Integration of service learning into a freshman engineering course

Abstract

Service learning (SL) is a pedagogy that integrates community service into the academic experience. Studies have shown that service learning can positively impact student learning, provides a rich environment for students to learn the "soft" skills that are often difficult to teach in traditional classes, can increase retention in participants, and can broaden the view of engineering among the participants. Service-learning can greatly enhance the services of local community service organizations that lack the technical staffs and/or resources to take full advantage of current technology. The potential benefits of service learning have motivated the Department of Freshman Engineering at Purdue to begin implementing service learning into the first-year engineering courses. 143 students participated in an service-learning experience at Purdue University in the Fall semester of 2003. Student and community partner evaluations have shown initial success and in depth investigations are underway to characterize these experiences.