Mesa Community College






• AACC
• CCNCCE
• NYLC

Center for Service-Learning
Service-Learning

Welcome Agency Representatives!

Service-Learning is a teaching and learning method that connects meaningful community service experiences with academic learning, personal growth, and civic responsibility.  Service-Learning enhances what is taught by extending students’ learning beyond the classroom and providing opportunities for student to use newly acquired skills and knowledge in real life situations in their communities, locally, nationally, and globally.

The purpose of these programs is to provide students with educational opportunities in community service by placement in government agencies, educational entities, civic organizations or citizen advocacy groups. We maintian a database of over 200 agencies, which include such diverse locations as:

The Center also serves as coordinator of the campus Service-Learning programs by maintaining and developing partnerships between college, student, and community, and offers assistance to faculty in developing courses. There are two separate modules of service-learning offered at MCC:

Independent Module:

These have been offered to students since the fall of 1992. Approximately 50 students per semester enroll in these classes, representing an average of 6,000 volunteer hours to the community. Students can register for these internship-type courses for 1, 2, or 3 credits a semester. The courses are a blend of academic study and community service, under the supervision of a faculty member within the discipline. Core requirements include 50 volunteer contact hours per credit hour, a learning plan, a reflective journal, an analytical paper and attendance at three reflective sessions. Credit is given for the learning that is demonstrated through completion of the core requirements.

Current opportunities for these internship-type courses are available in the following disciplines: Accounting, Administration of Justice, Anthropology, Art, Biology, Business (includes Marketing, Business Law and Management), Business Personal Computing, Computer Information Systems, Communication, Counseling and Personal Development, Education, Engineering, English, Geology, History, Math, Music, Nursing, Physics, Political Science, Psychology, Reading, Recreation, Spanish, Sociology, Social Work, and Theater.

We provide an on-line orientation for students to inform them of these courses. Viewing it is a requirement for this class. These courses are also being marketed as an extra credit option for a regular class of the same discipline, plus several faculty are offering co-enrollment with any 282 course. (for example; English 102 & Sociology 101.)

In-course Module:

Integration of Service-Learning into existing courses allows students to participate in community service in lieu of a research paper, class presentation or exams. These courses have grown from none in 1993 to involvement by over forty faculty in the Spring 2002 semester. Volunteer hours given to the community via these options average approximately 33,000 hours per semester.

Requirements similar to those of the independent modules are adapted at the discretion of the faculty.

A sample of disciplines that utilize in-course modules are : Anthropology, Biology, Children's Literature, Communications, Economics, Education, English, Geology, Recreation, Sociology, Spanish, and World Politics.

Contact the Center for Service-Learning: email | phone: 480-461-7393 | fax: 480-461-7114

Maricopa Community Colleges