International Service Learning Research Articles

Enhancing the impacts of international service-learning on intercultural effectiveness and global citizenship development through action research

ABSTRACT This paper reports the results of an action research project on improving students’ learning from international service-learning. Participants were two consecutive cohorts of university students enrolled in nine international service-learning projects. Mixed-method findings from the first cohort reveal significant increases in their global competence and intercultural effectiveness but not their social responsibility or global civic engagement. Targeted improvement actions were planned and implemented accordingly for the subsequent cohort, resulting in significant increases in their social responsibility in addition to global competence and intercultural effectiveness scores. No significant increase, however, was found in students’ global civic engagement. The findings suggest that action research can be an effective strategy to improve students’ global citizenship and intercultural effectiveness development from international service-learning, and that explicit and intentional elements are needed in the learning and reflective activities to develop these attributes. Implications for practice and future research are discussed.

A Narrative Study of South African Community Members’ Experience With an International Service-Learning Program

At a time when higher education institutions in the United States are emphasizing global citizenship, more universities are designing and delivering international service-learning (ISL) programs. With the growth of ISL, critical questions must be raised about how these programs affect communities. Despite the centrality of reciprocity in the service-learning paradigm, the extant literature focuses primarily on the effect of ISL programs on students. The purpose of this narrative study was to explore how the stories of members of a South African community-based organization aligned with the principles of democratically engaged ISL programs. The author spent two weeks collecting data at a primary school in a predominantly Black African, Xhosa-speaking township in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The findings concentrate on the cultural meaning that participants gave to the U.S. students’ behavior and highlight areas for improvement within the ISL program. A number of practical recommendations for higher education professionals are presented. En un momento en el que las instituciones de educación superior de los Estados Unidos están haciendo cada vez más hincapié en la ciudadanía global, muchas universidades están diseñando y ofreciendo programas internacionales de aprendizaje en servicio (ISL en inglés). Con el crecimiento del ISL, debemos comenzar a plantearnos preguntas esenciales acerca de cómo estos programas afectan a las comunidades involucradas. A pesar de que el concepto de reciprocidad es la base del paradigma del Aprendizaje en Servicio, la literatura existente se centra principalmente en el efecto que tienen estos programas en los estudiantes. El propósito de este estudio fue indagar cómo las experiencias de los miembros de una organización comunitaria sudafricana se alineaban con los principios de los programas de ISL implementados. Pasé dos semanas recopilando datos en una escuela primaria predominantemente de raza negra y de habla xhosa, en un municipio de la provincia del Cabo Occidental de Sudáfrica. Los hallazgos se concentran en el significado cultural que los participantes le dieron al comportamiento de los estudiantes de EE.UU., destacando las áreas a mejorar dentro del programa ISL. También se presentan varias recomendaciones prácticas a tener en cuenta por los profesionales de la educación superior.

Local Partners’ Perspectives on Health Student Service-Learning Placements in Low- and Middle-Income Countries: A Pilot Qualitative Study with Partners from Vietnam and Timor-Leste

Service-learning programs can provide clinical assistance in low-resourced settings while providing students with intercultural learning opportunities in diverse health contexts; local partners’ perspectives on international service-learning (ISL) programs are integral to ethical, effective and sustainable university-community partnerships; yet the perspectives of local partners remain under-represented in research. Interpretive description methods guided data collection and thematic analysis of qualitative responses from written questionnaires. Four local partners from Vietnam and Timor-Leste responded to questionnaires in this pilot project. Three themes were identified regarding benefits, underpinning factors for program effectiveness, and a further three themes related to desired improvements. According to local partners, benefits of ISL include skill and knowledge exchange, enhanced assessment and intervention strategies, and increased service quality. Communication and relationships were seen as underpinning factors of effective partnerships. Areas for further improvement included drawing more strongly on local partner strengths and perspectives, further collaborative preparation for the placements, and more regular communication. These preliminary findings align with existing research regarding benefits to local partners. Modelling effective practices, formal training and meetings, and ongoing case discussions may be some useful methods for achieving knowledge and skill exchange in ISL.

Current Landscape of Teaching Diversity in Occupational Therapy Education: A Scoping Review.

Critical research in health professions education makes clear the role of educational institutions in perpetuating problematic discourses related to diversity, as well as their potential role in dismantling and rebuilding those discourses to reflect the realities of power relations that create systemic injustice. To provide a comprehensive overview of current pedagogical practices and educational paradigms used by occupational therapy educators to teach concepts of, and skills for, equity and diversity. Seven education and health care databases were searched for articles published between 2007 and 2018. Consensually developed criteria were refined until an agreement rate of >80% was achieved among the authors. Inclusion criteria focused on entry-level occupational therapy education across the world and explicitly examined approaches to teaching diversity. All articles meeting the criteria were kept for full-text review (N = 87). Diversity in professional occupational therapy education programs is taught within five main underlying educational paradigms and theories: competency-based (44%), social justice (29%), critical (11%), social accountability (10%), and constructivism (6%). Within these paradigms, 14 key pedagogical practices were applied, with community service learning (37%), international service learning (25%), and didactic or course-based practices (23%) making up the majority of pedagogical practices. Although current occupational therapy research demonstrates a trend toward critical paradigms and practices, problematic cultural competency theories and uncritical international service learning practices continue to dominate occupational therapy education for diversity. Educators should implement pedagogies and approaches within critical educational paradigms. This article highlights the importance to occupational therapy education of attending to coherence across educational ethics, paradigms, and learning outcomes in teaching for diversity and health equity.

Enhancing Cultural Competency: A Phenomenological Study.

An increase of ethnic minorities in the United States heightens concerns for health disparities. International service-learning provides an immersion in a community to identify issues related to culture and health. This study reports nursing students' experiences related to participation in an international service-learning project. A qualitative phenomenological design was used. Twenty participants who immersed in the community for 9 days were interviewed. Two semistructured focus interviews were audio recorded, transcribed, and analyzed using thematic analysis. Four themes emerged: Value Communication, Appreciate Differences, Provide Education, and Accept Humanity. This experience highlights the needs of diverse communities and enhances participants' skills to deliver culturally competent care with better education, compassion, and communication. By exploring students' experiences, service-learning experiences may be better understood as a pedagogy for teaching cultural competency and improving health outcomes in diverse populations. [J Nurs Educ. 2020;59(9):485-492.].

Lived Experiences during International Service Learning: A Semiotic Analysis of Photo Journals

International service learning (ISL) is a pedagogical approach used to prepare students to be global citizens and has emerged as a popular short-term program model for international experiences. Few studies of ISL have integrated semiotic photo analysis into their evaluations. Combining students’ photographs with text encourages reflection on knowledge and experiences as well as how they are related. The current study used semiotic analysis to understand the lived experiences of students on an ISL to Guatemala. The participatory nature of the research process was critical to the semiotic analysis, as the researchers had an understanding of the cultural perspectives and traditions that emerged in the images which could have been overlooked by a researcher without knowledge of the specific cultural context. Participants kept a photo journal of 10 images and associated narratives to depict their experiences on the ISL. Both semiotic and content analysis were conducted on each journal entry. Coding yielded nine themes: new perspectives, personal connections, impact of coffee, intercultural comparisons, reality of life in Guatemala, cultural values, impact of ISL, connection to photograph, and sense of place. Combining the semiotic and content analysis yielded concurrent meanings through narrative and visual reflections, which, when combined with the researchers’ participatory knowledge of the experience, informed future ISL projects for the research and teaching team. The combination of visual and narrative methods required students to think about what story they will tell about their experience, and brings new layers of meaning to the reflection process. Keywords: photo-based methods, experiential education, educational evaluation, Guatemala

Lived Experiences during International Service Learning: A Semiotic Analysis of Photo Journals

International service learning (ISL) is a pedagogical approach used to prepare students to be global citizens and has emerged as a popular short-term program model for international experiences. Few studies of ISL have integrated semiotic photo analysis into their evaluations. Combining students’ photographs with text encourages reflection on knowledge and experiences as well as how they are related. The current study used semiotic analysis to understand the lived experiences of students on an ISL to Guatemala. The participatory nature of the research process was critical to the semiotic analysis, as the researchers had an understanding of the cultural perspectives and traditions that emerged in the images which could have been overlooked by a researcher without knowledge of the specific cultural context. Participants kept a photo journal of 10 images and associated narratives to depict their experiences on the ISL. Both semiotic and content analysis were conducted on each journal entry. Coding yielded nine themes: new perspectives, personal connections, impact of coffee, intercultural comparisons, reality of life in Guatemala, cultural values, impact of ISL, connection to photograph, and sense of place. Combining the semiotic and content analysis yielded concurrent meanings through narrative and visual reflections, which, when combined with the researchers’ participatory knowledge of the experience, informed future ISL projects for the research and teaching team. The combination of visual and narrative methods required students to think about what story they will tell about their experience, and brings new layers of meaning to the reflection process.

The Impact of Service Learning on Associate Degree Nursing Students' Cultural Competence.

Associate's Degree in Nursing (ADN) programs rarely offer international service learning experiences. A project involving an ADN program in a southwestern U.S. border city and a care facility in a nearby city in Mexico was initiated to address cultural competence. The purpose of this study was to assess the impact of an international service learning experience on ADN students' cultural competence as measured by pre- and post-scores on the student version of the Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence Among Healthcare Professionals-Student Version (IAPCC-SV). Twenty third-semester ADN students participated in a 1-day cross-border international experience. Descriptive statistics provided summaries about the participants and their IAPCC-SV scores. Results indicated a positive effect between participating in an international service learning experience and increased levels of cultural competence. Increasing ADN students' cultural competence through international service learning may help reduce health care disparities among different cultures, promote care that enhances communication between nurses and patients, and build upon therapeutic relationships. International service learning provides ADN students the opportunity to incorporate classroom learning into their care of populations living within diverse communities.

International Service Learning among Islamic Higher Education Institution Challenges and Strategies

The study aims at exploring the implementation of International Service Learning (ISL) among Islamic Higher Education Institutions in Indonesia, its challenges, and strategies to cope with them. To explore the phenomena, six Islamic Higher Education Institutions (IHEI) implementing the ISL in Indonesia were purposively selected as sample of the study. A face-to-face interview with the respondents and document analysis towards relevant resources were employed as the main data collection techniques. After analysing the data and, later, triangulated them, the following findings emerge. First, the implementation of ISL was structurally carried out on the basis of preparation, implementation, and evaluation. Second, employing a framework of ISL implementation, coined by Baker-Boosamra, most recommeded steps were followed. Third, ISL among IHEIs encounter some challenges to cope with. Some could be successfully resolved; some others remain unresolved. The study recommends that ISL among IHEIs be properly managed by formulating specific objectives. The formulated objectives serve as the standard of ISL successful implantation.

The Development of Student's Understanding of Self, Inequality, and Service during a Critical International Service Learning Program in the Dominican Republic

Since January 2018, my colleague and I have co-led a two-week, three-credit critical international service learning course to Santiago de Los Caballeros, Dominican Republic. Our course is designed to question and complicate students’ relationship to service through the use of intergroup dialogue pedagogy and theory. Intergroup dialogue (IGD) encourages students to understand one another across their social identities (e.g., race, gender, sexuality, ability, nationality, ability, etc.) by engaging in conversations around social issues and power that allow us to unpack our relationship to systems of oppression and inequality (Zúñiga 2003). My proposed research is focused on the 2020 iteration of this program and will look more closely at the impact on student learning to see how, if it all, students' ideas around identity, the nature of inequality, and the purpose of service shift throughout their experience abroad. Through analysis of student reflection journals and multiple interviews with participants, I hope to gain insight into this question. This research will add to the growing field of critical studies of international service learning by assessing whether or not our program and its pedagogy is able to undo oppressive ideologies and/or strengthen existing ideologies built on collective solidarity that our students carry regarding identity, inequality and service.

International service learning enhances nurse practitioner students' practice and cultural humility.

Academic and health care institutions are charged with improving quality-of-care outcomes by creating culturally educated health care professionals to practice in a global health care environment. International short-term service learning experiences provide nurse practitioner students an opportunity to meet clinical competency skills aligned with course curricula. Faculty can directly observe students' clinical practice, and students broaden diagnostic reasoning skills while earning credit for clinical hours. As project and research ideas are formulated, students develop system-level thinking to implement evidence-based practices and disseminate their knowledge and experience of caring for the underserved. Students who participate in service-learning opportunities foster their awareness of cultural humility, easing transition into practice. Some academic institutions established short-term service-learning opportunities for students, and evidence supports faculty and students' sense of well-being after participation. We describe an example of a short-term, international service-learning opportunity in Haiti where students work with an interprofessional team and experience the effect of social determinants of health on delivering quality care.

Changes in Volunteerism Perception: Results from an International Service Learning Case Study

Background Engagement in volunteer activities is an experience that many students may not prioritize due to lack of time and interest. Purpose This research examines the use of International Service Learning (ISL) as a potential platform to positively change student perceptions of volunteerism. Methodology/Approach Multiple methods (interviews, journals, observations) were used to measure ISL impacts on 13 San Francisco State University students who participated in an ISL experience in Costa Rica in Spring 2017. Data were analyzed based on five processes of transformational learning, as outlined by Naude. Findings/Conclusions The results show that a change in volunteer perspective was evident in students as a result of the ISL experience. Students’ motivation evolved from desirability to travel abroad to an apparent sense of stewardship and desire to give back. Implications Participating in ISL programs can have a profound impact on students. Including international travel components may be a useful tool to entice the millennial student to participate in SL programs. Participants’ regular reflective activities are proven to be crucial to the process of enhancing ISL.

Decolonial Experimentations in International Service Learning Research and Practice: Learnings from Mayan Indigenous Host Communities

Decolonial Experimentations in International Service Learning Research and Practice: Learnings from Mayan Indigenous Host Communities

Measuring the Impact of an International Service-Learning Project through Community Assessment in Rwanda

Measuring the Impact of an International Service-Learning Project through Community Assessment in Rwanda

Queer Students, International Service-Learning, and Inclusivity: Insights into Identity, Activism, and Learning

ABSTRACT This qualitative study examines the experiences of LGBTQ students involved in international service-learning, exploring the possibilities, positive impacts, and complexities of navigating LGBTQ identities while participating in international service-learning. Analysis of their experiences yielded three themes that played an important role shaping their experiences: balancing their stance as learners and as activists, viewing their LGBTQ identities as assets as well as objects of structural barriers, and navigating language to make sense of their context and make themselves understood. These findings have implications for how universities and community partners prepare, train, and support students before, during and after their experiences abroad.

Launch out into the deep: a psychotherapist’s view of an international service-learning experience

ABSTRACT This qualitative study explores how emotions are experienced and handled during international service-learning (ISL) initiatives. It involved one focus group discussion and in-depth, semi-structured interviews with six college students engaged in a 10-day ISL project in Burkina Faso. Their accounts were analysed using interpretative phenomenological analysis. Four major themes emerged from the data analysis: (1) awareness of emotions, (2) regulation of emotions, (3) reflection on emotions, and (4) transformation of emotions. The importance of emotional experiences in ISL are underscored in this study and the potential of ISL to become a means to help deepen students’ experiential learning is demonstrated.

Fostering Clinical Reasoning through Critical Reflection in Doctor of Physical Therapy Education Using International Service-Learning in Honduras

Fostering Clinical Reasoning through Critical Reflection in Doctor of Physical Therapy Education Using International Service-Learning in Honduras

Long-Term Impact of International Service Learning: Cultural Competence Revisited

Long-Term Impact of International Service Learning: Cultural Competence Revisited

Importance and Challenges of International Service-Learning

Service-learning is an important component of a college education as it helps students demonstrate a positive impact on their community using their classroom knowledge. Through business writing, a Purdue English course, we were able to learn about how to market effectively to a college audience and were able to implement these learnings in our partnership with Code for Nepal. Code for Nepal is an organization that works to improve the digital literacy of women and other minority groups within Nepal. Their most impactful work was creating a document encompassing key information regarding food, water, and shelter after the 2015 earthquake. As part of our work with them, we hosted a Coffee and Donuts event to raise donor and volunteer engagement across college campuses in the United States. The skills developed through this course and partnership were invaluable, and I have been able to implement many of them to host other student activity-related events on campus. Not only do service-learning projects make a positive impact on the organization that we partner with, but they also allow students to further refine the skills learned in the classroom. Through this article, I would like to share more about the skills developed in business writing at Purdue, how we worked alongside Code for Nepal, as well as the impact it has made on the rest of my college experience.

What the Community Learns: International Service-Learning in Yucatán, México

Colleges and universities have increasingly adopted international service-learning (ISL) as a pedagogy for students studying abroad. The literature on these programs has illustrated that international students receive more attention than host communities as objects of study. Host groups often face real challenges caused primarily by historical and social factors that contribute to their long-term marginalization. If ISL implies mutual learning and reciprocity between host communities and students, it is important to question how communities live the ISL experience—in other words, what do they learn? This study introduces the voices of a group of women in Mérida, Mexico, who participated in an ISL program. Utilizing an ethnographic approach, including participant observation, focus groups, and interviews, the study discussed in this article produced findings that suggest that communities participating in ISL gain important learning outcomes in areas such as empowerment, skills, values, and collective organization.