Overcoming Institutional Barriers to Service Learning

Partnerships between universities and community organizations contribute to sustainable community development by creating networks of resources that may not otherwise exist among university faculty, students and community members. Service learning serves as a vessel for connecting and strengthening these resources; however, barriers within universities limit effective practice. University faculty members often cite time constraints, coordination challenges, and lack of support as deterrents to the incorporation of service learning projects in their courses. To overcome such barriers, universities can implement institutional structures and programs that facilitate community-engaged learning. A case study of the Service Learning Academy (SLA) at the University of Nebraska Omaha (UNO) provides an example of an institution that uses a number of strategies to deliberately solve challenges in service learning. The SLA is located in UNO’s Community Engagement Center and has a team of staff, graduate assistants, and student workers. Our location and resources allow the SLA to serve as a central hub for service learning, facilitating relationships between faculty, students, and community partners. With its unique design as a center for campus-wide service learning, UNO’s SLA has developed best practices and strategies to ease the facilitation process for university faculty. This creates the opportunity for coordinated programming and opens a door for faculty to embrace engaged learning for students that ties theory to practice.

https://newprairiepress.org/cecd/engagement/2020/4