The future of service-learning and community engagement: asset-based approaches and student learning in first-year courses

In the 20 years since Zlotkowski (1995) called for curricular integration of service-learning (SL) across the academy, the authors have observed an increasing adoption of and support for the pedagogy in students' first-year experience. In another article, Gardner (2002) suggests that SL in the first year is particularly important because it can lead to increased self-esteem and self-confidence. Thus, it is becoming well established that SL plays an important role in the first year. The authors' experience, however, suggests that, given the particular challenges of first-year courses, it is all too easy to default to an approach that unintentionally sets students on a problematic path in their interactions with communities. Specifically, this article is a call for attention to asset-based approaches that, from the beginning, help undergraduates see themselves and others on an equal footing and learn to look for, appreciate, and build on their own and others' strengths.