Understanding Service-Learning and Community Engagement

A volume in Advances in Service-Learning ResearchSeries Editor IARSLCEThere is an increasing proliferation of service-learning courses in colleges and universities in theU.S. and internationally and research in the field has seen significant growth in diverse geographicareas in the past decade. Membership organizations now exist to convene scholars and practitionersacross the globe. Chapters in this volume are based on presentations given at the 2010 annual conferenceof the International Association for Research on Service Learning and Community Engagementheld in Indianapolis IN. The conference theme International Perspectives: CrossingBoundaries through Research was chosen to highlight ways in which research crosses all kinds of boundaries: disciplinary boundariescultural boundaries and national boundaries.Although service-learning is valued as an active learning strategy across the globe little is known about the ways that service-learningis similar or different in varied contexts. Understanding service-learning and community engagement from cross-cultural and crossdisciplinaryperspectives will improve both research and practice. Together these chapters represent the diversity complexity and creativityevident by scholars and practitioners in this field of study.