Courses of Study - William Jewell College

Courses of Study – Service Learning
Service Learning
Andrew L. Pratt, director
The Service Learning Program is a series of electives
open to all students designed to encourage students
to learn and develop through active involvement in
organized community service. Students participate
in experiential learning in the community to
enhance what is taught in the classroom. In each
course students encounter human needs, analyze
the conditions creating problematic situations, perform
actual service, and evaluate the service activity.
In addition, the service learning experiences
provide students with opportunities to use newly
acquired knowledge and skill in real life situations.
Students interested in discussing and better understanding
human needs and suffering through a
variety of service opportunities, programs, and
ministries are encouraged to take service learning
classes. Each class will emphasize serving, reading,
reflection, and writing.
Students may complete the Service Learning
Certificate Program by completing the three courses
listed below. (A student may substitute two general
education level II classes with a service learning
component for SVL 201.)
Information about the program may be obtained
from the Director.
101. Meeting Human Needs and Alleviating
Suffering. 2 cr. hrs. This course examines a variety
of human and social conditions that disrupt healthy,
joyful, meaningful, and satisfying lives. Various
community-based services will be explored to better
understand their strategies and impact on meeting
human needs. Special attention will be given to
career and volunteer opportunities in the non-profit
sector of society. Students will be involved in group
and individual community service during the semester.
This course will satisfy a number of American
Humanics competencies. No prerequisite.
201. Strategies and Resources for Meeting
Human Needs. 2 cr. hrs. A variety of strategies and
resources will be examined about helping people
who experience heightened need and injustice.
Special attention will be given to various perspectives
about service through the study of non-profit organizations
(Habitat for Humanity), individual service
models (Martin Luther King, Jr. and Dorothy Day),
and students’ individual strengths and resources.
Students will be involved in group and individual
community service during the semester. Prerequisite:
SVL 101 or permission of the instructor.
301. Service Learning Internship. 2 cr. hrs. This
internship allows students to become engaged in
community service pertaining to a social concern of
their own choice. Interns will work directly for a
minimum of 80 clock hours with a non-profit
agency or organization toward fulfilling defined
learning competencies. Internships may also include
certain overseas or domestic service learning trips.
Students need to make appropriate arrangements to
set up the internship the semester prior to beginning.
This course will emphasize reflecting, reading
and writing about the internship experience.
Prerequisite: SVL 101 and SVL 201; or permission
of the instructor.
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