Service Learning Online: Preparing to Work in Global Societies with E-Service-Learning

Abstract

Using service learning as a form of experiential learning and application of learning objectives has matured to the extent that it has a demonstrated value. There is learning value for the student, and tangible and intangible values for the partnership agency or organization. Those organizations take and apply the work of academia beyond its walls. Online learning has resulted in the development of educational tools of technology to expand the scope of education to diverse and distributed learners beyond the walls of academia. As service learning continues into the millennium, it will apply the expanded scope available through technology tools and the online learning environment to a global context. This chapter describes the expansion of service learning into online learning, presenting two service learning projects that prepared distance learners to work in global and cultural contexts through the technological tools that have become available to distance learners. Moreover, the chapter identifies best practices for the integration of service learning and online learning technological tools available to the experiential learner. This new global learning context will address experiential learning objectives involving cultural awareness and globalization now relevant in the 21st century.