CISing Up Service Learning: A Systematic Review of Service Learning Experiences in Computer and Information Science

Abstract

The benefits of service learning in computer and information science (CIS) are believed to be significant, ranging from providing students with real-world experiences, to retaining students, to positively impacting community partners. While there are many benefits of service learning, the CIS domain does impose unique costs for integrating service learning into the curriculum. Yet there is little systematic research to help the CIS community understand best practices for maximizing benefits while minimizing costs. Experience reports about service learning courses in CIS have appeared in the literature annually since 2000 and so we address this gap in knowledge by conducting a systematic review and content analysis of 84 experience reports from the The ACM Guide to Computing Literature. We synthesize the current state of service learning in CIS as well as derive recommendations for best practices and future research directions.