A Grateful Recollecting: A Qualitative Study of the Long-Term Impact of Service-Learning on Graduates

Authors

Ann Fullerton, Portland State UniversityFollow
Vicki L. Reitenauer, Portland State UniversityFollow
Seanna Kerrigan, Portland State UniversityFollow

Published In

Journal for Higher Education Outreach and Engagement

Document Type

Article

Publication Date

2015

Subjects

Community-based learning, Service learning

Abstract

Service-learning practitioners design community engagement activities to affect students in powerful and even transformative ways. This qualitative study explores the long-term impacts (3-16 years after graduation) of participation in a senior-level service-learning course. Through interviews with 20 randomly selected participants, the researchers explored whether and in what ways graduates continued to experience impacts from the course, including those that have become interwoven with other life experiences or have catalyzed altered perspectives and/or actions. Graduates were first asked to identify their most significant learning experiences in college in order to gauge the relative importance, if any, of the service-learning course in their college education. Then graduates were asked to recall their experiences in the course and to share what impacts those experiences had at the time and in the intervening years. Findings are discussed through the lens of transformational learning processes and outcomes.

Description

This is an open access article.

Copyright © 2015 by the University of Georgia. All rights reserved

Persistent Identifier

http://archives.pdx.edu/ds/psu/21988

Citation Details

Fullerton, A., Reitenauer, V. L., & Kerrigan, S. M. (2015). A grateful recollecting: The long-term impacts of service learning on college graduates. Journal for Higher Education Outreach and Engagement, 19(2), 65-92.