What is the Service Learning Endorsement?
Schoolcraft College’s Service Learning Endorsement is advantageous for students transferring to a university, pursuing a service profession, or interested in applying skills as they learn. Students can earn a Service Learning Endorsement by completing a minimum of 12 credit hours of service learning -designated course or Individual Service Option projects. Each course involves a minimum of 15 hours of community-focused content: understanding the social concerns being addressed, working on service and civic projects, and assessing student learning through reflection. Students can add the endorsement and the related skills to their resume, demonstrating their community work and dedication to future employers and transfer institutions.
Why Earn a Service Learning Endorsement?
Because you…
- Believe community engagements is an important responsibility
- Understand that hands-on activities and a sense of belonging enhances learning
- Realize real-world experience improves your resume
- Know engaging with community benefits emotional well-being
- Want to give back and make a difference in the world
How to Get Involved
There two ways to earn credit hours towards the Service Learning Endorsement:
Courses/sections designated as Service Learning/Civic Engagement
These courses contain faculty-guided projects that allow all students in the course to meet the requirements for service learning. The number of hours that go towards the Endorsement reflects the number of credit hours in the course.
Individual Service Options [ISOs}
Individual, student-led projects supervised by faculty where students connect service work in the community to academic objectives in a specific course. Again, the number of hours earned towards the Endorsement is the same as the credit hours for the course.
Inherent Courses
Courses listed below will always have a Service Learning component as part of the course curriculum.
Education-Early Childhood Education:
- ECE 180 Child and Family Welfare Services
- ECE 230 Classroom Behavior
Schoolcraft Scholars Honors Program:
- HUM 190 Individual Humanism
- ANTH 290 Individual & Community
Sociology:
- SOC 101 Intro to Social Work
- SOC 211 Sociology of Gender
Section-Specific Courses
Many teachers choose to add a Service Learning component to the curriculum of their class.
Independent Service Option (ISO)
If as a student your schedule or program doesn’t align with available courses or if you’d like to take your existing volunteer work one step further, you have the option to create an Individual Service Option (ISO). An ISO matches students with faculty to earn service earning credit hours in a course not designated as service learning. The student, faculty, and community partner work together to design a project exploring how class materials relate to meeting a real-world need through a project that benefits both the community and the student.
ISOs can be completed in any for-credit course at Schoolcraft College, with the agreement of the instructor and approval of the Coordinator for Service Learning & Civic Engagement.
Contact the Service Learning & Civic Engagement office in the Center for Experiential Learning for more information on taking the next steps to set up an ISO. You can find us in the Liberal Arts building, room 562.
If you are a faculty member interested in more information on Service Learning, please contact:
Jessica Worden
Service Learning Coordinator
[email protected]