International Service Learning Research Articles

One Year On: Cultural Competence of Australian Nursing Students Following International Service-Learning.

The effective delivery of health care to the growing multicultural population within Australia is a challenge for the nursing profession. A breakdown in cross-cultural communication and understanding, which stems from the tendency of nurses to project their own culturally specific values and behaviors onto patients and colleagues from other countries, can contribute significantly to non-compliance in migrant populations and conflict in collegial relationships. The Inventory for Assessing the Process of Cultural Competence-Revised was administered to Australian undergraduate nursing students immediately before, immediately after, and 12 months after returning from international clinical placement. Data were analyzed using descriptive and inferential functions of SPSS. Overall cultural competence increased immediately following the placement and was sustained over time. However, there were significant differences among the five constructs measured. International clinical placements enhance cultural competence but targeted activities need to be undertaken pre-placement to develop specific aspects, in particular cultural desire. [J Nurs Educ. 2019;58(1):17-26.].

Enhancing Global Citizenship Through Service Learning: Implications for Capacity Building With Youth

The purpose of this paper is to bring attention to the potential that non-governmental organizations have in facilitating youth development and enhancing global citizenship. This can potentially be accomplished by utilizing international service learning as a means of capacity building. Non-governmental organizations that educate youth about community development or civic engagement are particularly capable of implementing such methods. This paper describes the benefits of enhancing global citizenship in youth through service learning and the potential of this work for capacity building and community development. An illustration of this process is provided through a description of Global Potential (GP), an organization that provides international service-learning opportunities to high school students in New York City. This paper also elucidates GP’s journey toward becoming a learning organization in order to expand and better serve its target population. Lastly, the implications of expanding and replicating service-learning programs are discussed.

Application of Theory to Guide Development of a Rehabilitation Service-Learning Project in Guatemala

International community-based rehabilitation service-learning projects in physical and occupational therapy education programs may impact underserved communities internationally. The intentional inclusion of learning in service activities has been identified as service-learning. Extending the impact and education beyond the service project is necessary in order to provide a sustainable outcome for the community. Faculty at the University of St. Augustine for Health Sciences partnered with Potter’s House Association International to develop an interprofessional program to address the rehabilitation needs and continuity of care following a one-week project serving the community members of the Guatemalan City Garbage Dump. The purpose of this article is to describe the program's development based on a five-phase conceptual model of international service-learning. The five phases included program development, design, implementation, evaluation, and enhancement. Data for program improvement was collected through program evaluation, staff interviews, and observations. Suggestions are offered to enhance the model and recommendations are made for further program development. Using a conceptual model as a framework for building a new program resulted in successful planning and reflection.

The Impact of a Short-Term International Experience on Undergraduate Students’ Cultural Competency

Historically, education abroad has been designed to provide students a full immersion experience by way of semester or year-long study at a foreign university. However, this traditional format has been redefined to include a variety of non-traditional international experiences, such as international service learning projects, internships, and short-term international experiences. The purpose of this phenomenological study was to develop a deep understanding of the lived experiences of agricultural education undergraduate students participating in a short-term international experience. The overarching question that guided the study was: What were the lived experiences of agricultural education undergraduate students during a short-term international experience? As a result of the short-term international experience, students did not progress fully through all levels of development needed to be considered proficient in cultural competence. However, students demonstrated significant gains in cultural awareness and some gains in cultural understanding and cultural sensitivity. Finally, participating students verified some progress toward building cultural communication competencies as a result of their experience.

The Role of International Service-Learning in Cultivating Global Citizenship and Leadership.

The power of intentional and reflective experience in international service-learning, internships, and other pathways, effectively inspires and prepares students for next-generation global leadership. Service-learning often includes cross-cultural engagement which is particularly powerful.

An Exploration of Shared Decision Making Among Rehabilitation Students on a Service Learning Trip: A Phenomenological Investigation

Abstract Date Presented 4/19/2018 The purpose of this study was to identify descriptors of shared decision making in the context of international service learning and to identify shared decision making among participants. Students used a patient-centric model and explored roles as professionals in the context of this community. Primary Author and Speaker: Mary Zadnik Additional Authors and Speakers: Suzanne Trotter, Thomas Werner

Redesign of a Service-learning Social Entrepreneurship Program for High School Students Part I

Started as a program in 2003 and then incorporated as a nonprofit in 2008, each year, LearnServe has taken students of diverse backgrounds from the Washington, DC area to experience a summer of international service-learning and social entrepreneurship. However, the students who travel abroad are not always prepared to go or able to successfully complete the post-trip activities. With experiences of extreme homesickness and severe culture shock, a lack of true social empowerment projects during the trip, and a lack of engagement in social entrepreneurship after the trip, the program directors realized there was a need to improve the LearnServe curriculum. The aim was to create an improved educational experience that prepares students to travel, engages them during the trip, and creates sharing and entrepreneurial opportunities afterwards. This paper presents the design research and prototyping work completed to redesign this service-learning program so that it meets its goals for success, more effectively preparing students to have a successful service-learning trip abroad and engaging social entrepreneurship work upon return.

International service learning in the business curriculum: Toward an ethic of empathy in a global economy

In the context of business education, International Service Learning (ISL) programs introduce students to social responsibility and help them develop a sense of solidarity with individuals living in a different context from their own. But even ISL programs that strive for reciprocity and co-create projects with community partners still reinforce a microcosm of the power asymmetries present in the global economy. As an alternative to traditional ISL models involving direct service, I propose a model of ISL that eliminates the direct service component and instead emphasizes listening and learning abroad. In this model, local knowledge is expert and then students engage in advocacy in their home countries. Herein, I present a current course—Marketing for Social Change: The Uganda Project—as an example of the alternative ISL model designed to address the structural inequalities and wealth disparities brought by globalization.

Putting the Pen in Their Hands: Using Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives to Re-Map Global Education and Strengthen International Service Learning

Putting the Pen in Their Hands: Using Indigenous Knowledge and Perspectives to Re-Map Global Education and Strengthen International Service Learning

International Service-Learning: Feedback From a Community Served

Introduction. Mutual benefit to participants and recipients of international service-learning (ISL) is often assumed by academic institutions when bringing medical/health care and education to underserved countries. Research documenting feedback from host communities is needed in all disciplines, including physical therapy. Overall, host communities seem to appreciate collaborations with ISL visiting teams; however, these communities may endure hardships unbeknownst to visiting partners such as reinforcement of negative attitudes, disruption of community relations and dynamics, interactions with culturally insensitive visitors, and poor quality care. The purpose of this study was to collect and document feedback from a host community after a 2-week ISL experience with Doctor of Physical Therapy (DPT) students and faculty. Methods. Twelve community leaders who interacted daily with DPT students and faculty were interviewed. Individual interviews were completed and transcribed. The constant comparative method was used to generate themes. Results. Overall, the community felt that their the interactions with the ISL team 1) improved local cultural attitudes about disability, 2) improved awareness of the role of physical therapy, 3) fostered strong, respectful relationships between the community and team, and 4) strengthened the desire to sustain the partnership. Discussion and Conclusion. The host community was very satisfied with the partnership and wished to strengthen relationships for long-term sustainability. Recommendations for the ISL curriculum in physical therapist education were identified or reinforced from this study.

Production of the Global Health Doctor: Discourses on International Medical Electives

This article attempts to interrupt dominant narratives in the literature about international service-learning (ISL) in the field of medicine by critically deconstructing discourse related to a common model used to teach global health in undergraduate medical education: the international medical elective (IME). Based on a study conducted in 2012, the results have not been previously published. Using a Foucauldian discourse analysis, the study interrogated the underlying assumptions behind the nature of “service” being rendered by conveying the imagery, language, and consequences of the dominant discourses used in journal articles indexed on MEDLINE between 2000 and 2011. The analysis revealed an IMEs literature steeped in problematic discursive (re)productions of colonial constructs and imagined geographies, primarily through two dominant discourses designated as “disease and brokenness” and “romanticizing poverty.” These discourses both justify and reinforce privileged subject positions for students engaged in these ISL experiences, while inadequately considering structures and systems that perpetuate marginalization and health inequities. Such discourses often marginalize or essentialize people of so-called “host” countries, while silencing subaltern perspectives, resistance struggles, knowledges, and epistemologies. Challenging current ISL practices in medicine requires educators to actively work towards decolonialization, in part by recognizing the ability of discourses to produce meaning and subjects.

Help (not) wanted: Neo-liberal discourses of leadership against community knowledge and control in comparative context

This article compares two neo-liberal education reform activities that are not often studied in tandem: alternative teacher certification in the USA, as explored through Teach for America, and the growing international service learning movement. Guided by the Movement for Black Lives’ call for a world where those “most impacted in our communities control the laws, institutions, and policies that are meant to serve us,” the authors explore the ways in which programs’ neo-liberal justifications obscure the authority, history, and agency of the communities they purport to serve, while convincing people outside of the community that those within are benefitted. The comparisons drawn highlight the ways in which deficit orientations permeate different local and global contexts to perpetuate and normalize privatization and the wresting of control from local communities. In making this comparison, the authors aim to better understand what these programs have in common: a white supremacist world view at once unstated and pervasive, which reinforces harmful ideas about what it is to respond to the purported needs and desires of others, not expressed in their own terms. This globalization of “helping” may increase the difficulty of those targeted by such “help” to speak in their own terms.

From Active Learning to Taking Action: Incorporating Political Context Into Project-Based, Interdisciplinary, International Service Learning Courses

ABSTRACTEducational approaches that enable students to actively and directly participate in “real-world” projects are increasingly recognized as valuable pedagogical tools and, as such, being incorporated into university curriculums worldwide. Though not traditionally associated with political science courses, project-based international service learning presents a tremendous opportunity to bring classroom concepts and theories to life, provide an active approach to addressing international challenges, and assist students in the development of the hands-on, problem-solving, team-based, critical-thinking skills that are increasingly important to employers across all sectors. This article seeks to encourage political science faculty to incorporate international service learning—and/or project-based approaches—into their educational offerings. Through examination of the course Global Synthesis in Liberal Arts and Engineering Studies at California Polytechnic State University, we have identified multiple factors that can help promote successful execution of project-based international service learning as a pedagogical tool, and provide additional suggestions for faculty interested in adopting specific aspects of these educational approaches, and/or in doing so closer to home.

Obtaining a "Global Lens" through International Service Learning: A Framework for Family Science Courses

Obtaining a "Global Lens" through International Service Learning: A Framework for Family Science Courses

International service learning in higher education: Contradictions of purpose

In the current context of globalization and the internationalization of many industries, universities are seeking to provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in various settings, including an increase in international opportunities and formal study abroad programs. This study examined an Australian university and non-governmental organization (NGO) co-sponsored, short-term, cross-cultural service-learning immersion program in India. Approximately 40 undergraduate students from various faculties have now undertaken the program over the past three years. The students travelled to a semi-remote part of India to work with underprivileged children at a children’s home turned school in Southern India. The affiliation with the NGO has seen it evolve from an informal children’s home with 10-15 rotating children to a residential and day school. The impact of the program has had a profound impact on the students' views about the importance of education to impoverished communities; however, close examination of the relationship between the host community and the institution reveals the complexities of the program are greater than expected. The current paper focuses on community perceptions of the service-learning immersion and brings to light contradictions inherent within the program. While the paper focuses solely on one program, the implications may be the same for other international service-oriented programs.

International service learning in higher education: Contradictions of purpose

In the current context of globalization and the internationalization of many industries, universities are seeking to provide opportunities for students to apply their knowledge in various settings, including an increase in international opportunities and formal study abroad programs. This study examined an Australian university and non-governmental organization (NGO) co-sponsored, short-term, cross-cultural service-learning immersion program in India. Approximately 40 undergraduate students from various faculties have now undertaken the program over the past three years. The students travelled to a semi-remote part of India to work with underprivileged children at a children’s home turned school in Southern India. The affiliation with the NGO has seen it evolve from an informal children’s home with 10-15 rotating children to a residential and day school. The impact of the program has had a profound impact on the students' views about the importance of education to impoverished communities; however, close examination of the relationship between the host community and the institution reveals the complexities of the program are greater than expected. The current paper focuses on community perceptions of the service-learning immersion and brings to light contradictions inherent within the program. While the paper focuses solely on one program, the implications may be the same for other international service-oriented programs.

Service Learning Initiatives in Rural Populations: Fostering Cultural Awareness

This article focuses on the implementation of service learning initiatives with rural populations to foster cultural awareness within undergraduate nursing students. The results of student reflections and how they relate to increased awareness of global rural health, cultural awareness, and health disparities is presented. Objectives: (1) To describe an international service learning project conducted through a short-term medical mission to the United Republic of Tanzania for Baccalaureate nursing students; and (2) explore student observations and perceptions regarding culture and health in a rural community. Overall, we hope to gain information about the impact of student experiences regarding international service learning, rural health, and cultural perspectives and awareness. Methods: The study used the qualitative method of reflective journaling to investigate student observations and perceptions during a medical mission trip regarding culture and health in an international rural community. Journals were analyzed using content analysis and thematic identification. Results: Student reflections revealed themes of increased awareness in global cultural differences, interprofessional relationships, compassionate care, and health disparities in a variety of rural settings. Students who participated in service learning initiatives within these international medical trips stated they were more globally aware and were now more likely to provide services to rural communities in their future nursing careers. Conclusions: This SL project effectively evaluated the benefits of a short-term international mission trip. Study results showed student benefits of increased awareness of community needs, decreased stereotyping, increased confidence in working with culturally diverse populations, and increased personal and professional growth for cultural competence. We identified a need to include and develop core interprofessional education competencies in future trips. Keywords: Rural, Rural health, Service-learning, Medical mission, Cultural competence DOI: http://dx.doi.org/10.14574/ojrnhc.v18i1.506

Enhancing Civic Engagement Through International Service-learning to Impact Village Community

Every year during semester break in July to August, Petra Christian University holds an international service-learning which is popularly known as Community Outreach Program (COP). This program has been conducted for 20 yr since 1996 in which more than 15 university partners from 10 different countries have participated in COP. In this research the impact of COP on the community served through a survey done on 140 residents of twelve villages in Mojokerto regency, East Java province in Indonesia is studied. Cultural exchange between the villagers and the students was also measured, particularly with the overseas participants. Additionally, the economic impact and the villagers’ wish for a better service that the coming COP can provide, is also investigated. The results indicate that the villagers were satisfied with the programs, either physical or non-physical programs implemented in the village during COP. The presence of the overseas students in their villages made them learn cultural, language, and religion diversities. Even though, languages were the barrier for them to communicate with the foreign students, but they treated those students as if they were their own children. The villagers hope that this program will be continued.

Bridging Civic Engagement to Civic Responsibility Through Short-Term, International Service-Learning Experiences: A Qualitative Analysis of Student Reflections

Written reflection is a tool commonly used by faculty to assess student learning in service-learning courses, which are frequently offered as short-term international experiences. This article discusses a qualitative analysis of students’ written reflections on a short-term, international service-learning project that was conducted to determine whether undergraduate students bridged their engagement to the development of civic or social responsibility. Results of the analysis revealed that students demonstrated nominal progress toward civic responsibility when not specifically prompted by assignments. Multiple themes emerged from the analysis related to students’ goals, challenges, and lessons learned. Based on the findings, the authors recommend that faculty, to encourage students’ development of civic responsibility, be prepared to help students set goals and work through challenges, and to play an active role in supporting and guiding students in processing their experiences in a transformational manner.

Using Campinha-Bacote's Framework to Examine Cultural Competence from an Interdisciplinary International Service Learning Program

The purpose of this study was to investigate an interdisciplinary international service learning program and its impact on student sense of cultural awareness and competence using the Campinha-Bacote’s (2002) framework of cultural competency model. Seven undergraduate and one graduate student from Human Development and Nutrition Science disciplines participated in the program. Reflections from a synthesis paper post-travel were analyzed using an inductive approach. Six themes emerged from the reflective journals and were applied to Campinha-Bacote’s cultural competency constructs. Participating and learning together while reflecting helped deepen and progress this process for ISL students. Overall, the experience proved to be an effective educational tool for sensitizing students towards cultural competency within interdisciplinary programs.