Think about the ways you want to enhance your educational experience at FGCU:

Do you want to explore career options?
Are you fulfilling a service-learning course requirement?
Would you like to learn more about another culture?
Would a greater understanding of a particular issue be beneficial?
Do you have a special talent or skill to share or one you want to acquire?
Do you want to help define issues and work toward solutions locally?

Service-learning experiences can address all these questions and more if you choose your experiences selectively and if you open yourself to the learning inherent in each situation.  Every service-learning opportunity, whether initiated by the Center for Civic Engagement, through a service-learning course, by a community agency, or by a fellow student or student group, can be a powerful learning experience.

How Do I Find Service-learning Experiences?

There are several ways to learn about service-learning experiences -- check the EaglesConnect web site, visit the office to look at hard copy of agency information, develop your own placement through personal contacts, read the email announcements, watch the EaglesConnect bulletin board, or take a course offering service-learning as part of the course requirements.

1. Visit the web.   EaglesConnect has an interactive web site that allows you to browse the entire database of agencies or guides you through a narrower search for placements tailored to your preferences.  The EaglesConnect web site includes agency contact information, job descriptions, and links to agency web sites, if available.  The web site is available 24 hours a day so you can research your service-learning placement when your have the time and inclination.
2. Check our files.  There may be more extensive information on placement sites than is practical to put in the database on the web.  If additional information is available, it will be filed in the Center for Civic Engagement.
3. Read student publications.   Information about service-learning opportunities is published regularly in The Eagle and other student publications.
4. Watch the EaglesConnect bulletin boards and table tents.   There is a bulletin board located on the 4th Floor of the Library highlighting new and current postings for local service activities.  In addition, there are several smaller bulletin boards detailing SGA sponsored and student-planned service activities maintained by EaglesConnect staff and student workers.  These bulletin boards are located in the atriums of Griffin and Reed Halls.   Occasionally, there are EaglesConnect table tents in the RFOC dining area and the Subway/Taco Bell Cafe.   Watch these spots for new postings about service-learning activities.
5. Take a course.   A number of courses at FGCU have service-learning components.  Service-learning hours can be earned by taking these courses.   The faculty member teaching the class sets the criteria for the service-learning sites appropriate for the course.   The faculty member may have suggestions for service-learning activities or may ask students to develop their own.  In either case, the Center for Civic Engagement is happy to help students with contact information and documentation.
6. Develop your own.   Students may have interests and community contacts that lend themselves to service-learning activities.  Check with staff in the Center for Civic Engagement for approval and use an Agreement and Verification form to document the hours.  Basic criteria for approval as a service-learning experience:
   • Service must be performed with a not-for-profit entity like a school, government agency, social service agency, charitable agency, or faith-based organization. If working with a faith-based organization, no proselytizing can be involved. 
   • Service must be provided without pay, although students may be permitted to receive mileage or meals.
   • Service must meet one or more of the first eight undergraduate student learning goals and outcomes (see Step 4).