Evaluating the impacts of community service on student learning outcomes

Abstract

Project-based service learning (PBSL) is an innovative approach to education that is being increasingly adopted by many engineering programs. Yet while PBSL itself is becoming more prevalent, the body of research behind service learning is lacking in some areas. Previous research has identified a wide range of positive outcomes that have been attributed to service learning including increased social responsibility, teamwork skills, communication skills, critical thinking skills, understanding of societal context, and many more. However, this research is composed primarily of self-reported evaluation studies of specific programs and anecdotal descriptions which limit the ability to fully evaluate service learning impacts. While these methods have provided valuable information, there is a need for quantitative research that defines the relationship between PBSL experiences and student outcomes. Previous research has identified the need for standardized instruments to accomplish this. Furthermore, multi-institutional research has been recognized as a valuable way to investigate and analyze the impact of PBSL on students. The Engineering Projects in Community Service (EPICS) program is a service learning program that integrates engineering design with the needs of the local community through a multidisciplinary, vertically-integrated curricular structure. The studies presented in this report include assessment of the EPICS programs at two universities, Purdue University and the South Dakota School of Mines and Technology (SD Mines). The assessments evaluate 1) the impacts on critical thinking skills as measured by the Critical Thinking Assessment Test (CAT); 2) the impacts on intercultural competence as measured by the Intercultural Development Inventory (IDI); and 3) the impacts on student perceptions and attitudes as measured by focus groups. To examine the impact, the results of students who are enrolled in the EPICS courses were compared to matched samples of students in other courses to determine whether the results can be attributed to service learning. The intent of this paper is to describe the process by which the student outcomes were evaluated, present results, and to discuss how this knowledge can be used in both the improvement of existing programs and development of new service-learning programs. The results of the study indicate that while, statistically, students' IDI scores showed no increase from first year to final year in an engineering program, when engaged in the EPICS service learning program, students' IDI scores increased (at an alpha of 0.05) with participation in service learning. Further, while students' CAT scores were statistically higher (alpha 0.05) as freshman than as seniors, their critical thinking skills, as measured by CAT, were statistically higher as exiting seniors after participation in EPICS. Overall, these indicators of student learning outcomes indicate a high potential for improvement with participation in service learning, as opposed to without.