9. Reducing the Boundaries Between the Community and the Academy With a Full-Time Service Learning Capstone

Abstract

The purpose of this paper is to share my experiences as the instructor of a full-time, single semester, service-learning capstone course. In this innovative course students already volunteering in the Students in Free Enterprise (SIFE) organization work in teams to identify community needs and address them using their business skills and knowledge and an entrepreneurial approach. The student teams are responsible for all phases of the work, from working with the community to identify needs through planning solutions to implementation and measurement. The students’ work is assessed through presentation, report, reflection and peer evaluation.