By Eric Hartman 

The International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Community Engagement met for its annual conference in early November. I was fortunate to be part of a few presentations with colleagues who are advancing our understanding of

• Community impact assessment in global service-learning
• Awareness-raising activities and their evaluation, and
• The relationship between neoliberalism and the service-learning / community engagement movement.

I’m sharing abstracts and linking to related PowerPoints below. I’m very pleased to write that several colleagues will share their reflections and research plunging more deeply into these themes in the coming weeks. Additionally, others who attended the conference are preparing posts on related themes. If you would like to propose a post about your emerging research or rigorous reflection and critique on the intersections among learning, service, and community-driven development, please email buildingbetterworld(at)gmail(dot)com. We are currently selecting and scheduling January and February posts.

Learning from Community: Community Outcome Assessment Best Practices and Insights in Global Service-Learning
Little community impact research has been conducted in global service-learning. This session will consider lessons from four community impact studies examining more than two dozen global community partnerships. It will then draw on these qualitative, quantitative, single-site, and multi-site designs to support participants’ development of their own research or evaluation.

Eric Hartman, Providence College
Richard Kiely, Cornell University
Cynthia Toms, University of Notre Dame
Nora Reynolds, Temple University
Mireille Cronin Mather, Foundation for Sustainable Development
Micah Gregory, Amizade Global Service-Learning

Awareness-Raising Projects: Student Learning, Community Outcomes? – The Nebulous Process of Social Change
Extraordinary rates of university-community engagement lead faculty and students to consider various permutations of service, including awareness-raising. Yet the relationships between awareness and outcomes are unclear. This session draws upon
diverse fields to develop a conceptual map and theoretical understanding of the relationships between such projects and desired social changes.

Eric Hartman, Providence College
Jessica Friedrichs, Carlow University
Christopher Boettcher, Castleton State College
Michelle DePlante, Dorcas International Institute of Rhode Island
Margaret Stout, West Virginia University

Democratic and Community Engagement: A General Discussion of The Neoliberal Problem (slides were minimal; related posts to come)
Over the past 30 years neoliberalism has become a subtle paradigm and ideology that informs almost all aspects of our society. Our panel considers the challenges and
obstacles neoliberalism poses for democratic and community engagement, and highlights the connections between theoretical understandings of neoliberalism and the larger scholarly/practical implications.

Sarah Brackmann, Southwestern University
Brandon Kliewer, Florida Gulf Coast University
Corey Dolgon, Stonehill College
Eric Hartman, Providence College
Tania Mitchell, University of Minnesota
John Reiff, University of Massachusetts Amherst

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Eric Hartman is Co-founder and Editor of criticalservicelearning.org. He recently received the Early Career Research Award from the International Association for Service-Learning and Community Engagement. He was also awarded the 4 under 40 Impact Prize from the University of Pittsburgh’s Graduate School of Public and International Affairs, recognizing his work developing evidence-based curricula to advance global citizenship and for his leadership as Executive Director of Amizade Global Service-Learning from 2007-10. He is a Visiting Professor of Global Studies at Providence College.