Stephen Downes

This is a light article, but it speaks to an interest of mine, community service learning (CSL), which "allows students to get involved with community organizations, often on a volunteer basis, and to collaborate with them on projects that meet community needs." As usual, I have critiques around the edges. For example, Sivane Hirsch, a professor of education at ULaval, says, "The idea is to make academic knowledge accessible, not just through scientific articles, but by putting academics to service in the community." I would actually emphasize the other direction, whereby students and academics learn from the community. Additionally, at the University of Ottawa, the program "gives students the option of volunteering around 30 hours of their time to a community organization each semester in lieu of completing a final project." 30 hours is not nothing, but it's too transactional, too temporary and too late.