Chapter 5: Co-Creating Service-Learning: The Importance of True Partnerships

Community engagement and service-learning are critical to the success of higher education (Fitzgerald, Bruns, Sonka, Furco, & Swanson, 2012). As efforts to enhance this work continues, designing systems to build partnerships with communities becomes central to the success of education. The purpose of this study was to understand the impact and potential outcomes of embedding course development time with community partners into a service-learning workshop, allowing both the faculty member and the community partner to co-create the service-learning project from the start of the process. Faculty at a 4-year, public, liberal arts university participated in a Service-Learning Institute that intentionally designed a day for the faculty and community partner to co-create the service-learning project. The pre–post survey data suggests there was an increase in both faculty’s beliefs and skills and their practices in service-learning pedagogy. In particular, their confidence in the partnerships formed seems high. This is supported by comments from both faculty and community partners after the SLI and after the service-learning project was implemented. This case study suggests that including the community partner in service-learning workshops can solidify partnerships, enhance the learning outcomes of the students, and better meet the needs of the community.