Objectives and Prospects for Bringing Service-Learning into the Memory and Heritage Classroom

As a pedagogy, service-learning brings faculty, students, and community organizations together to achieve common goals. For faculty, service-learning creates a more synergetic learning environment and oftentimes reinforces material. Community organizations receive much-needed support and organizational assistance. This teaching method also gives students the opportunity to interact with their community while also reifying critical class concepts and improving comprehension of material. This essay outlines the pedagogical foundation of service-learning and discusses its use in the memory and heritage classroom. It first details a service-learning project coordinated with a local historical memorial group by covering both the objectives and outcomes of the project, including an assessment of how the project was received by both the students and heritage group. Second, it outlines plans for a future application of service-learning in the same course. This paper reinforces those studies that promote service-learning as an active, participatory, student-directed pedagogy that can have profound impacts on faculty, students, and the community alike.