Welcome to the John A. Logan Service Learning/Civic Engagement homepage.

Through this site you can access explanations of service learning/civic engagement, award winning examples of these practices, as well as, learn about how faculty and staff are currently employing these practices in classrooms and communities throughout southern Illinois. The page is still under construction. We hope you will help us in making it a site that will enrich service learning and civic engagement in the region. I'm looking forward to working with you.

Dr. Mary O'Hara

Service Learning

A definition of Service-Learning is a method under which students learn and develop through thoughtfully organized service that: is conducted in and meets the needs of a community and is coordinated with an institution of higher education, and with the community; helps foster civic responsibility; is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students enrolled; and includes structured time for students to reflect on the service experience. Service-Learning can also reflect a credit bearing, educational, experience in which students participate in an organized service activity that meets identified community needs and reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain further understanding of course content, a broader appreciation of the discipline, and an enhanced sense of civic responsibility.

Campus Compact, American Association for Higher Education (AAHE): Series on Service-Learning in the Disciplines (adapted from the National and Community Service Trust Act of 1993), Bringle, Robert, and Julie Hatcher, "Service-Learning Curriculum for Faculty," Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, Fall 1995..
Definitons can be found here

Civic Engagement

A definition of Civic Engagement is broadly defined as "those activities that reinvigorate the public purpose and civic mission of higher education and actionby individuals and institutions to create a society characterized by justice and dignity for all." Additionally Civic Engagement can also reflect " Individual and collective actions designed to identify and address issues of public concern. Civic engagment can take many forms, from individual volunteerism to organizational involvement to electoral participation. It can include efforts to directly address an issue, work with others in community to solve a problem or interact with the institutions of representative democracy."

Erin Bowley, The Minnesota Campus Civic Engagement Study. Minnesota Higher Education Services Office and Minnesota Campu Compact, 2003, and The Pew Charitable Trusts.
Definitons can be found here

Featured Example: K9 Project

At the beginning of Fall Semester 2005, the Jackson County Sheriff's Department K-9 Unit received an invitation to participate in a class project at John A. Logan College sponsored by Mr. Rick Ellett and the students of CRJ 115 (Police an Community). The goal of the class project was to raise money to help support the Jackson County Sheriff's Department and Williamson County Sheriff's Department K-9 Units by introducing the students to the public through a variety of fund raising endeavors.

The students had the opportunity to interact with multiple facets of community populations. They must interact and communicate with all ages, with those that supportive and those that are disgruntled with law enforcement, with business and civic organizations. The students will be viewed by the public as an extension of the police or law enforcement. Throughout the semester the students are required to document and discuss their experiences in a classroom setting. The K9 units are the student's bridge to the general public.

The deputies involved from Williamson County are: James Wright, and Chuck Broy.
The K-9 unit from Williamson County are: Tico and Quatro (Belgian Malinois).

The deputies involved from Jackson County are: Shauna Taylor, and Ken Lindsey.
The K-9 unit from Jackson County are: Hoyce and Major (Labrador Retrievers).

*photo-left to right = Brandon Chaplain, Brandon Burgrabe, Deputy Chuck Broy and Quatro, Kyle Dixon, Eric Heiple