The fourth credit option is currently a pilot project in the Anthropology Department and the Honors Program. Student obtains signatures of Professor and FEA and is then permitted to add one additional credit for the course. Many classes at the University have the potential to incorporate meaningful service learning . The fourth credit option requires students to apply what they are learning in the classroom in service to a community.
Service learning provides students the opportunity to put their classroom learning to work.
The number of students engaged in service learning nationally has doubled in the last two years . The fourth credit option is a way to gradually introduce service learning into the curriculum. The fourth credit option requires an instructor's consent. No individual faculty member , department or school would be required to undertake or support service learning. We anticipate that the rewards of service learning would quickly become apparent and that successes would lead to wider adoption.