Service learning: Aligning university mission with design and construction

Service-learning is an educational tactic that attempts to balance community service for societal needs with a pragmatic, progressive educational experience.  Typically, service learning provides an opportunity for direct application of classroom knowledge bridging the divide between theory and practice.  Goals for service-learning projects often include increased understanding of curricular content, application of the discipline, and development of civic responsibility.  As engaged, active learning, most educational experts quantify service learning as a high impact educational practice (HIEPs), and as an applied discipline, construction management is uniquely poised to engage in such practice.  This paper analyses the most recent literature on service learning in the context of design and construction to identify the perceived benefits and challenges associated with service learning.  Based on this literature review’s findings, the paper maps service learning at seven universities within the U.S. that participate in a peer network of larger schools within construction management to determine how service-learning efforts connect with individual university strategic plans, construction unit strategic plans, and how service-learning practices are incorporated inside or outside the curriculum.  Results indicate that six of seven universities indicate service learning in the strategic plan of the university but only two of the seven universities indicate service learning in the program-level strategic plan. A gap appears to exist between the literature review, university strategic plans, and program strategic plans.  If alignment could be achieved, service-learning provides a path for construction management programs to meet community needs, provide meaningful HIEPs for students, and promote communication and collaboration with those outside the University setting.