Teachers: Online Courses Offer Graduate Credit for Service-Learning

Beginning Oct. 28, NYLC is offering new online courses designed to help K-12 educators improve  the quality of service-learning in their classrooms. Presented in partnership with Viterbo University, these courses offer graduate-level credit for designing high-quality service-learning experiences in the classroom.

“One of the most common criticisms of service-learning is that it emphasizes service at the expense of learning,” said Caryn Pernu, Program Director at NYLC’s Institute for Service and Learning.  “That’s why we have developed a method for infusing academic rigor into service-learning projects.”

Completing both of these courses qualifies educators  to apply for the NYLC Certificate of Excellent Practice in K-12 Service-Learning. The CEP, which involves an extended period of practice and study, recognizes educators who effectively implement the K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice.

Register now for one or both of these new courses:

Service-Learning Curriculum Design
Oct. 28, 2010 – Feb. 11, 2011
3 credits
Instructor: Stan Potts, Ph.D., and NYLC staff
After introducing the foundations of service-learning as an instructional method, this course guides teachers in writing high-quality service-learning curriculum that engages young people in solving a pressing community problem. Using the backward design curriculum planning method from Grant Wiggins and Jay McTighe’s Understanding by Design (ASCD, 2005), teachers develop a service-learning project based on their existing classroom objectives or state content standards. By the end of the course, teachers will have written a complete unit for a service-learning project.

The Self-Assessment Process for Service-Learning Projects
Feb. 21, 2011-March 28, 2011
1 credit
This course walks participants through a service-learning self-assessment process using the eight K-12 Service-Learning Standards for Quality Practice as benchmarks. Learn how to evaluate service-learning projects against the service-learning quality standards to improve classroom practice. The course also guides participants through a process that supports the development of a service-learning portfolio that can be used as part of the application for the Certificate of Excellent Practice in K-12 Service-Learning.

To register for these graduate-level courses:
1. Download and fill out the NYLC payment form.
2. Download and fill out the Viterbo registration form. In Part Two of the form, leave blank the course and section numbers.
3. Mail both forms with payment to:

National Youth Leadership Council

Attention: Finance
1667 Snelling Ave. N., Suite D300
St. Paul, MN 55108

Or fax to: (651) 631-2955

Payment form and payment must be received by the first day of the class.

For more information on registration and payment, contact NYLC’s finance department at (651) 631-3672.