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Show page 10 leSSOIlS, Fall/Winter 2002 Leading by Example: Leadership Development Through Service Learning BY KRISTOPHER MOORE PHOTOS BY JULIA THOMAS Leadership is a very important characteristic that each student must obtain to become a successful professional. There are many different segments in a student's college career that help cultivate leadership skills. U.S. News & World Report ranked the University of Utah the sixth best service-oriented institution in the nation. The U, along with the Lowell Bennion Community Service Center, is at the forefront of service-oriented education. Many students gain leadership qualities and experience from parents and professional friends that are willing to encourage student leadership roles. However, some students' leadership and guidance experiences are only found in the classroom, looking to the professor for the basic leadership qualities that are necessary for the working world. Marshall Welch, director of the Lowell Bennion Center, is a strong supporter of the Service Learning Program. "Higher education was intended to make people good leaders, not so much to prepare them for the work environment. It should help make all students better citizens," Welch said. The University of Utah has combined conventional education with community involvement, which will help Doris Watson, an assistant professor in the department of exercise and sport science, routinely applies service learning skills to her classes. cultivate leadership skills in students as well as professors. These leadership skills are incorporated into service learning classes that require community involvement. "Service learning fits under the umbrella of a new national movement that is gaining momentum, called 'civic engaged scholarship,'" Welch said, and the University of Utah is on the cutting edge of this movement. Service learning is a new teaching pedagogy that offers an alternative and effective way to reach out to students. It is a process of combining traditional lecture with outside classwork involving the community. Service learning projects can include a variety of activities with non-profit organizations or small, start-up companies. Service learning integrates teaching and learning. Students can directly apply teaching techniques and implement knowledge firsthand to their community projects. Service learning is a way for the students to go out into their communities and apply theories, skills and strategies that have a direct relationship to their education. Service learning classes are a tremendous learning tool that professors from any college can use to help foster student leadership capability. Service learning is not volunteerism, it is not an internship, nor is it an "add-on" for more work. Professors can infuse the service learning pedagogy into existing courses. "While the |
