Service-Learning Exchange in Developed Cities: Dissonances and Civic Outcomes

2021 ◽  
pp. 105382592110659
Author(s):  
Rina Marie Camus ◽  
Cindy H. Y. Lam ◽  
Grace Ngai ◽  
Stephen C. F. Chan

Background: The context of learning, which includes the host country, is an important variable of service-learning. Since international service-learning programs often take place in developing countries, studies about their impact and outcomes commonly draw from experiences in developing countries. Purpose: We investigate service-learning experience in developed, urban settings focusing on dissonances and civic outcomes, key areas of service-learning pedagogy. Methodology/Approach: This an instrumental case study based on a small group sample of 12 Asian student participants of a service-learning exchange to partner universities in the USA. Findings/Conclusions: Findings suggest that developed cities can be fertile grounds for impactful dissonances and civic learning. “First-world expectations” increased or intensified dissonances students experienced. Confronting urban poverty and other social issues in cities similar to their own led students to see domestic problems with fresh eyes. Implications: Service-learning exchange in developed cities can facilitate understanding social problems particularly in the way these occur in developed countries and promises transferability of learning. However, students need prompting to connect experiences overseas to home contexts and draw practical consequences. Faculty or staff assistance is necessary to help students constructively cope with powerful dissonances.

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
pp. 1-26 ◽  
Author(s):  
Aparna Bhatia ◽  
Binny Makkar

Purpose This paper aims to examine and compare the nature and extent of corporate social responsibility (CSR) reporting practices of companies in developing (BRICS [Brazil, Russia, India, China and South Africa]) and developed (the USA and the UK) countries. Design/methodology/approach Content analysis is conducted on the annual reports and websites of 325 companies listed on stock exchanges of developing markets and of developed markets (Brazil – IBrX 100, 46 companies; Russia – Broad Market Index, 50 companies; India – BSE 100, 50 companies; China – SSE 180, 29 companies; South Africa – FTSE/JSE All Share index, 50 companies; the USA – NYSE 100, 50 companies; the UK – FTSE 100, 50 companies). Descriptives are used to calculate company wise and item wise scores. T-test analysis is applied to check for significant differences between mean scores of developing and developed countries. Findings The findings of the study reflect that developed countries have higher CSR disclosure scores than developing countries. Overall, mean CSR disclosure score of developed countries is 53.5%, followed by that of the developing countries at 49.4%. Developed countries take lead in CSR disclosure for all the five categories, namely, human resources, community, environment, customer and product and others. The results of independent sample T-test suggest that mean disclosure score of developing nations is significantly different from developed nations. Practical implications As suggested by the results, the gap in the CSR disclosure scores between developing and developed group of countries is not an alarming one. However, developing countries should practice CSR in spirit and not just in letter. Focus should not be on just filling the pages in black and white, rather the essence of CSR should be attained for balanced development of the country. For instance, though developing country like India has high score of CSR disclosure in contrast to each of the developed country taken in the sample, yet the country is still battling with several issues such as poverty, over-population, corruption, poor standard of working conditions for the employees and environmental conservation. Sustenance should focus upon renewable sources of energy; efforts of employees should be acknowledged offering flexible working hours; consumer trust should be built by communicating authentic and accurate information about the product. As developing countries encounter several social and environmental problems, companies must endeavor to build a healthy nation keeping in mind the welfare of all stakeholders by practicing CSR. Originality/value This study overcomes the limitations of prior cross-country studies by taking a better representative sample with greater number of countries belonging to identifiable group of “developing” and “developed” nations and thus attempts to improve generalization and authenticity of results.


Curationis ◽  
2015 ◽  
Vol 38 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Staja Q. Booker

Background: The unprecedented global growth in older adults merits high-quality gerontological nursing care. As gerontological nursing grows in visibility in developed and developing countries, nurses must possess a broader worldview of ageing with knowledge of physiological, psychosocial, and cultural issues.Purpose: The purpose of this article is to: (1) highlight lessons learned on differences and similarities in ageing and care of older adults in the United States of America (USA) and South Africa (SA); and (2) provide recommendations on how to advance gerontological nursingeducation in SA.Methods: A two-week international service-learning project was undertaken by visiting SA and learning about their nursing system and care of older adults. Service-learning is an innovative teaching-learning-service method that provided reflective and hands-on experience of gerontological nursing. This article provides a personal reflection of lessons learned about ageing and gerontological nursing during the service-learning project.Findings: Care of older adults in SA is in many ways different from and similar to that in the USA. Consequently global nurses should recognise those differences and provide culturally appropriate care. This service-learning experience also demonstrated the need for gerontological nursing education in SA. Based on this, recommendations on how to infuse and advance gerontological nursing education in SA are provided.Conclusion: Caring for older adults in a global context requires knowledge and understanding of cultures and their values and practices. With a growing population of diverse older adults, there is a need for incorporation


2008 ◽  
Vol 102 (3) ◽  
pp. 791-796 ◽  
Author(s):  
James E. Weber ◽  
Paula S. Weber ◽  
Barney L. Craven

As service-learning projects have spread throughout academia, efforts to assess the service-learning experience have assumed a greater importance. The BERSI scale (Business Education's Role in addressing Social Issues) was developed as a measure of business students' attitudes toward social issues being addressed as part of a business education. As such, it was intended to be useful in assessing attitudinal outcomes of service learning. In order for the BERSI to be useful for nonbusiness students, the scale would need to be reconceptualized and revalidated. This study modified the BERSI items with a focus on college students in general rather than business students, making the resulting scale, College Education's Role in addressing Social Issues (CERSI), potentially helpful to service-learning researchers in a broader setting. The CERSI scale was then validated using standard techniques and normative data were reported.


2010 ◽  
Author(s):  
Özlen Hiç

The global economic crisis first started in the USA in September 2008 as a widespread insolvency problem caused by mortgage debts of households that had become unpayable. The financial crisis, in turn, caused a serious recession. The economic crisis soon spread to other developed countries because their banks held assets of US banks that had become nearly worthless while exports of these countries to the USA decreased significantly. Then it spread to developing countries because direct private investments (DPIs) and financial funds flowing from developed to developing countries declined precipitously while exports of the latter to the former countries also fell down. The developed countries, however, took proper steps to ameliorate the crisis by lowering the interest rates, helping the insolvent banks financially as wel as launching public expenditure programmes. Turkey was one of the worst hit countries because she had been following wrong globalization strategies. Privatization process was corrupt while much of the DPIs went to those fields which did not yield much increase in employment or export potential. But most importantly, Turkey had raised interest rates to abnormally high levels and thereby had vastly expanded her internal and external debts. Hence, as a result of the global economic crises, Turkey suffered a significantly deep fall in her GNP growth rate and a very big increase in her unemployment rate. Though Turkey took several measures to ameliorate the balance of payments deficit and to expand total demand, hence production, the government refrained from making a stand-by agreement with the IMF in order to avoid strict discipline in her government expenditures due to first, local elections and presently, the coming parliamentary elections.


Author(s):  
DeMond S. Miller

Rowan University Hurricane Katrina Recovery Team Project is a service learning endeavor undertaken by students and faculty in various disciplines at Rowan University. The objectives of this service learning endeavor are threefold. The main objective is to help distressed communities in the Gulf Coast Region. Second, this project seeks to not only address broader social issues but to also leave a tangible contribution or impact in the area while asking the following questions: what do we as professional engineers have as a responsibility to the communities we serve, and what do we leave in the community to make it a better, more equitable place to live? The last objective is the management team’s successful assessment of the experience, including several logistical challenges. To this end, this article seeks to help other student-led projects by relaying our service learning experience in a coherent, user-friendly manner that serves as a model experience. By offering peer-to-peer advice in service learning, we wish to break down apprehension about service-learning opportunities and serve as a catalyst for other such endeavors. First, this paper will cover the importance of such endeavors as well as the methods and organizational skills used to design a project. Next, it will illustrate the type of work that was completed in an effort to help rebuild the New Orleans area. Finally, it will offer advice and recommendations for other students organizing similar projects by evaluating a multi-team project approach.


2021 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 119-126
Author(s):  
Shaheer Ahmed ◽  
◽  
Usama Waqar ◽  
Kantesh Kumar Lohana ◽  
Daniyal Ali Khan ◽  
...  

Abstract: Background: Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) has influenced all continents, prompting extraordinary efforts on worldwide research and publications to alleviate the crisis. Methods: We conducted a bibliometric review using Scopus to assess its impact on global scientific production. We searched for the following terms in titles, abstracts, and keywords to identify relevant literature published until 9th January 2021: 2019 novel coronavirus, 2019-nCoV, SARS-CoV-2, COVID-19, coronavirus disease-19, coronavirus disease 2019. Results: Our results retrieved 86,624 documents from 159 countries with the USA, China, and UK being the top three contributors. Overall citation count was 769,811 with documents from China being cited most. In terms of h-index, China, USA, and UK ranked highest respectively. Conclusion: Most publications were associated with developed countries that were hit the earliest and/or hardest. This impact on scientific publications was less pronounced in developing countries like Pakistan, highlighting the immediate need to support and facilitate research on COVID-19 in these countries. Keywords: COVID-19, Research, Bibliometric analysis, Publications, SARS-CoV-2, Developing countries, Research and development.


2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ahmad Ghandour ◽  
Viktor Shestak ◽  
Konstantin Sokolovskiy

Purpose This paper aims to study the developed countries’ experience on the cyberbullying legal regulation among adolescents, to identify existing shortcomings in the developing countries’ laws and to develop recommendations for regulatory framework improvement. Design/methodology/approach The authors have studied the state regulatory practice of the UK, the USA, Canada, Malaysia, South Africa, Turkey, UAE and analyzed the statistics of 2018 on the cyberbullying manifestation among adolescents in these countries. Findings The study results can encourage countries to create separate cyberbullying legislation and periodically review and modify already existing legislation. Originality/value The study provides a list of the recommendations to regulate cybercrime in developing countries and prevent it as well. The results may contribute to creating laws related to the regulation of cyberbullying in countries where such legislation does not exist yet or existing regulatory legal acts do not bring the expected results, namely, in Post-Soviet countries and other developing countries of the world.


2017 ◽  
Vol 10 (10) ◽  
pp. 82
Author(s):  
Adele Parmentola

China is today considered the second power in the world after the USA and recently many Chinese companies became global leaders in their specific industries. This success is also realized thanks to the expansion strategy adopted by many Chinese multinationals that have realized FDIs both towards other developing countries and towards advanced economies. What are the determinants that push the Chinese companies to go abroad? Are the traditional internalization theories based on the concept of ownership advantage able to explain the internationalization of Chinese MNES? Accordingly aim of this paper is to describe the determinants that induce the Chinese companies to realize FDIs and the characteristics that distinguish their internationalization strategy by the strategy adopted by developed countries multinationals.


2005 ◽  
Vol 52 (9) ◽  
pp. 133-144 ◽  
Author(s):  
A.M.J. Ragas ◽  
P.A.G.M. Scheren ◽  
H.I. Konterman ◽  
R.S.E.W. Leuven ◽  
P. Vugteveen ◽  
...  

It is a challenge for developing countries to realize socio-economical development without impairing water resources in an unacceptable way. A possible means for controlling water pollution is through defining, applying and enforcing effluent standards for wastewater discharges. However, in many developing countries the definition of effluent standards is still poor. They are either too stringent because they are based on standards from developed countries, or too relaxed and therefore they do not guarantee the safe intended uses of water. In order to define an approach for setting effluent standards that suits the needs and means of developing counties, water quality management practices in the USA, the EU, the New Independent States (NIS) and the Philippines were analyzed and compared. Four criteria (protection of the environment, technical viability, economic feasibility and institutional capacity requirements) were used to assess the suitability of these practices for developing countries. It is concluded that a combined approach that is based on best available technology not entailing excessive costs and environmental quality standards is the best way to define effluent standards that restrict water pollution against affordable costs.


2020 ◽  
Vol 57 (2) ◽  
pp. 87-110
Author(s):  
Manmohan Agarwal ◽  
Amrita Brahmo

There has been considerable debate over whether the USA is losing its stronghold over the world economy and its power declining, giving way to new leadership from the emerging economies (EEs) like China. This article uses the notion of power based on the resources available to a state. It uses a number of measures to measure the resources available to a state and so assess economic power. It finds that there has been a slight decline in the importance of the developed countries and an increase in that of the developing countries (DCs). However, there is a slight decline in the power of the USA. The increase in the importance of developing countries is mainly on account of China. But the changes do not mean that developing countries can get the changes they desire. There is more of a stalemate.


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