Integrating Interview Methodology to Analyze Inter-Institutional Comparisons of Service-Learning within the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification Framework.

Service-learning has a longstanding history in higher education in and includes three main tenets: academic learning, meaningful community service, and civic learning. The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching created an elective classification system called the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification for higher education institutions to demonstrate the depth and breadth of student learning and involvement through partnerships and engagement in the community. This study examines data from qualitative interviews key administrators from three different institutions to understand the institutionalization of service-learning at three different institution types – a Private Liberal Arts College, a Private Teaching University, and a Public Research University located in the same metropolitan area. Using comparative analysis, this study highlights emerging concepts to inform higher education institutions seeking to increase service-learning opportunities that benefit higher education practitioners as well as community leaders. Jarrad D. Plante & Thomas D. Cox Integrating Interview Methodology to Analyze Inter-Institutional Comparisons of Service-Learning . 66 Journal of Academic Administration in Higher Education 67 Spring 2016 (Volume 12 Issue 1) campuses are regarded as catalysts for community change, and college students remain crucial contributors of community engagement for their campuses (“History of Service-Learning in Higher Education,” n.d.). Butin (2012) states that the majority of faculty members believe that working in and with the community is an important component of the undergraduate educational experience. According to McGoldrick and Ziegert (2002), there are three key principles of academic service-learning: enhanced academic learning, relevant and meaningful service, as well as purposeful civic learning. Therefore, service-learning can be a conduit for community engagement (CE). Measuring student engagement, service-learning, and student experience are critical to understanding how institutions impact community engagement. Active participation in service-learning has been shown to increase grades/GPA (Astin et al., 2000) and retention rates (Hara, 2010b) while exposing students to real world experiences (Nicoterea et al., 2011), and provides opportunities to work with a diverse group of people (Cox, Murray, & Plante, 2014). For anything to become institutionalized, including service-learning activities, it goes through bureaucratization – an ideal for maximizing characteristics of rationality (Bolman & Deal, 2008). A designation capturing the characteristics, culture and approaches of service-learning, the Carnegie Community Engagement Classification (CCEC) is being institutionalized at participating higher learning institutions. The CCEC is the first-of-its-kind elective classification system distinguishes higher education institutions by their level of community engagement. Beginning in 2006, the Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching sought to recognize institutions that are committed to their communities, encouraging collaboration among institutions for a mutually beneficial exchange of knowledge and research. There were three categories of recognition for the classification in the initial application process of 2006. Curricular Engagement are schools that use teaching, learning and scholarship to connect faculty, students, and community partners to address needs in the community. This broadens students’ academic and civic learning and enriches institutional scholarship. Outreach and Partnerships are applied to community engagement – “Outreach” being the resource for the community to use and “Partnerships” referencing the collaborative interactions between institution and community for a common purpose, such as capacity building, research, and economic development. In both the 2006 and 2008 classifications, institutions were classified for either or both categories, Outreach and Partnerships. In the 2010 application and 2015 reclassification procedures, however, Carnegie combined the two categories. Data sought by the CCEC application can serve as a resource for institutions seeking to increase prestige and can also offer guidance to those seeking to institutionalize engagement, and enhance student experience. In 2006, 56 institutions received the community engagement classification and those institutions allowed their data to be used for research offered benchmarks of innovative activities and institutionalization of community engagement using the best practices of service-learning (Sandmann, Thornton, & Jaeger, 2009).