CHALLENGES IN INTRODUCING SERVICE-LEARNING: CAN INSTITUTIONAL RECOGNITION AND REWARDS PROMOTE INCLUSION OF SERVICE LEARNING PEDAGOGY IN HIGHER EDUCATION?

Faculty members employed at institutions of higher-learning in the United States are generally criticized for not actively engaging with the community they serve. This criticism does not take into consideration how many roles a faculty member plays including that of an educator, researcher, counselor, and adviser. These responsibilities are considered part of a faculty member’s “work load” based on each academic institution’s focus on teaching, research and service activities. Each institution’s focus may vary, and based on their requirements, greater emphasis may be placed on teaching or research while service activities receive a lower priority. Given these differing priorities, the tenure and promotion guidelines at each institution can vary, and a faculty member can be evaluated differently based on their teaching, research and service loads. Thus promotion of “engaged pedagogy” becomes difficult. How can organizations like Kansas Campus Compact assist these institutions in bridging this gap? Can an investigation of promotion, recognition and tenure strategies and structures identify strategies to promote service-learning pedagogy within the higher academic community?

The purpose of this paper is to share the outcomes of a research project conducted by Kansas Campus Compact (KSCC) Faculty Fellows located at four higher education institutions in Kansas to understand how the “scholarship of engagement” (Boyer, 1996) is viewed and rewarded within the academic institutions in Kansas. These KSCC Engaged Fellows adopted qualitative and quantitative research methods for this research. They started their research by conducting literature reviews. Based on this findings, they developed a survey instrument that was then distributed online to Kansas Campus Compact (KCC) member and non-member institutions. The survey questions were posed to understand how service learning activities are promoted and supported at Kansas institutions of higher learning. The KSCC Faculty Fellows wanted to also understand if there is a clear understanding between faculty and administrators about how their institutions support promotion of service-learning, and if the faculty members are offered training about engaged pedagogy. The Fellows also wanted to know if faculty members are evaluated for tenure and promotion based on their service activities and inclusion of engaged pedagogy in their teaching. In this paper, authors discuss their survey results and implications for institutions wishing to enhance service-learning pedagogy among faculty.