Review of the Evidence on Civic Learning in Higher Education

Posted by on March 17, 2014

A Brief Review of the Evidence on Civic Learning in Higher Education

SIX ESSENTIAL FINDINGS ON STUDENTS’ CIVIC LEARNING AND ENGAGEMENT:

– More than 70 percent of all college students report participating in some form of volunteering, community service, or service learning during their time in college. (Source: National Task Force on Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement. 2012. A Crucible Moment: College Learning & Democracy’s Future. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.)

– About one-half of college students report participating in credit-bearing service learning activities during their time in college. (Source: National Survey of Student Engagement. 2010. NSSE 2010 Grand Frequencies by Major, First-Year Students and Seniors. Bloomington, IN: Indiana University Center for Postsecondary Research; Data from the Higher Education Research Institute cited in O’Neill, Nancy. Forthcoming. Practices that Matter: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.)

– Dozens of studies show that service learning is positively associated with a variety of civic learning outcomes. (Source: Finley, Ashley. 2011. Civic Learning and Democratic Engagements: A Review of the Literature on Civic Engagement in Postsecondary Education. Unpublished paper. http://www.civiclearning.org/SupportDocs/LiteratureReview_CivicEngagement_Finley
July2011.pdf.)

– Emerging evidence suggests that the more frequently students participate in a continuum of civic learning practices (e.g. service learning, meaningful cross-racial interactions on campus or in classrooms, or real-world problem-based learning), the more they make gains on a variety of civic outcomes. (Sources: Blaich, C. and Wise, K. 2011. “Wabash National Study findings on Personal and Social Responsibility.” Unpublished data provided by the Wabash National Study of Liberal Arts Education; Bowen, Glenn. 2010. “Service-Learning in the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning: Effective Practices.” International Journal for the Scholarship of Teaching and Learning. 4(2): 1-15; Eyler, Janet S., Giles, Dwight E., Stenson, Christine M., Gray, Charlene J. 2001. At a Glance: What We Know about The Effects of Service-Learning on College Students, Faculty, Institutions and Communities, 1993-2000: Third Edition. Retrieved 10/12/10 from http://www.compact.org/wp content/uploads/resources/downloads/aag.pdf); Hurtado, Sylvia and DeAngelo, Linda. Forthcoming 2012. “Linking Diversity and Civic-Minded Practices with Student Outcomes: New Evidence from CIRP National Surveys.” Liberal Education. 98 (2).)

– Although over forty percent of all college students are enrolled at public two-year institutions, only about a quarter of these students report taking a course that included a service-learning experience. (Source: American Association of Community Colleges. 2011. “Fact Sheet”; Center for Community College Student Engagement [CCCSE]. 2011. “Key Findings: Active and Collaborative Learning.” Community College Survey of Student Engagement. Retrieved 11/9/11 from http://www.ccsse.org/survey/bench_active.cfm.)

– Despite a wealth of positive evidence related to service-learning experiences, findings on a range of civic measures and social responsibility outcomes compared over time suggest that students’ civic learning is neither robust nor pervasive. (Source: Finley, Ashley. 2012. Making Progress? What We Know About the Achievement of Liberal Education Outcomes. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.)

Read more at: http://www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/documents/CivicOutcomesBrief.pdf