Instrument Design Process
Eight essential elements of service learning emerged from the literature, student ratings and initial analysis.
The research team culled the literature on service learning and identified 15 key areas defined by the field such as reflection community need and linkages to learning outcomes. Survey items were developed for faculty and student surveys with the goal of statistically combining items into a smaller number of scales and determining which items were strongly related. Because no clear pattern emerged, the research team reviewed the survey items again and statistically tested whether item groupings represented distinct components of quality. Six components of quality were initially identified.
Student ratings were then used to develop internal consistencies for components that had two of more questions, determining the relationship between the items that belonged together. A reliability analysis was performed to determine multiple items for most categories outlined in the table below.
Service Learning Component
Reflections
| 5
| 0.94
|
Value Focus
| 4
| 0.92
|
Collaboration with Community
| 3
| 0.88
|
Addressing Community Need
| 3
| 0.83
|
Linked to Academic Content
| 2
| 0.83
|
Communication with Community
| 3
| 0.74
|
Service Learning Preparation
| 1
| N/A
|
Learning Objectives
| 1
| N/A
|
Future work would require researchers to develop more items in each category to increase the consistency of each element. See
Year 3 Report for more information.
Study Instruments
Faculty Pretest Survey
Faculty Pedagogy Survey
Faculty Course Log
Student Civic Engagement & STEM Career Attitudes Survey
Student Service Learning Survey