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Service learning—an educational experience in which students provide service to a community partner while learning content knowledge, professional skills, and critical thinking—can provide significant benefits to students and the community. We present survey results from 227 postsecondary students in computing to provide insights into their attitudes toward service learning, and how these relate to course-taking motivations and sense of civic duty. Based on the survey results, we argue that service learning should be required in an undergraduate computing major. However, we problematize this provocation based on three types of pitfalls: courses that do not prepare students to understand social contexts in which technical solutions are promoted, lack of resources for faculty teaching the courses, and the potential to harm both community partners and students.
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This content will become publicly available on February 18, 2026
Best Practices in Software Projects with Community Partners
Successfully implementing service learning presents many challenges. This is particularly true when working with community partners which are frequently small, understaffed non-profits, lacking in technical expertise. Participating faculty not only manage the student end of the partnership, but often need to manage/educate the community partner as well. Despite its challenges, community-based service learning is worthwhile for the profound impact it has for students. Many computing graduates only see the utilitarian aspect of computing as a tool to solve technical problems. By presenting and teaching CS as a discipline possessing key insights towards making headway on pressing social, environmental, and economic problems, students can be exposed to the impact of computing solutions on the betterment of their communities and improving the human condition. One step toward accomplishing this is by utilizing community-based service learning projects for non-profits and community organizations. In particular, since the community-based service learning partners are local, the impact of students' efforts is not abstract, but can be directly seen. It is hoped this may lead to a culture shift regarding CS, potentially also broadening participation. Clearly forming a community of practice for those undertaking or hoping to undertake service learning is an important step towards both greater adoption and approach success rates. It is hoped that this BoF can aid both current practitioners as well as provide a helping hand to potential new adopters. Our goal is to provide an opportunity to share best practices as well as the hard-learned lessons from previous attempts.
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- PAR ID:
- 10590527
- Publisher / Repository:
- ACM
- Date Published:
- ISBN:
- 9798400705328
- Page Range / eLocation ID:
- 1722 to 1722
- Format(s):
- Medium: X
- Location:
- Pittsburgh PA USA
- Sponsoring Org:
- National Science Foundation
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