Service Learning Commons^™

Fearless: Heather Thomas, Heather L. Thomas

SURGE

This week we would like to recognize recent graduate and AmeriCorps VISTA volunteer Heather Thomas ’13, who is returning to Gettysburg as the fearless new coordinator for the Adams County Food Policy Council. [excerpt]

Milking The System: Do Poor People Deserve Fresh Food?, Melanie M. Meisenheimer

SURGE

Poor Americans are all lazy, selfish people who must first prove their worth as human beings if they want to be able to feed their children.

It sounds harsh, stereotypical, and judgmental when you put it like that, and few people would feel comfortable saying that exact phrase. However, it’s a perception of poverty in America that I’ve found still has a strong grip on our way of thinking. [excerpt]

Ua41 University College Connection, Dennis K. George, Dean, Wendi Kelley, University College, Western Kentucky University

UC Publications

No abstract provided.

Fearless: Melanie Meisenheimer, Melanie M. Meisenheimer

SURGE

After returning from a year in France and Cameroon, Melanie Meisenheimer ‘14 is fearlessly taking on the responsibility of running The Gleaning Project for the South Central Community Action Programs (SCCAP) in Gettysburg this summer. She’ll coordinate the collection of gleaned fruits and vegetables from local farms and the distribution to emergency food services - making fresh, local healthy food a reality for low-income families! [excerpt]

An Impact Study On The Tua-United Board 2011 Community Project : Enabling Community Towards Sustaining A Healthy Environment, Cesar D. Orsal, Jean Maglaque, Divino Jr. Cantal

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

No abstract provided.

Figures In International Service Project, Joseph Lam, Wing Ying, Winnie Lee, Renee Leung

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

As the Hong Kong society continues to promote the culture of caring for the needy, more students are encouraged to participate in voluntary services during their primary and secondary school study. These students have experiences to serve the needy in forms of social gathering activities, tour guiding & language tutorial…etc, which enhance their confidence and motivation to attempt service learning projects in future.

Based on surveyed figures of the students participated in different service learning projects in the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, at the early stage of the projects, it is revealed that these students would easily overlook the dimension …

Service Learning In Rural China, Diane Geng

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

This paper discusses opportunities for and suitability of Service Learning as a teaching methodology in formal and non-formal settings in rural mainland China. It describes how Service Learning aligns with and fulfills goals of China’s national curriculum reforms and fosters values and skills useful to rural Chinese children and youth in improving their own lives and communities. Examples of Service Learning projects in rural Shanxi and Guangdong Provinces supported by the Rural China Education Foundation (RCEF) illustrate the potential of Service Learning as a powerful framework for curriculum development and teaching. The Rural China Education Foundation, founded in 2005, works …

Stewardship Of Water Through Ensuring Sustainable Development Of River Banks, Justin R. Nayagam

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

The state Kerala is blessed with scenic beauty and appears evergreen throughout the year as it regularly receives South West and North West monsoons. The wetlands of Kerala provide myriad of biological functions lending ecological and economic sustainability to the region. However, due to immense biotic interferences, such habitats are under threat, and have shrunken in size considerably. The present work is an attempt to develop awareness in students, farmers and commoners on the degree of habitat destruction; and to implement strategies for eco-restoration of specific sites under study. Ten students of graduate stream and two from post graduate level …

Practicing Service Learning In Teacher Education As A Force To Address Social Problems, Leonilla Menezes

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Higher education has a long standing commitment to serving society. From the earlier days the objective of higher education has been for developing professionals who serve society, engaging learned individuals in civic responsibility, and creating leaders to head industry, community organizations, and government. Today we see higher education’s role in serving the public good is becoming defined narrowly as the education of students for the workforce and promote material civilization. Higher education’s current commitment needs to be rethought and refocused to meet the current needs of society. Working with the Community has been a regular practice in Teacher Education. The …

Research On School-Family-Community Inter-Coupling Education Model With Skill-Building Approach In China, Lifu Shang, Huiying Xu, Wujing Harrison, Yaqing Shen

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

School-Family-Community Inter-coupling Education Model is to explore and construct an experiential learning mechanism for public benefit education (service learning), with students in the center, on the cornerstone of family education, driven by school education, propped by community education and bonded through service activities, with the aim to open up a pathway for youth education reform suitable for China’s circumstance. Students are the key players in observing, researching and/or identifying public affairs issues and needs from their own perspectives under the guidance of teachers, parents and community leaders, taking initiatives to improve the public affairs around family, school and community through …

“Xiguan House” : Exploration And Practice Of Taxation Service, Zhaohui Long

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

No abstract provided.

The Practice Of Reflection As A Mean To Develop Reflective Intercultural Competence And Its Assessment Through The Rica Model, Lavinia Bracci, Jules M. Bella Owona

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

The IC is an independent, non-profit organization with the objective of promoting intercultural exchange around the world through a commitment to service-learning and community engagement. From the general observation of the fast development of intercultural sensitivity of the students participating in our service-learning program, in 2004 the IC faculty designed an instructional approach called Full-immersion: Culture, Content, Service (FICCS) (Bracci & Filippone 2009). In 2008 the IC faculty designed the Reflective Intercultural Assessment Model (RICA) (Biagi et al. 2012) to measure the unique competence resulting from the use of the FICCS approach: Reflective Intercultural Competence, or RIC (idem).

RIC is …

Serving Others With Unity Of Knowledge And Practice, Qiaohong, Helen Huo

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

服务-学习是一种将社区服务与课程学习相结合的有效教学方法。多年来，学者们总结出各种服务-学习的模式，其中课程型的社区参与服务-学习模式最能体现服务-学习的最终目标。 课程型的社区参与服务-学习分为必修课和选修课两种。我院结合旅游管理专业特性，面向本专业已经具有志愿服务意愿和实践的义工队队员开设了两学期的服务学习选修课，服务学习（一）和服务学习（二），4学分。按照服务学习先学校后社区，先泛后专的阶梯模式，逐步引导同学运用专业知识服务他人，服务社区，并从社区服务实践中提升了对社会的关注和社会责任感，全面提升同学的沟通能力、团队合作能力、分析和解决问题的能力。我们相信，学生只有先走进社区，了解社区基层人员的真实需要，将需要转化为学习课题和实践项目，才可以让服务学习具有持久的生命力。

University Campus As Service Site : Addressing Campus Needs Through Service-Learning, Hau Hing, Elaine Tang

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Service-Learning (S-L) has been proven in many studies to be a good means for promoting university students’ civic / community engagement (e.g. Vickers, Harris & McCarthy, 2004; Astin et al., 2006). A vast majority of the services in S-L courses in Higher Education take place in partnering service agencies and communities they serve, such as elderly homes and social enterprises. The idea that university campus is a community with unique needs and therefore a potential service site is often neglected. There are indeed social needs within university campuses, such as food waste (e.g. UC Berkeley, 2012; The City University of …

Preparing For Future Responsible Business Operators : Engaging Young Generation For Corporate Social Responsibility, Gorri Lau

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Deloitte China is committed to making a clear and positive difference to our community through our inclusive approach. As we grow and develop our business, we also help our local communities to grow and develop by reinvesting an appropriate portion of our firm's knowledge, skills and resources into the priority needs of China which we deem to be education and the environment.

We are here to share some of our education and skills building programs in China, and one of which is our Village Adoption Program in Yunnan, a six-year project jointly implemented by Deloitte China and Lingnan University since …

Service-Learning As A New Approach To Teaching And Learning In South Africa, Mabel Erasmus

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Until the early 1990s South Africa was largely isolated from the rest of the world. The end of the Apartheid era, marked by the first democratic elections in 1994, was followed by the adoption of a new South African Constitution (1996) hailed as one of the most advanced human rights manifests in the world. South Africa could reconnect with the rest of the world. The new dispensation required transformation from almost every sector of society. In higher education transformation meant broadening democratic participation, responsiveness to societal challenges and partnership-building. “Community engagement”, integrated with research and teaching–learning, became a primary vehicle …

Liberal Education With Chinese Characteristics : Service Learning Concept And Practice, Huanwen Cheng

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

This presentation introduced the service learning in liberal education program of Sun Yat-sen University (中山大學博雅教育計劃).

1. Service Learning Program in Guangzhou community
2. Service Learning Program at Guangzhou Library
3. Service Learning Program at Wenchuan and Beichuan Library

Empowerment Through Arts, Hsiao Mei Ku

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

The power of art is undeniable. Art can heal the human spirit; art can shed light on a willing mind; and it can help individuals express the inexpressible, discover the unknown, and create inspiration and hope. The question framed in this paper is: How can the seeds for artistic growth be sown, and what value can it have for society at large? Chinese culture extols the virtue of diligence, and students are praised for high academic performance. However, many promising Chinese students lose interest in applying creativity at school when test scores become the only measurement for their success. As …

The Use Of A Learning Management System To Enhance Collaboration Among Service Learning Participants, Elanie Myburgh

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Service learning participants normally communicate with one another via regular communication methods like landline telephones, cell-phones (including sms) and e-mail. Students, lecturers and community members involved in service learning often comment that there is not enough direct collaboration and communication among all of them as service learning participants. Strand et al. (2003:56) mentioned that web-based software such as Blackboard (a learning management system) provides a useful platform for sharing information regarding the module, including written materials and meeting schedules. Bringle, Clayton and Price (2009:8) propose that, for purposes of effective relationship-building, service learning practitioners must be prepared to articulate a …

The Hakka’S Practice : Philanthropy Ethics And Cultural Conservation In Rural China, Shuo Wang, Huan Xiong

Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning 亞太地區服務研習會議

Our service-learning study rooted in the rural Hakka communities in Guangdong during the summer vacation in 2012 and the winter vacation in 2013. The study had two branches. On one hand, by visiting Weilong houses (Hakka’s traditional earthen building), we endeavored to record the status quo of those old houses as the material cultural heritage, and to look for the methods to protect them. On the other hand, we tried to record and summarize the Hakka’s philanthropic practice, and to discover the tradition that has affected their way of thinking and acting in philanthropy. Meanwhile, we made a survey of …