Complexities of Coordinating Service-Learning Experiences in Rural Communities

Explored from the viewpoint of the faculty member, nonprofit director, and service-learning staff, this chapter provides insight into the complexity of the service-learning relationship in rural communities. Specifically, it provides perspectives that highlight the cultivation and maintenance of a relationship with a local nonprofit, challenges of incorporating and implementing a e-service-learning project in a hybrid format, and the outcome of the e-service-learning project between a graduate level public health course and a free medical clinic that serves the medically uninsured. These highlights will be discussed through sections detailing the geographical location of the area, through an overview of the local nonprofit community partner, which is a free medical clinic, a review of the community partners various university partnerships, an overview of e-service-learning within the graduate level course, the faculty member perspective, the community partner perspective, and the service-learning staff member perspective.