The impacts of mandatory service on students in service-learning classes

ABSTRACT

This naturalistic study examined differences in students’ motivations for elective versus required service-learning (SL) classes. Students in two successive academic years’ cohorts were surveyed by the SL center at a large Midwestern university. Analyses compared classes differing in requirements for community-based service. Students required to participate in community service as part of a class within a program required for admission to a university were less likely to: want to be involved in future community work; enroll in another SL class; and recommend their class, compared to other groups of students, including others from classes in which SL was required as part of the program in which students were enrolled. These findings suggest that students’ motivations to participate in community-engaged activities are not shaped simply by whether or not community engagement is required in SL classes, but also by other factors including how the engagement opportunity is contextualized.

KEYWORDS:

• Attitudes
• education
• prosocial behavior

Additional information

Notes on contributors

Carolyn Dienhart

Carolyn Dienhart is a Ph.D. student in the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota. Geoffrey Maruyama is a Professor and Chair of the Department of Educational Psychology, University of Minnesota. Mark Snyder is Professor of Psychology at the University of Minnesota, where he holds the McKnight Presidential Chair in Psychology and is the Director of the multi-disciplinary Center for the Study of the Individual and Society. His research interests include the motivational foundations of individual and collective action, with emphases on the psychology of self and identity, social interaction and interpersonal behavior, and volunteerism and other forms of prosocial action. Andrew Furco is Associate Vice President of Public Engagement and Associate Professor in the Department of Organizational Leadership, Policy, and Development, University of Minnesota. Monica Siems McKay is a professional staff member in the Community Service-Learning Center, at the University of Minnesota. Laurel Hirt is Director, Community Service-Learning Center, at the University of Minnesota. Ronald Huesman, Jr. is Associate Director of the Office of Institutional Research, University of Minnesota.