Presenters: Girija Nagaswami, Madeline Marcotte, Sotiria Koui
Audience: Faculty, Administrators
Location: W3-03
Learning Goals:
Participants will gain knowledge on:

1. How a service-learning experience influences students' self-efficacy and persistence.
2. What do students think about integrating service-learning in contextualized developmental English classes?
3. How do students describe their perspectives on self-efficacy and persistence pre and post service-learning experiences?

Program Description:
The reasons for developmental students' persistence or lack thereof has shifted from blaming the students to assessing their environment and looking more closely at the crucial role played by the institutions where these students enroll. It has become essential to take into account how institutions can play a role in alleviating the problem of persistence with this student population. It is believed that academic integration in the form " quality of experiences in the academic and social systems" plays a significant role in students' success. Keeping these factors in mind, a research study was undertaken taking into account how the quality of developmental students' experiences can be enhanced by integrating service-learning in their contextualized English classes. Additionally, it was essential to gather students' perspectives on their service-learning experiences and what role service-learning played on their self-efficacy and persistence. Presenters will share details of the research study, how service-learning was integrated in the contextualized English classes, and the research findings. Recommendations for practice and research will be shared.