The Effects Of An Online Service-learning Program On Kinesiology Students' Self-efficacy

Abstract

BACKGROUND: Self-Efficacy (SE) is essential to take on difficult activities in life. SE is often developed when people set personalized objectives based on their abilities or knowledge, the effort to attain the goals despite the challenges, or how they learned from their failures. Academic programs in higher education provide various pedagogical approaches for students to improve SE through lectures, laboratories, internship, and experimental learning. Service-learning (SL) has been used as a form of experimental learning to develop a great sense of interpersonal and intellectual competence in students. During COVID-19 pandemic, most of face-to-face SL programs on college campuses were transitioned to virtual platform. PURPOSE: To examine self-efficacy in Kinesiology major students during 10-week virtual service-learning program. METHODS: A total of 50 Kinesiology undergraduate students participated in this intervention study. Subgroups were created based on their experience in working with individuals with disabilities (29 with experience and 21 without experience). Participants in this study planned and lead the exercise session for community members with disability using videoconference platform for 50 minutes, twice a week for 10 weeks. The General Self-Efficacy Scale (Sherer & Adams, 1982) questionnaire was administered before and after the SL program. RESULTS: A paired t-test revealed no significant difference in showed no significant difference between two groups. In addition, subgroups analysis showed no group x time interaction between the two subgroups over 10-week intervention. CONCLUSIONS: The findings from the current study demonstrated that the virtual SL platform did not affect self-efficacy in Kinesiology students over the 10 weeks. This study was conducted in the middle of COVID-19 pandemic when the traditional face-to-face educational institutions temporarily enforced a sudden transition to virtual platform. Both professors and students are still adapting and readjusting in the midst of semesters. Many students may have encountered a variety of difficulties while participating in non-traditional learning environments. Further research is needed to fully understand the SE through SL, and impact of virtual learning environment in higher education.