Higher Education Service-Learning in Rural Communities

Boethel M (1999). Service Learning: A Strategy for Rural School Improvement and Community Revitalization: The Exponential Results of Linking School Improvement and Community Development, Issue Number 2. Southwest Educational Development Lab, Austin, TX.
http://www.sedl.org/prep/benefits2/issue2/
The future of rural schools is inextricably linked to the future of their communities, and service learning is a powerful tool for capitalizing on those links. Service learning makes students active participants in service projects that respond to community needs while furthering the academic goals of students. For service learning to be effective, it must be integrated into the school's ongoing curriculum, and the teacher must identify the academic objectives to be addressed through the activity. All school and community participants must agree beforehand on the activity's basic purpose. Service learning benefits students by providing authentic learning relevant to daily life and work, promoting social values and good citizenship, teaching work skills, and improving critical thinking and self esteem. Various examples of service learning projects are described, and five information sources are profiled.

Byers A (1995). Service Learning Benefits Students, Communities: Profiles of Eight Rural Service Learning Programs. Rural Clearinghouse Digest on Service Learning.
University of Minnesota, Morris project—a one-on-one mentoring to children whose special talents matched those of the mentors; the Alpena Community College (Michigan) tutoring elementary school children to mentoring residents of nursing homes; Willamette University (Oregon), service learning is incorporated into its first year seminar "World Views", and working with Hispanic and Russian populations in Woodburn or native Americans in warm Springs; Concordia College (MN), developed the Rural Investment Project (RIP) to help students develop and implement community service projects in their home town and a course entitled "Preparation for Rural Community Service"; and others. One service learning coordinator points out, " I think that a lot of urban students have a concept of rural areas as being trouble-free and I think that it is good for them to recognize that this is not the case".

Byers A (1994) Student Service Teams Work with Communities. Rural Adult Education FORUM.
Kansas State University Community Assistance Teams combine student service and community development in a unique program that meets the needs of both college students and rural Kansas communities. Begun in 1987, the Community Assistance Program created rural service opportunities in Kansas and abroad. "Over the years, we have become known not only as a student service program but as a community development program, because the projects we work on are seen by the communities as being essential to their survival and well-being," Project Director Carol Peak reports.

Carter CS (1999). Education and Development in Poor Rural Communities: An Interdisciplinary Research Agenda. Eric Clearinghouse on Rural education and Small Schools.
Teaching and learning happen within the social, cultural, political, environmental, and economic contexts of a particular "place." These contexts influence the opportunities students have to learn and what we expect of them. Although these contexts are interconnected, efforts to study and improve education, community services, economic development, and environmental protection often "pass in the night." Disciplinary structures of academe, departmentalized funding, lack of a shared definition of "rural," and implicit urban biases create many structural barriers in attempting to cope with the messy, nonlinear complexity of poor rural schools and communities. In response to this, the author provides background information on rural, persistent poverty (RPP) counties and outlines critical areas and types of multidisciplinary research needed to develop tools, programs, and community capacity that can improve the quality of life, including education, in poor rural communities.

Checkoway B (1996). "Combining Service and Learning on Campus and in the Community." Phi Delta Kappan, 77(9), 600, 602-6.
Student workshops can complement coursework in the academic disciplines and provide field training for public health, social work, urban planning and other professions. This article describes three community-planning workshops for college students, including a community planning workshop in rural, east central Illinois.

Conley, M (2005). Connecting Rural Communities: Volunteering and Neighboring. Washington, DC : Points of Light.
http://www.pointsoflight.org/sites/default/files/RuralCommunities.pdf
This resource on volunteering in rural America includes case studies and an overview of rural America today. It aims to expand understanding of volunteering in under-resourced rural communities as well as highlighting the neighboring model of volunteering in such areas.

Davis MT (1998). Serve to Learn: Making Connections in Rural Communities. Minnesota Commission on National and Community Service and Minnesota Department of Education. Available at: Minnesota Educational Services, capitol View Center, 70 W Country Rd B2, Little Canada MN 55117-1402; Phone (612) 415-5379.
The Center for Excellence in Rural Education at Clemson University has developed a field-based undergraduate pre-service teacher training program. The four stages of service learning projects are discussed, as well as how service-learning uses the rural community as a curriculum resource, provides students with an opportunity to participate in job development, addresses community social and welfare needs, helps adults realize that schooling is a lifelong activity, enhances intergenerational ties, and demonstrates that caring for others and the community are characteristics of responsible adults.

Dorfman D (1998). Building Partnerships Workbook. Northwest Regional Educational Lab, Rural Education Program. Tel# 800-547-6339. Online:
http://www.eric.ed.gov/ERICWebPortal/contentdelivery/servlet/ERICServlet?accno=ED420907
The workbook explores the premises under which people engage in community action, discusses some of the issues that arise in the first stages of community development, and examines several models of collaborative networks to illustrate the various bases on which partnerships can form. By examining different kinds of partnerships and exploring what they should be able to do, the author offers insight into the types of relationships that create the networks that sustain healthy communities.

Forti EM, White AW (2001). "A Rural Service-learning Model for Health Administration Education." Journal of Health Admin Educ 19; 4: 403-15.
This paper describes a service-learning model in rural and medically underserved communities used in a master in health administration program in a rural Southern state. It presents the process, components, outcomes and challenges. Strategies utilized by this rural service-learning model include interdisciplinary team training, partnerships among rurally and medically underserved community health care and academic institutions, faculty-preceptor retreats, and involvement in local community initiatives. These experiences prepare future health administrators to contribute in a meaningful way toward building an effective rural health care delivery system.

Hurst CP, Osban LB (2000). "Service Learning on Wheels: The Nightingale Mobile Clinic." Nursing and Health Care Perspectives, v21, n4, p. 184-187.
A mobile clinic providing health care services in rural Georgia is also a service learning laboratory for associate degree nursing students. The program enhances partnerships with community agencies, gives students a taste of community health careers and provides preventive care to underserved rural residents.

Intergenerational Service-Learning In A Rural Underserved Community.
The overall goals of this University of Iowa Aging Studies Program service-learning course are to (1) Improve the learning experience of gerontology students at the introductory level by providing an intergenerational hands-on application of in-class learning; (2) Involve three generations (school-age children, college-age students, and elders) in meaningful interactions in a rural community setting; and (3) Enhance the University's interdisciplinary aging studies certificate program.

Specific objectives are that: (1) Students will interact with elders in rural nursing home and congregate meal community settings and help elders plan and implement interactive group activities with children by means of a puppetry program; (2) Elders will help students learn about rural underserved communities through dyad and group activities, friendly visiting, reminiscence, and oral histories; and (3) Project staff will disseminate information about the project through University colloquia and seminars, newsletters, web site, listserv and statewide conference.

Jelier RW, Clarke RJ (1999). "The Community as a Laboratory of Study: Getting Out of the Ivory Tower." Journal of Public Affairs Education, v5, n2, p. 167-80.
A description of a Community Analysis course that gives students an opportunity to apply urban theory through direct community engagement is described. The author notes course objectives and organization (as a condensed special topic to allow travel, or within the regular semester). Benefits and risks of community experiential learning for students and instructors are identified. This approach has been applied in Cleveland, OH, Toronto, Canada, and Grand Rapids, MI.

Kaufman A (1990). "Rurally Based Education: Confronting Social Forces Underlying Ill Health." Acad Med 1990 65(12 Suppl), S18-21.
Traditional, urban hospital-based venues of medical education scarcely model for students appealing careers in the community. In addition, skills needed by physicians and other professionals to prevent communities' leading causes of premature death—injuries, cancer, cardiovascular disease, homicide and suicide—are typically not a component of medical education. These issues are especially severe in rural America. Rural training sites are ideal locations for students to confront the array of social, political, and economic forces underlying ill health in our society. If learning is to be suitable for rural practice, students must receive early and sustained exposure to rural communities and role models. To facilitate this educational redirection, medical schools must 1) sensitize their faculty and residents to community health needs via in-service training on related topics; 2) encourage faculty and residents to provide service and education outreach to rural communities and 3) promote rural health research. Finally, efforts should be made to develop university-community partnerships in which model rural training practices and "field" teaching faculty are established and nourished by the medical center.

Lapping MB (1999). "Universities, Service Learning and the Rural Context: Seeing Rural People and Places for What They Are." Small Town, 29; 5: 28-30.
Increasingly, colleges and universities are engaging in service learning. For service learning to be successful in rural communities, students and faculty must look beyond the stereotypes of rural life and see rural people and places for what they are. Rural stereotypes are discussed, and a "stay option" is identified as a common need that service learning can address.

Larson R, McCullough G (1996). "REAL Enterprises: 'A Chance to Build Something That's Your Own'."A Foxfire Journal for Teachers, 1(2),12-15.
The Rural Entrepreneurship through Action Learning (REAL) program is a network of teachers from 150 high schools, colleges and universities in 23 states and 2 foreign countries. The program uses experiential learning to link rural schools with rural development by drawing on schools' resources to revitalize the community, while using the community as a laboratory and learning place.

McKnight J and Kretzmann J. (2003). The Organization of Hope: A Workbook for Rural Asset-Based Community Development.
How do you build your rural community from the inside out? How do you find and mobilize the assets of your small town and rural area? The Organization of Hope tells inspiring stories of rural communities from across the countryside, and draws common rural themes ranging from income patching and individual skill development to community organizing and rural ethnic diversity. The Workbook covers points for getting started (or restarted); strategies for turning assets and hope into action and new relationships; and practical examples of appropriate projects and methods to consider for your rural community.

Oliver HT (1997). Taking Action in Rural Mississippi : Uniting Academic Studies and Community Service through Project D.R.E.A.M.S. Eric, Resources in Education, Eric No. ED406905.
This paper describes an innovative service-learning program developed at Rust College in Holly Springs, MS, a historically Black college in a rural area. Project D.R.E.A.M.S. (Developing Responsibility through Education, Affirmation, Mentoring and Service) involves college student volunteers serving as tutors and mentors to elementary school students in two local school districts. In the inaugural year, the primary function of the program was to market and define service learning, to identify and provide technical assistance to faculty and to assure academic integrity. The program then began to implement service learning across the curriculum and build service learning community partnerships.

Oliver R, Lake M (1996). "A Teaching Program in Rural Education: Learning Through Experiential Activities." Education in Rural Australia, v6 n2, p1-7.
A pre-service teacher education course dealing with rural education, based on contemporary learning theories and delivered through telematics at an Australian university is described. Students learned about teaching and learning via telematics and independent learning activities. Outcomes and findings demonstrate the project to be an efficient, effective alternative to conventional teaching.

Slack MK, Cummings DM, Borrego ME, Fuller K, Cook S (2002). "Strategies Used by Interdisciplinary Rural Health Training Programs to Assure Community Responsiveness and Recruit Practitioners." Journal of Interprof Care 16; 2: 129-38.
Strategies used by five US rural interdisciplinary training grant programs to respond to local needs and promote recruitment in rural communities are described. The programs provide health training to 17 health care disciplines and serve disadvantaged Hispanic, African-American, Amish, native American and Anglo populations. All programs use specific mechanisms to facilitate collaboration with residents and to link student activities with community or individual needs. Unique strategies include problem-based learning, educational support for students, and training experience in rural communities.