Civic Engagement Resources: International

This book focuses on conducting research on international service learning (ISL), which includes developing and evaluating hypotheses about ISL outcomes and measuring its impact on students, faculty, and communities. The book argues that rigorous research is essential to improving the quality of ISL's implementation and delivery, and providing the evidence that will lead to wider support and adoption by the academy, funders, and partners. The volume provides a pioneering analysis of and understanding of why and under what conditions ISL is an effective pedagogy.

This volume is the seventh in the Advances in Service-Learning Research series, and presents a collection of papers selected from those presented at the Sixth International Service-learning Research, hosted by Portland State University in Portland, Oregon in October 2006. Of key importance is the way in which the chapters selected for this volume reflect the evolution and maturation of research in the field of service-learning-moving from descriptive narratives of the passion for addressing social problems and inequities that was evident in much of the early research (and is still reflected today) to increasingly sophisticated research that draws on multiple methodologies, presents solid evidence, and offers the basis for replication and further exploration through future research.

Thirteenth in the Service-Learning in Disciplines series, this book provides a sound approach to the many conceptual and methodological changes that have taken place in the teaching of languages and cultures. By reviewing the accomplishments of Spanish teachers and what theory informs us, the editors have compiled a series of suggestions to help students and teachers "connect with communities in order to facilitate learning with each other rather than about each other".

This book on service-learning provides a current view of service-learning research in the second language classroom and practical applications for the acquisition of both cultural knowledge as well as the different language modalities. This book helps in understanding how using service-learning in the language classroom can facilitate language acquisition. The author addresses many of the challenges faced by teachers in the second language classroom as they try to implement service-learning programs in their curriculum.

Mobilizing their human and intellectual resources, institutions of higher education are directly tackling community problems - combating poverty, improving public health, and restoring environmental quality. This book documents and analyzes this exciting trend through studies of civic engagement and social responsibility at twenty institutions worldwide. This timely volume offers three special contributions to the literature on higher education policy and practice: a historical overview of the founding purposes of universities, which almost invariably included a context-specific element of social purpose, together with a survey of how these "founding" intentions have fared in different systems of higher education; a contemporary account of the policy and practice of universities - all over the world - seeking to re-engage with this social purpose; and an overview of generic issues which emerge for the "engaged university."