Outcomes of Service-Learning in a Family Communication Course

This report discusses what students learn from a community-service project as part of a family communication course. The service-learning linked a student's course with community involvement as they helped persons by working in family-based agencies. Students kept a journal of their activities, attended reflection seminars with other volunteers to discuss and compare experiences, and wrote a paper analyzing their experiences using concepts taught in class. Students chose the service-learning project by a ratio of 3:1. A number of themes emerged from their journals. The themes were initial impressions of the agency, emotions and nonverbal affect, new realizations, knowledge about the agencies' functions, duties performed at the agencies, and derived outcomes as a result of doing the service-learning including positive changes in self-esteem.