Defining a Service-Learning Pedagogy of Access and Success

Higher education faces a severe pedagogical and epistemological predicament. How do we redefine access as active participation that incorporates the visions and voices of all learners? How do we redefine success as responsive knowledge acquisition and utilization in building democratic bridges between individuals and groups? And, how do we create fully inclusive learning environments that facilitate community-centered critical consciousness? Campus Compact has responded with a novel and provocative answer: service-learning. The goal of service learning is development of critically and civically minded students who possess analytical problem solving abilities and self-identify as community change agents as a direct consequence of their community-based learning experience. The pedagogy of service learning is a promising revolution that has sparked an instructional evolution where access and success are equated with teaching and learning practices that effectively connect students with each other and with their communities as critically engaged learners. The challenge for colleges and universities over the next decade will be to identify, hone, and integrate its key components. So, what might be some markers of a service learning pedagogy of access and success? [author]