The Drake University Office of Community Engaged Learning serves as a resource to students, faculty, staff, community partners and neighborhoods. Service-Learning is a significant pedagogy that can be used to fulfill Drake University’s mission to provide an exceptional learning environment that prepares students for meaningful personal lives, professional accomplishments, and responsible global citizenship. For the past twenty years, research has shown community engagement and service-learning opportunities foster one of the best experiential and collaborative-learning environments for students, faculty, staff, and the community. Community Engagement and Service-Learning are designed to link service to learning outcomes in order to deepen student’s development process. It goes beyond charitable work and “doing good”. It is a partnership, meeting a community need while building the knowledge and skill sets of students.
The goal of this blog is to share with readers resources that can aid them in their own communities, build skill sets both professionally and based on individual service projects, and provide insight into why community service matters and how it impacts social growth. This blog will be run by the office of Community Community Engaged Learning at Drake University and will be a reflection of the practices and mission of that office.
