Community Partners & Service-Learning
I have a Service-Learning Student… Now what?
Moving forward after students register with your organization
Once students enroll with a service-learning placement, it is their responsibility to reach out to your organization to introduce themselves, confirm their attendance at your orientation, and speak with you about scheduling a regular volunteer shift.
If you want to view students who are registered with your organization, log-in to EXPO. You will be able to view the students’ names and e-mail addresses of those registered with your organization by logging into EXPO.
Once you hear from your service-learning students, your next step is to have them attend an orientation at your organization. Orientations should occur during the second week of the academic quarter. The Carlson Center will communicate these dates to you as we approach each new quarter.
After your orientation is complete, your student is ready to begin their service-learning! Your service-learners should begin their regular service-learning schedule no later than the third week of the quarter, and they should commit 3-5 hours each week through the end of the quarter. Over the course of the quarter, students should complete between 20-40 hours.
The Carlson Center strives to facilitate relationships between UW students and members of community organizations. Once you are connected with your service-learning students, the service-learning relationship is primarily between you and your student. Be sure to keep open lines of communication with your service-learning student. Be sure they know whom they can talk to if they are having any problems. Take time to talk with them about their time at your site and how it has been enriching their in-class experience. Ask them to share with you how they are incorporating what they are learning at your site into their course work.
If you are having any problems working with your service-learning student throughout the quarter, feel free to get in touch with a member of the Carlson Center staff. We are happy to talk through issues you may be having, follow up with a student, or provide additional support. We also love to hear about successes community partners are having in their work with service-learners.
At the end of the quarter, the Carlson Center will contact you to complete an evaluation of your student’s work. The evaluation takes a few minutes and can be done by logging into EXPO. Please make every effort to complete the evaluation in a timely manner. Completed evaluations are made available to the Carlson Center and the student’s instructor. The course instructor will use this evaluation to determine whether a student has met their commitment to your organization over the course of the quarter.
