Faculty Resources

Faculty at the University of Richmond interested in incorporating service learning into one or more of their courses should consider the following resources available to them.

• Service Learning Faculty Grant Program: Faculty are eligible to receive $500 per course when incorporating a service learning component for the first time into a particular course. The following criteria must be met to receive the grant:

  • Service learning must be a new component to the course. It can be a required or optional component.
  • Faculty should submit the Faculty Service Learning form to the service learning coordinator describing the nature of the project and the potential learning objectives related to the service. Click here to access the Faculty Service Learning Form.
  • Faculty should meet with the service learning coordinator to discuss potential community organizations and opportunities.
  • Students in the course must fill out a Service Learning Contract ensuring that they understand the nature of service learning and how their service connects with the academic class component. Click here to download a PDF of the Service Learning Contract. The faculty member should collect the forms and send copies to the service learning coordinator.
  • Students in the course are required to fill out an online post-service learning survey. The results of the survey will be sent to the faculty member after the grades have been submitted for that particular semester. The service learning coordinator will construct the survey and send the link to the faculty member to then forward to his/her students.

• Service Learning Coordinator's Services: The coordinator is available to faculty in the following areas:

  • Meet with faculty to discuss ways that service learning can fit into their particular courses or curricular area.
  • Coordinate service sites for courses.
  • Attend class and discuss with students what service learning is and how it fits into their particular course.
  • Conduct pre and/or post service surveys.

  Contact the Service Learning Coordinator by email: ahoward3@richmond.edu

• Links to External Service Learning Resources:

• The national service learning website
  http://csf.Colorado.EDU/sl/
• Academic Research about the Effectiveness of Service Learning: On-line Abstracts
  http://www.calpoly.edu/~slad/csl/research.html
• Articles on Assessing Service Learning in Higher Education
  http://www.gseis.ucla.edu/slc/assess.html#arti
• A national, peer-reviewed journal for service learning
  http://www.umich.edu/~ocsl/MJCSL/
• An excellent faculty handbook (courtesy VA Tech)
  http://www.majbill.vt.edu/sl/fachand.html
• The Invisible College, an association of service learning faculty across the country
  http://www.selu.edu/Academics/ArtsSciences/IC/
• A service learning syllabus bank by discipline
  http://csf.Colorado.EDU/sl/syllabi/index.html
• Some models of service learning at selected universities:
  • Brown - http://www.brown.edu/Departments/Swearer_Center/
  • Cornell - http://www.psc.cornell.edu
  • George Mason - http://www.gmu.edu/student/csl/
  • Georgetown - http://www.georgetown.edu/outreach/vps/
  • Princeton - http://www.princeton.edu/~cbli
  • Providence - http://www.providence.edu/psp/jump_a.htm
  • Rice - http://www.ruf.rice.edu/~cicpage/
  • Rutgers - http://www.scils.rutgers.edu/case/case.html
  • Stanford - http://haas-fmp.stanford.edu/40default.htm
  • Vanderbilt - http://www.vanderbilt.edu/cft/