Academic Service-Learning
Where the APU Cornerstones Connect
Christ, Scholarship, Community, and Service
Academic service-learning is a teaching and learning method that promotes student learning through active participation in meaningful community service experiences directly related to course content. Our approach focuses on:
- Connecting theory to practice
- Critical reflective thinking
- Personal and civic responsibility
- Faith integration
- Relationship to planned vocation
The three distinctives that characterize service-learning at APU are that it is:
- Academic: Intentional and clear connection to the course learning outcomes and purposeful critical reflection throughout;
- Reciprocal: Active partnerships between faculty, community partners, and students as mutual beneficiaries and coeducators;
- Making a Difference: Outcomes of the project are evidenced through impact on community as well as student learning, civic understanding, goals, and faith development and application.
Academic service-learning is the glue that connects knowledge with practice and people. Reading, reciting, and taking tests may evaluate knowledge, application, and integration, but academic service-learning expands those opportunities into situations with the practical problems of the workplace.Kathleen Tallman, PhD
Professor, Department of Biology and Chemistry
Best Colleges Ranking: Service-Learning
U.S. News & World Report published numerical rankings in eight of the research-based high-impact educational practices utilized by universities and colleges that lead to student success. APU was ranked No. 23 in service-learning among universities nationwide. Each year, approximately 65 percent of APU students participate in more than 180 service-learning courses across 24 undergraduate departments.
Carnegie Community Engagement Classification
The Carnegie Foundation selected APU as 1 of 119 institutions to receive the 2020
Community Engagement Classification. These 119 institutions join the 240 institutions
that earned the classification during the 2015 selection process, for a total of 359
campuses that are active holders of this important designation. This distinction recognizes
universities that demonstrate a high level of commitment to community service and
service-learning.