Service learning and tax: more than VITA.

• Author: Purcell, Thomas J., III
• Position: Volunteer income tax assistance

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OVER THE PAST 10 YEARS, THERE HAS been increasing interest in the use of service learning activities to inject elements of active learning into accounting curricula. Many of these efforts have involved the use of the IRS Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program in the initial tax course for accounting majors. Articles discussing such approaches have been published in The Tax Adviser (e.g., Long and Kocakulah, "VITA, the MTC and the Modern Accounting Curriculum," Parts 1 and 2, pp. 474 and 692 (August and November 2007), and Bauman et al., "Academic-Based VITA Programs," p. 531 (August 2008)) and in Issues in Accounting Education (Rama et al., "Service-Learning Outcomes: Guidelines for Educators and Researchers," p. 657 (November 2000), and Still and Clayton, "Utilizing Service-Learning in Accounting Programs," p. 469 (November 2004)).

The purpose of this column is to provide the reader with some additional thoughts for integrating service learning using tax issues as the content platform. After some overview of the service learning process, the column describes the projects used by the author and some additional thoughts for expanding the scope of tax-based service learning projects beyond VITA.

Service Learning in General

Service learning is a teaching approach that combines specific curricular learning objectives with community service. Students learn by doing--they build on content acquired through one or more traditional means (lecture, self-study, etc.) and then apply that knowledge in a controlled setting by providing a specific service to individuals or organizations. The participating students then reflect on the service in individual or group sessions and discuss what they have learned not only about the content area but also about the importance of service in their lives. This latter component of reflection provides the richness of this experience that separates it from other experiential learning pedagogies.

Service learning generally offers students the opportunity to learn at a much deeper level than through the classroom and personal study. Service learning activities are at least at the application level of Bloom's Taxonomy of Educational Objectives (e.g., VITA) and in some projects could even be at the synthesis and evaluation levels (e.g., designing and implementing a chart of accounts for a nonprofit that enables it to file Form 990). In addition, service learning offers students the ability to reflect on personal motivations, to deepen their understanding of different socioeconomic and ethnic groups, and to promote an attitude of shared social responsibility. Students who participate in service learning projects also improve their interpersonal communication skills.

Service learning generally benefits the community (which receives either collectively or...