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Duke Service-Learning works with the Registrar's Office to label service-learning and community-engaged courses in DukeHub. Courses are searchable in Duke Hub as "Service-learning/Community-Engaged (SLCE)."
Service-Learning Courses
Service-learning courses require a sustained service component, as well as connections to academic content, and critical reflection. For an undergraduate or graduate course to be considered a service-learning course, the course must meet the following criteria:
Time Commitment
- The students engage in planned service activities for a minimum of 20 hours.
Academic Requirements
- The service experience is integrally related to the academic subject matter of the course.
- The coursework involves critical reflection on the relationship between academic course content and the service experience.
- The coursework involves critical reflection on the ethical and civic dimensions of the service experience.
Community-Engaged Courses
Community-engaged courses include a variety of interactions with the community, and although they do not offer the sustained service component that service-learning courses do, they offer enriching aspects of being with community and opportunity for critical reflection on ethical practices. Examples of community-engaged course activities include guest speakers from the community making presentations in classrooms, visits to local schools for language exchange, and local field trips to cultural sites.
For an undergraduate or graduate course to be considered a community-engaged course, it must meet the following criteria:
Time Commitment
- There is no minimum number of hours for students to engage with the community.
Academic Requirements
- The faculty member is encouraged to integrally relate the community experience to the academic subject matter of the course.
- The faculty member is encouraged to involve critical reflection on the relationship between academic course content and the community experience.
- The faculty member is encouraged to involve critical reflection on the ethical and civic dimensions of the community experience.
Applying for the SLCE Label
All Duke faculty teaching undergraduate or graduate courses are eligible to request the “Service-Learning/Community-Engaged (SLCE)” label in DukeHub.
You may submit your request as early as you like. To ensure that your course appears with the SLCE label before students begin registering, we recommend the following priority deadlines:
- For Spring courses: submit by early August
- For Fall courses: submit by early January
These dates ensure your course is reviewed, approved, and processed in time for students to see the label in DukeHub when shopping carts/bookbagging opens (typically in October for Spring, and March for Fall).
Final Deadlines
If you're not able to submit by the recommended priority dates, we will still review and process course requests up until the following final deadlines:
- Mid-September for Spring courses
- Mid-February for Fall courses
Requests submitted after these dates may not be processed in time for that semester’s registration cycle.
Need support or want to talk it through?
A meeting isn’t required to apply, but we’d love to connect. If you’d like to discuss your course or explore whether the SLCE label is a good fit, feel free to reach out at servicelearning@duke.edu.