How is their work related to service-learning?

We invite you to participate in the mural on the fundamental ideas

of the different academic currents from which service-learning is
nourished. We also invite you to add those that were not explicitly
mentioned in the materials. Read the contributions of your
colleagues so as not to repeat the same elements and thus reflect
the collaboration. 
Please, share your material/ comments on the mural:
About the authors: Which one/ones mentioned in the materials did
you find interesting/inspiring? Have you worked before with these
theories at your University/School/Organization? How?
About the concepts: Which concepts or ideas or enriched your
views in relation to Service-Learning? In what ways?
Your contribution: Which author/perspective/article/book that you
find has a connection to service-learning would you like to add from
your own background? Why?

1. Three key service-learning characteristics

In order to be able to develop a solidarity service-learning project,
it is necessary to take into account three key features: 
• its solidarity intentionality (these are actions of solidary
service destined to take care of real and felt needs with  a
community and not only for it)
• student protagonism ( actions are actively led by the students
from the planning to the evaluation instance)
• a pedagogical intentionality (actions are intentionally linked
with the curricular contents and the research).
We will now reflect on these three characteristics.

Are diagnostic activities performed?

Yes. This Service-Learning Project based on oral history Băișoara - Revive the nature related
traditions! Started by analizing the problems which have been at the base of the Băișoara community and
afterwards the team began organizing objectives in order to solve them.
As they declare"in this project
`We have decided what we wanted to change in Băisoara
•We focus one ecological and cultural promotion
•We got involved by using our strengths
•We have created 4 teams - Design, Research, Photography, Filming
•We have found the local and authentic opinion about the local issues
 •We have made a plan to raise awareness about these issues`

What procedures/instruments are used for diagnosis?

Interviews, questionnaire, local meetings.
How is the decision made as to which social activity will be carried out?
After gathering datas and listening to the local need, the SL team guided by the teacher for the
academic aim, simply formulated the 1. SERVICE aim: Contribute to raising awareness on the
traditional heritage and reviving the nature related traditions in Baisoara and Muntele Baisorii.
2. ACADEMIC aim: Learn about oral history & + Curricular objectives / contents in: Romanian
and English literacy, History, Geography, Civics, IT, Media Studies, Financial Education, Art &
Crafts
Who makes the final decision?
For a service learning projeect, not just one vector is important in the final decision maiking. They
had a team and the decision making responsability was devoted to Student leading team: Anamaria
Criste (team leader) Ioana Stoleru (organizer) Dorothea Vacar (editor) Carin Alexandra Bejenaru
(media guide and translator) Petra Ungvari (fundraising officer) Vlad Tighinean (marketing officer)
George Dan Chita (key data monitor).
Do organizations participate as recipients, collaborators, or co-protagonists of service activities?
All of the above. But more important is that they are partners and co-protagonists of service
activities.
Primăria Băișoara (townhall) • Școala “Ioan Luca” Băișoara (local shool) • Asociația Stațiunea
Muntele Băișorii (local ONG) • SC Eurogramin SRL • Round Square Organization
(guidance/ideals, partners) • CLAYSS (guidance) • Future Foundations (guidance) • Holy Innocents
Episcopal School, Atlanta, USA - “Roots & Branches” project (Round Square school looking for a
partner to share about traditions) • NOVA International Schools Skopje, Macedonia

Do projects respond to real needs felt by the community? *

Yes. And in this case they have discussed about the effects of their actions and thought about how to sustain and
develop them, and in the end as they declare, `We have seen the impact we've had through our actions`.

For this step, we have created diverse informative products promoting

Băișoara, such as brochures, bookmarks and this website
• We have made different parts of the promotional products, such as
the text, images, and drawings.
• We have taught local people some of our abilities, for auto-
development.
Are students/youth involved? Did they have a leading role? In which ways? Did they participate in
the in diagnosis and design of the project? in the selection of the problem to be addressed and the
decision on how to address it? in the planning and evaluation? In what way/s? Does the project
include different activities that consider their interests and abilities? Which? What school level(s)
are involved in social activities (kindergarten, primary, high school, higher education)? Which could
be added? *
Răspunsul d

Yes. Students are involved and they did have a leading role.
Anamaria Criste (team leader) Ioana Stoleru (organizer) Dorothea Vacar (editor) Carin Alexandra
Bejenaru (media guide and translator) Petra Ungvari (fundraising officer) Vlad Tighinean
(marketing officer) George Dan Chita (key data monitor).
They participated in the diagnosis and design of the project from the begining until the celebration
part, but always respecting their roles.
This service learning project had its solidarity intentionality, actions destined to take care
of real and felt needs with a community and not only for it.
Also it was student protagonism ( actions are actively led by the students from the planning
to the evaluation instance)
And from the report I could identify the pedagogical intentionality, and actions that are
intentionally linked with the curricular contents and the research.
The project also includes different activities that consider their interests and abilities like they have
stated: `We have created diverse informative products promoting Băișoara, such as brochures,
bookmarks and this website, we have made different parts of the promotional products, such as
the text, images, and drawings, we have taught local people some of our abilities, for auto-
development...`

What school level(s) are involved in social activities ? Primary school. At first it was introduced then
to the 4th graders and then I believe it had and horizontal community continuity.
Băișoara TC grade 4 and local school students , Sânnicoară TC grades 2&3 and local association
“Vatra Satului” , Suatu TC students & local school students , Mărișel TC students & local school
students .

Do different curricular areas participate in the project? Which ones? Is the approach to the problem
disciplinary or multidisciplinary? Are learning and service linked? In what way/s? Could other
courses/curricular linkages be established with the service practices? Which ones?Are goals set for
student learning? Do students develop solidarity activities by using the knowledge of these
curricular areas/classes/subjects? In what way/s? Are tools used to assess students' curricular
learning during projects? *

Yes, different curricular areas participate in the project. Romanian, History, Geography, Crafts,
English, Financial Education, IT & media studies, Romanian VIth grade.
The approach to the problem is multidisciplinary and the learning and service are closely linked
together. I will give you two examples.
Romanian discipline: Learning Objectives are Understand verbal and nonverbal messages Show
empathy Use new vocabulary Express ideas, reason, conclude for the following contents: Folkloric
content related to village life, events, traditions; Old language - vocabulary, riddles, rhymes
Describing persons Retelling stories and the Educational actions are write the dialogues Collect
elements of specific vocabulary and folk literature .

For History discipline, the Learning Objectives are Inquire about the history of a community,
Analyze aspects of social and cultural life, Compare aspect from past & present Show interest and
pride related to our roots, traditions and the Educational actions are: Interview our grandparents
about their childhood Participate to the traditional fair in Baisoara and interview the villagers about
traditions.

In the project description they covered 8 different school disciplines and linked all of service and
learning part.

Could other courses/curricular linkages be established with the service practices? Yes. My
suggestion would be Personal development and social science curricular areas.
Are goals set for student learning? Do students develop solidarity activities by using the knowledge
of these curricular areas/classes/subjects? In what way/s? Are tools used to assess students'
curricular learning during projects?
Yes they are. This Service-learning projct develops the educational competences from 8 different
educational disciplines , promotes social values, favors the analysis of reality, stimulates
participation in transformation projects, fosters adaptation to change and enables the
contextualization of learning. This moves students to shift attention from themselves toward other
people by coming closer to them, listening to them and empathizing with them. Emphasis on
sharing makes service capable of transforming reality and consciously reflecting on it. Not
something that happens naturally but something which is planned at school for the common good.
For each of those 8 discplines, tools are ment to assess students' curricular learning during projects
as they are mentioned in the description part, such as: Oral history Interview techniques Q&A,
survey, planning, organizing a shop, advertising, selling, customer care, promotions ,touristic
informational visual materials etc.

The stimulation of critical thinking is yet another point which is usually included in school curricula
but which is difficult to actually teach. But we can certainly teach it by reflecting together with our
students on questions beyond the project. Congratulation to the team from Transylvania College!
Unit 1. Contents
2. Service-learning "quadrants”

Service-learning "quadrants”
In getting to know the characteristics of service-learning pedagogy,
school and community members usually come to realize they have
already been involved in projects which contain, though not all,
some of the main features associated with service-learning. Several
institutions engage in activities involving specific service or
learning, which, far from getting in their way, give them great room
for improvement and a foothold where transitions can begin toward
a more global and effective application of service-learning in its
complete sense.
A helpful tool in understanding the starting point for each institution
and then plan a transition process is the service-learning
"quadrant”. This tool was originally developed by the "Service-
Learning Center 2000” at Stanford University and is useful to tell
the difference across educational/community projects carried out in
the community. 
The "quadrants" is a tool that is traditionally used to characterize
community experiences in two dimensions, that is, service or
learning. The vertical axis represents service quality, while the
horizontal axis shows the extent to which systematic learning or
curricular contents are incorporated into service activities. Lower or
higher service quality may respond to aspects such as time
allocated to the project or its potential in meeting the community
needs while learning quality is measured in terms of the actual
learning the project can deliberately render.
These two axes then outline four regions describing four different
types of educational experiences:
• 1. Fieldwork/Internships/Problem-based learning
(PBL)/ Research without social intentionality:
These activities are mostly student-learning-oriented and usually
regard the community's reality as an instrument.
The activity/project/experience/research is designed to primarily benefit the students. They engage in a
real situation, connect with the community but only as an object of study.  The emphasis is on
learning and the community/context is only instrumental.  They
may apply and develop knowledge and skills in real contexts, learn
about reality, and allow a deeper understanding but without any
intention to change such reality or establish permanent links with
the community or to develop solidarity bonds. 
• 2.  Unsystematic    Solidarity    Initiatives/   Volunteering: 

Occasional community-oriented and single-handed activities with

little or no integration of curricular contents whatsoever. They are
“unsystematic” as they are occasional activities promoted and
developed with little or no connection to educational contents. They
are motivated by a sense of altruism or philanthropy, the emphasis
is on addressing a need for a limited period of time and they are
designed to benefit a specific community rather than generating an
educational experience; therefore they are not planned at an
institutional level. Participation tends to be voluntary, and students’
levels of engagement and learning are not assessed, either formally
or informally. 
• 3. Extension/Institution-driven service and volunteer work: 
Service activities are a part of the institutional mission and target both the community social needs and
students' social skills and awareness. Service entails a deliberate decision to promote the value of
solidarity, social commitment and citizenship attitudes in the students. Although community service is an
effective strategy when it comes to values education, learning is not always incorporated in relation to the
service offered.  These activities tend to have great impact on students' personal development and growth,
although education contents are not planned in advance and service generally flows along with academic
training rather than together with it. Many of these experiences are vital in assisting underprivileged
communities, and they include food, health, and learning support activities. 

• 4. Service-learning: experiences, projects or programs

showing both high service quality and high learning
integration. These initiatives entail both effective service and
learning, and allow students, target community members and
the community as a whole to give and benefit from service at
the same time. 
Even if the quadrant boundaries may leave room for several gray
areas, in everyday practice, the general representation can be used
to guide transition processes toward systematic service-learning
from different staring points. ii  Not all service-learning projects
start off as such. More often than not, the linkage of learning and
service practices is the finishing line in an institutional process. The
notion of transition toward service-learning puts emphasis on how
important such processes are and how vital it is for each institution
to become aware of their strengths and starting point. Some
experiences start off as scientific projects with a certain potential
for community impact. Some others begin as social initiatives that
may allow integrating or further developing learning content. 
The main possible transition pathways are: 
From learning to service-learning: Apply curricular content to community service experiences.
From service to service-learning: Link service to curricular contents and research.
How to move from different quadrants to service-learning:
1.  From learning to service-learning: 
To qualify as service-learning, these experiences would include a solidarity objective and develop service
activities to that end.
learning activities with little or no social impact begin to reach out to the community and incorporate
service. To become service-learning, these initiatives will have to develop a clear service goal so that
learning content can both help and benefit from the context and meeting specific social needs. 
To be considered service-learning, these activities will have to:
Apply curricular content to community service experiences
Reshape existing classwork to a community activity, using community reality as a practice in context.
Design community activities related to educational objectives

1.  From learning to service-learning: 

To qualify as service-learning, these experiences would include a solidarity objective and develop service
activities to that end.
learning activities with little or no social impact begin to reach out to the community and incorporate
service. To become service-learning, these initiatives will have to develop a clear service goal so that
learning content can both help and benefit from the context and meeting specific social needs. 
To be considered service-learning, these activities will have to:
Apply curricular content to community service experiences
Reshape existing classwork to a community activity, using community reality as a practice in context.
Design community activities related to educational objectives
2. From service to service-learning: service activities with little or no educational added value become
increasingly linked to learning contents. 
To be considered service-learning, these activities will have to:
Link service to academic and research training: integrate curricular contents
Identify opportunities for field learning 
Identifying learning contents with social potential
Activities need to be maintained over time, systematized and include an assessment to check if objectives
were achieved. It is necessary that also include the target community members as co-participants.
3. From non-systematic service to institutional service-learning: 
To qualify as service-learning, these experiences would connect service to educational content, be
methodical and sustainable over time, define goals, assess achievements, and benefit youth/students and
the target communities equally.
projects targeting urgent social demands with little or no learning impact start to drift apart from
welfare/charity actions and become stronger in terms of community impact and learning content
integration.
4. From institutional service to service-learning: 
To qualify as service-learning, these experiences need to connect the service to academic learning,
systematize the community actions, define goals, assess achievements, determine levels of satisfaction and
impact, and benefit the students and the target communities equally.
service actions already in place deliberately incorporate formal education contents, systematize project
stages, assess goals and social impact achieved and include target community members as co-
participants.

Once service-learning features come to the surface, projects may be kept running as part of a school
department or youth organization. In other cases, long-running projects may give way to more complex
programs or institutionalization processes until service-learning becomes a distinctive way for the
institution to teach, learn and forge links with the community. Although the duration of these
institutionalization processes can vary, experience suggests that they require no less than 3 to 5 years of
consistent institutional management.  vi

After you choose one. place it in one of the quadrants and think
about the following questions: 
Why do you place it in that quadrant? 
What kind of actions should be suggested to you to make the
transition to SL? 

Unit 3
Make a list of organizations and organisms existing in your community, specialy those that could
address the problem you want to address. In case your institution has already
worked with one of them, indicate it and specify what type of joint work was
done. Make a diagram in which the relationships between your institution and
the community actors surveyed are plotted. You can take a photo and upload
in this forum, or use an online plotter like
this: https://www.lucidchart.com/pages/

https://www.lucidchart.com/invitations/accept/3eeb5a8e-18f4-4fcf-934e-1db3412e2530
With all the material that this first part of the course offers, we invite you to think
about an experience in which you have been involved and that is as close as
possible to service-learning and what should be done to transform it into a service-
learning project.
Please, do not forget the following items:
a) Name of the project or experience:
b) Curricular areas involved:
c) Project / experience summary:
d) Activities to be carried out to transform them into a service-learning practice (for
example, involving some curricular content, encouraging student participation,
working with and not only for the community). Take into account the main
characteristics of AYSS and try to identify which of them have not been addressed
and why, and how you could change them, please describe in detail the activities to
be developed and the calendar.
Please send your answer in a document .DOC or .PDF in no more than 2 pages (you
can add photos and testimonials if you have any).
ASCOR service learning project

Moving Mountains Training Center in partnership with the A ssociation of

Christian Orthodox students from Alba Iulia started in February 2020
until Alpril 2020 a strong collaboration for developing a Service learning project for the community
of Alba Iulia. At first we have organized together, personal development meeting at the Faculty of
Theology, which I have facilitated in order to understant the concept of Service learning and how
we can integrate it into the theological preocupation students had at that moment. Soon after starting
to build up the community needs analysis map, our work was somehow interupted by the COVID-
19 safety measures changes. We have adjusted immediatley and even though we could not meet in
groups anymore, and the needs analysis diagnose had changes, we have identified other specific
needs with the help of local parishes and a filantropic NGO. Soon, theological students were
involved in gathering funds for medical supplies for the local hospital of Alba Iulia, for food
packages for over 300 elder people, 75 children with disabilites and close to the Easter Holiday,
students were involved in sharing holy bread and wine (as a national orthodox tradition) for over
500 persons from local parishes. All of this activites were colsely monitorized by a group of 2
priests and 1 theological student leader. I have offered support and psychological fisrt aid every
time it was needed.
What should be done to transform it into a service-learning project?
The three key features of Service Learning project need to be achieved:
• its solidarity intentionality (actions of solidary service destined to take
care of real and felt needs with a community and not only for it) – for
example students to involve volunteers from the community in order in
increase their impact and even find out about new types of needs, not
just physiological ones, like counseling for lonely people, groups support
etc.
• student protagonism (actions actively led by the students from the
planning to the evaluation instance)
• a pedagogical intentionality (actions that are intentionally linked with the
curricular contents and the research, as you may see below)
Curricular contents (learning contents intentionally linked to social activity)
Service learning is a spiritual affair in which the lines between giver and receiver are
blurred. Service learning has not  attracted much attention in  the literature on
t h e o l o g i c a l e d u c a t i o n . a c t i v i t i e s w h i c h a re d e s i g n e d b o t h t o c o n t r i b u t e to t h e
m e e t ing of c o m m u n i t y or individual needs, and to aid in t h e d e v e l o p m e n t of the
knowledge and u n d e r s t a n d i n g of the service giver.
A d d i n g t h e c o n t e n t re l a t e d c u r r i c u l u m t o t h e k n o w l e d g e t o t h e s e r v i c e o f
c o s c i l a n e d s i s a v e r y i m p o r t a n t p a r t o f t h e t r a n s i t i o n t o w a rd s S e r v i c e -
Learning.

Curricula Learning Objectives/ Educational actions and activities

developed by students
Contents

Social Studies Discover the knowledge, Develop the competencies needed for
 skills, and competencies to
be active, informed
citizens who are able to
think critically, understand
and explain the
perspectives of others,
make judgments, and
communicate ideas
effectively.
To be critical and to seek
Theological change and reform.
Education Exercise the ability to
exp re s s t h e c o m m o n
s e n t i m e n t of h e
community
and t h e a b i l i t y to h e a r
a n d interpret the needs
of o t h e r s .
participation in a democratic society:
considering multiple perspectives,
respecting different values and points of
view, gathering and critically analyzing
information, making informed decisions, and
effectively communicating their views
Discover how to be o t h e r - o r i entated unless
we listen deeply, are deeply aware of others,
and are truly present to them.
Young people to learn and develop
through active participat i o n
in thoughtfully organised experiences

Financial Discover self-efficacy that they need Financial capability development

to adopt good money management
education practices for earning, spending, Budgeting: Use Money Wisely Financial Negotiations:
Communicate With Confidence with donors
saving, borrowing, and investing
develop an understanding of the interaction
between humans and the environment, the
impact of the physical environment on the
development of human societies and
cultures, and the impact of humans on the
environment — understanding these
interactions involves developing spatial
awareness about geophysical features and
human impacts

Health education, develop an understanding develop an understanding of the rights and

Pedagogy, of the interaction between responsibilities of citizenship and the
Psychology,
Dogmatics,
humans and the democratic system of government, including
pastoral theology, environment, the impact of how decisions are made at the individual,
pastoral the physical environment group, local, provincial, and national levels,
counseling and on the development of and how to get involved in the political
psychosocial human societies and process and express their opinions
assistance,
bioethics.
cultures, and the impact of effectively
humans on the
environment —
understanding these
interactions involves
developing spatial
awareness about
geophysical features and
human impacts
So in order to help Moving Mountains, ASCOR and the Alba Iulia community to transition from
non-systematic service to service-learning, from occasional to sustained service we need to focus on
giving value and academic support to student-led projcts and ideas that come as a result of their
implication in COVID-19 campaign. Another important aspect is using the institutional process, in
this case the Faculty of Theological Studies, for project continuity and sustainability. Also, the
teachers and priests offer support through explaining the academic content and Moving Mountains
training center can help establishing links with other community members, counseling and groups
support.