Enhancing online courses with civic engagement through service learning

ABSTRACT During the past two years, faculty pivoted their face-to-face courses to an online platform in haste due to the pandemic, while others were fine-tuning their online offerings having already made the transition. Although each one was integrating curriculum either for the short term or in continuation for the foreseeable future, one teaching principle, Service-Learning (S-L), seems to have never been widely adapted to the online platform. According to the article, E-Service-Learning: The Evolution of Service-Learning to Engage a Growing Online Student Population, many institutions share concern that Service-Learning (S-L) is too challenging to adapt online; however, the authors acknowledge that since it produces greater benefits for all involved including students, faculty and community partners by increasing engagement and connecting to real-world applications, it should be incorporated. This paper will explore why Service-Learning (S-L) should be adapted to the online platform to expand student’s civic involvement as well as to better comprehend course content. It will also share examples of in-person service learning with suggested methods to transition particular projects to the online format.