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Session 3206

Service Learning Opportunities for Architecture Students Elizabeth Petry, AIA Assistant Professor, University of Hartford Director of Education, Architecture Resource Center of Connecticut

The University of Hartford, along with other institutions throughout the United States, has been encouraging college students to take an active role in their communities. University initiatives in “service learning” projects provide tremendous opportunities for the college student, the community and the University.

WHAT IS SERVICE LEARNING?

Definitions of “service learning” vary greatly. At the core of any definition of service learning, however, are two essential components. First, students must be actively engaged in learning and secondly, students must provide a service to the community. Service learning combines academics, skills, citizenship and values. For many who participate, it provides experiences which help solidify the connections between the classroom and the “real world”. It is usually hands-on in application and often collaborative in approach.

University of Hartford architecture students are usually eager to serve. Architecture students see it as an opportunity to:

• put into practice what they are learning. • “give back” to the community. • network with other students and professionals. • prepare themselves for living in and supporting their communities.

Most students like the idea of community service, but not if it's required. For the University of Hartford architecture students service learning is strictly voluntary. The concept of service learning, however, is making national news through mandates. In 1997, Time Magazine reported, “Mandatory volunteerism, once the province of chichi private academies with a runaway sense of noblesse oblige, has become the latest reform found in public schools.” Maryland now has a statewide requirement. On the subject of “involuntary volunteers” where public schools are starting to require students to serve their communities, the question is, “Is that too much to ask?”

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Petry, E. (1998, June), Service Learning Opportunities For Architecture Students Paper presented at 1998 Annual Conference, Seattle, Washington. 10.18260/1-2--7399