Business Communication Service Learning2 Service Learning Guide Real Clients Real Management Real Failure The Risks And

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Service Learning Guide 2 37

REAL CLIENTS, REAL MANAGEMENT, REAL FAILURE: THE RISKS

AND REWARDS OF SERVICE LEARNING

By Dale Cyphert

University of Northern Iowa

Cedar Falls, Iowa

As I entered the classroom, a team waited for me at the media console: “We finally have an issue!” The

announcement was made with a clear sense of urgency, but also anticipation. During the various reviews,

this team had been smugly disappointed to report no problems with its project. Today—the day of the

event—the speaker had cancelled. It would not be an easy day, but I could sense that these women were

“ready for the test.” Furthermore, it was a test that really mattered. Their first call had been to the client,

who had advertised the event more widely than planned: A full lecture hall was expected at 3 p.m. this

afternoon. “Great,” the caller had told the rest of her group, “now we’ll have twice as many people to be

totally humiliated in front of!”

There are multiple advantages to service learning projects across the business curriculum, but in

communication classes I have found their biggest value to be authenticity. A “real–world” assignment

In spite of the pedagogical advantages, service learning is sometimes perceived as a major

organizational challenge for the instructor, requiring institutional commitment, alliances with community

agencies, student inducements, and a careful integration of academic curriculum (Gujarathi & McQuade,

2002). This team’s experience was a reminder that neither complicated administration nor significant

instructor involvement is needed to create a platform that reaps the benefits of service learning. A bona

fide client with a real concern for an outcome is enough to foster a learning experience that extends

beyond the books, beyond the classroom, and beyond students’ comfort zone.

The service elements of this assignment have developed over several years, driven primarily by

their bios and résumés, students are asked to rank their top three choices of projects. A few projects are

always oversubscribed—running the annual golf outing for the management student club is easily the

most popular choice—and a few students have unusual interests, but preferences can generally be

accommodated to create groups of four to six students.

The first assignment involves project planning, with teams required to submit a memo of

have asked to be placed on the list. In reality, there are always more willing clients than there are teams

available, and the passion of the students—along with the attendant risk— is maximized when they

identify their own project.

Once projects are defined and under way, a series of tasks requires students to evaluate and adjust

their own communication processes: agendas and minutes for a meeting to which the “supervisor” (the

dependent on a perception that the team has provided an authentic service to a client. Furthermore, it is

this sense of satisfaction that garners the most response when communicated clearly on the course Web

site, and these are the projects that are repeated. With their continued success, a tradition of service has

evolved in a course structure that asks only that students do a team project.

As a central activity, these projects integrate virtually every assignment in the course, and students

relationships are sometimes damaged by a team that fails to clarify expectations or pay bills in a timely

fashion. Administrators and faculty can be appalled at students’ lack of respect for organizational

authority and structure. Service learning sends students out on a limb, with the instructor not far behind.

I have learned to require contact information for each team’s client, and I now contact the clients after

I have collected the memos of understanding, confirming their awareness of the project, asking them to

driven service component creates an element of risk that sparks the self-awareness of authentic learning.

REFERENCES

Bush-Bacelis, J. L. (1998). Innovative pedagogy: Academic service-learning for business communication.

Business Communication Quarterly, 61(3), 20-34.

Cyphert, D. (2005a). Business communication (150:113): Fall, 2005. University of Northern Iowa.