PRAXIS: From Theory to Practice, Back to Theory

Praxis is an academic term which describes the relationship between action and theory in the learning experience. Because it is important not just to take action, but to contemplate that action and the results, many Service Learning programs include a periodic time of reflection in which you can both share your experiences with fellow teachers and students, and hear about their experiences in return.

Thus, a student, upon learning a theory, has the chance to apply that knowledge through action. Afterward, the student returns back to the classroom where he or she may reflect on and dissect that experience, and then use it to develop even more refined theories. Those theories are then shared with the rest of the class.

For the students who participate in praxis, their time of reflection will not necessarily require them to revise theory taught only in the classroom. Rather, by reviewing and sharing their service experiences for themselves and for their colleagues, the students gain a deeper insight into how their service affects them as well as the community.

Custom-Designed to Suit All Those Involved

Most of all, Service Learning programs are specifically designed to benefit the student and the community. Instructors will often go out to the community and determine what needs exist that their students can fulfill in a mutually beneficial way, and then develop a specific program from there.

Among the universities and colleges now using the Service Learning approach to solve a variety of community problems are:

• Providence College . Here, students studying American Public Policy learn firsthand the consequences of public policy, both good and bad (although that is something they must often decide for themselves). Students can serve meals at a homeless shelter, tutor in an urban school, interview welfare recipients and prepare case profiles for welfare reform.

• Rhode Island School of Design . Students conduct weekly art classes at the bedsides of hospitalized children, and also for senior citizens.

• Wilmington College . Business students are able to help develop business and marketing plans for local businesses and non-profit organizations.

• Shawnee State University . Science students participate in ecological projects to learn the applications for the study of science and nature.

The above is an excerpt from The Last Guide to Finding a Great Internship You'll Ever Need, which is available for sale for $17 in our bookstore or for free to those who subscriber to our free career newsletter. Students know that good experiences helps to build a good resume and that good resumes help you land interviews, yet how many of us have been shown how to interview well so that we can get hired? Written by Keith F. Luscher specifically for the job hunting students who use CollegeRecruiter.com. To get hired, you must know how to interview well. Read this book and you will. To receive a free copy, subscribe to our free career newsletter.

Career Videos