Coming Full Circle : A Guide to Service-Learning

A unique, stand-alone text for courses that connect service to the community to the acquisition of academic knowledge. The book begins with an explanation of service-learning. The three subsequent chapters discuss reflection, culture, and reciprocity, and how these apply to real-world service environments. Later chapters address the guiding issues of service-learning.

Coming Full Circle: A Guide to Service-Learning is a unique, stand-alone text for courses that connect service to the community to the acquisition of academic knowledge–courses that ask students to venture into the outside world, and engage in the problems and projects of the communities surrounding their schools.

The book begins with an explanation of service-learning, its roots, and definitions of useful terms. The three subsequent chapters discuss reflection, culture, and reciprocity, and how these apply to real-world service environments. Later chapters address the guiding issues of service-learning, including:

- Diversity
- Social Welfare
- Environment
- Education
- Social Change
- Responsive Citizenship

The book concludes with an epilogue that encourages students to reflect on what they have learned and experienced.

While other texts focus on theory, Coming Full Circle emphasizes the how-to of the discipline, providing students with a clear roadmap for involvement in service fields. Written in a student-friendly, accessible style, the book combines academic instruction with participation through service. It encourages students to reflect on their service experiences, and to grow as responsive citizens. More than a textbook, Coming Full Circle is also an effective aid to self-awareness and personal development.

Coming Full Circle can be used in sociology and education courses, as well as in classes dealing with human development. It is also an excellent supplementary text for psychology and political science courses.

Dr. Joyce Duncan is an instructor in the Department of Human Development & Learning at East Tennessee State University, where she teaches stand-alone service-learning courses. As part of her teaching, Dr. Duncan has facilitated thousands of hours of student involvement in the regional community. She is the author/editor of a variety of works, including Ahead of Their Time: A Biographical Dictionary of Risk-Taking Women and Sport in American Culture. Dr. Duncan is the editor of Aethlon: The Journal of Sport Literature, the managing editor of the Sport Literature Association, and on the editorial board of the Journal of Popular Culture.

Teresa Brooks Taylor is a graduate of the University of Tennessee. She has been involved with service-learning, both directly and indirectly, for over fifteen years. Currently, she manages the campus wide Service-Learning program at East Tennessee State University, where she coordinates placements and projects, and deals directly with faculty, staff, students, and the community. Teresa supervises the local affiliate of the national program, America Reads, and is a faculty member in Human Services. She has taught in various disciplines, including Human Services, Sociology, Women’s Studies, and Service-Learning. In addition to teaching, she has worked extensively in the non-profit sector.