(Adapted from Calvin College Academic Service-Learning Office)

This checklist is designed to help you through the process of developing a successful service-learning project.

Before the Course Begins

• Contact the Service-Learning Coordinator for Keene State College, Angela Yang-Handy, to describe your plans and ask for assistance.
• Be in touch by phone or in person with the community organization with whom your students will be working. Be sure you know the mission of the organization and can articulate it for your students.
• Describe in writing your specific objectives for the service-learning component of your course. Include in your syllabus information about your goals for student learning as well as the goals/hopes the community groups are expressing for student involvement.
• Contact the person(s) who will be working most closely with your students and review your expectations and objectives for the service-learning experience.
• Send a copy of your syllabus to the organization.
• Inform community partners about the best way to communicate, if need be, during the semester.

Beginning of the Semester

• Plan how the students will be oriented to the site, the clients, and the requirements for the experience.
• Arrange an orientation for your students with the Service-Learning Coordinator
• Arrange for a classroom visit by the Service-Learning Coordinator to discuss student role, contracts, and reflective practice.
• Arrange for a classroom visit by the organization’s staff, contact person
• Explain to students the specific written assignments you expect from the service-learning component. These assignments should reflect the connection between your learning goals and the service experience. The assessment is on the learning, not the serving.

Mid-Semester

• If you have not had an on going contact with the agency, contact them now to make sure things are going well. You may want to visit the site when one of your students is service-learning there.
• Provide time for structured reflection in class periodically.

Near the End of the Semester:

• Arrange for a closure/reflection activity for your students, involving the agency and the Service-Learning Coordinator, Polly Chandler.
• Encourage students who wish to continue at this site to do so next semester.
• Encourage students to fill out the service-learning evaluation form found in the KSC Faculty toolkit and on Service-Learning Website (under construction).
• Write a letter of thanks to the organization for the role they played in the students’ learning.
• Fill out the faculty evaluation form, found on Service-Learning Website (under construction) in order to express what the service-learning office has been helpful with and how we could improve.

For Clarification or Assistance with checklist items
Please Contact Service-Learning Coordinator: Angela Yang-Handy
Phone: 603-358-2356
E-mail: ayanghandy@keene.edu
Office: Rhodes N109