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Local Political Involvement and Service Learning
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Local Political Involvement and Service Learning
David P. Redlawsk
Department of Political Science
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
## email not listed ##
Nora Wilson
Department of Political Science
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
## email not listed ##
January 22, 2006
We discuss our experience with a Local Politics class containing a service learning component. Taught during city council elections, students must work either on a council campaign or with an organization attempting to influence local politics, completing at least 35 hours of work. Students keep a journal of their experiences, including responses to four reflection prompts during the semester. Two class days are set aside for in-class discussion about the project. Local candidates and organizations were invited to a “job fair” during one class where students could sign up with one. We limited the number of students who could sign up for any one organization.
We address key questions that arise from this project. First, is this “service” learning, or something else, and does it matter? The “organizations” are ephemeral, mostly focused on getting a candidate elected or an issue passed. Do students working in such environments provide a “service” to the community? Second, what are the challenges of structuring such a project within the political environment? And, third, given the competitive nature of political campaigns, what are ways to structure in-class discussion? Obviously students cannot publicly discuss campaign secrets and strategy. So how do we connect what they are doing out of class with what we are doing in class? While answers to these questions are tentative at best, in this paper we document our experience and connect it to a set of goals for service learning.
Paper presented at the Teaching and Learning Conference of the American Political
Science Association, Washington, DC, February 18-20, 2006.
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| | Authors: Redlawsk, David. and Wilson, Nora. |
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Local Political Involvement and Service Learning
David P. Redlawsk
Department of Political Science
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
## email not listed ##
Nora Wilson
Department of Political Science
University of Iowa
Iowa City, IA 52242
## email not listed ##
January 22, 2006
We discuss our experience with a Local Politics class containing a service learning component. Taught
during city council elections, students must work either on a council campaign or with an organization
attempting to influence local politics, completing at least 35 hours of work. Students keep a journal of
their experiences, including responses to four reflection prompts during the semester. Two class days
are set aside for in-class discussion about the project. Local candidates and organizations were invited
to a “job fair” during one class where students could sign up with one. We limited the number of
students who could sign up for any one organization.
We address key questions that arise from this project. First, is this “service” learning, or something
else, and does it matter? The “organizations” are ephemeral, mostly focused on getting a candidate
elected or an issue passed. Do students working in such environments provide a “service” to the
community? Second, what are the challenges of structuring such a project within the political
environment? And, third, given the competitive nature of political campaigns, what are ways to
structure in-class discussion? Obviously students cannot publicly discuss campaign secrets and
strategy. So how do we connect what they are doing out of class with what we are doing in class? While
answers to these questions are tentative at best, in this paper we document our experience and connect
it to a set of goals for service learning.
Paper presented at the Teaching and Learning Conference of the American Political
Science Association, Washington, DC, February 18-20, 2006.
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