Research on Assessing Student Learning

• This paper discusses the uses of reflection products as data sources to assess and improve both individual student learning and program-wide approaches to reflection. The authors argue that intentionally linking the assessment of student learning outcomes of service-learning with reflection allows each to inform and reinforce the other. 

• This book  is a resource for program evaluators and researchers who want to inform the practice of service learning. It advocates the use of multiple-item scales, presents the rationale for their use, and explains how readers can evaluate them for reliability and validity.

• The authors argue for a way of thinking about assessment that considers both process and outcome and in communication with all the stakeholders (the students, the community partners, the instructors, etc).  The paper additionally presents methods of assessing the social dimension of learning, such as interviews and focus groups, the analysis of journal assignments, and the observation of videotaped interactions.

• The authors bring theoretical perspectives from a wide variety of disciplines to critically review past research on service learning, describe assessment methods and instruments, develop future research agendas, and consider implications of theory-based research for enhanced practice. The chapters on research related to students focus on cognitive processes, academic learning, civic learning, personal development, and intercultural competence. 

• This article reviews a selection of tools available for assessing service learning, including cognitive learning scales, written essays and protocols, and interviews, and emphasizes the role of service learning assessment in informing and transforming current assessment debates. 

• An academic book (excerpt linked here) that offers an in-depth look at assessment principles, methods, and strategies for evaluating student and community impact. The section on “Why Assess the Impact of Service-Learning on Students?” features questions to tease out the component skills and attitudes instructors might assess, drawing from decades of research on assessment and service-learning.

• This edited volume addresses the impact of service-learning courses on student civic outcomes. It focuses on research related to the potential for curricular service-learning to generate student civic outcomes and does so by reviewing previous studies, theoretical frameworks, and a variety of methods of inquiry. Of particular interest would be part three, in which the authors describe designs and methods that can be utilized to improve research on student civic outcomes in service-learning. 
• Review Essay here.

• This study presents a critical review of 55 studies of the impact of service-learning participation on students' diversity outcomes, identifying six diversity-related outcomes that emerge from these studies: tolerance of difference, stereotype confrontation, recognition of universality, knowledge about the served population, interactions across difference, and belief in the value of diversity. 

• This case study describes community-engaged learning initiatives in Cornell University’s Master of Public Health (MPH) Program. The new three course sequence described here was designed with community collaborators and focused on needs assessment, intervention planning, and monitoring and evaluation for improvement. The article describes a range of assessment strategies for assessing student competence development in their community-engaged courses, including collaboratively-produced assignments, community partner input, rubric-led evaluation, and student self-assessment through reflection journals, discussions, and a summative portfolio.

• The first four chapters of the book focus on theories of community engagement, which include key concepts and activities. This part of the book also includes “critical reflection activities” for the reader, some of which could also be useful for student journaling or group activities. The latter part of the book, which focuses on praxis, includes syllabi, activities, community partnership and learning outcomes, assessment, and examples of institutional-level changes that may foster transformative community engagement initiatives. It also offers a series of useful activities that may be aligned with each stage of a four-step model drawn from the work of Bryan Stevenson (founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the bestselling memoir Just Mercy) that describes how to engage in both individual and collective transformation of injustice. This section also includes excerpts from student reflections, so that readers can see how students understood and responded to the experiences.
• Review Essay here

• The paper describes the development and validation of a new instrument to measure the non-academic impact of education abroad, the Global Engagement Measurement Scale (GEMS).The GEMS is a 37-item instrument containing scales for four specific constructs: a) cultural engagement; b) ambiguity tolerance; c) knowledge of the host site; and d) diversity openness. The GEMS instrument is brief and easy to administer, publically available, and includes important constructs for assessing the impact of education abroad. Additionally, the GEMS could be used to assess campus internationalization efforts with domestic and international students.

• This paper outlines the Wesleyan Intercultural Competence Scale (WICS), which uses a situational judgment testing approach to measure the development of intercultural competence among study abroad participants. The study found that the WICS was capable of detecting changes in the development of intercultural competence over time in a way that none of the other validation measures were, and also found that the amount of time spent speaking the local language and the number of different situations experienced were strong predictors of the development of intercultural competence. 

• This qualitative study examines the goals and attitudes of student participants in an international service-learning program, finding that students describe the program as transformational and specifically articulate its impact on their career choices, perspective on American cultural values, norms, and beliefs, as well as their “sense of informed leadership.” The study also models program assessment with a section on how the program under examination might be improved.

• The purpose of this article is to present a draft conceptual framework of relevant theories that can inform the study of service-learning effects on students. This proposed conceptual framework draws from theories, theory-based models and frameworks, and theory-based research.

• This article describes how public engagement was incorporated into a research  university’s  current  Academic  Plan,  how the public engagement metrics were selected and adopted, and how those processes led to subsequent strategic planning.   

• This article describes a model of assessment developed at Portland State University that aims to measure the impact of service learning on students, faculty, the community and the institution. It describes quantitative and qualitative measures taken in order to determine the most effective and practical tools to measure service learning impact and to provide feedback for continuous improvement of practice.

• Review Essay here.
• This edited volume Research on Student Civic Outcomes in Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Methods focuses on the impact of service-learning courses on student civic outcomes. It focuses on research related to the potential for curricular service-learning to generate student civic outcomes and does so by reviewing previous studies, theoretical frameworks, and a variety of methods of inquiry. Of particular interest would be part three, in which the authors describe designs and methods that can be utilized to improve research on student civic outcomes in service-learning. 

• ​Review Essay here
• The first four chapters of the book focus on theories of community engagement, which include key concepts and activities. This part of the book also includes “critical reflection activities” for the reader, some of which could also be useful for student journaling or group activities. The latter part of the book, which focuses on praxis, includes syllabi, activities, community partnership and learning outcomes, assessment, and examples of institutional-level changes that may foster transformative community engagement initiatives. It also offers a series of useful activities that may be aligned with each stage of a four-step model drawn from the work of Bryan Stevenson (founder and Executive Director of the Equal Justice Initiative and author of the bestselling memoir Just Mercy) that describes how to engage in both individual and collective transformation of injustice. This section also includes excerpts from student reflections, so that readers can see how students understood and responded to the experiences.

Rhodes, T. (2010). Assessing outcomes and improving achievement: Tips and tools for using rubrics. Washington, DC: Association of American Colleges and Universities.

• Cross-campus VALUE Rubrics focusing on 16 undergraduate learning goals, including civic engagement, ethical reasoning, information literacy, and problem solving. The rubrics are intended for big picture evaluation, rather than for grading; AACU recommends “translating” them into local parlance for your course, department, or campus.

• The goal of this book is to engage with questions about the practice of service learning, institutional sustainability and how globalization is impacting service learning. Divided into three thematic parts, it covers institutional and administrative issues, service learning as a springboard for research; and presents new practices that address emerging challenges and changing student populations. Further chapters offer a new blueprint for funding to achieve sustainability; examples of international service learning from a European perspective; a case study and framework for using on-line formats to extend the reach of a program; raise the urgent issue of the experiences and contributions of underrepresented students; and present the rationale and processes for developing effective student-led evaluation of programs. 
• See table of contents here.