Capstone service
learning courses are designed to overcome the negative
effects of
fractioned knowledge by enabling students to consolidate and
apply what they
have learned over a program of study. They also promote a
scholarship of
engagement. This article documents the learning experiences
of students on a
Deaths in Prison Custody capstone service learning course.
Though such a
criminal justice course requires significant staff input and
involves some
loss of educational control, it has many benefits including
enhanced
learning, meaningful service, public value, and civic engagement.
The focus on
this article is on student learning experiences. It outlines how
the pragmatic
focus of such a course made knowledge and student learning
relevant and
actionable. It also describes how the deliberately unstructured
design of the
course, together with its emphasis on pubic value, encouraged
autonomous and
self-directed learning, prompting the students to take
greater
ownership of their learning.