What Is Service-Learning?

Service-learning combines academic learning and educational goals with student action in real life situations outside the classroom. Young people are given the opportunity to learn and develop as leaders through active participation in thoughtfully organized service experiences that meet vital community needs. The opportunities are coordinated in collaboration with the school and community. With a smooth integration in the student's academic curriculum, it provides structured time for a young adult to think, talk, and write about what he/she experiences during the service activity. That in turn allows young people the chance to create knowledge based upon real situations in their own communities. This further enhances what is taught in the classroom by extending learning beyond the classroom. Service-learning helps to foster the development of a sense of caring for others, hopefully resulting in a lifetime of community involvement and awareness.

Service-learning is "a teaching and learning approach that integrates community service with academic study to enrich learning, teach civic responsibility and strengthen communities."

-- National Commission on Service-Learning, 2002, p.3

Our Mission
The Butte College Office of Service Learning & Volunteerism advocates making service an integral part of students' education at the college, creating an expectation of service as an important component of the higher education experience. Our goals are:

• To manage the placement of students in meaningful and educational community service projects.
  
• To provide services to Butte and Glenn County agencies/organizations/schools
  
• To support students who are engaged in service-learning activities
  
• To integrate and link service and academic study
  
• To involve and recognize faculty who incorporate service-learning as a teaching methodology
  
• To provide resources and assistance to faculty members and administration
  
• To instill the importance of genuine reflection in those participating in service-learning