Service Learning Courses IU Indianapolis High-Impact Practice Taxonomy

Abstract

Service learning is identified as a high-impact practice: that is, a teaching and learning practice that shows “evidence of significant educational benefits for students who participate in them—including and especially those from demographic groups historically underserved by higher education” (AAC&U, 2023). The purpose of the IU Indianapolis Taxonomy for Service Learning Courses is to: 1. Support instructors by providing clear criteria for teaching high impact service learning courses. 2. Identify service learning course attributes, explore the relationship between the attributes and student outcomes, and provide assessment guidelines for the attributes. 3. Inform and advance a research agenda for service learning by identifying course attributes that may affect student outcomes, (e.g., civic learning, academic learning, personal growth), as well as outcomes for other stakeholders (e.g., faculty development, community impact, community partner collaboration and satisfaction). 4. Provide a tool to document evidence to support instructors’ promotion, tenure, and professional advancement. 5. Support institutional and multi-campus research on service learning courses with a common taxonomy. 6. Provide a framework and approach for other institutions to either adopt or adapt the taxonomy, depending upon how service learning is conceptualized within each institution’s mission and context.