What Do Students Think About Service-learning in Required Engineering Courses?

Service-learning (S-L) has been integrated into an average of 30 engineering courses every year since 2004 in five undergraduate departments. Forty-three faculty members have tried S-L, over half the engineering faculty. In 2010-2011, 1267 students (out of an enrollment of 1600) engaged in S-L projects in 33 courses contributing an estimated 49,500 hours to the community. This approach to trying to develop better engineers and more engaged citizens was motivated by the growing body of research showing widespread benefits of S-L, the meeting of academic objectives through addressing real community needs in credit-bearing courses. But what do the students who are part of this program think about S-L? In this study surveys of student views were collected and analyzed. In general, the students are significantly positive in response to SL. For example, two-thirds agree in principle with combining service and academic coursework. On average they agree that learning and interest in subject matter as well as professional skills are all improved with S-L. Two-thirds agree that S-L has helped keep them in engineering. Forty percent of those who knew about the S-L program said it was one of the factors for their coming to the engineering school. Significant large differences were found comparing female and male responses, with females more positive toward S-L. Over 75% of students indicate that service should be an expected part of the engineering profession. The implication is that service should be an expected and integrated part of the engineering curriculum.