Service-learning Project Research Articles

University Students’ Assessment of a Service-Learning Project for Developing Teaching Materials

The objective of this study is to determine the opinions of university students undergoing primary school teacher training to develop language teaching material for patients from the Children’s Hospital of Málaga, Spain, using the Service Learning (SL) methodology. Students evaluated this methodology by answering a 16-question questionnaire validated by external researchers. Academic performance was analysed using the Student’s t-test by comparing grades between an intervention and a control group. The results indicated improvements in several areas, including: the level of engagement, transversal competencies, academic performance, level of student satisfaction, and acquisition of teaching material related to the subject.

Impact of Multi-Disciplinary International Engineering Service Learning in Instilling Global Engineer Attributes among Undergraduates

International Engineering Service Learning engages multi-disciplinary and cross-cultural engineeringstudents in experiential learning through structured community service. Through participation in this effective pedagogy approach, students is expected to gain first-hand knowledge of engineering practice, global competency, actively contribute to the community through the service they performed and develop a personal appreciation for civic responsibility.In addition, what makes service learning an activity worthy of engineering course is its reflective nature. Reflective writing is one of important component in determining value of learning experience and it gives an impact on the students.This paper aimed to investigate the impact of multidisciplinary and cross-cultural engineering service learning among undergraduates through qualitative analysis done on their reflection journals. The findings indicated that this 9-day intensive program, utilizing the concept of multi-disciplinary and multi-cultural team for engineering service learning project, can be implemented to instill global engineer attributes among students.

SOCIALLY ORIENTED LEARNING AT HIGHER EDUCATION INSTITUTIONS

The concept of Service-Learning has been presented in the article. The essence and features of Service-learning have been determined. The difference between Service-Learning, volunteering and practice have been indicated. Service- Learning at the university is aimed at solving community problems, but does not involve the acquisition of professional skills and is not a part of the course in the structure of the curriculum. Practice involves the acquisition of professional skills, but is not always aimed at solving community problems. Service-Learning is defined as an educational approach that unionizes the content of academic learning with the solution of real problems of the community. Service-Learning is the delivery of a service to the community within the context of an educational program of study. Typical features of Service - Learning are: Service - meeting of real needs of the community by working together with that community; Learning - implementing in the curriculum of students (students using their academic knowledge in fieldwork for meeting real needs and real problem solving in the community). The article has presented possibilities of introduction of Service-Learning in educational process of university. The stages and cross-cutting processes of development and implementation of a Service-Learning project have been characterized. The content of project activity in the context of Service-Learning have been idefined and detailed: motivation; diagnosis; design and planning; project implementation; closure. The content of cross-cutting processes in the system of Service-Learning has been revealed: reflection; ongoing record, systematization and communication; process evaluation or monitoring. Foreign and domestic practices of Service-Learning in the conditions of universities and non-formal education have been analyzed. The advantages of Service-Learning are determined not only for specialties with a certain social component (social work, educational, pedagogical sciences), but also for other specialties. Opportunities of extrapolation of experience of Service-Learning in universities of Italy, Slovakia, and Malaysia in Ukraine have been identified. Prospects for the transformation of forms and methods of Service-Learning in Ukraine Universities have been determined experimentally. The author investigates feasibility of implementation of Service-Learning in Ukrainian Universities. The feasibility has been defined by means of questionnaires. Survey analysis shows that the vast majority of students are willing to participate in projects or initiatives that address problems and meet community needs. Also, the vast majority of students think that such projects should be implemented in the curriculum.

Research-Centered Service-Learning: MSW Student Reflections on Interviewing Incarcerated Individuals

ABSTRACT Service learning, an often-cited pedagogical approach in social work education, may be one strategy to assuage student anxiety about research course work and create continuity in siloed course content. The present study sought to provide an understanding of the impact of a service-learning project embedded in a first-year, graduate-level research course. Nineteen students conducted structured interviews with individuals who were incarcerated for drug-related offenses in a rural jail. Students provided written reflections on their experiences, which were subsequently analyzed using an open-coding method. Ten codes emerged from the data that revealed three major themes: the experience, beyond the structured interview, and gratitude and growth. Student reflections demonstrated a consideration of research methodology with a vulnerable population. Moreover, they demonstrated critical thinking on the intersection of mental illness, substance use, and criminal justice in rural communities and an increased awareness of the intersection of research, practice, and policy. The study provides evidence of the multifaceted utility of service learning and its potential to affect student learning beyond the substantive content of a given course.

Preparing Teacher Candidates with Global Competencies: Taking Action on the Global Water Crisis with Service Learning

ABSTRACT Clean water is a basic necessity for sustaining life. Not only important for drinking, water is also necessary for good health and sanitation. The United Nations emphasizes the need for clean water in their Sustainable Development Goal 6, which seeks to ensure availability and sustainable management of water and sanitation for all people of the world by 2030. Despite the global attention related to accessing clean water, many future educators are not aware of issues related to Water, Sanitation, and Hygiene (i.e., WASH) nor are they aware of the extent of the global water crisis. It is imperative that teacher education helps prepare teacher candidates to become globally competent as well as equipped to guide classroom students into taking action on WASH-related issues, including the global water crisis. The aim of this article is to describe and report on a case study of the implementation of a global service-learning project with teacher candidates. The case study is situated at a regional, teaching-focused university located in the southcentral region of the United States (n = 49). Our study examines teacher candidates’ perceptions of the service-learning project in relation to developing global competencies like “Investigating the World” and “Taking Action” about WASH issues.

СУСПІЛЬНО ОРІЄНТОВАНЕ НАВЧАННЯ ПІД ЧАС ПІДГОТОВКИ ФАХІВЦІВ СОЦІАЛЬНОЇ РОБОТИ (НА ПРИКЛАДІ СТВОРЕННЯ ASSET-КАРТИ)

The article highlights the peculiarities of the service-learning approach in social work education, namely the creation of an asset-map for combatants. The analysis of the concept of service-learning in the scientific and practical literature is done taking into account the national and foreign context. The interpretation of the term “service-learning” as socially oriented learning is defined. The article indicates the content of the approach of service-learning, which consists of the use of components that combine academic learning outcomes and community assistance. A model of service-learning which demonstrates the interdependence of the components of academic training and different types of student involvement (volunteering, practice, ministry) is described. The authors identify the fundamental difference between volunteering and service-learning. The benefits of service-learning and its advantages are described as the basic principles of the approach, including the application of professional and scientific knowledge, creating conditions for involving all students in this activity, community engagement, research of group / community / society needs, implementation of useful services for a specific group / community / society, etc. The authors analyzed the method of resource mapping and defined the concept of asset-map as an effective way to visualize data about available resources in the community. Examples of asset-maps developed by scientists and practitioners from around the world are described. The novelty of the article is the description of the service-learning project implementation within the course "Fundamentals of social and legal protection", and educational practice for social work students. The project is aimed at such a category of the population as participants in hostilities. The authors described the stages, implementation, features and issues, as well as the main results of the project. The value of the project was determined from the standpoint of service-learning, namely in the context of social impact, educational impact, community participation.

Social Justice in the Preparation of English Language Teachers

The neoliberal system in Chile has caused socio-educational inequities which have been evidenced by the poor academic results of public school students in national and international standardized tests in Math, Language, Science, and English. These inequities and academic results call for preparing teachers to help diminish disparities in the educational system. Nonetheless, the focus of preparing teachers of English as a Foreign Language (EFL) in Chile has been on developing pedagogical-disciplinary knowledge, leaving aside other areas that can contribute to fight these educational inequities. This article reports on the results of a mixed-method study aimed at investigating how a service-learning project helped future EFL teachers understand social justice after teaching children in vulnerable communities. Specifically, this study explored the influence of the project on their understanding of social justice, and the activities that helped them understand this construct. Thirty-nine pre-service teachers enrolled in a language teaching methodology course at a Chilean university participated answering pre- and post- surveys, focus groups, and evaluating activities. The findings revealed that the pre-service teachers broadened their understanding of social justice by providing definitions that included key concepts of this construct, without receiving explicit instruction; highly valued activities that consisted of being immersed in the communities and working with children to learn about social justice; and did not associate social justice with traditional activities done in a language teaching methodology course. This service-learning project had a positive impact on the participants' understanding of social justice, and provided insights into how to improve the curriculum of EFL teacher education programs.

Chapter 9: Writing as Capital: The Emancipatory Act of Writing for Profit, Advocacy, and Charity

Context Writing is an agentive act. Despite drastic improvements over the past few decades in writing instruction and the push for sharing with authentic audiences, the majority of writing students do is still for the teacher. These practices are at odds with those who advocate for classrooms that are culturally relevant, culturally responsive, and culturally sustaining. When students write for the sole purpose of “doing school,” they are denied opportunities to use their writing voices to write about, for, and within their communities. Writing is used to empower—to pose problems and solve them. The distribution of that writing is equally important. Publication matters. It is in the distribution and response to writing that one can experience the power of written words to impact one's world. Purpose In this chapter, we outline authentic purposes for writing centered on culturally relevant, responsive, agentive, and sustaining pedagogies. We describe the writer's workshop, an instructional structure in which to embed these pedagogies. The writer's workshop is the setting in which these students were situated to write purposefully. We take the reader into three classrooms using descriptive vignettes. The three classroom vignettes presented frame emancipatory writing for (a) personal profit to reinforce the value—monetary and social—of using one's intellectual skills and written words for personal gain; (b) advocacy—through fostering critical consciousness that explores equitable and just familial structures and relationships and monetizing written words to directly impact a family through adoption; and (c) charity—through a service-learning project in which students used writing to influence others to financially support a charity that helps people who have been impacted by oppression in the forms of kidnapping, trafficking, and modern-day slavery. Research Design This is a narrative accounting of three teachers’ experience implementing this practice in their own classrooms. Conclusions In all three instances, children were agents who wrote for monetary motivation— seeking and acquiring capital for themselves, for others, or to effect desired social change. Moreover, the outcomes were achieved by students who used their skills and worked within their capacities to meaningfully effect change. Suggestions for implementation and generalization are offered.

Service Learning with a Gender Perspective: Reconnecting Service Learning with Feminist Research and Pedagogy in Sociology

Service learning (SL) is growing in our universities and in Spain. However, still much action and research are needed with a gender perspective. This article aims to evaluate an SL project that consisted of workshops in schools on gender and technology. We evaluated the experience with a mixed-methods approach and a gender perspective. This includes qualitative self-reports of 19 university students of sociology of gender as well as quantitative surveys completed by the 284 school students and 13 of their teachers. Our results indicate a great satisfaction among university students as well as the schools. This SL experience helped our university students to acquire specific knowledge regarding gender and social issues as well as several skills, especially communication, organization, empathy, critical thinking, and social and gender awareness and responsibility. Therefore, we conclude that such experiences show a great potential for learning as well as for social and gender transformations.

An Examination of Intragroup Process in Service-Learning Teams

Small group work performed in the context of university service-learning projects has been seen as a vehicle well-suited to teaching students about group dynamics and how to work on real world problems as members of a team. Little research, however, has focused on the intragroup processes involved in service-learning. The present study was conducted in the context of a service-learning project in which twenty groups of four to five university business school students taught continuation high school students a series of lessons regarding life skills such as goal setting and career readiness. The lesson planning sessions of the university students were video recorded and the videos were then analyzed for patterns of utterances by group participants (questions; instructions; suggestions; etc.) that occurred during the sessions. An iterative process of coding and recoding was employed to capture each behavior for further study. The results suggest that the groups engaged in a surprising level of meaningful collaboration, with leadership shared among group members, and little evidence of individual dominance of groups, or conflict between students.

How Service Learning Can Impact Medical Students’ Perceptions of Social Responsibility

As criticism intensifies regarding healthcare disparities, the Liaison Committee for Medical Education has added accrediting standards mandating Service Learning (SL) in their curriculum. SL is a viable educational method to enhance social responsibility and other elements of professional identity. The problem of implementing highly effective SL projects in medical education was addressed in this study. Kiely’s model of transformational SL was used in this basic qualitative study to examine 10 medical students’ experiences during an SL project. The research question for the study was focused on the students’ descriptions of their experiences to understand how they perceived changes in themselves resulting from participation in SL. Findings from the data collected with semistructured interviews indicated that medical students described SL experiences as beneficial for community integration, educating others, and gratification. They expressed disappointment that they did not know the results of their projects. They related SL experiences that were eye-opening for them and stated that SL influenced their development of compassion as well as their intent to serve their community in their future practice of medicine. The resulting research study consisted of a curriculum plan for a required, credit-bearing SL project. The research contributes to positive social change by the intentional design of a transformative SL curriculum to foster social responsibility development.

COVID-19 Modifications to a Service-Learning Project Designed to Prepare Special Education Students to Be Effective Participants in Transdisciplinary Collaborations

This research study examined the impact of COVID-19 on university students’ perceptions about the effectiveness of a community-based service-learning project designed to prepare graduate students in special education and undergraduate students in psychology and speech-language pathology to work in transdisciplinary teams in early childhood settings. Students were placed into transdisciplinary teams and assigned to one of two community-based early childhood programs to administer a universal screening tool that assessed young children in several domains. The project was in its sixth year when the country stood still because of the COVID-19 pandemic. The project was re-envisioned, mid-course, to provide an equitable and rigorous assignment for students who were unable to complete the original assignment due to the lockdown. Student perceptions were compared, pre and post COVID; subsequent results are discussed in alignment with the original four goals of the project. Additionally, suggestions are posed to position this service-learning assignment for remote delivery should the pandemic persist to disrupt higher education.

Virtual Service-Learning in Higher Education. A Theoretical Framework for Enhancing its Development

The last decade have witnessed the unprecedented development of information and communication technologies. This has, in turn, enabled the growth and development of other sectors, such as, for example, that of distance and on-line learning. In this context of technological expansion in education it is appropriate to reflect pedagogically about technological resources and their educational purpose. That is, how to deploy the available technological resources and media in a fashion consistent with the desired educational objectives and aims. Virtual Service-Learning has emerged as a particular modality of this methodology that combines and reinforces two elements: technology applied to education and service as a pedagogic tool. This format then, reveals itself as an appropriate methodology through which to channel both technical and pedagogic innovation. In this work and, taking as reference a study focusing on two virtual Service-Learning projects, we will address the construction of a theoretical framework that will allow us to understand and improve the development of these practices through this pedagogic modality.

Service learning in an undergraduate adulthood and aging course: using life stories to connect students, content, and community

ABSTRACT The project described in this paper was designed for an undergraduate course titled the “Psychology of Adulthood and Aging”. This course, capped at 20 students, is typically comprised of psychology, pre-nursing, and family studies students. The student learning objectives (SLO’s) for the course are: 1) to understand and apply current theory and research techniques in the interdisciplinary field of gerontology, 2) to demonstrate effective written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills, 3) to learn about ways to provide services to aging adults by interacting with a local community service provider, 4) to identify and give examples of sociocultural forces that shape adult development. The goal of the service-learning project described in this paper is to facilitate these learning objectives through the lens of life stories from older adults (65+) in the local community. Student teams (typically 2–3 students) were paired with non-cognitively impaired older adults aged from a local adult day health facility. The outputs of this class project were a professionally published life story of the adult interviewee, student reflections throughout the semester documenting experiences with the project, and a term paper exploring a comprehensive theory of aging through the lens of the life story they wrote.

Environmental Justice Ethnography in the Classroom: Teaching Activism, Inspiring Involvement

In this era of industry deregulation, gutting of environmental protections, and science denial, environmental justice applied anthropology is more important than ever. There is growing ethnographic research into the ways people organize themselves and take action to protect their families and communities from toxins while demanding accountability from polluting industries and the state. When students encounter this literature in university curricula and when service-learning projects are part of coursework, the experiences they gain can inform their personal lives long after the semester ends. Five anthropologists share experiences teaching environmental justice ethnography courses. Their pedagogy addresses critical questions of ethical research and student positionality.

La reflexión en el Aprendizaje-Servicio Universitario en Actividad Física y Deporte. Claves para el aprendizaje personal, académico y profesional

Este artículo analiza los procesos reflexivos que tiene el alumnado en el diseño, desarrollo y evaluación de proyectos de Aprendizaje-Servicio Universitario. Estos procesos incrementan el aprendizaje y las competencias del alumnado, se logran mejores niveles de éxito, así como un cambio de mirada hacia la comunidad y hacia los colectivos receptores que presentan situaciones de desventaja social. El estudio que se presenta utiliza como técnica de investigación el análisis de contenido. La información se recoge mediante cuestionarios reflexivos empleados en la evaluación formativa de los proyectos Aprendizaje-Servicio en Actividad Física y el Deporte de la Universidad Autónoma de Madrid. Los resultados muestran evidencias claras sobre la utilidad de los procesos reflexivos para hacer consciente al estudiante de lo que aprende y lo que necesita para aprender, a partir de la revisión crítica y consciente de lo que hace y aporta a la comunidad. El ámbito de la formación, la adquisición de competencias específicas y transversales son las dimensiones que más protagonismo tienen para el alumnado, mientras que las vinculadas con el escenario profesional son escasas. El estudio presenta limitaciones porque las reflexiones se extraen de un solo instrumento, pudiendo complementar los hallazgos con otras técnicas (diarios, informes de aprendizajes, etc.).

Integrating International Exchange Students into Local Service-Learning Projects in Hong Kong

Through qualitative research, which involved qualitative interviews and focus group meetings with members of four student teams, we identified a number of barriers to the development of cohesiveness in teams of local and international exchange (IE) students, who were undertaking service-learning (SL) together. Lack of cohesiveness in such teams resulted in the psychological withdrawal of some of the IE students and appeared to reduce opportunities to derive developmental benefits. Barriers to cohesiveness identified by the students included language, conflicting priorities, and East-West cultural differences. We also identified how students took action to remove the barriers to cohesiveness. These actions included conducting internal team meetings in English and arranging for local students to provide interpretation in meetings with community stakeholders. Students reported that the major developmental benefits associated specifically with working cohesively in a cross-cultural team were improved English language skills, greater interpersonal adaptability, and appreciation of diversity. We offer practical suggestions about how educators can prepare local and IE students to work together effectively on SL projects and about further research. Studies of projects undertaken by inter-cultural SL teams at host universities in other jurisdictions would facilitate the generalizability of the findings.

Making Personal Finance Personal: The Use Of Service-Learning In Personal Finance Classes

Service-learning integrates community service and classroom instruction and promotes civic awareness and significant learning. This paper describes an innovation in pedagogy through a service-learning project within personal finance classes at a Christian university. In this project, college students create art projects explaining basic personal finance concepts to second graders and lead an interactive lesson at a local school. This project provides an example of biblical financial stewardship through giving of one’s money, time, and talents.

Global service learning: A unique educational pathway for community engagement and student scholarship development

AbstractIntroductionService learning is an educational tool that can augment classroom learning with experiential practice. The Purdue Kenya Partnership (PKP) has utilized elective service learning activities to aid student development in research, community engagement, and professional writing.ObjectiveThe purpose of this research is to share PKP's experience in strategically engaging student pharmacists in service learning while completing an 8‐week global health advanced pharmacy practice experience in Eldoret, Kenya.MethodsA retrospective review of PKP's service learning activities conducted between 2004 and 2019 was completed. An outcome‐approach logic model was used to evaluate the program using descriptive statistics to capture the scholarly output and impacts.ResultsPKP has established sustainable relationships with five community partners and completed 23 unique service learning projects lead by 69 individual students. A total of $76 510 was awarded for service learning projects between 2008 and 2019. Students translated their service learning activities into 64 professional posters at regional, national, and international meetings as well as 12 manuscripts between 2004 and 2019.ConclusionPKP has impacted student development through their inclusion of service learning activities. It is used as a pathway for research skill development as evidenced by the student posters, grants, and publications as well as developed long‐standing community partner relationships.

Striking a Strategic Balance: Enhancing Corporate Philanthropy through Service Learning

Corporate giving is increasingly important to the nonprofit sector. However, corporate philanthropy has been slow to adopt insights from the sector’s decades-long experimentation with strategic philanthropy. This article explores the question of how corporate philanthropy might leverage service learning partnerships with students in university-based nonprofit education programs to enhance strategy and maximize social impact. We propose a model for strategic corporate philanthropy comprising two axes, on which the corporation can gauge whether its giving is more proactive or reactive, and technocratic or humanistic, to find a balance between strategy and rigidity. Qualitative data were collected from a service learning project between Toyota Motor North America, Master of Public Administration (MPA) students at a Texas university, and residents of an economically challenged area of West Dallas. Findings suggest that service learning partnerships can help corporate philanthropists strike an appropriate strategic balance, whereby the corporation, individuals being served, and students all benefit.