Book Review
Nina W. Brown
Harpine, E. D. (2024)
Service Learning in Higher Education.
Springer Nature: Switzerland
Dr. Harpine’s book presents the fundamentals of the process to incorporate service learning into academic courses. The ten chapters address the most pressing concepts that instructors can encounter after deciding to use service-learning components for a particular course and also provide valuable suggestions for responsible and ethical actions when creating and implementing such a course.
The book begins with a thorough discussion of the advantages and disadvantages fof using service learning, evidence that it is effective and useful for students’ learning and professional development. Chapters address how students learn, suggestions for implementation, directions for how to design and evaluate the effectiveness of service learning with helpful specific chapters addressing specific items to include on the syllabus, case examples, a process to select an appropriate service-learning project. teaching strategies. and a guide for the instructor as the leader of the project. Also presented are suggestions for motivating and inspiring students’ participation to increase their learning and preparing students for the community service learning project. Central to the presentation is the author’s academic learning project used as cases and examples.
The book guides the reader to understand the needs and process for a university course featuring service learning. The book is a very worthwhile addition to the body of knowledge and encouragement to incorporate service learning in a university course.