Service Learning Commons^™

Powerful Partnership Formation And Powerful Celebration : A Case Study, Ielse Seale, Lingiwe Nogabe

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

The School of Nursing at the University of The Free State (UFS) in South Africa (SA) has been advocating service learning and engagement with communities since the late nineties. Today the UFS is truly an engaged African university where faculty members use cross-border higher education to build capacity. Service learning fosters generic and discipline specific skills in students as well as empowers local communities. Curriculum based engagement in communities is one of the fundamental aspects of the service learning pedagogy. One of the key challenges, in order to provide students with appropriate learning opportunities, was to build sustainable partnerships where …

The Principle Of Reciprocity In Service Learning : The Case Of De La Salle University, Lourdes F. Melegrito

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

Educational institutions play a significant role in social development and nation building. To realize this, the schools, especially universities and colleges must engage actively in community development and in contributing to civic growth. There is a challenge to move towards a collaborative endeavour between institutions of higher education and their larger communities for social progress. De La Salle University (DLSU), being an advocate of transformative learning, espouses Service Learning (SL).

It is offered as a response of the University to engage the academic community in addressing social disarticulations. This academic process aims to contribute in the formation of socially aware …

Civic Virtue Construction In Social Transformation : The Practice Of Service Learning In Sysu, Jiangang Zhu, Quan Hong

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

The imbalance state between development of market economy system and series of negative social events reflected a lack of civic mindedness today. Civic morality construction should play a significant role in this social transformation period. Specifically, civic education should develop students in three dimensions, right-responsibility awareness, tolerance, and spirit of volunteer. As an essential part of civic education, service-learning is to combine academic knowledge with social service, furthermore to achieve these objectives. Although, service-learning is adopted widely and developed a series of mature theories in the West, especially in America, the spread of service-learning in China is still in its …

Learning Service Leadership Through Service-Learning : Anxieties, Opportunities And Insights, Robin Stanley Snell, Yin Lee Chan, Hok Ka, Carol Ma

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

Lingnan University (LU) is one of 8 tertiary institutions in Hong Kong that have received sponsorship for undergraduate students to acquire knowledge and develop attributes relating to service leadership. Service leadership may be conceptualized as leadership for service, exercised through distributed authority, aimed at identifying and meeting genuine needs of service recipients. Building on prior experience of embedding service-learning projects into discipline-based credit bearing courses, in term 1, 2012-13, LU introduced service leadership through service-learning into four courses. A predominantly qualitative, critical-incident approach was adopted to study processes of students’ learning on these courses. Data were collected through open-ended team …

Building Partnership In Service-Learning : Some Reflections, Nirmala Jeyaraj

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

Service-Learning is a proven pedagogy for holistic learning and is practiced across the globe by educators both at secondary and tertiary levels. Different models and methods have been developed and adopted to suit one’s educational system, discipline of the learner, socio-cultural context and needs of the community. However the basic philosophy of service learning to mutually benefit the learner and the community remains the same. The success of S-L depends largely upon the partnership involved in the learning process. At micro level (within an educational institution) academic service learning involves two major players other than the community namely, the teacher …

Service-Learning And Community Partnerships : A Study Of Hong Kong Secondary School Teachers, Sek Yum Ngai, Chau Kiu Cheung, Kwok Bong Chan

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

Service-learning is becoming an increasingly popular approach to achieving both the personal and academic goals of students and the broader goals of civic responsibility and social justice in communities. Hence, it is essential to consider the important role played by community partners in supporting this kind of experiential education. Reciprocity between schools and communities has been espoused as a core principle of good practice in service-learning. However, the paucity of studies of community partnerships indicates that they are only beginning to be understood and thus require further in-depth investigation. Drawing upon five focus group interviews with 22 secondary school teachers …

What Is Learning In Service-Learning? Findings From Service-Learning Research At Beijing Normal University, Meilin Yao, Wenfan Yan, Fangfang Guo, Cong Wang, Yulan Li

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

What is learning in service-learning? The question was put forward decades ago but has not been answered clearly in the international context. Focused on this important issue, we conducted a series of studies with mixed method approach. We surveyed 844 college students and 6203 middle school students respectively in mainland China. Results indicated that most students had some experience of service activities. However, the quality of such practice was not satisfying in the aspects of duration, intensity and link to curriculum. Based on the above investigation, we conducted a service-learning program through the course of Psychology of Learning for undergraduate …

Environmental Information & Education Campaign In A Pilot Creek Community : A Civic Engagement And Learning Experience Of Communication Students Of The University Of St. La Salle, Bacolod City, Philippines, Allen Del Carmen

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

On November 19, 2012, foul odor was reported in communities that form part of the 11-kilometer length of the Cabacawan Creek in Bacolod City, Philippines. The creek, prior to its final flow into the sea, passes along the southwestern rim of the University of St. La Salle, where the university community also reported the smell of stench. University personnel also reported seeing dead fishes (Janitor fish species) carried downstream. The incident triggered a massive concern from the city government and environment groups, including the current Community Communication Class of the Communication Department of the University of St. La Salle.

Earlier …

Responding To Communities’ Information Needs : Community-Based Research As Service-Learning, Timothy K. Stanton, Viria Vichit-Vadakan

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

Most practitioners conceive of service-learning as combining student involvement in service-oriented tasks with and for communities with structured educational activities designed to develop their knowledge, character, and/or social skills and capacities. Whatever the goals for students these tasks tend to be of a direct service kind – e.g., tutoring, teaching classes, assisting the elderly, environmental clean-up, etc. Occasionally these tasks will also include administrative or public policy-related work. Rarely, however, does service-learning venture into the realm of research. This interactive workshop will explore the goals, background, characteristics, and current practices of research as a form of service-learning, including its benefits …

Think-Act-Contribute (Tac) As A Unique Way To Promote Healthy Living In Tuen Mun District, Tyan Chyi, Nicholas Ooi, Man Yee, Afra Ho

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

TAC adopted a model with three progressive learning processes: THINK, ACT & CONTRIBUTE. It aims to first prepare the community to understand the TAC concepts in different perspectives (THINK) of psychological, mental and social health. Then physical activity (ACT) will be taught through healthy exercise such as dancing and stretching. Lastly, Participants are encouraged to promote healthy exercise and knowledge in the community (Contribute) by joining the TAC Health Leaders Program.

By sharing a similar mission as Tuen Mun Healthy City Limited, we cooperate and adopt the TAC model to spread healthy ideas in the community. Unlike ordinary exercise program, …

Benefits To Dse Students Of Service-Learning Through A Community Development Model, Pui Yee, Josephine Do, Tai Wai Chor

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

Examines the impact of service-learning course "Community Arts experiences" on Hong Kong DSE students' self-concept, personal growth, community engagement, learning outcome, civil responsibility, and adaptability in less favorable working environments, for example, the ANTI violence organization and African culture group. Discusses whether service learning helps student improve their learning from primary learning (presenting information) to secondary learning (interpreting information), and evaluate how the connection between two level of learning foster "reflection" and "critical thinking".

Start With The Discovery : Improving The Process Of Community Engagement Through Appreciative Inquiry, Siddhartha Pailla, Cassandra Pruitt

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

As service-learning programs are becoming more popular with universities around the world, it is important to ensure that the programs’ participants maintain an ethical relationship with their community partners. Primary amongst the student groups’ ethical duties is to not impose unexpressed needs upon community partners. This paper presents an experience of a service-learning project in a larger service-learning program under the Water and Health in Limpopo (WHIL) research collaborative between the University of Venda (UNIVEN) and University of Virginia (UVA). The project takes place in the village of Tshapasha, South Africa, where an interdisciplinary team of service-learners composed of students …

Examining The Research Evidence For The Academic Value Of Service-Learning, Andrew Furco

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

Across the globe, service-learning is increasingly being promoted as a pedagogy for advancing student learning and educational success. Proponents of service-learning suggest that engaging students in community service experiences that are tied to the academic curriculum can enhance students’ educational experience and promote better learning. Yet, despite this growing enthusiasm for service-learning, much skepticism persists regarding the academic value of service-learning and the extent to which educational institutions should integrate this practice as part of students' formal academic curriculum.

This keynote presentation examines the current state of research on service-learning and assesses what the evidence tells us about the overall …

The Importance Of Service-Leadership In Higher Education, Po Yang Chung

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

93% of Hong Kong’s GDP is generated by the service industry, which also provides employment for 88% of the total working population of the territory. If you are not making a living through farming, fishing, hunting, mining, manufacturing or repetitive processing, chances are that you are in the service industry. In other words, unless tertiary students intend to take up a non-service job (and be among the remaining 12% of the working population), then service is likely to be their future.

Services are carried out and led by people. Service leaders are and will therefore be in great demand. The …

Civic Vision: Seeing The Invisible On The Path To A Just Society, Ronald J.O. Flores

Baccalaureate Addresses

Sociology professor Ronald J. O. Flores once collaborated with the Mohawk Nation to offer undergraduate service learning seminar on Native American Children and Youth and shares his insights on this experience with the Connecticut College community gathered for Baccalaureate, an annual celebration of the spiritual diversity of the graduating class.

Of the students in the class, he found that, "by spending time and sharing experiences, by engaging in honest and open dialogue, and by working together in the spirit of reciprocity and equality, they began to see, to feel, and perhaps to understand the injustices faced by those who were …

Building And Strengthening Ties In The Community Through Service-Learning Opportunities, Lori Auletta

Graduate Student Independent Studies

The author gives an overview of the activities of a service-learning club she formed at an independent school as well as the expansion of the service-learning into the curriculum and the efforts to integrate the community into the events at the school.

History And Hope: The International Humanitarian Reader, Kevin M. Cahill, M.D.

Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs

History and Hope: The International Humanitarian Reader provides a better understanding—both within and outside academia—of the multifaceted demands posed by humanitarian assistance programs. The Reader is a compilation of the most important chapters in the twelve-volume International Humanitarian Affairs book series published by Fordham University Press. Each selected chapter has been edited and updated. In addition, the series editor, Kevin M. Cahill, M.D., has written, among other chapters, an introductory essay explaining the academic evolution of the discipline of humanitarian assistance. It focuses on the “Fordham Experience”: its Institute of International Humanitarian Affairs (IIHA) has developed practical programs for training …

關注文化保育 重視人‧情‧地 : 嶺南大學「文化承傳計劃 : 服務研習藝行大使」, Office Of Service-Learning, Lingnan University

OSL Supplement 新聞特刊

原載於2013年4月24日《星島日報》。

Originally published in "Sing Tao Daily" 24th Apr 2013.

Jumpstart At Umass Boston, Office Of Student Leadership And Community Engagement, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Department Of Psychology, University Of Massachusetts Boston, Dever Elementary School, Early Learning Center, University Of Massachusetts Boston, John P. Holland Elementary, Yawkey Center, Dorchester Head Start, Gertrude Townsend Head Start, Roger Clap Innovation School

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Jumpstart is a national early education organization that recruits and trains college students to serve preschool children in low-income neighborhoods. Our proven curriculum helps children develop the language and literacy skills they need to be ready for kindergarten, setting them on a path to close the achievement gap before it is too late.

Upham’S Corner Main Street: Developing Ideas For Promoting Arts And Businesses In Upham’S Corner, Werner Kunz, Barbara Lewis, Upham's Corner Main Street

Office of Community Partnerships Posters

Dorchester’s Upham’s Corner neighborhood is home to a diverse mix of neighborhood residents, many historical landmarks, and a commercial district. At one point, Upham’s Corner was one of the top five market hubs for New England. It was because of this market history that the Strand Theater was built as a community home, as a community connection, and as a network. UMass Boston’s College of Management undergraduate students have developed ideas for promoting the arts and bringing businesses to the Upham’s Corner neighborhood. Assistant Professor of Marketing, Werner Kunz, coordinated the project with students in his “Services Marketing” class to …