eService-Learning

<p>This book serves as an introduction to using online teaching technologies and hybrid forms of teaching for experiential learning and civic engagement. Service-learning has kept pace neither with the rapid growth in e-learning in all its forms nor with the reality that an increasing number of students are learning online without exposure to the benefits of this powerful pedagogy.Eservice-learning (electronic service-learning) combines service-learning and on-line learning and enables the delivery of the instruction and/or the service to occur partially or fully online. Eservice-learning allows students anywhere regardless of geography physical constraints work schedule or other access limitations to experience service-learning. It reciprocally also equips online learning with a powerful tool for engaging students.In eservice-learning the core components of service learning and reflection may take a different form due to the online medium—for example reflection often occurs through discussion board interactions journals wikis or blogs in an eservice-learning course. Moreover the service though still community-based creates a world of opportunities to connect students with communities across the globe—as well as at their very own doorstep.This book introduces the reader to the four emerging types of eservice-learning from Extreme EService-Learning (XE-SL) classes where 100% of the instruction and 100% of the service occur online to three distinct forms of hybrid where either the service or the instruction are delivered wholly on-line – with students for instance providing online products for far-away community partners – or in which both are delivered on-site and online. It considers the instructional potential of common mobile technologies – phones tablets and mobile reading devices. The authors also address potential limitations such as technology challenges difficulties sustaining three-way communication among the instructor community partner and students and added workload.The book includes research studies on effectiveness as well as examples of practice such drafting grants for a community partner an informational technology class building online communities for an autism group and an online education class providing virtual mentoring to at-risk students in New Orleans from across the country.</p>