UMass Boston
100 Morrissey Blvd.
Boston, MA 02125-3393
617-287-5000
Directions
For Faculty
OSLCO for Faculty
The Office of Service Learning and Community Outreach (OSLCO) serves as a resource to community partners, faculty, students, and staff to enhance civic participation and promote community-based learning opportunities.
Service-learning is a pedagogy in which students learn through active participation in service projects for their community as part of an academic course. Combining service with discussion and reflection, students connect real life experience to academic knowledge and theory. Research documents the positive effects of service learning on students’ growth academically, in understanding cultural differences and in terms of civic responsibility. Additionally, SL has been shown to improve retention, graduation rates and strengthen relationships between students and faculty.
We hope to continue strengthening our partnerships with community organizations while working with faculty members to extend learning opportunities for UMass students. We look forward to working with you and would be interested in learning of any experience you might have with service-learning and community outreach.
In addition to and as a supplement to service learning, our office supports exploration of a variety of pedagogical approaches that engage students as active participants in democratic institutions and as agents of social deliberation and change. We look forward to working with faculty who practice civic engagement in their teaching through community-based action research, critical pedagogy, civic participation, having students write about their learning in relation to current events or community issues, or any other method that encourages students to integrate academic knowledge in an active social context. We want to recognize these efforts, provide resources for practitioners of civic engagement and link people together through discussions and forums.
If you have any questions regarding our office or would like to benefit from the services and resources we provide, please contact Director Jain Ruvidich-Higgins at 617-287-7917 or j.ruvidich-higgins@umb.edu.
How the Office of Service-Learning and Community Outreach can help you implement a Service-Learning Class:
- With our familiarity with numerous Community-Based organizations and community partners, we can help you find appropriate settings for SL students where they can fulfill educational goals while helping meet community needs.
- Our library includes research and information on best practices in SL course design, numerous SL course syllabi from a wide range of disciplines, and research and up-to-date journal articles on SL from many perspectives.
- We can make presentations to your class about SL philosophy, logistics and reflection for students considering SL projects
- We can help link you with faculty peers at UMB or other institutions practicing SL in your field, discipline or topic.
- We can connect you with a plethora of resources available through Campus Compact, a national organization for Service-Learning and civic engagement with over 900 campuses as members including UMB.