Abstract

Providing a structured opportunity for reflection strengthens the work-study experience for college students. The Community in Action program at the University YMCA at the University of Minnesota is a work-study program that is set up in an action/reflection model with eight hours of work at the community site and two hours a week in a seminar. The weekly seminars provide a forum for reflection, training, and collective student learning. Excerpted from Lessons Learned from the Development of Community Service Work-Study Programs by the Minnesota and Massachusetts Campus Compacts.

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Issue

College students sometimes think of work-study as merely a job. Taking structured time to examine the work-study experience encourages students to think about the work they are doing in terms of starting a career, being an active member of the community, or seeking solutions to community problems. Weekly seminars for reflection and collective learning make the work placement experience more meaningful. Students share what they are experiencing, feeling, and learning from their experiences using basic group work techniques.

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Action

The seminars have three purposes: 1) to provide training for students on topics such as diversity, ethics, citizenship, community issues, and communication; 2) to learn from the experiences of other students, and 3) to reflect on the experiences the students have in the community and to reflect on the impact this experience has on them personally. Promising practices from this program include:

• Seminar training activities are held in a forum setting where students dialogue in small and large groups and react to the material. Supervisors from the placement sites are often used as resources for seminar topics and as guest speakers to address a community issue in depth.
• Collective student learning provides a way for students to learn about other agencies. Instead of learning about just one agency, focused on one type of work, in one community, students get to hear about a variety of types of work, with different populations, and in different areas of the city. At the beginning of the year, students describe their sites and the work they are doing. Each week, students briefly share the best and worst of their week in their work placement and in their personal lives.
• Reflecting on the community work-study experience includes discussing the impact of their work on others and on themselves. Supervisors may share a reading or quote on service, community, or personal growth. Supervisors have individual meetings with students to talk about how their work is going and reflect in a private setting. Two reflection topics addressed throughout the year are the concepts of personal mission and lifework.

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Context

The Community in Action program at the University YMCA at the University of Minnesota is a work-study program that is set up in an action/reflection model with eight hours of work at the community site and two hours a week in a seminar. Community in Action has 20 student work-study positions with community agencies.

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Citation

Salls, Deb. "Reflection and collective learning: Community work-study programs" in Lessons Learned from the Development of Community Service Work-Study Programs. Minneapolis, MN: Minnesota Campus Compact, 2000.

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Outcome

• Students have provided positive feedback and evaluations on the weekly seminars.
• Community in Action supervisors feel the weekly seminars provide a unique way for students to explore the community service aspect of the work-study experience.
• Community in Action supervisors feel the seminar's purposes of reflection, training, and collective student learning are integral to the learning and impact of the work-study program.

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Posted On

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For More Information

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Resources

Copies of the booklet, Lessons Learned from the Development of Community Service Work-Study Programs (#25H-425), are available by contacting Minnesota Campus Compact.

From The Resource Center library:
Lessons Learned from the Development of Community Service Work-Study Programs
Item number: M1965

Related Practices

• Structuring reflection in service-learning programs for work-study students

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Related sites

U.S. Department of Education work-study website

Learn and Serve America

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