Going Public: Civic and Community Engagement

From Passive Transfer of Knowledge to Active Engaged Learning: A Reflection and Commentary

51 From Passive Transfer of Knowledge to Active Engaged Learning: A Reflection and Commentary Cyrus Stewart and Karen McKnight Casey This chapter offers one professor’s personal reflection on almost 20 years of service learning methods and experience in the context of general education courses at Michigan State University, followed by a response regarding the future of civic engagement and service learning by the director of Michigan State University’s Center for Service-Learning and Civic Engagement. One Professor’s Reflection Cyrus Stewart The following provides my personal reflection on almost 20 years of service-learning experience in the context of general education courses I teach at Michigan State University. It is ironic that I have not done what I require my students to do, namely, keep a “critical incident journal” that I could now draw upon, because the moment for reflection is now. In the early years of my teaching experience, when students asked if there was any additional work that they could do to improve their grades, the only option that I found acceptable at that time was to tell them to dig deeper into some of the concepts, processes, and applications of the course content for an extra-credit paper. I was never satisfied with this option, for, in my experience, the papers that resulted often seemed to be very superficial and the time required to do them was taken away from studying, which resulted in lower grades. I became, therefore, quite unwilling to provide what I considered to be a dysfunctional option. That changed when the possibility of providing a service-learning experience became available. C Y R U S S T E W A R T A N D K A R E N M C K N I G H T C A S E Y 52 My background includes years of undergraduate instruction in psychology, graduate education in sociology, research involvement in practical social issues, clinical experience as a marriage and family counselor, and practice as a licensed clinical social worker, as well as being a member of Michigan State University’s social science general education faculty. These experiences primed me for the kind of experience that service learning offers. Regardless of one’s area of specialization, theoretical inclinations, or pedagogical style, students’ active participation in service-learning opportunities helps them acquire critical thinking skills, retain knowledge, and apply that knowledge in real-life situations. In order to retain and apply knowledge, students must develop strategies that enhance their personal connection to its meaning and relevance. Service Learning: Benefits to Community and Self Service learning has proven to be a great way to deal with the vague dissatisfaction with the experiential restrictions students face in a classroom environment. Just as my own horizons were opened dramatically by my active participation in the clinical treatment of individuals and families, my students have benefited from community-based engagement experiences. Over time, as I became aware of how academic concerns sometimes seem to have only questionable relevance to the world beyond the classroom, I became increasingly committed to providing students with illustrations of the direct application and usefulness of course materials to their everyday life. I moved away from providing instruction as a passive transfer of known information to the active exchange between learner and teacher and the pursuit of knowledge for the solution of contemporary social issues (Palmer, 1998; Tanner & Tanner, 1980). In applying one’s knowledge and experience in critical inquiry, the focus is on whether the information is of practical utility in the solution of problems. Such critical engagement in concrete practice develops an awareness of the applicability of knowledge. If we perceive and reflect with a discerning eye on what we do, the realistic consequences of our actions will guide future practice. I asked myself: “Could I integrate the problem-focused nature of my general education offerings with experiences external to the university such that personal reflection combined with social action could produce a caring self and a collaborative critical consciousness of social justice?” In other words, could I place my students in circumstances that they were not accustomed to and, thereby, enable them to experience both themselves and the “other” in the context of difference? (Rhoads, 1997). My answer to both of these questions was an unequivocal yes. It has, therefore, been my goal these many years to help ensure that, through universitycommunity integration, students are able to apply what they are learning in class to actual external situations. In being...