Teaching sport management through service-learning: An undergraduate case study

Students in an undergraduate course, entitled "Writing in Sport Management," experienced a service-learning component through an outreach program with local sport organizations. The primary tenet behind implementing this teaching method was that students would garner a better understanding of business writing if they wrote within the context of the private sector. The aim of the study was to make preliminary observations regarding the potential of service-learning as a means of providing field experiences that could benefit both students and teachers. Class instructors serried as support staff and evaluated results through student logs, class presentations, student memorandums, product review, and interviews with agency personnel and students. Results indicated that service-learning improves learning and supported the notion that this teaching technique can provide substantive field experiences while allowing the instructor to monitor the process.