4 THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR Fall 2007

Assisting with the ProcessThere are several ways in which a de-partment head may facilitate an inter-ested faculty member’s involvementwith service-learning activities. First,department heads can provide resourcematerials to their faculty in an effort tofamiliarize them with best practices forthis pedagogical approach. The follow-ing web sites contain a wealth of suchresources for faculty, including availableconferences and research outlets, andshould be circulated among them:

• Campus Compact: www.compact.org• Corporation for National and Com-

munity Service: www.cns.gov• International Partnership for Service-

Learning and Leadership: www.IPSL.org• National Service-Learning Clearing-

house: www.servicelearning.org• National Service-Learning Part-

nership: www.service-learningpartnership.org

• National Society for ExperientialEducation: www.nsee.org

In addition to providing informa-tion on available resources, departmentheads can suggest course objectivesgeared to this pedagogical approach, aswell as feasible projects relevant to thediscipline and sample syllabi provisionsoutlining such expectations.

Tables 1 and 2 present some poten-tial learning goals and assignments thatcan be shared and discussed with faculty.Often faculty members are willing to un-dertake a new direction if given a nudgethrough the provision of relevant con-crete examples and suggestions.

In addition, department heads canprovide assistance with the assessmentof such projects in achieving program-matic or course goals and objectives.Assessment can assist with programplanning, provide data about studentlearning so that improvements maybe made, and measure assurance oflearning goals. To document outcomesand effectiveness the department head,in cooperation with the faculty, candevelop assessment instruments for theinterested parties in a service-learning

Motivating Faculty to Engage in Service-Learning

by Debra Burke

Increasingly, a university’s missionreflects a commitment to creating a

community of scholarship dedicated toservice, research, and creative activitiesin which the benefits of its scholarshipextend to society. In recognizing therole and responsibility of universitiesas being a major public resource and aneeded partner for community devel-opment, administrators such as de-partment heads must work to ensurethat this articulated goal of productiveengagement becomes a reality. To thisend, department heads must enlightenan already burdened faculty as to whyservice-learning as a pedagogicalapproach is worthwhile, and encour-age them to pursue such projects.Each of the three functions of facultymembers—teaching, research, andservice—may be fulfilled throughservice-learning activities, and thatreality itself is the greatest hookfor gaining faculty support for theconcept.

Describing the Benefits to FacultyFirst, service-learning projects con-tribute to the service component of afaculty member’s responsibilities, par-ticularly given the acknowledgementof a university’s substantial role inbeing a valuable resource and con-tributing member of the local com-munity. Second, with respect toteaching, service-learning producespositive teaching and learning out-comes because students become moreinvolved in the class, participate morefully in class discussions, and developa better understanding of coursematerial. They also become moreaware of and interested in communityissues and, as a result, may becomemore connected, a factor that canenhance retention rates. Faculty who

advocate service-learning also reportthat it provides a way to test and im-plement knowledge from textbooks,creates better relationships with stu-dents because of the greater emphasison student-centered teaching, andrepresents a distinctive approach tolearning that may complement or evenreplace a traditional lecture approach.It also opens the door to provocativediscussions of current events, citizen-ship, and the application of knowl-edge. In sum, service-learning canenhance the teaching and learning ex-perience for both the faculty memberand the student, which will likely re-sult in superior teaching evaluations.

Third, service-learning presentsadditional research and publicationopportunities. There are a growingnumber of conferences and publicationsspecifically dedicated to pedagogical re-search on service-learning. In addition,discipline-based pedagogical publica-tions are an outlet for empirical, theo-retical, and applied articles onservice-learning as a pedagogicalapproach. Providing that the institu-tion recognizes all of the four domainsof scholarship delineated by Boyer—discovery, application, integration,and the scholarship of teaching andlearning—then pursuing these researchactivities should be acceptable. Further,if the mission of the university sup-ports both teaching and engagement,then the scholarship of teaching andlearning in conjunction with educa-tional opportunities focused on en-gagement with community partnersshould be recognized and rewarded.Case studies represent a final produc-tivity outlet for discipline-specificresearch studies conducted for commu-nity partners as part of the curricularexperience.

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THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR Fall 2007 5

project: students, faculty, and commu-nity partners. In order to encouragefaculty participation, the departmenthead should offer to coordinate the dis-tribution and collection of survey in-struments, as well as the tabulation ofthe results.

The department head should alsoexercise a leadership role in advocatingfor the recognition of service-learningprojects in the annual faculty evaluation,as well as in the tenure and promotionprocess. As long as the mission of theuniversity recognizes the value ofengagement activities and the scholarshipof teaching and learning, such advocacyis justified. Likewise, funds should beallocated to support this aspect of the

university’s civic and educational mis-sion. Department heads should providefinancial support for faculty members toattend conferences on service-learning toreceive training on methods of reflec-tion, integration, and assessment, aswell as ultimately to present research re-sults on their own service-learning ex-periences. To the extent possible,financial support should be providedfor the incidental expenses associatedwith the implementation of a service-learning project, such as funding fortransportation expenses and necessarysupplies.

It is also important for the depart-ment head to appreciate impedimentsto the implementation of a project and

to assist with overcoming potential bar-riers. For example, the department headcan act as a liaison with the university’slegal counsel to risk-manage the imple-mentation of a service-learning project.This task can be accomplished by eitherthe verification of sufficient insurancecoverage or by the execution of validliability waivers as provided by universityattorneys. Frequently, time constraintsimposed by traditional course schedul-ing can adversely impact the imple-mentation of a project. It is importantfor the department head to combine an appropriate mix of structure andflexibility to help the faculty memberorganize the project so as to handle theseconstraints.

Concluding ThoughtsThe most important way in whichdepartment heads can motivate facultymembers to engage in service-learningprojects is to lead by example. By incor-porating a service-learning componentinto one of their own courses, depart-ment heads communicate the impor-tance and validity of the endeavor.Executing a service-learning project forthe first time can be an intimidatingproposition. Therefore, a departmenthead should maintain open communi-cation with the faculty and provide aforum for the exchange of informationand ideas. The department head’s ownexperiences can contribute to thisdialogue. The department head shouldestablish a rapport with faculty thatfosters reciprocal cooperation charac-terized by mutual trust, which is toler-ant of less than perfect outcomes.A solid assessment program will lead toimprovements over time based on feed-back so that continuous improvement,not instant perfection, is the realisticgoal. Finally, it is critical for a depart-ment head to celebrate the achieve-ments of students, faculty, andcommunity partners in their service-learning endeavors. To this end, thedepartment head should publicize andpromote departmental service-learningprojects through the university’s public

Table 1. Sample Course Objectives for Service-Learning Projects

• Engage in active learning by applying principles to real problems

• Engage community in mutually beneficial knowledge-based relationship

• Promote skills and knowledge needed for leadership

• Research and address real-world problem

• Provide relevant field experience

• Enhance job skills and personal responsibility

• Connect substantive coursework to actual experiences

• Improve problem-solving skills

• Develop a habit of reflective self-evaluation

• Integrate research and practice

• Enhance reflective judgment practices

Table 2. Example Service-Learning Projects

• Maintain and monitor participation in a chat room in which students share their experi-ences and discuss issues

• Require students to make an individual or group presentation to the class or communitypartner that explains and examines their experience

• Have students provide a written report to the community partner and to the instructor

• Ask students to write a newspaper article explaining in brief their project and its goals,and then try to get it published

• Require students to write reflection papers in which they analyze the effectiveness of theirinvolvement and the application of the principles learned from the course

• Provide class time for group sharing and reflection on experiences/lessonslearned/epiphanies

• Require students to maintain a journal (or blog) in which they chronicle their experiencesand their reactions, as well as the reactions of other participants

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6 THE DEPARTMENT CHAIR Fall 2007

relations department. It is also impera-tive that the efforts of students, faculty,and community partners be recognizedand appreciated in a public manner.Department heads can provide certifi-cates or plaques and possibly host anawards banquet or ceremony to honorparticipants and celebrate their achieve-ments, the completion of a valuablemission, and the establishment of anew relationship. In sum, the depart-ment head can facilitate the successfulfulfillment of the tripartite job of fac-ulty members with respect to teaching,

research, and service, through the sup-port of a tripartite relationship betweenstudents, faculty, and communitypartners engaged in service-learningprojects. ▲

This article is based on a presentation atthe 24th annual Academic ChairpersonsConference, February 7–9, 2007, inOrlando, Florida.

Debra Burke is head of the Department of Marketingand Business Law at Western Carolina University.Email: burke@wcu.edu

DOI 10.1002/dch.20016

socialized into a system based onprivacy in teaching.

Second, teachers are accustomedto being nonjudgmental about theperformance of their peers. Whetherfrom professional courtesy, the realiza-tion that teaching is difficult, or the con-viction that there are many acceptableways to teach, colleagues generally refrainfrom making suggestions or offeringthemselves to others as sources of expert-ise in teaching. This norm lies behindskepticism about teaching awards andmerit increases, which often embarrassthose honored and are devalued asmeaningless by others. Linked to the pre-vious norm of privacy and coupled withthe natural human tendency to avoidbeing frank with others about their per-formance, the norm of egalitarianismrenders faculty members uncomfortablein situations involving making judg-ments about others’ teaching.

Practical ConsiderationsEffective peer review is too time

consuming and involves knowledgeand skills that faculty members don’thave. Given expanded expectations forfaculty productivity in recent decades,any idea that presents the possibility forconsuming more time is likely to get ahostile reception. Since most people (in-correctly) regard peer review of teach-ing as synonymous with classroomobservation, investing valuable time inscheduling peer visits and writing oner-ous reports does not seem like an attrac-tive or efficient activity—nor one thatwill be much appreciated. Peer review isthus seen as a time sink.

Most faculty members are also waryabout their own capacity to make goodjudgments about teaching, as well as theability of their colleagues to do so. Com-fortable with discipline-based knowl-edge and practices, they are less sure ofways of viewing and talking aboutteaching philosophy and performance.To some, teaching is an art or personaltrait that can’t be analyzed; to others,it is perfectly straightforward—oneknows good teaching when one sees it.

Why Introducing or Sustaining Peer Reviewof Teaching Is so Hard, and What You CanDo About It

by Nancy Van Note Chism

If you happen to meet a departmentchair who hasn’t had to handle a

complaint about student evaluation ofteaching, chances are that she or he has-n’t held the position very long. Whetherthey are pleased with their own ratingsor think of evaluation of teaching in-struments as the root of all evil, facultymembers sense that there is somethingmissing in a teaching evaluation systemthat relies on student opinion alone.They find that the information they re-ceive is not detailed enough to guidetheir improvement and protest (oftenin contradiction to research findings)that faculty influence these ratings in allsorts of ways, from “dumbing down”courses to inflating grades.

While scholars generally supportthe reliability of student evaluationof teaching when a good instru-ment is used and administered cor-rectly, they also advocate multiplesources of information on so complexan activity as teaching. Given this ad-vice and the widespread dissatisfactionwith student ratings, why is it so hardto maintain peer review of teaching asan alternative and complementary

system? Here are some reasons andsome thoughts on how to address thechallenges they pose.

NormsPeer review violates norms of pri-

vacy and egalitarianism in teaching.First, teaching has long been an activ-ity that is thought to be highly per-sonal. When anthropologists want totest for the existence of a norm, theysometimes use a technique called“breaching,” the deliberate violation ofa suspected norm, to gauge the reac-tion to the action. Translated into thecollege teaching context, try walkinginto a class and sitting down toobserve without asking the instructorin advance. It’s highly probable thatyou will be asked what you are doingin his or her classroom. Although LeeShulman and others at the CarnegieFoundation for the Advancement ofTeaching have called for teaching to be“community property,” a public activ-ity open to inspection and discussionon teaching approaches, the moveto this state of affairs is likely to be un-comfortable for those who have been

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