Service-learning and university law programs: Engaging students at every level

Service-learning is a form of engagement. It is a pedagogical tool aimed at fostering development of human intellectual capital via real-world, reciprocally-oriented, course-based student community engagement experiences. Service-learning engages students in community projects through their university subjects; these projects have a reciprocal component where both the students and the community organisation and its members are the beneficiaries of the partnership. The students' work is intimately tied to what they are learning in the classroom such that their service experiences allow them to make reflective connections between theory and real-world practice, thus potentially raising students' civic and social awareness of their roles as valuable and contributory community members. This paper reviews the current state of the field in service-learning and then connects it to University Law Programs at the national and international levels.