Service-Learning For Faculty

Service-Learning (S-L) is a specially designed learning experience in which students combine reflection with structured participation in community-based projects to achieve specified learning outcomes as part of an academic course and/or program requirement.

The guidelines for being considered a Service-Learning course at the University of Cincinnati align with the University’s value of academic freedom, in that the teaching faculty or program lead decide what types of Service-Learning assignments or projects will occur in their classes. There is no minimum number of hours required, the service can be direct or indirect, and it could include an on-campus or off-campus community partner.  

S-L courses can vary in their content, from just a handful of S-L assignments, to every assignment having an S-L component. A good best practice is for a Service-Learning course to have at least one of the Student Learning Outcomes delivered with an S-L assignment or project. 

Receiving the "S" attribute for your Service-Learning course is an important way to help your course get counted as part of the University's Service-Learning work. It also allows students to find your S-L course in the catalogue and helps our team to make sure we are supporting all our S-L faculty with news, updates, and resources. 

If you believe your course falls under the UC definition of Service-Learning, you can ask your program chair or the person who orders your department courses to request the "S" attribute for your course. 

Please feel free to reach out to the Service-Learning team to discuss further.

The Service-Learning team is here to support you in finding a nonprofit partner for your Service-Learning course, no matter your subject area! Please fill out this form and someone from our team will be in touch to assist you with partner outreach.

Check out our Platform in Social Innovation, an open-access resource hosted by UC Press that offers open-access projects related to Service-Learning and Transformational Pedagogies.