 3040 years. Rob Shumer has pulled together several key leaders in the servicelearning movement to share their stories and experiences. This book will be useful to a younger generation of servicelearning practitioners and faculty who will continue to build the field that these pioneers so generously cultivated.” ~ Elaine K. Ikeda, Ph.D. Executive Director, California Campus Compact