Involve Me and I Will Understand: Effective Service Learning ... On A Platter

Dr. Dexter R. Woods
Professor of Law and Taxation
Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio
E-mail: d-woods@onu.edu

Dr. Peter L. Banfe
Associate Professor of International Business
Ohio Northern University, Ada, Ohio
E-mail: p-banfe@onu.edu

Introduction

The old Chinese proverb, "Tell me, and I will forget; show me, and I may remember; involve me, and I will understand" has critical salience for modern educators. Involving students in actual experiences that anchor classroom theories with real world concepts facilitates long-term learning. Within the pedagogical literature, this is referred to as "experiential learning." One subset of experiential learning, "service learning," combines learning skills and values through experience. This paper outlines a unique experiment in service learning known as the "Global Village Cafþ" (GVC), an actual cafþ designed to teach service learning, which we operate annually with exciting results. One student participating in GVC stated, "[It was] one of the most amazing experiences I've had yet at this college. [It] taught me so much!"

The restaurant has been open for business for three years in a Midwestern business college's small business course. The class revolves around using the academic quarter to plan and execute a restaurant operation that culminates in a grand opening at the end of the final week of classes and runs for two intense evenings. Initial results show that the GVC experience creates a dynamic environment that fosters a remarkable level of student engagement. As one student noted this year, "I loved how involved everyone got in the development of the GVC and how people I didn't expect [to do so] took major leadership roles." The intense group involvement, teamwork, and resultant peer pressure generates a level of commitment well beyond any average classroom experience. For example, students lamented the time demands required of the project outside of class time but concluded that such time spent was necessary.

As we will detail later in the paper, the multifaceted nature of the startup and operation of the enterprise provides an excellent context for utilizing a myriad of business skills and for developing personal characteristics beyond those possible within the traditional classroom experience. One student commented, "I enjoyed the opportunity to improve my decision-making responsibilities and creative problem solving abilities. [Working with the GVC was an] excellent chance to actually learn all components of business implementation."

Prior to discussing the GVC, we will first briefly discuss the theory of experiential learning, the need for students to obtain lifelong learning and certain other necessary skills and values, and the theory of service learning as a means to obtain such skills and values. We will then demonstrate in some detail how the GVC provides an effective and stimulating exercise in service learning.

Experiential Learning

In a changing world, the ability to continuously learn throughout one's life is critically important to one's personal and professional success. Most modern educators try to facilitate the skill and value of lifelong learning in their students. Critical to this goal is knowledge of learning theory, and in particular, experiential learning theory.

Kolb's experiential learning theory model describes a four-stage learning cycle involving concrete experience, reflective observation, abstract conceptualization, and active experimentation (Kolb, 1976). First, the ideal learner will fully, openly, and without bias become involved in new experiences. Second, the learner will reflect on and observe the experiences from many perspectives. Third, the learner will integrate the reflections and observations into logically sound theories. Fourth, the learner will use the theories for decision-making and problem solving.

During the learning cycle, the ideal learner changes roles, going from actor to observer to general analytic involvement to specific involvement. In other words, the ideal learner goes from feeling to watching to thinking to doing. Most people, however, are not ideal learners, and their individual learning styles usually emphasize one or more of the stages to the detriment of the other stages. Kolb has classified individual learning styles as "convergers," "divergers, "assimilators," and "accommodators."

Convergers emphasize abstract conceptualization and active experimentation. Their greatest strength is applying ideas to situations. They do better with problems involving a single correct answer and tend to choose narrow technical interests and specialize in the physical sciences. The converger learning style is characteristic of many engineering students and of engineers.

Divergers are opposite convergers, and they emphasize concrete experience and reflective observation. Their greatest strength is imagination. Divergers do better with problems that call for many possible solutions and they tend to choose jobs involving people. The diverger learning style is characteristic of many history, English, political science, psychology, economics, and sociology students and of personnel managers.

Assimilators emphasize reflective observation and abstract conceptualization. Their greatest strength is the ability to integrate disparate observations into theoretical models. Assimilators are more concerned with theory than with practical uses and tend to choose positions in the basic sciences. The style is characteristic of many physics students and of other workers in basic sciences, research, and planning departments.

Accommodators are opposite assimilators, and they are marked with emphasis on concrete empiricism and active experimentation and with strengths in doing things, such as engaging in novel adventures and carrying out plans. The accommodator tends to be more of a risk-taker than the other three and better able to adapt to immediate circumstances. The accommodator learning style is characteristic of many business students and with workers in action-oriented jobs.

One very practical impact of learning styles upon education is that where individuals' learning styles are different from the learning styles of other people in their field of study, the individuals will often change their field of study. Similarly, individuals may change their field if their learning styles are different from those of their educators. As previously noted, business students and those in business are often considered accommodators, with strong active experimentation skills and weak reflective observation skills. Business professors, on the other hand, are likely to be just the opposite. Consequently, in order to best educate their students, educators need to know not only their students' learning styles, but also their own. Educators should attempt to improve the weaknesses in both groups by implementing pedagogical techniques that employ all four stages of the experiential learning cycle.

In the twenty-five years since Kolb wrote about learning styles, and especially within the last ten years, schools have worked toward changing their educational paradigms to coincide more with experiential learning theory. Kolb and his colleagues at Weatherhead School of Management at Case Western Reserve University have written about their school's efforts to implement more active learning in its MBA program (Boyatzis, Cowen & Kolb, 1992). Efforts toward active, experiential learning focus less upon conveying content and more upon helping learners understand their own strengths and weaknesses as lifelong learners and upon the development of skills and values (Boyatzis and Kolb, 1995).

Skills and Values

The development of experiential learning theory (discussed above) and market forces (discussed below) have combined to accelerate in recent years the evolution from the centuries-old educational paradigm of content-based teaching to skills-based learning (Falkenberg, Russell & Ricker, 2000; Watson & Temkin, 2000). Traditionally, professors obtained and then conveyed valuable knowledge to their students. Today, computers have become better and less expensive content providers than human professors, and the accelerating rate of change in the world causes much knowledge to become outdated. In order to add value to their profession and to better serve their students, many professors have begun to facilitate the learning of skills and characteristics, which are more valuable and timeless than content and knowledge. Market demand for particular skills and characteristics comes from a variety of sources.

For example, professional accounting organizations have undertaken numerous studies as to what employers expect from accounting graduates (AICPA, 1998: AICPA, 1999:Albrecht & Sack, 2000). Broader research by the authors produced similar results (Academy for the Advancement of Collegiate Schools of Business International, 2002; American Management Association, 2000; Woods, 1996). Following is a summary of commonly-desired employment skills and characteristics.

1.     Fundamental Skills:

Observing, Speaking, Reading, Writing, Computing

2.     Secondary Skills:

Learning, Researching, Analyzing (critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, planning, creative thinking)

3.     People Skills:

Teamworking, Networking, Listening, Questioning/Answering, Leading/Following

4.     Experiential Skills:

Having Business Awareness (company, industry, global), Satisfying Constituencies, Renewing Fundamental Business Knowledge

5.     Personal Characteristics:

Self-Respect, Respect for Others, Self-Motivation, Service-Orientation, Ethicality, Energy, Enthusiasm, Adaptability, Curiosity, and Resiliency

(Woods & Banfe, 2001).

Educators cannot facilitate student development of these types of skills and characteristics by simply writing them on the board and asking students to memorize them. Rather, educators must do so with active, experiential learning. One type of experiential learning that is particularly useful to facilitate the development of both of skills and values is service learning.

Service Learning

Service learning has been around since 1898, found in John Dewey's educational creed. However, the concept regained notoriety in the 1970's in connection work with experienced-based career education. By 1990, service learning had at least 147 different definitions. Sometimes service learning, community service, and volunteerism are used interchangeably because all three terms involve helping the community or someone in need. Service learning, however, has the additional dimension of being linked to classroom theory. As such, it is a component of experiential learning (Tai-Seale, 2001).

The National and Community Service Act of 1990, defines service learning as a method under which students or participants learn and develop through active participation in thoughtfully organized service that

1. Is conducted in and meets the needs of a community
2. Is coordinated with an elementary school, secondary school, institution of higher education, or community service program, and with the community
3. Helps foster civic responsibility
4. Is integrated into and enhances the academic curriculum of the students of the educational components of the community service program in which the participants are enrolled
5. Provides structured time for the students to reflect in service-experience

Our own institution and others similarly define service learning. The definition essentially has three components--service to community, connection to curriculum, and opportunity for reflection. Each service-learning project must be a "good fit" for the professor, the students, and the class objectives. Institutions can set up a service-learning program in five steps (Joiner, 2000):

1. Preparation - students and/or professors find problems in the community and then devise a plan to deal with such problems.
2. Collaboration - students and the community form a partnership to implement planned activities.
3. Implementation - students fulfill their service to the community by implementing steps 1 and 2.
4. Application - students apply what they have learned in the classroom in implementing their solutions.
5. Reflection - students reflect upon their experiences by papers, presentations, and/or discussions.

If done correctly, service learning has many benefits. It can encourage students to become active in civic participation, and can link the institution and students with the community (Loupe, 2000). Moreover, service learning by definition focuses on service, a desirable (and sometimes missing) element of personal and professional life that is difficult to impart in a content-based classroom environment.

Service learning can also provide an excellent learning experience under experiential learning theory. All four learning steps in the learning cycle (concrete experience, observational reflections, abstract concepts, and active experimentation) can be met by each involved student. In service learning situations, students are moving through the abstract and concrete stages of the learning cycle by practically applying their classroom theory, and they are given the opportunity to continue the learning cycle via the opportunities for reflection.

Finally, service learning can facilitate the development of all the previously mentioned skills and characteristics demanded by employers. As we show in the next section, it can do so in a single class in a relatively short time--and in a memorable way.

The Global Village Cafe

This section will detail how the international restaurant project was set up, what the students did, how experiential learning of needed skills and characteristics occurred, and what improvements can be made for subsequent classes. In this section we will focus on outlining the project as it was structured in the current year, which included refinements made in response to what these authors learned from the previous two-years' experiences.

The course is separated into two components: the textbook course-related work, which focuses on teaching the students how to create an effective business plan, and a major course project. Before this year, in order to work on the GVC as their major course project, students would submit a resume that would be reviewed by a number of professors in different discipline areas who would then select 10-15 students from the pool of available applicants. The balance of the class, those not selected, would then work on individual start-up business plan projects.

However, invariably almost every student applied for the project. Indeed, we found that the project was so popular and those not selected became so disappointed that the authors decided to expand and include the entire class, which averages about 25-30 students. This year was the first year that the GVC encompassed the entire class. This larger pool of associates also facilitated a much larger scope for the project. Also, this provides a more realistic environment in which leaders will have to lead both motivated and potentially less motivated associates, rather than those hand picked for their commitment.

The project as currently conceived segregates the class into five basic functional sub-teams: Accounting/Finance/Purchasing, Design, Marketing/Sales, Operations, and Public Relations/Sponsorship (Liraz, 2000). All employees are referred to as "associates." Leaders within functional areas are referred to as "Sub-Team Coordinators" (STCs). To start the project, all associates submit a resume. We, as the board of the GVC, choose the STCs from among the applicant resumes after a brief interview. The authors then assign sub-team members also based on a review of the resumes and foreknowledge of the strengths of individual students. Three men and four women were chosen as STCs in this year's project.

We have opted in this project for a fairly flat hierarchy, open architecture, and consensus oriented organizational structure. Our reasoning is that we want to stimulate as much teamwork and communication as possible, and reduce the psychic distance between STCs and other associates. With the teamwork concept in mind, all associates were informed that at the end of the project, STCs would evaluate their team associates as well as peer STCs, and all other associates would evaluate their respective STCs. We made it clear that this would be used as input in their final project grade. We felt that associates and coordinators would then have a motivation to use persuasion and influence as opposed to position as tools to achieve goals.

Several tools were used to foster communication and the flow of ideas. First, material rewards were offered to associates whose superior ideas were then used in the GVC to solve a vexing challenge or improve customer service. Second, an e-mail list was created and all correspondence regarding the GVC had to pass through this list so that all associates read all correspondence between associates in all sub-teams. Each sub-team had to keep minutes of every meeting and then send those through the e-mail list to all associates. A copy of every e-mail was collected for future GVCs to use as guidance.

Accounting/Finance/Purchasing was responsible for all cash receipts and disbursements, cash flow forecasting, food costing, budgeted profit and loss (including break-even analysis) and actual income statements and balance sheets at the end of the project. These tasks necessitated consideration of ticket prices and sales forecasts, sponsorship donations, starting cash, various types of expenditures such as costs for equipment, supplies and materials, licenses/permits, insurance, food costs, legal costs, advertising/promotions, rents, repairs/maintenance, depreciation, salaries/wages, and taxes. What is fascinating about this event is how seriously the accountants live their roles in the context of the project. For example, this year the staff of this sub-team created a tightly- managed purchase order system. In the business world you find many instances of people submitting receipts which pre-date signed purchase orders, to the dismay of the accountants. The first time this occurred this year, the staff immediately posted an e-mail to the group account that clearly and concisely stated that no receipts that pre-date a purchase order would be reimbursed. The staff of Accounting/Finance/Purchasing participated the night of the event on-site with PCs and calculators to manage guests' receipts and disbursements for the entertainers, etc.

Public Relations/Sponsorship was responsible for managing media relations and insuring positive, thorough press coverage, coordination with the University Public Information department, press releases, and generating sponsors through mass mailings and cold calls. This included developing press releases and a "press package" which was handed to interested media reps. Cold calling and going "hat in hand" to businesses to generate sponsorship was at first uncomfortable for the staff of PR. But they were extremely successful in generating close to twenty-five business sponsors, which were then listed on a table tent at the event. They carefully crafted a sponsorship "hook" by emphasizing the cost-effectiveness of the advertising value of sponsoring the event. The fact that the first seating of the event was a benefit for fire, police and emergency medical technicians in the three local cities, (and a public/community service) also added marketing value especially considering their elevated status in the post "9/11" era.

The Design sub-team had to develop the theme, help choose the cuisines, hire the entertainers, and arrange the dþcor, lighting and floor plan for the event. The first year the dþcor featured the culture of each cuisine within the restaurant. The second year staged a train theme, borrowing memorabilia from one of the local museums. The current year decided on an urban theme. They decided to feature local university artists on the walls and their pottery on the tables of the quaint, historic old station house that has been the host for the event. They hired a jazz duo as "street entertainers" to entertain guests. It was interesting how students "owned into" the GVC, and saw it as their own. This year, when entertainers took advantage of students the first night by taking excessive breaks, students sat down for a brief, diplomatic talk with the entertainers regarding their agreement so that there would be no misunderstanding for the second night.

With regard to menu options, there are some specific rules for the GVC. First of all, the GVC traditionally features three cuisines, all arranged and prepared by people from that region, country or culture. One of the major goals of the GVC is to provide the local town, a small rural Ohio community, with a taste of global cuisines. Also, by involving international students, we hope that students will become more aware of and gain a deeper understanding of other cultures. This year featured Hungarian food (cooked by one of the authors who is of Hungarian origin), Indian/Pakistani (cooked by a Muslim Pakistani student crew), and Far-East/Asian (cooked by two Chinese international students with the assistance of a British and a Scottish international student). All cuisines underwent a "roll out," which in restaurant terms refers to a taste testing with critical input and advice from associates. All breads and pastries (outsourced) also underwent this same procedure.

The Marketing/Sales sub-team was responsible not only for designing the marketing plan for the overall project but for coordinating ticket sales, which ramped up the final three weeks preceding the project. Marketing issues included considerations of competition from other restaurants and competing events in order to decide upon particular dates. Students also considered their target market and performed a market survey to consider preferred dining experiences with respect to menu items, restaurant theme, amenities, dþcor, entertainment, and pricing. Later aspects of the marketing plan included working closely with public relations and design for the restaurant.

Each consecutive year of the GVC has become more elaborate and more like a true upscale restaurant experience for customers. Prices for a dinner have risen from $8.50 to $10.00 to $14.00 in this year's project. This year's price increase was a joint decision of all associates with the guidance of marketing, which strongly supported the increase. Surprisingly, the decision to increase prices, supported by data from the marketing sub-team, turned out to be an excellent decision. We were able to serve fewer meals while increasing revenues substantially.

The Operations sub-team was the largest of the sub-teams and had the greatest scope of responsibility. This sub-team was responsible for coordinating setup, arranging to rent the dining and kitchen sites, preparing the sites, obtaining licenses, permits, tables, and utensils, considering legal liability and insurance issues, and providing customer service, project management software, and operations flow-charting. Within operations there were two other sub-sub-teams. The first was Project Management. Their task was to graphically represent the sequence of tasks required to complete the project and thereby help establish relationships and sequential dependencies among the project tasks. The PERT charts for the restaurant included consideration of various component projects such as obtaining necessary approvals, site preparation, marketing letters, sponsorship activities, defining the menu, dþcor, ticket sales, and ordering supplies. They then highlighted a critical path that represented which tasks, if not completed on time, could delay overall project progress. Students came to understand the complex interdependencies between tasks in a way not possible in the classroom. They also came to appreciate the multiplicity of tasks necessary to bring a start-up project to fruition.

Within Operations there was also a Customer Service sub-sub-team. This year's GVC was run as a customer service experiment. All associates had to read the book Raving Fans, by Tom Blanchard, and apply this customer service focus to the project (Blanchard, 1993). Our clearly and repeatedly articulated goal, which came to infuse the entire organization, was to create raving fans of our customers: the local community, the University, our suppliers, and our fellow associates. In fact, the final grade for the project was to be directly related to the success at attaining this goal. Our observations of associates' conduct with regard to university, community and supplier contacts, associate evaluation forms, and customer comment cards all played a part in the overall grade for the project. All associates would receive the overall project grade unless there were specific individual reasons for modifying that grade. The syllabus was quite clear about those reasons. For example, failure to perform assigned tasks critical to the success of the project would result in an automatic "F" (or "fired") for the project.

We never cease to be impressed with the skills and talents students bring to the project. The Customer Service sub-sub-team had an associate with experience as a staff customer service trainer at a major restaurant chain and another with experience working in customer service at a major retail chain. Because of the concern that these associates might be constrained by their experience in their respective organizational cultural milieu, we included another member and consistently challenged them to think "outside the box" or, as the Japanese say, "not like a frog in a well." Their job was to create a unique customer experience unlike that of any other restaurants.

Ideas bandied about to create a better customer experience included having valets wash windows, students with umbrellas ready to walk out customers, baby roses for female patrons, compressing times between seating and serving, mints, greetings, vegetarian meals, child prices, personalized bills and thank-you notes, and many other creative ideas. All service staff associates, from valets to bussers, were carefully trained. A flow chart outlined the customer experience from ticket purchase to arrival, to the meal, billing, and departure. At each point customer service was paramount. For example, students gave a map to customers and directed spotlights at the Depot to assist locating the otherwise less-conspicuous site.

The eventual plan included valets, personal bills (with customer names pre-printed on them), thank you notes, umbrellas for valets, mints, spotlights, maps, and an incredibly positive attitude. For example, one customer whose bill was inaccurate received a free meal. They were so satisfied with this treatment that they left a tip in excess of the bill. Other examples included "comping" (giving gratis) meals and switching cuisines when customers were dissatisfied. The results were quite impressive in terms of customer comment cards. This year the comments averaged 4.8 out of a possible 5 for customer satisfaction with almost every facet of the experience. Negative comments were minimal. Examples of comments included:

            "This should be a restaurant full-time."

            "Excellent. A very enjoyable experience."

            "Very impressive."

            "Everything was wonderful. Great job."

            "The food was exceptional. The service was outstanding."

            "Thank you for a wonderful evening."

            "Parking attendants were very helpful."

Clearly, this project meets the goals of service learning as defined by the National and Community Service Act of 1990. Associates in the GVC certainly learned and developed through active participation. The project met the needs of the community in a number of ways. First, since the depot was being renovated, every student donated at least 5 hours community service painting and cleaning the site. In addition, donations are made each year to the community for use of the site and to the local church, which hosted some of the chefs. The GVC this year also honored local service officials with the first meal of the cafþ. Also, the profits of the GVC, which now total thousands of dollars, will be used for a number of service projects, including sponsoring an international student scholarship. All of this helps foster civic responsibility. The project is coordinated under the auspices of a business school and integrated within a carefully structured course plan. Finally, the project offers structured time for reflection. After the first night of operation, associates stayed up this year until midnight discussing operations, trouble-shooting, and solving challenges which became known that night. Moreover, at the end of the project, not only do students evaluate other associates, they are also required to document recommendations that will be included with the e-mail log to be passed on to the next year's class. Often, we could hear references to last year's log in meetings of this year's associates in the form of recommendations or as caveats.

Documenting how students' participation in the Global Village Cafþ enhanced each of the employment skills and characteristics previously listed is beyond the scope of this paper. However, the paper sets forth several examples below of how this particular service learning project met the goals of experiential and service learning, including facilitation of the learning steps and lifelong learning, development of needed skills and characteristics, and an understanding of one's own learning strengths and weaknesses. By engaging in the project students could begin to understand why prospective employers are looking for particular skills and characteristics, and where individual students need improvement. Similarly, professors can tailor such service learning projects and project components to help students improve in certain deficient areas.

With respect to fundamental skills, students monitored the project in a variety of contexts, including observation of their customers' reactions. Moreover, in setting up the project and deciding upon the type of restaurant and the functions, students recalled their concrete experiences about restaurants. It is easy to imagine that students will be even more observant of their future restaurant experiences.

The project also required students to employ their speaking, reading, and writing skills in a business context--not only among themselves, as they are accustomed, but also with university officials (for authorizations), town officials (to rent the local depot as the serving facility), with church officials (to rent a local church as the kitchen facility), suppliers, media (television, radio, and newspaper), entertainers, chefs, and a variety of potential ticket buyers. Students also engaged in a number of business-related reading and writing assignments. They also drafted news releases, advertising copy, and marketing surveys. Because of the customer service focus of the project, it was critical for them to learn to be diplomatic and carefully choose words when communicating with all contacts. A very important part of the project (pertaining to the observation and reflection component required in both experiential and service learning) was the students' maintenance of a written log of their experiences while working on the project.

Students also used a variety of computer skills, including word processing for most of their narrative materials and spreadsheets for projected and actual financial statements. They used graphics programs for flowcharting and for preparation of tickets, brochures, fliers, and other advertising. Moreover, they communicated amongst themselves and with others by e-mail and performed a good deal of research by Internet browser.

The project was just as useful in the development of the secondary skills of learning, researching, and analyzing. Students learned firsthand about codependence of business components. For example, it was impossible to begin to sell tickets without knowing the types and prices of meals. The students could not know the prices and types of meals without having a marketing survey of preferences, some idea of all the costs, and how many meals could be sold. Students also learned how difficult making a profit could be, especially if they had to incur labor costs, taxes, maintenance costs, and professionals' fees. Students also researched a variety of issues, from basic business organization to market preferences to legal requirements for health permits.

Students also spent a great deal of time analyzing, which included critical thinking, decision making, problem solving, planning, and creative thinking. For example, they made various budgets, PERT charts, sales forecasts, and cash flows statements. Management staff devised customer-experience flow charts that detailed what would happen during the customer experience. These charts about greeting, seating, serving, billing, evaluating, and clearing had to be consistent with the timing necessary to prepare and present the beverages and food ordered and with the number of customers to be served and tickets sold for particular seating times. The students had to make several decisions and solve several problems to get everything to work out on paper. Then they conducted cuisine "roll outs" and mock sessions to ensure that everything still worked. Even so, the students learned that even the best plans have problems; they carefully analyzed the first night's restaurant activities, and made improvements for the second night. One recommendation was to run the restaurant for two consecutive weekends to allow more time for reflection and improvement.

The students employed the analytical skill of creative thinking to present an upscale dining experience despite time and money limitations. In order to find satisfactory dining and kitchen facilities, they had to rent two buildings and arrange for the transport of food from the church kitchen to the dining facility depot. They added entertainment by hiring a professional musician each night, and they were able to decorate the historical depot with equally historical railroad prints borrowed from the neighboring county's art museum one year and with local artists' works the next.

Along with the fundamental and secondary skills, students engaged people skills in running the restaurant. As mentioned, students contacted many persons in the local business world in order to complete the project. Moreover, the students engaged in much listening, questioning/answering, and leading/following with each other. In doing so, they were able to note how they compared with other students and thus were able to examine their own strengths and weaknesses in how they dealt with this new learning environment. In addition, student team members crossed over sub-team lines to aid other team members, thereby committing themselves to the overall endeavor, not just to their own sub-team. Similarly, sub-teams with inherent conflicts (such as sub-teams conscious about reducing costs versus other sub-teams wanting to spend money on image, superior food, and ambiance) compromised for the overall goals of the restaurant.

The ability to see the "big picture" as opposed to just the narrower departmental picture demonstrates the experiential skill of having business awareness. As an example of this, after students realized the pressure of the increased price and the need to meet sales targets, extrinsic and intrinsic rewards were offered to top sellers. For example, local banks offered savings bonds to be used for graduate school, and local vendors offered product awards, which included free meals at local restaurants, as well as other awards. Additional business awareness came from the realization of the often-mutual interests of private enterprise and public entities. The town was so pleased with the painting that they offered the Depot at no charge.

Associate Professor of International BusinessThe students also renewed various aspects of their fundamental business knowledge, and they will likely remember such knowledge longer than if they had merely studied the concepts and had taken a test. Moreover, students will have a better idea of what does and does not work in the "real" world. Experience is an excellent teacher.

Participating in the service learning project also enabled students to appreciate and practice those personal characteristics necessary for business success, such as a quest for excellence, self-respect, respect for others, self-motivation, service-orientation, ethics, energy, enthusiasm, adaptability, curiosity, and resiliency. This project required all of those characteristics, with particular focus upon service orientation and respect for others. In order to facilitate an appreciation for a number of these positive personal characteristics, an award plaque was created to hang in the lobby of the business school and will recognize not only outstanding motivation in terms of sales, but outstanding leadership and outstanding commitment in this annual project. But what really stood out during this year's iteration with the refinements made was the outstanding teamwork and willingness of everyone involved to cross lines of responsibility to get the job done. We could see the intense personal satisfaction, energy, enthusiasm, and complete customer focus in the actions of each participant.

The project also focused on respect for others and was set up as an international restaurant in part to involve international students and their diverse contributions. Students from the World Student Organization have teamed with the class members in dishwashing, cooking, serving, and other operations. Clearly, the project fosters increased awareness of cultures. During the first year four languages were spoken in the kitchen at one time: Japanese, English, Spanish and Arabic. In one year the non-Muslim students respected the Muslim assistant-chef's refusal to taste the carrots because they had wine in them. Conversely, for the good of the enterprise, a Muslim student overcame his reluctance to do traditionally female tasks such as peeling onions and washing dishes. Also during the first year, associates were amazed at the work ethic and teamwork commitment of the Japanese international students involved in the project, especially Yuki, an otherwise shy, reserved student. This year, in part due to the raised awareness of Muslim religious practices and the involvement of the Muslim Student Union with the event during Ramadan, all meat was purchased from a "halal" (kosher per Islam) meat distributor. The distributor donated all of the beef to the event, which was incidentally delivered to the Christian church where the Buddhist chef would prepare the Far East Asian meal. The respect for others' capabilities and beliefs is a valuable personal characteristic in need of strengthening.

Conclusion

Students learn best by doing. However, pursuant to experiential learning theory, students not only must engage in concrete experiences and active experimentation, but they must also be given time to observe, reflect, and develop theory. Service learning provides an excellent way to engage in experiential learning while at the same time providing students with a means to develop needed skills and values and to assist the community. Participation in service learning projects such as the Global Village Cafþ can be both educationally and spiritually rewarding. For example, we found that students at our college work harder and learn more when they focus on providing excellent service than when they focus on increasing profits. Accordingly, we recommend that other professors similarly engage their students. Through innovative service learning projects such as the GVC, professors can satisfy students' hunger to learn new skills and values and tickle their taste buds. Bon appetit!

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Tai-Seale, Thomas (2001). "Liberating Service and Applying the New Practice." College Teaching, 49 (1), 14.

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Academic Exchange Extra invites reader responses to any writings in this issue--especially articles advancing the scholarly debate of issues raised.

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