Chantal Levesque-Bristol

The Effectiveness of Service-Learning: It's Not Always what you Think

Service-learning is a teaching strategy that offers students opportunities to learn both in the classroom and in the wider world. This pedagogical tool provides students with chances to directly interact with local agencies and effect change in the community. Thus, service-learning holds the potential to broaden and significantly enhance the learning climate for students. Based on an established theoretical model of academic motivation, the present study examined the effectiveness of service-learning to enhance the learning climate across a variety of academic disciplines. More than 600 students registered in service-learning courses from more than 30 different disciplines took part in the study. Results showed that when service-learning contributes to an enhancement of the positivity of the learning climate, then positive forms of motivation, civic skills, problem solving, and appreciation of diversity significantly increased over the course of the semester. Results also showed that type of involvement, amount of in-class discussion, and reflections are important factors contributing to the effectiveness of the service-learning environment.

A Comparison of Student Attitudes, Statistical Reasoning, Performance, and Perceptions for Web-augmented Traditional, Fully Online, and Flipped Sections of a Statistical Literacy Class

Web-augmented traditional lecture, fully online, and flipped sections, all taught by the same instructor with the same course schedule, assignments, and exams in the same semester, were compared with regards to student attitudes; statistical reasoning; performance on common exams, homework, and projects; and perceptions of the course and instructor. The Survey of Attitudes Toward Statistics-36 (SATS-36) instrument and eight questions from the Statistical Reasoning Assessment (SRA) were given both at the beginning and end of the semester to measure change. The students selected their own sections, but the students in the sections were similar demographically, with similar pre-course college grade point averages. The SATS-36 showed increases in affect, cognitive competence, and perceived easiness and decreases in value, interest, and effort from beginning to end of the semester for all sections. Only affect and perceived easiness showed any differences for section, with traditional higher than online on average for both. Results from the SRA questions showed an increase in correct statistical reasoning skills and decrease in misconceptions for all sections over the semester. Traditional students scored higher on average on all three exams, but there were no significant differences between sections on homework, the project, or on university evaluations of the course or instructor. Results are contextualized with prior educational research on course modalities, and proposals for future research are provided.

Initial Validation of the Teacher/Coach Role Conflict Scale

The study of teacher/coach role conflict has a long history in the physical education literature. However, only a few studies have measured the construct using psychometric instrumentation. Ryan (2008) created one such instrument, but the survey was not validated prior to use. As such, the purpose of this investigation was to evaluate the factorial, convergent, and divergent validity of Ryan’s (2008) Teacher/Coach Role Conflict Scale. Participants included 194 teacher/coaches who taught a variety of academic subjects. Preliminary analyses indicated that there were no differences among participants with reference to gender, teaching affiliation, school context, or school level. Results from confirmatory factor analysis indicated that, after the specification of a correlated error, the hypothesized model was a good fit for the data, χ2(33) = 88.92, p < .001; CFI = .97; NNFI = .96; SRMR = .05; RMSEA = .09. Correlational analyses indicated that the instrument correlated positively with other measures of role stress and negatively with personal accomplishment, which supports convergent and divergent validity, respectively. Implications of the research as well as directions for future studies are discussed.

The Public Affairs Scale: Measuring the Public Good Mission of Higher Education

This article describes the development and construction of the Public Affairs Scale, specifically designed to assess student development in the three areas of the public affairs mission at Missouri State University. This development process involved shared governance, literature review, and other tools used to assess components related to public affairs. The article also explains the public affairs mission at Missouri State University, including definitions of themes and goals and select markers of that mission’s manifestation during the past 15 years. It provides a brief review of assessments used in universities to measure similar constructs, such as engagement and the public good. The Public Affairs Scale is shown to have feasibility (40 items), adequate to strong internal consistency, and construct validity. It appears sufficiently sensitive to capture differences between students and within students over time. The Public Affairs Scale has been used to assess the impact of a first-year service-learning initiative. Readers are encouraged to use it for further program evaluation and research.

Student Learning and Motivation in Physical Education

In a previous Advocacy in Action article, Richards and Wilson (2012) discussed quality physical education (PE) as a precursor to advocacy. It was argued that, before PE teachers can be effective advocates, they must first develop a high-quality PE program for which to advocate. This article extends the points made by Richards and Wilson by arguing that, in addition to being standards-based, a high-quality PE program should promote a student-centered learning environment.

Evaluating Civic Learning in Service-Learning Programs: Creation and Validation of the Public Affairs Scale–Short Survey (PAS-SS)

Abstract Community engagement and civic learning have become increasingly common components of higher education in the United States. Service-learning programs are one way to promote civic learning. Researchers and practitioners must evaluate the effectiveness of service learning by measuring the degree to which it results in meaningful student-level outcomes. The Public Affairs Scale has been developed as a valid and reliable measure of civic learning in the three domains of community engagement, cultural competence, and ethical leadership. However, the scale contains 40 items and can take a long time to administer. This study sought to create and validate a short version of the Public Affairs Scale. Using exploratory factory analysis, we identified a 15-item structure and then subjected it to confirmatory factor analysis. Results of confirmatory factor analysis supported the 15-item short scale version of the Public Affairs Scale. The short scale was found to correlate with similar measures of service-learning outcomes.

The Influence of Self-Efficacy and Self-Regulated Motivation on Civic Learning in Service Learning Courses.

Service learning can help students to engage in the community while applying lessons learned in their coursework. Using self-determination theory, we evaluated the relationship among self-efficacy, self-regulated motivation, and civic learning in service learning courses. Participants included 242 college students (122 females, 120 males) across 28 service learning courses at a large, research-intensive university in the American Midwest. A conceptual framework was developed and tested using structural equation modeling. Results indicate that self-efficacy for community service has a positive impact on civic learning directly and indirectly through self-regulated motivation. The direct effects in the model were stronger than the indirect effects.

Development of a Student Self-Reported Instrument to Assess Course Reform

This study examines the development and implementation of a survey-based instrument assessing the effectiveness of a course redesign initiative focused on student centeredness at a large midwestern university in the United States. Given the scope of the reform initiative under investigation in this study, researchers developed an instrument called the Classroom Experience Questionnaire (CEQ), which was administered to students enrolled in redesigned courses. Early findings demonstrate strong construct validity and internal reliability of the CEQ instrument as well as concurrent validity between the CEQ and observation data gathered in concert with self-report data. The authors conclude that in the absence of trained classroom observers, the developed student self-report protocol can serve as a useful tool for measuring the constructivist orientation of pedagogy and student-centered nature of the learning environment in a higher education setting.