Leadership Skill Development in a First-Year Honors Service-Learning Seminar

Abstract

The authors examine undergraduate students’ self-assessed leadership skill development before and after participation in a first-year honors service-learning seminar. A one-group, pretest-posttest study was conducted with 651 first-year students enrolled in a first-year honors seminar course with a service-learning component.  Participants completed the Roets Rating Scale for Leadership (RRSL). A paired-samples t-test analysis of RRSL indicates a significant decrease in participants’ leadership skills.  Results, along with implications for program design and future research are discussed.