scholarly journals Reflections on a Community-Based Service Learning Approach in a Geoinformatics Project Module

2016 ◽  
pp. 143-159
Author(s):  
Serena Coetzee ◽  
Victoria Rautenbach
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Community Based

Developing Interpersonal Skills of Evaluators: A Service-Learning Approach

2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 432-451
Author(s):  
Lora H. Warner
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Interpersonal Skills ◽  
Interpersonal Competence ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Technical Knowledge ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Self Confidence ◽  
Professional Self ◽  
Group Student ◽  
Insight Into

The challenge and opportunity for the field of evaluation is to prepare evaluators with sophisticated interpersonal competence alongside technical research skills. This article shows that service-learning, a “real-world” pedagogical model, holds promise as a way to educate students in evaluation while developing their interpersonal skills. While other community-based approaches offer experiential applications of evaluation methods, service-learning adds the important element of reflection to deepen student learning. A course that employed the “client-based” service-learning approach, individual-to-group student assignments, practice with interpersonal skills, and ongoing reflection activities is presented as a pedagogical approach to expand the range of interpersonal skills that can be developed among students. Student surveys showed that the course conveyed many benefits beyond technical knowledge of evaluation: use and awareness of important interpersonal skills, growing insight into their community and its people, growth of professional self-confidence, and kindling an interest in the field of evaluation.

1. The Neoliberal Logic of Service-Learning

2020 ◽  
Vol 2 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-18 ◽  
Author(s):  
Megan Snider Bailey
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Teaching And Learning ◽  
Community Partnerships ◽  
Market Forces ◽  
Community Based ◽  
University Partnerships ◽  
Economic Changes ◽  
The Public ◽  
The Relationship

<?page nr="1"?>Abstract This article investigates the ways in which service-learning manifests within our neoliberal clime, suggesting that service-learning amounts to a foil for neoliberalism, allowing neoliberal political and economic changes while masking their damaging effects. Neoliberalism shifts the relationship between the public and the private, structures higher education, and promotes a façade of community-based university partnerships while facilitating a pervasive regime of control. This article demonstrates that service-learning amounts to an enigma of neoliberalism, making possible the privatization of the public and the individualizing of social problems while masking evidence of market-based societal control. Neoliberal service-learning distances service from teaching and learning, allows market forces to shape university-community partnerships, and privatizes the public through dispossession by accumulation.

scholarly journals Supporting Older Adults and Caregivers Through Integrative Service Learning During COVID

2020 ◽  
Vol 4 (Supplement_1) ◽  
pp. 958-958
Author(s):  
Keith Chan ◽  
Sarah LaFave ◽  
Maggie Ratnayake ◽  
Christina Marsack-Topolewski ◽  
Jillian Graves ◽  
...  
Keyword(s):  
Older Adults ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Community Resources ◽  
Learning Models ◽  
Process Data ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Age In Place ◽  
Home Based ◽  
Hands On ◽  
Hands On Learning

Abstract There is a growing population of older adults who are living longer and acquiring chronic illness and disabilities, making it difficult for them to complete everyday activities and age in place. More than 2 million of these older adults are homebound and 5 million need help leaving their homes. They experience social isolation, food insecurity, and lack of connection to community resources which has intensified since the pandemic. Integrative service learning models can provide home-based support to older adults while offering valuable, hands-on learning experiences for students. This study examined findings for a community-based program which trained university students to provide practical home-based support for older adults and their caregivers. Data was collected for 109 older adults who were connected with student trainees. Students provided services with groceries, companionship, and help accessing needed services. Findings from t-test results using the UCLA Loneliness Scale indicated that older adults reported less loneliness after engagement with students (mean difference = 6.15, t = 3.14, df = 82, p &lt; 0.01). Qualitative process data suggested that older adults benefited from services and a connection to their assigned students prior to and during the pandemic. Student trainees reported that the experience enriched their learning and reaffirmed their commitment to working with older adults. Community-based service learning can address home-based needs of older adults and their caregivers and enhance learning opportunities for students. Policies and practice can support a pipeline of geriatric health professionals through innovative service learning models to benefit older adults, caregivers and students.

Environmental service-learning approach in higher education – a descriptive case study on student-led life cycle assessments of university cafeteria meals

2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Johannisson ◽  
Michael Hiete
Keyword(s):  
Higher Education ◽  
Life Cycle ◽  
Service Learning ◽  
Course Design ◽  
Course Evaluation ◽  
Learning Approach ◽  
Graduate Course ◽  
Content Type ◽  
Descriptive Case Study

Purpose This study aims to share experiences of an easy to adapt service-learning approach in a graduate course on life cycle assessment (LCA). Specifically, it reports on how students helped the university’s cafeteria to assess meals by conducting an LCA for 25 meals and identifying environmental hotspots. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive case study of a graduate course at Ulm University is presented. The course included lectures and problem-based exercises, both theoretical and software assisted. A course evaluation was conducted during the course and one year after completion to poll improvement potentials, as well as its impacts on students’ everyday life. Findings It was found that although it was the first LCA for all students, the resulting LCA information of 25 different meals were homogeneous, comparable to the scientific literature and beneficial to the cafeteria’s sustainable development strategy. The concept of service-learning had a higher impact on students’ motivation than a good grade and active-learning is explicitly requested by students. The course design sensitized students to the real-life problems of LCA and made their consumption patterns more elaborate and ecological. Furthermore, this digitization of higher education could be carried out with only minor changes in the present COVID-19 pandemic situation. Originality/value As the subject of service-learning in natural sciences is still expandable, this study presents an easy to adapt case study on how to integrate such an approach into university curricula dominated by traditional learning. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this case study presents the first published LCA university course explicitly describing and evaluating a service-learning approach. The topic touches the everyday lives of students, allows comparisons between different student groups, is easily scalable to different group sizes and credits, and supports learning both how to study in small groups and cooperation between groups to ensure comparability of LCA results.

Knowledge Transfer in Information Security Capacity Building for Community-Based Organizations

2015 ◽  
Vol 11 (4) ◽  
pp. 52-69 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine L. Spears ◽  
Tonia San Nicolas-Rocca
Keyword(s):  
Service Learning ◽  
Information Security ◽  
Knowledge Transfer ◽  
Initial Study ◽  
Security Risk ◽  
Security Risks ◽  
Community Based ◽  
Services Sector ◽  
Community Based Organizations ◽  
Study Results

Community-based organizations (CBOs) in the health and human services sector handle very sensitive client information, such as psychiatric, HIV testing, criminal justice, and financial records. With annual revenue often in the range of $1 to $10 million, these organizations typically lack the financial, labor, and technical resources to identify and manage information security risks within their environment. Therefore, information security risk assessments were conducted at CBOs as part of a university service learning course intended to ultimately improve security within participating CBOs. Knowledge transfer between trainees and trainers is essential in order for security improvements to be realized. Therefore, this paper constructs a theoretical model of knowledge transfer that is used as a lens through which to examine initial study results of the CBO interventions as part of an exploratory study.

Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document