Connecting Service to Learning
Student Resources
Faculty Resources

Connecting Service to Academic Learning

Contributed by Julie Hatcher, Center for Public Service
and Leadership, IUPUI and Randall Osborne,
Psychology, Indiana University East


To enhance student-learning, it is critical that instructors devote time and attention to designating reflection activities. Reflection is the intentional consideration of an experience in light of particular learning objectives. Reflection should be both retrospective and prospective: students consider their service experience in order to influence their future action. Effective reflection activities are linked to particular learning objectives of the class, are guided by the instructor, occur regularly throughout the course, allow for feedback and assessment, and include opportunities for the clarification of values. When reflection activities are integrated into class discussion and appear on exams, students report higher levels of satisfaction with the course and greater academic gains from the experience. A service-learning class should include some types of reflection activity that can be evaluated by the gains from the experience. A service-learning class should include some types of reflection activity that can be evaluated by the instructor. This affords students the opportunity to document the learning that has occurred from the service component.

Highlighted journal: Before students submit their reflective journal, they reread personal entries and, using a highlighter, mark sections of the journal that directly relate to concepts and terms discussed in the text or in class. This makes it easier for both the student and the instructor to identify the academic connections made during the reflection process.

Double-entry journal: Students describe their personal thoughts and reactions to the service experience on the left page of the journal, and write about key issues from class discussion or readings on the right page of the journal. Students then draw arrows indicating relationships between their personal experience and course content.

Personal Journals are easy to assign, yet difficult to grade. Some argue that this means of personal reflection should not be graded at all. Journals provide a way for students to express thoughts and feelings about the service experience throughout the semester and, with guidance, journals can link personal learning with course content.

Critical incident journal: The following sets of prompts ask students to consider their thoughts and reactions and articulate the action they plan to take in the future. Describe a significant event that occurred as part of the service experience. Why was this significant to you? What did you learn from this experience? How will this incident influence your future behavior?

Three-part journal: Each page of the weekly journal entry is divided into thirds; description, analysis, application. In the top section, students describe some aspect of the service experience. In the middles section they analyze how course content relates to the service experience. And in the application section students comment on how the experience and course content can be applied to their personal or professional life.

Key-phrase journal: the instructor provides a list of terms and key phrases at the beginning of the semester for students to include in journal entries. Evaluation is based on the use and demonstrated understanding of the term.

Dialogue journal: Students submit loose-leaf journal pages to the instructor for comments every two weeks. While labor intensive for the instructor, this can provide regular feedback to students and prompt new questions for students to consider during the semester. Dialogue journals also can be read and responded to by a peer.

Types of Reflection


Journals Ask students to record thoughts, observations, feelings, activities and questions in a journal throughout the project. The most common form of journals is free form journals. The journal should be started early in the project and students should make frequent entries. Explain benefits of journals to students such as enhancing observational skills, exploring feelings, assessing progress and enhancing communication skills. Faculty should provide feedback by responding to journals, class discussions of issue/questions raised in journals or further assignments.
Structured Journals Use structured journals to direct student attention to important issues/questions and to connect the service experience to class work. A structured journal provides prompts to guide the reflective process. Some parts of the journal may focus on affective dimensions while others relate to problem-solving activities.
Team Journals Use a team journal to promote interaction between team members on project related issues and to introduce students to different perspectives on the project. Students can take turns recording shared and individual experiences, reactions and observations, and responses to each other's entries.
Critical Incidents Journals Ask students to record a critical incident for each week of the service project. The critical incident refers to events in which a decision was made, a conflict occurred, a problem resolved. The critical incident journal provides a systematic way for students to communicate problems and challenges involved in working with the community and with their teams and can thus help in dealing with the affective dimensions of the service experience.
Portfolios Ask students to select and organize evidence related to accomplishments and specific learning out comes in a portfolio. Portfolios can include drafts of documents, analysis of problems/issues, project activities/plans, annotated bibliography. Ask students to organize evidence by learning objectives.
Papers Ask students to write an integrative paper on the service project. Journals and other products can serve as the building blocks for developing the final paper.
Discussions Encourage formal/informal discussions with teammates, other volunteers and staff to introduce students to different perspectives.
Presentations Ask student(s) to present their service experience with class concepts/theories.
Interviews Interview students on service and the learning that occurred in these experiences.