AN EVALUATION OF ACADEMIC SERVICE-LEARNING - Student and community perspectives on lessons learned

A triangulation mixed-methods design was used to measure differences in service-learning outcomes for 260 service-learning participants enrolled in educational psychology courses during the academic years 2002-2003 (n = 77), 2003-2004 (n = 101) and 2004-2005 (n = 82). The results indicated that service-learning students improved their political awareness, diversity attitudes, and preference for engaging in long-term service commitments from the beginning to the end of the semester. The results further indicated that service-learning influences student personal, interpersonal, and social development through social, emotional, and cognitive learning, and it empowers teachers working in an urban environment to use different pedagogical methods because of the "extra-hands" in class.