Service-Learning Contract

You can add a service-learning experience to any regular course by contracting with the instructor to do a service-learning assignment for that course. Contracting for service-learning allows you to gain experiential learning in a particular subject by applying what you’re learning to real world situations, while providing a service to the community at the same time. Some courses offer an optional or required service-learning assignment as part of the course work.

If your course does not offer service-learning, you can add a service-learning assignment to your course by developing a Service-Learning Contract with your instructor. The Service-Learning Contract will allow you to engage in a hands-on experience related to your course. It is not necessarily more work, but work of a different kind. After successful completion of the Service-Learning Contract, you will earn an “SL” designation for that course on your transcript. To do this, you need to:

  1. Approach the professor the first week or two of classes and ask if he/she would be willing to do a service-learning contract with you. (Remember that this involves extra work for the faculty member.)
  2. Meet with the Assistant Director of Service-Learning to go over the requirements and responsibilities for you and the faculty member. Obtain a Service-Learning Contract from the Service-Learning Office (Ferrante 262). 
  3. You and your professor together will determine the service, work and reflection for the Service-Learning Contract. Fill out the form with the instructor. Both you and your instructor must sign. Attach the description of the assignment to the contract and return to the Service-Learning Office (F262).  **Signed contract forms are due in the SL Office by the end of the fourth week of classes.** 
  4. Bring the completed form to the SL Office (F262). Copies will be made for you and your instructor. The original will remain on file in the SL Office.
  5. At the end of the semester, a Service-Learning Contract Completion Form will be sent to your instructor requiring them to indicate that you have satisfactorily completed the contract and noting the grade you received on the assignment and for the course. Remember, you must earn a “C-” or better on the SL Contract assignment in order to receive the SL designation for the course and it must be determined that the experience met the requirements to be a service-learning experience. It is your responsibility to complete the SL assignment within the timeframe outlined in order to receive the SL credit. 

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