Evaluation of Urban and Rural Service Learning: What, Why, Who and How?

Root of service-learning lies in the fact that while students are providing service to the larger community, they are also learning. The service is both a means and an application of learning. So, we can evaluate learning, but also evaluate for learning. The reasons to evaluate service-learning might be applying for funding or to eliminate barriers for implementation of SL or to attract community partners or achieve sustainability. The emphasis in this keynote is on the evaluation of the academic impact (measuring of cognitive growth of students), community impact, and personal impact of service- learning. Both formal (e.g., Likert scales) and informal measurement procedures (e.g., open-ended reflections) will be discussed here.