Service-Learning Courses

The beginning of a new semester is an exciting opportunity to connect what you are learning in the classroom with the world around you! As you begin your service-learning journey at Belmont, you will be introduced to the purpose and value of service-learning through conversations with your faculty, who will help you understand how community engagement connects to your course content and learning objectives.

You will also have the opportunity to participate in an orientation with the Office of Community-Engaged Learning and Service (CELS) team. During this introduction, you will learn more about Belmont's approach to service-learning, how to navigate Get Connected, Suitable, and how to identify meaningful community engagement opportunities.

Together, we will explore community-identified needs, learn about the organizations and partners working to address them, and consider how your knowledge, skills, and interests can contribute to the greater good.

Remember, service-learning is about more than completing a volunteer experience. It is about listening, building relationships, learning alongside others, and recognizing the impact we can make when we put our learning into action. We are excited to walk alongside you this semester as you learn, serve, and flourish!

Belmont uses the Get Connected software platform, developed by Galaxy Digital, to allow students like you to find information about organizations, including needs (volunteer opportunities) and events (things to attend, but not as a volunteer), and give you a tool to identify, engage, and track your service engagements. 

Tips and Tricks to Navigating Get Connected: 

1. You will be asked to join your course User Group at the beginning of the semester! This allows your service experiences to be seen by faculty, community partners, and the CELS team! It is very important to follow the instructions on joining the User Group!
2. If your project is student-led: Use the "Needs" or "Agencies" buttons on the left hand side of the screen to identify potential partners to work with! The filter features on both screens are helpful if you are looking for specific causes such as food security!
3. If your project is faculty-led: Use the carot by your initials in the top right corner, click "My User Groups," then click "View Needs." This will bring up a list of needs your faculty member has assigned to you! 
4. Once you have identified your community partner and your organization to volunteer with, please respond to the need and sign-up for the shift that you wish to work!
   1. If your community partner is not on Get Connected, that is okay! We have a different process for tracking hours!
5. Go serve/engage!
6. Once service engagement is completed, login to Get Connected and follow these steps for tracking your hours:
   1. Click the "Track Hours" button in the top right corner
   2. If you responded to a Need in Get Connected- select that need 
   3. If you served with an organization not on Get Connected- Click "No" and new blanks will come up to fill in about who you served with. 
   4. Fill out the rest of the questions. 
   5. Tag your user group before submitting! This is the only way your professor can see your work! 
   6. Click submit! Your faculty member and/or community partner will approve your service hours for your course requirement. 
   7. Once hours are approved, you may submit your experiences for Service Well Core on Suitable!

Participating in a Service-Learning course at Belmont gives you the potential to earn all your Service Wellness requirements for Well-Core. 

Steps to Earning your Service Wellness Credits for Service-Learning:

1. Go Serve/Engage!
2. Track your hours in Get Connected- Make sure they are approved before submitting!
3. Based on the eight behaviors, reflect on your experience in the category that best fits the service you did. Important Note: Your experience may fit in multiple behaviors, please pick ONE behavior that best fits your engagement. This will earn you one credit. 
   1. EX: Volunteering at a food bank with your classmates: Serve Together 
   2. EX: Working with the homeless community: Different Population
   3. EX: Volunteering with a nursing home: Asset-Based Learning 
4. Service-Learning Credit: Once you have completed your engagement and your hours have been approved you may reflect about your experience in a service-learning course as a whole. This will earn you two credits. 
5. If you volunteer multiple times you can repeat step 3 in the other categories that fit your service engagement. 
6. Remaining Credits:
   1. Training/Workshop- Many organizations or faculty members will host trainings before the service experiences. You may reflect on the training to get one credit. 
   2. Reflection Session- Many faculty members will host a reflection session after every student has served to discuss how it connects to course content. This can also earn you a credit. Important Note: Students can also attend the CELS team reflection sessions to get this credit. 

Important Reminders and Notes: 

• All 8 Service Wellness behaviors require reflection. Please make sure to answer all prompts. 
• AI Use: The Use of AI on Well-Core is considered academic misconduct. Please use your own thoughts.
• You will need to submit enough reflections (generally 4 or 5 depending on the Service Wellness behaviors) to get your credit. Completing one reflection does not get you all your credits. 

• At the end of your course, you will be sent a Student Service-Learning survey to complete.  We encourage you to give honest feedback about your experiences to help us shape Service-Learning in the future.

• We encourage all students to talk with their faculty member about the potential to present their project at the SPARK symposium or other conferences.