Service-learning Experience Research Articles

“It’s not just about improving my Spanish.” Student Perceptions of Service Learning

In the last few decades, service learning (SL) has emerged as an instructional model that facilitates connections between learning experiences in and outside the classroom, and highlights the socio-political nature of language use (Grim, 2010; Bettencourt, 2015; Moreno-López et. al, 2017). However, its effective and relevant curricular implementation remains a challenge for educators. This exploratory paper examines how SL impacts advanced learners’ beliefs, attitudes, and motivation towards learning Spanish, as well as their ability to connect their service experiences with course content. Findings show that learners evaluate service experiences through a proficiency-based lens, where the success of their experiences depended on the amount of Spanish used and perceived improvements in proficiency. Additionally, while participants were frequently able to connect their SL experiences with course content, they did not necessarily recognize those learning moments as beneficial.

Undoing inequalities: inclusive and transformative language practices in rural Argentinian Patagonia

ABSTRACT This article reports a service learning experience carried out by university student tour-guides and pre-service teachers of English during 2017–2018 in a rural multi-grade primary school in northern Argentinian Patagonia. With their university English language teachers, participants taught workshops using intercultural literature in English to 6–14 year olds from the native Mapuche communities with no prior contact with English. They also designed and delivered two guided tours of heritage sites in the area. Theoretically, the study is grounded in a conceptualisation of social justice language education beyond redistribution, with a focus on recognition, inclusive language ideologies and practices, and transformative learning. Designed as a case study, data comprise reflection logs, workshop and tour plans, field notes, children’s artefacts, photographs and video-recordings of the experiences. Qualitative data analysis involves holistic, inductive and deductive phases. Findings indicate that the children engaged in multilingual, multimodal, creative and embodied forms of expression combining their affective and semiotic resources through literature, music, movement and embodiment, the creative arts and outdoor learning experiences. These resources became the means for initiating transformation of their selves and their social milieu focused on the local environment. Implications for language education in multilingual contexts are discussed.

Improving Confidence in Clinical Assessment Skills Through Service-Learning Experiences Among Nursing Students.

Service-learning (SL) was incorporated into a nonclinical undergraduate nursing course. This study examined the effects of SL on nursing students' confidence in performing patient health assessments. Nursing students completed an experiential SL vital signs assessment and a subsequent reflective journal. Of 112 reflective journals, 30 journals were randomly selected for qualitative analysis to understand the experiences of SL for nursing students. A rapid analytic framework was used for data analysis. The following domains were identified: overcoming initial fear, building confidence in clinical assessment skills, practicing therapeutic communication and patient education, and developing problem solving skills. This project highlights that SL experiences are not limited only to clinical settings but also are appropriate for nontraditional preclinical settings as well. Such experiences introduce nursing students to patient care and critical reasoning prior to transitioning to subsequent clinical nursing courses. [J Nurs Educ. 2022;61(5):272-275.].

Creating a Multidisciplinary Collaboration Service-Learning Experience in Design Education

AbstractThe design process in most organizations is often collaborative and interdisciplinary in nature. Yet most institutions of higher learning do not offer students the opportunity to work in multidisciplinary teams. This study follows an experiential service-learning project over 3 years to explore the role of multidisciplinary project teams on design education outcomes. Findings suggest that the quality of designs improved over time and students consider experiential learning in multidisciplinary teams to be a valuable component in their education, increasing their job readiness upon graduation.

International Service-learning Experiences: Impacts on Post-service Education

This qualitative phenomenology investigates the acquisition of intercultural competencies during international service-learning experiences. Additionally, the authors of this article examine the impact of intercultural competencies on subsequent coursework. The findings of this study indicate that international service-learning experiences result in the acquisition of multiple intercultural competencies. Participants of this study were able to make their experiences more meaningful through the practice of purposeful reflection. Despite a lack of institutional preparedness, participants of this study unanimously acquired intercultural competencies that were used to contextualize the learning process in a more meaningful way.

The Impacts of the COVID-19 Pandemic on Service-Learning Experiences Among Undergraduate Public Health Students in Hawai'i.

Service-learning is a high-impact educational practice at the core of the undergraduate public health degree at the University of Hawai‘i at Mānoa (UHM). This practice provides an invaluable learning experience and professional opportunity for students to collaborate with community partners and make significant contributions in the field. The COVID-19 pandemic halted or disrupted service-learning experiences as community partners adapted to shifting mandates and emergency orders. Surveying the rapidly evolving landscape of partner organizations to support service-learning is a challenge. Assessing changes to the program mentorship or satisfaction is the first step to developing protocols to ensure standardization of service-learning during times of crisis. This study will address if and how the pandemic impacted students' satisfaction with required service-learning experiences. Furthermore, authors hope to create a comprehensive list of practicum partnering organizations, both focused on pandemic response and, more generally, of the service-learning students at UHM, with the intent to increase students and community partners in local service-learning. Assessments were conducted to assess the impact of COVID-19 on undergraduate students' experiences with service-learning through use of a program exit survey. The authors hypothesized pandemic-related adjustments would not affect student satisfaction or skill development. Despite challenges associated with the pandemic and emergency online transitions, students persisted in personal and professional growth associated with service-learning. This developed resilience supports students as they graduate and enter a workforce adapting to remote work demands and community needs.

Encouraging social innovation for combating poverty: master’s students’ gendered experiences with a service-learning intervention in Kenya and Uganda

PurposeThis study aims to understand master’s students’ experiences of service-learning, following their participation in a workshop with local social innovators whose activities had contributed to combating poverty in East Africa and to determine how this participation affected work on the students’ theses. The authors also explored possible gender differences in this context.Design/methodology/approachThe study was based on pretest–posttest mixed methods research design. Data were collected from master’s students within the social sciences and science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) disciplines, respectively, in Kenya and Uganda, via surveys and interviews before the workshop, immediately afterwards and six months later.FindingsStudents’ immediate experience was that the workshop contributed to increased critical awareness, adoption of transdisciplinary community-serving approaches and strengthened self-confidence. Six months later, most had related their projects to social problems (e.g. poverty) in their communities. Moreover, the results motivated integration of gender-sensitive curricula based on service-learning in East Africa.Practical implicationsBased on the results, the authors suggest a framework for gender-sensitive curriculum development that can stimulate service-learning in master’s students. Implementation of such a curriculum could eventually contribute to community development, including, e.g. poverty reduction.Originality/valueStudies on service-learning are rare in Africa, especially in postgraduate education. Gender-sensitive studies on service-learning are generally scarce and the same holds for studies on encouraging STEM students to integrate social innovation into their thesis work. By combining these aspects, this study presents an original contribution to existing research.

Connecting Higher Education to the Labour Market: The Experience of Service Learning in a Portuguese University

The mission of higher education institutions (HEI) includes fostering conditions that enable student participation, and a commitment to their professional success. Pedagogical strategies which combine learning that goes beyond the university and involves a service-learning (SL) course carried out in the context of a pedagogical innovation programme of the University of Porto were examined. This examination included interviews with teachers, a focus group discussion with students and the analysis of logbooks and final reports to realize the potential of SL for improving employability. The results put into perspective the weaknesses and potentialities of SL courses at HEI and show that when academic learning is integrated with community experience, students gain both personal/social and academic skills. They also develop leadership and communication skills and critical awareness on the one hand and time and resources management and the ability to adapt and respond to challenges of the real world on the other, all seen as beneficial for the transition into the labour market.

Service learning: Nursing students' civic engagement with diverse populations of children with special needs

PurposeThere is limited knowledge of nursing students' perspectives about engagement with special needs populations. The purpose of this study was to identify the advantages/benefits and disadvantages/challenges of nursing students' engagement experience with children with special mental and physical disabilities. Recommendations to enhance student engagement experiences were also provided. MethodsA descriptive, qualitative design was employed. Undergraduate nursing students (N = 28) responded to open-ended questions about their civic engagement experiences at a community-based, respite care program for children with special needs. Student accounts underwent directed content analysis, with coding, category and theme development according to the Theory of Planned Behavior. The Atlas.Ti computer program was used to manage the data. ResultsAdvantages/Benefits: Filling cognitive and experiential learning gaps, rewarding connections/relationships, positive emotions, perceptions and interactions, and fun and stress relief. Disadvantage/challenges: Managing negative/uncomfortable emotions and uncertainty, witnessing and managing disruptive behaviors, negative perceptions of program operations/expectations. ConclusionsStudents experienced cognitive, emotional, interpersonal and educational advantages and/or disadvantages while engaging with this defined population. Practice implicationsTo enhance engagement faculty can provide education and anticipatory guidance, detail responsibilities and expectations, and/or utilize simulation for student preparation. Nurses and researchers can utilize community based participatory methods to guide discussions with community-based organizations to collaboratively develop strategies to institute, evaluate and enhance student engagement during service learning experiences with children who have special needs.

Learning through practice: Enhancing students' communication skills in community-based nursing.

Service-learning experiences have been shown to improve nursing students' clinical and cultural awareness skills. This article discusses the implications of a collaborative service-learning program at a nursing center, particularly in improving nursing students' communication skills, and its potential for successful replication in other community health nursing settings.

A Case-Based Workshop Training Medical Students in Assessing Social Determinants of Health Needs and Connecting With Community Resources.

IntroductionSocial determinants of health (SDHs) are now recognized as a major factor affecting patient health outcomes and should be addressed by the health care system. Many medical students do not receive practical training on how to assess SDH needs or connect individuals with appropriate resources.MethodsThe authors developed and delivered a 90-minute case-based workshop to train undergraduate medical students in assessing SDH needs and connecting with community resources during their service-learning experiences. The workshop was implemented with undergraduate medical students participating in service-learning programs that linked individuals with resources, with the intention that this information could be used in other educational activities and the students' future medical practice.ResultsTwenty-five students participated in the training. Pre- and postsurveys indicated that the training resulted in statistically significant increases in average knowledge and confidence in all topic areas. All participants reported enhanced knowledge and indicated that they would use this information in service-learning and their future medical practice.DiscussionIn addition to teaching medical students about the impact of SDHs, this cased-based curriculum provides learners with tools to understand the barriers their patients may face as well as how policy and local resources impact them.

Faculty Motivation in Service-Learning Based on Expectancy x Value Theory

Background: Research has established that service-learning is a high-impact practice with significant consequences for student learning. Research in this area can provide greater understanding and recognition of the value faculty bring to the service-learning experience. Purpose: Examining faculty members’ memorable experiences in service-learning pedagogy through the Expectancy x Value theory of motivation will help colleges and universities more effectively support and retain faculty who teach service-learning courses. Methodology/Approach: Twenty-two faculty from a medium-sized liberal arts institution each participated in a 24-min interview and described memorable service-learning experiences with students. Inductive analysis and the Expectancy x Value theory of motivation were used to analyze the data. Findings/Conclusions: The study found that faculty members highlighted themes of faculty fostering student and community connections, valuing the service-learning work, and assisting students in learning from their discomfort during service-learning experiences. Faculty's expectations of success centered on their own self-efficacy and view of ability. Faculty valued the relationships that were established, benefits that were gained, and risks that were taken. Implications: Through the Expectancy x Value theory, this research provides a foundation for understanding what motivates faculty to continue teaching service-learning courses, which can help institutions more effectively support faculty members.

Stand Together by Staying Apart: Extreme Online Service-Learning during the Pandemic.

Service-Learning (SL) is an experience that allows students to (a) participate in activities co-designed in partnership by universities and local organizations and (b) reflect on the service activity in such a way as to gain an enhanced sense of responsibility. These experiences represent significant ways to meet and experience real-world contexts for students. The COVID-19 pandemic required Higher Education Institutions to rethink and shift in-presence courses to online platforms. This transition included SL courses as well. This study aimed to explore the responsibility and democratic dimensions elicited by an extreme online Service-Learning (XE-SL) experience and the perceptions of engaging in exclusive online service activities with local communities during the COVID-19 Italian national quarantine. A qualitative driven mixed-method longitudinal approach was chosen to triangulate qualitative (reflexive journal) and quantitative (pre-post questionnaire) data from 20 university students. The findings shed a positive light on the capability of XE-SL to promote a sense of responsibility, civic engagement, and the acquirement of democratic and transferrable competencies, such as perspective-taking, adaptability, cultural background respect, global mindedness, teamwork, leadership, communication, creativity, and organizational competencies. Reflection, connection, and being agents of change for the community were perceived as the major assets of the XE-SL experience, while adapting face-to-face SL experiences to exclusively online activities evoked ambivalent feelings in students. The study suggests a rethinking of the design XE-SL and other forms of eSL with the inclusion of more structured interactive activities within community contexts to favor students’ sense of connection to the community organizations or NGOs.

Bridging Generation Gaps Through Service-Learning in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Advances in health care have led to an increased life expectancy for the older populations. An increasing body of research warns of the need to provide opportunities for older people to develop their potential for physical, mental, and social well-being during the aging process. In this context, universities have incorporated the service-learning (SL) methodology into their curricular and extracurricular programs. They attempt to offer their students experiences that allow them, from their experience and reflection, to advance in knowledge, skills and attitudes toward the older population group. Therefore, this methodology allows linking academic activities with social commitment, involving young people, as genuine agents of social change, in constructing a fairer, more inclusive, and supportive society. Despite the large body of research on the definition and benefits that students generally derive from SL, there are no systematic reviews of the full range of benefits that SL experiences, specifically with older people, provide to all participants. In this context, a rigorous systematic review was conducted by referring to the Preferred Reporting Items for Systematic Reviews and Meta-Analyses (PRISMA) statement and based on Web of Science (WoS), Scopus, and Education Resources Information Center (ERIC) databases, to answer one research question: What benefits do SL experiences that engage university students with older people, provide to the groups of participants? The analysis of the 28 selected research papers provides insights into the academic literature on the benefits of such experiences. On the one hand, they refer to the integral development of the student. On the other hand, they refer to the intergenerational relationships that promote the well-being of the elderly. Finally, the ethical commitment of the university, residences, agencies, and other organizations is mentioned. As a result, the positive impact on the community is highlighted.

Nursing Students' Self-Efficacy in Immigrant Health.

The United States has the largest, most diverse immigrant population. Nurses will care for immigrant clients in all areas of nursing practice. The purpose of this study was to determine nursing students' self-efficacy in working with immigrant clients following a service-learning experience. A pre-/posttest descriptive study was used to measure students' self-efficacy in cultural aspects of screening, providing health education, and assisting with health care access prior to and after a voluntary service-learning experience at a resettlement agency. Statistical significance was found in overall scale score and in all 19 individual items except 2 related to working with (P = .21) and communicating with (P = .49) the health care team. Overall, pretest and posttest results revealed that students' self-efficacy working with immigrant clients was improved. Collaborating with an immigrant resettlement program to provide a structured immigrant health learning experience for prelicensure nursing students can improve self-efficacy in working with immigrant clients.

Service-Learning and the Development of Interpersonal Skills in Pre-Professional Undergraduate Students

Students who participate in service-learning courses are given the opportunity to apply the knowledge they develop in the classroom to real-world settings while meeting community needs. This study explores how service-learning pedagogy contributes to interpersonal professional skill development in pre-health undergraduate students attending a small, liberal arts college in the mid-Atlantic region of the United States. Students were enrolled in a required course within the health and exercise science department and were pursuing health-related careers. They partnered with local organizations where they engaged marginalized community members in physically active games and programs to promote health. Students then participated in reflective assignments that were qualitatively analyzed. In total, 103 essays and 10 focus groups were coded and interpreted. Three themes emerged as pre-health professional skills developed through the course: communication, perspective taking, and motivating others. Students indicated that service-learning experiences helped them improve in these areas or brought awareness to their struggles with these skills. This study describes how service-learning pedagogy can be used to expand the interpersonal skills of undergraduate students necessary to promote health in all related professions.

Transformative service-learning experience through participatory project management

Studies have shown that for Service-Learning (SL) to be truly valuable and transformative, it must employ participatory project management practices and is ideally conducted in a face-to-face setting. This case study aims to highlight the strategies used to make SL projects long-term and participatory. It also measures the effectiveness of such approach in achieving a valuable and transformative SL experience for students and partner communities. Qualitative results show that students were able to develop desired personal, professional, and civic competencies. On the part of the partner communities, qualitative results reveal that they appreciate the year-long participatory SL engagement with the students that brought about high quality SL projects. Quantitative data, on the other hand, indicate that the paired samples t-test resulted in a moderate practical significant difference in the pre-and post-test scores of students when it came to their personal, professional, and civic mindedness skills. Finally, quantitative results indicate that partner communities reported that SL projects brought them a very favorable impact in terms of skills and competencies, motivation and commitments, personal growth and self-concept, and acquisition of knowledge.

Reflections on service-learning in european higher education

Over the last two decades, there has been a growing emphasis on the transformation of higher education within Europe. The promotion of active and democratic citizenship through formal higher education is a primary concern. Service-learning (SL) has proven to be a powerful didactic methodology for achieving these ideals. The objective of this paper is to highlight some reflections that permeate SL european experiences, published in the European Observatory of Service-Learning in Higher Education, between January 2020 and September 2021. The counting and percentages of the valued attitudes of SL experiences were collected to explore the guiding philosophy, historical roots, purposes, and underpinning features of SL, contextual factors affecting the practice of SL in the partner institutions and countries, and future challenges and opportunities. Conclusions focus on SL growth and mainstreaming; SL as a core strategic pillar for developing deeper community-higher education partnerships and for strengthening civic engagement across higher education; the need to develop future research to explore these connections and the potential that SL can play in terms of increased civic, work-life and theoretical understandings and skills.

Our Gains, Pains and Hopes: Community Partners’ Perspectives of Service-Learning in an Undergraduate Business Education

In assessing the impact of service-learning, most studies focus on its effects on students’ learning than community partners and the communities served; leaving largely unanswered, the question of whether service-learning in business education still contributes value to community organizations and the wider society. This study investigates the impact of service-learning on communities through the perspectives of community partners from nonprofit and for-profit organizations in Canadian urban communities. Using semi-structured interviews and qualitative analysis, the authors collected and analyzed data from 30 participants to confirm their perspectives of service-learning in an undergraduate business education. The study found that service-learning offered practical benefits to communities and presented challenges that impacted partners’ experiences of service-learning. The penultimate sections of the paper provide recommendations for the improvement of the pedagogical practices of service-learning and advancement of community organizations. Key recommendations to maximize benefits for community partners include more faculty-community partners’ collaboration and creating networking opportunities for community partners.

Physical therapy students' perceptions for working with persons with mental illness in the USA

Physical therapists provide important services for improving health and function for the general population; however, physical therapy (PT) is infrequently accessed by persons with a primary diagnosis of severe mental illness (SMI). This study examined the attitudes of PT students before and during their participation in a service-learning (SL) program for people with SMI. A cross-sectional institutional review board approved qualitative study collected 1-h semi-structured qualitative interviews from seven graduates of a doctor of PT program. Participants were from a New Jersey University program in the USA who participated in an SMI SL experience. Participants were asked about participant attitudes toward people with SMI and their observations during a SL experience using an interview guide. All interviews were digitally recorded, transcribed, and coded using interpretive phenomenological analysis by a team of researchers. This type of qualitative analysis aims to explore participants understanding of their experience without pre-conceived theoretical direction. Recordings, transcripts, and field notes were reviewed for recurring ideas that were summarized into codes. Through independent coding, reflexivity memos, and consensus meetings, data were further analyzed to identify themes. Investigator triangulation addressed differences and aided consensus development. Before the SL experience, the students reported negative perceptions about people with SMI and feelings of uncertainty and unpreparedness to work with this population. According to student reports, SL supported their personal and professional development and allowed them to see that PT services are beneficial for people with SMI. The results of this study indicate that PT students have negative attitudes of people with SMI and feel unprepared to work with this population. The results also support SL as an effective strategy for helping students in their preparation for working with people with SMI.