Invitation to participate in a multi-campus study on student civic learning

Posted by IUPUI on January 5, 2015

Interested in assessing student civic learning through participation in co-curricular service?

IUPUI is looking for a representative sample of institutions who offer community service activities around the national Dr. Martin Luther King (MLK) Jr. holiday. The criteria for participation is included below. This is a multi-campus study that seeks to explore three things:

1. Assess student development of civic-mindedness as a result of participating in episodic service while controlling for prior experiences and motivations for volunteering.

2. Examine the relationship between civic-mindedness and future intentions to engage in philanthropic activities (i.e., volunteer, donate money).

3. Examine how program design contributes to student development of civic-mindedness.

The results of this study will contribute to best practices and explain how student participation in co-curricular service experiences influences student development of civic-mindedness. The multi-campus nature of the study will enable us examine if campus context makes a difference and if so, how.

The study requires two data collection processes. To answer the first research question, institutions will be asked to invite students who have participated in a service event to take an online survey that takes approximately 10-12min to complete. In addition, those responsible for designing the program are asked to complete a survey and provide additional information about the event (e.g., whether or not learning outcomes were created, level of community partner(s) involvement, connections between learning outcomes and the keynote, use and design of reflection).

We are seeking institutions that meet the following criteria:

1. Be able to designate a contact person for the study. This person should be able to do the following:

a. Correspond via email with Principle Investigators from IUPUI.

b. Be able to identify and contact all students who have participated in a service event via email inviting them to participate in the confidential and anonymous student survey.

c. Commit to completing an online survey regarding the program design. This can be done on their own or in collaboration with others who may have played a significant role in planning the event.

2. Offer a campus-wide service event that is open to all students that is related to the national MLK Jr. Day.

3. Administer the survey to the participants immediately after the service event takes place and no later than Friday, Jan. 23rd.

4. Campuses must offer an event that takes place over an extended time period during a single day where students spend a significant portion of time in a community setting. Campuses that offer multiple activities all related to the national holiday must be able to identify one event that meets this definition and only survey the students that participate in that event regardless of participation in other activities. Feel free to contact Kristin Norris ([email protected]) if you have questions or need further clarification.

a. Episodic service is defined by Macduff (2005) as ”temporary in that it is short in duration, usually for a few hours or for a day at most.”

IUPUI will be responsible for managing the data. However, institutions interested in their student’s responses will be sent the data for their campus in order to conduct further analysis. Findings will only be reported in the aggregate. Institutions will only be identified as having participated in the study unless you choose to not be identified. We will not provide institutional comparison of results, however we will share findings based upon institutional type.

This study has been approved by Indiana University’s Internal Review Board protocol number 1411856789. Please contact Tom Hahn ([email protected]) if you have questions related to IRB.

If interested in participating in this study, please email Kristin Norris ([email protected]) no later than January 12th.