The following articles and research literature may be relevant as we consider common means to assess our work and discern best practices. Some of these were shared at the 2012 bi-annual meeting of the Summer Collaborative. Other works can/will be added: please suggest.

Moral Development and Purpose

Bowman, N. A., Brandenberger, J. W., Lapsley, D. K., Hill, P. L., & Quaranto, J. C. (2010). Serving in college, flourishing in adulthood: Does community engagement during the college years predict adult well-being? Applied Psychology: Health and Well-Being, 2, 14-34.

Hill, P. L., Jackson, J. J., Roberts, B. W., Lapsley, D. K., & Brandenberger, J. W. (2011). Change you can believe in: Changes in goal-setting during emerging and young adulthood predict later adult well-being. Social Psychology and Personality Science, 2, 123-131. First published on September 21, 2010, doi:10.1177/1948550610384510

The studies above use goal-related items drawn from CIRP @ HERI.

Lies. J. M., Bok, T., Brandenberger, J. W., & Trozzolo, T. A. (2012). The effects of off-campus service-learning on the moral reasoning of college students. Journal of Moral Education, 41(2), 189-199.

This study showed significant gains from summer service learning on a salient measure of moral reasoning.

Multi-Institution Studies

Brandenberger, J. W., & Bowman, N. A. (2012). From faith to compassion?: Reciprocal influences of spirituality, religious commitment, and prosocial development during college. In M. J. Mayhew & A. N. Rockenbach (Eds.), Spirituality enacted in higher education. New York: Routledge.

This study is built on a multi-institution data from HERI; it explores how well religious commitment and spirituality predict prosocial behavior in a large sample.

Study of Immersion Learning

Bowman, N. A., Brandenberger, J. W., Mick, C., & Toms Smedley, C. (2010). Sustained immersion experiences and student orientations toward equality, justice, and social responsibility: The role of short-term service-learning. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 17(1), 20-31.

Theoretical Grounding: Engaged Forms of Learning and Developmental Psychology

Brandenberger, J.W. (2012). Investigating personal development outcomes in service learning: Theory and research. In P. H. Clayton, R. G. Bringle, & J. A. Hatcher (Eds.), Research on service learning: Conceptual frameworks and assessments (Volume 2A in the IUPUI Series on Service Learning Research). Stylus Publishing.

Brandenberger, J. W. (2005). College, Character, and Social Responsibility: Moral Learning through Experience.  In D. Lapsley & F. C. Power (Eds.), Character Psychology and Character Education, p. 305-334. Notre Dame, IN: University of Notre Dame Press.

Brandenberger, J. W.  (1998).  Developmental Psychology and Service-Learning:  A Theoretical Framework. In R. G. Bringle and D. K. Duffy (Eds.), With Service in Mind: Concepts and Models for Service-Learning in Psychology, p. 68-84. Washington, DC: American Association for Higher Education (AAHE Series on Service-Learning in the Disciplines).