Zarske, M. S., & Schnee, D. E., & Bielefeldt, A. R., & Reamon, D. T. (2013, June), The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses  Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia. 10.18260/1-2--22598

\bibitem{asee_peer_22598}
  Zarske, M. S., \& Schnee, D. E., \& Bielefeldt, A. R., \& Reamon, D. T. (2013, June), \emph{The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses}
  Paper presented at 2013 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia.
  10.18260/1-2--22598

Malinda S Zarske, Dana E Schnee, Angela R Bielefeldt, and Derek T Reamon.  "The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses".  2013 ASEE Annual Conference & Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013, June.  ASEE Conferences, 2013.  https://peer.asee.org/22598 Internet.  10 May, 2024

\bibitem{asee_peer_22598}
  Malinda S Zarske, Dana E Schnee, Angela R Bielefeldt, and Derek T Reamon.
  "The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses".
  \emph{2013 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition, Atlanta, Georgia, 2013, June}.
  ASEE Conferences, 2013.
  https://peer.asee.org/22598 Internet.  10 May, 2024

@INPROCEEDINGS{asee_peer_22598
author = "Malinda S Zarske, Dana E Schnee, Angela R Bielefeldt, and Derek T Reamon"
title = "The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses"
booktitle = "2013 ASEE Annual Conference \& Exposition"
year = "2013"
month = "June"
address = "Atlanta, Georgia"
publisher = "ASEE Conferences"
note = {https://peer.asee.org/22598}
number = {10.18260/1-2--22598}
}

TY  - CPAPER
AB  -                            The Enduring Impacts of Real Clients                        in Project-Based Service-Learning CoursesClient-based service-learning is increasingly prevalent in engineering education and is shown toimprove valuable technical and professional skills when properly executed. True service-learningavoids partnering students and community clients to provide services that do not meet anauthentic need in order to achieve desired student learning outcomes. Using this definition, themutually beneficial and direct interaction between the students and the client to solve a realproblem is indispensable for a service-learning experience. Conversely, other research suggeststhat working with a client is an unnecessary hassle; it is possible to create similar gains in bothstudents’ skills and attitudes toward community service as long as the project is representative ofan actual community issue.This paper examines to what extent the above claims are true and the impacts of directcommunity interaction on students’ attitudes and skills. To accomplish this, we analyze anestablished first-year engineering design course at a Large Public University, which reaches 42%of the first year engineering undergraduate student population per year and involves multipletypes of projects over each semester. Building upon previous research at this university, wedistinguish more rigorously between projects that involve a community client who is availablefor meetings and direct interaction, a theoretical or geographically distant client who does notinteract directly with students, and projects that are not client-centered. We compare students’professional and technical skills when in engaged in client-based projects to theoretical andnonexistent client projects. We also examine the endurance of gains in students’ practical skillsover time (1-2 years after the course) to determine if the skills gain in the service-learning groupremains elevated, in response to research that suggests student attitudes toward their technicalskills decline between first-year and capstone design projects. Using multiple methods informedby current education research, including examination of student attitude surveys and focusgroups with students, we provide support for the value that client-based service-learning projectsadd to overall student experiences. Specifically this paper addresses, “Do projects involvingdirect interaction with a community client have a greater and more enduring impact on students’skills and attitudes when compared to service-themed projects and projects lacking communitycollaboration?”
AU  - Malinda S Zarske
AU  - Dana E Schnee
AU  - Angela R Bielefeldt
AU  - Derek T Reamon
CY  - Atlanta, Georgia
DA  - 2013/06/23
PB  - ASEE Conferences
TI  - The Impacts of Real Clients in Project-Based Service-Learning Courses
UR  - https://peer.asee.org/22598
DO  - 10.18260/1-2--22598
ER  -