• News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Search
80 F
Salt Lake City
Monday, June 5, 2023
  • Newsletter Signup
  • Contests
  • About The Globe
    • Staff
    • Jobs
    • Issue PDFs
Sign in
Welcome! Log into your account
Forgot your password? Get help
Privacy Policy
Password recovery
Recover your password
A password will be e-mailed to you.
The Globe The Globe
The Globe The Globe
  • News
    • Campus
    • Local
    • World
  • Arts and Entertainment
    • Performing Arts
    • Visual Arts
    • Music
    • Film
    • Fashion
  • Lifestyle
    • Campus Happenings
    • Community Happenings
    • Food
    • Business
    • Travel
    • Calendar
  • Opinion
  • Sports
  • Video
    • Globe News
    • What’s Bruin
    • Bruin Lens
    • Film
    • Music
    • Globe Shorts
  • Radio
Home News Campus SLCC professor offers different perspective on service-learning courses
  • News
  • Campus

SLCC professor offers different perspective on service-learning courses

By
Jordan Bagley
-
March 11, 2015
0

Salt Lake Community College professor Liz Montague is teaching an English 2010 class this year full of skeptics. In fact, most of her students had no idea that they signed up for a service-learning English course.

“How often do we forget what we’ve learned at school,” Montague says. “When [service-learning] students look back, they’ll be able to say, ‘I made a difference in the community because of this.’”

The workload is more than your traditional English class, but the results are far more rewarding.

The first week of the course Montague asks her students to write down what they believe to be a life altering experience. Most of the students tend to write down a generic definition with halfhearted intentions. By the end of the course she comes back to these handwritten reflections, when the service is complete, and nearly all of her students reflect upon some sort of life-changing experience they encountered throughout the semester.

By integrating service in standard courses it gives students a hands-on experience to apply what they’ve been learning. Essays are no longer written without meaning, everything they write becomes more practical because they are engaged and involved in changing their community.

Montague also notes that although she teaches both service and non-service learning courses this semester, she believes that more students apply what they have learned in class when they are working together with a community partner.

Every now and again there’s a fault in the process, but Montague says that “although service learning still has its kinks, it’s come a long way than when we first started.”

She finds joy in giving the next generation of college graduates something to look back on. Not only does service learning engage students in the classroom, it also builds a stronger community outside of school, and that’s exactly what society needs in order for us to keep moving forward.

With the halfway point of the semester drawing near, Montague already sees the skeptic students’ viewpoints about service learning changing. More students come to class willing to learn and contribute ideas.

“Service learning gives scholars a chance to step out of their comfort zone and into the real world,” Montague says.

  • TAGS
  • community outreach
  • English 2010
  • Liz Montague
  • service learning
Jordan Bagley

RELATED ARTICLESMORE FROM AUTHOR

Flier reads "Anything helps! We need your support to help our homeless neighbors this winter!"

SLCC students raise money, awareness to help the homeless

ASB group photo

Alternative Breaks help students find a community

Community garden cleanup group photo

#SLCCServes the community

Dr. Lepper cleans up a garden bed

Thayne Center fosters community engagement

Kati Lewis

Majoring in English is majoring in empathy

The Globe
ABOUT US
About The Globe
Staff
Jobs
Issue PDFs
FOLLOW US
  • About The Globe
  • Staff
  • Contact Us
  • Jobs
© 2023 The Globe