Twenty-fifth International Conference on Learning

Abstract

The high-impact teaching practice of community service learning (CSL) can democratize professional development opportunities for learners. Innovative pedagogies of CSL can provide the transformative learning experiences necessary for college and university participants to experience the requisite perspective shift (Mezirow, 1990) from student to professional, greater enabling them for success in their field after graduation. Due to the necessity for many students to engage in survivor jobs (or at least in roles not related to their desired profession post-graduation) while studying at the post-secondary level, participation in co-operative education is not a realistic option to ameliorate the gaps between academic and professional training for all. This can disadvantage students as they proceed to graduation with primarily non-professional work experience and only academic training to pursue their chosen profession. Of particular concern are those students who may be marginalized in several ways, with family and socio-economic status being just two. Management education and business schools may be most at risk to produce graduates that are disproportionately academically trained, yet the occurrence of CSL in business schools lags among other disciplines. Using research gained over five semesters in a capstone strategic human resource management course, data will be shared which support the utility of CSL to foster professional development for all learners in this domain. Practical tools will be provided to build a business case to use the pedagogy of CSL in your business school, to design meaningful curricula and course experiences for students and community partners while employing CSL, and to expertly evaluate the success of your students based on course learning outcomes related to your discipline.