scholarly journals Service Learning Collaborations: A Formula for Reciprocity

2010 ◽  
Vol 91 (2) ◽  
pp. 127-134 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura A. Lowe ◽  
Victoria L. Medina

Service learning offers opportunities for both educational institutions and the community. To demonstrate the possibilities this pedagogy can offer, this article discusses a service learning experience partnering students with a hospice agency. Using mixed methodology, impact on students, patients, and staff are examined. Results indicate that students improved their attitudes toward the elderly, and death and dying; they also believed the experience caused personal and professional growth. Interviews with patients highlighted the importance of relationships and recognition, and staff identified benefits to students, patients, and the hospice agency. The conclusion is made that service learning is best perceived in a light of reciprocity and that this method of engagement offers opportunities for educators and practitioners. Finally, some tips are given for practitioners interested in developing such collaborations.

2019 ◽  
Vol 24 (1) ◽  
pp. 121-136
Author(s):  
Koraljka Modić Stanke ◽  
Valentina Ružić ◽  
Aleksandra Mindoljević Drakulić

To become a teacher one must possess a minimum of pedagogical competences, obtained by the completion of pedagogical-psychological-didactic-methodical education. It is assumed that it will be followed by professional growth in the foreseeable future – but that does not necessarily happen. One way to provide a better head start for prospective teachers and their future students is to implement a service-learning (S-L) – a pedagogical approach that combines academic coursework with voluntary service in the community. The aim of this study is to determine the initial interest of students for engaging in service-learning within compulsory courses of pedagogical-psychological-didactic-methodical education and to investigate the relationship between the level of service-learning information and the reported interest in service-learning. Participants were 42 graduate students, divided into two groups – experimental (attended a lecture on service-learning between measurements) and control group (no intervention between two measurements). Results demonstrate high(est) interest for service learning within the course Psychology of Education. Prospective teachers that attended the lecture on service-learning became more interested in it. Most of the students think that engaging in service-learning would lead to higher motivation and better knowledge of the course. These findings should encourage teachers and policy-makers to consider the implementation of S-L in educational institutions in order to improve educational efficiency on all levels of the educational system.


10.29007/2t87 ◽  
2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alan Bond

The benefits of utilizing service-learning projects to facilitate student professional growth and personal development, in addition to supplementing traditional lecture and activity-based classroom education, has created a variety of new pedagogy. Typically, service-learning in Higher Education has been delivered by a capstone, senior project, or elective course providing a formalized structure for faculty to carry out their version of pedagogy. However, not all learning institutions possess the resources or have the support to offer service-learning in their curriculum. For those institutions, there appears to be a void in the available higher education literature suggesting alternative service-learning delivery systems. The purpose of the study was to determine if an all-volunteer campus-based student club managed construction project, utilizing an informal classroom setting, could be an effective alternative delivery method for providing a successful service-learning experience. A post-project student refection’s survey was conducted with an emphasis on the results of the students’ participation goals and perceived development of critical soft skills. The survey findings indicate positive student experiences with data-supported perceptions of enhanced learning and development in teamwork, communications, critical thinking, and problem-solving skills. These results suggest that an informal classroom system is a viable methodology for delivering service-learning experiences.


2020 ◽  
Vol 15 (2) ◽  
pp. S5-10
Author(s):  
Roderick Fung ◽  
Ben Y.F Fong

Service-learning is a useful learning activity for students to understand and analyse the health and social conditions of elderly recipients. It offers a practical environment for the study of ageing. Students make the service-learning meaningful, by combining the course idea and concepts in the activity during service. Students enhance learning experience by finding an appropriate health suggestion to the elderly while investigating the health conditions of the elderly. Students enrich additional vision by designing effective activities for the elderly and explaining the course idea to the elderly. The elderly provide opinion in the activity and inspire students to have a better management for further life and service-learning. In this study, an experience of service learning in elderly home is described. It covers several themes: (a) preparation of service learning, (b) analysis of designed activities, (c) reflection on this service-learning, (d) comparison of in-class learning and service-learning.


Author(s):  
Chia-Jung Lee ◽  
Yen Hsu

This study explored the technology learning model of the elderly in a senior learning center under the impact of the COVID-19 pandemic. Many senior learning centers were closed during the pandemic, and many of them adopted the mode of online education. However, problems such as decreased motivation and a lack of peer interaction still exist. To solve these problems, this study used the easy-to-implement calligraphy AR approach and E-book approach to conduct a quasi-experiment on the elderly of a calligraphy course offered by a senior learning center. The results show a higher learning motivation among the elderly who use calligraphy AR. The learning effectiveness and technology acceptance of the elderly in the E-book learning group were higher than those in the calligraphy AR group. The elderly mentioned that the E-book learning approach is more user-friendly. In general, in the face of the COVID-19 pandemic affecting the suspension of classes in senior centers, education through the development of technology has stimulated the growth of education in advanced learning centers. Through this kind of scientific and technological learning method, it will bring a whole new experience to the elderly. It can improve the stress relief methods, mental health, and quality of life of the elderly during the COVID-19 emergency shutdown, and provide a novel calligraphy technique learning experience for the elderly. Therefore, we believe that the calligraphy AR learning approach and the calligraphy E-book learning approach are practical and may promote quality of life and mental health of the elderly during the emergency closures due to COVID-19, providing elderly attendees with a novel calligraphy technology learning experience.


Author(s):  
Isabel Brown

ABSTRACTA retrospective study was conducted in a large multilevel geriatric centre to analyse the deaths reported in the year 1981. This centre provides accommodation for 750 elderly and/or chronically ill persons in three agencies—an apartment complex, a home for the aged, and a long-term care hospital The study revealed that the hospital is the place of death for a high proportion of the elderly residents of the centre. In particular, residents of the home for the aged are unlikely to remain in the “home” to die. It was found that patterns of death and dying for individuals admitted to the hospital from the general community differ in several ways from the patterns of those who are already living in the centre in terms of age and probable cause of death.


2021 ◽  
pp. 095042222110697
Author(s):  
James D Byrd ◽  
Douglas L Smith ◽  
Marilyn M Helms

Service learning for business students is an important activity for learning professionalism while adding volunteer and leadership experiences to their resume. The purposeful inclusion of in-field volunteerism in the accounting curriculum by participation in the USA’s Volunteer Income Tax Assistance (VITA) program each spring offers a host of additional benefits for students, as well as their communities and educational institutions. To better understand and identify these stakeholder benefits, the authors surveyed participants and found that students gained both career building work skills and community and social awareness, while community participants increased their personal satisfaction. Given the overall student benefits from participation, the second phase of the exploratory research examined ways to increase student participation for future VITA programs, because the success of any VITA program depends on both the strength and the presence of sufficient student volunteers. Faculty suggestions for recruiting are presented along with areas for future research.


Author(s):  
Ka Hing Lau ◽  
Robin Snell

Service-learning is an established pedagogy which integrates experiential learning with community service. It has been widely adopted in higher education around the world including in Hong Kong, yet the key ingredients that determine its successful impacts for its stakeholders have not been fully assessed. This study reviewed the past literature, which indicates the key ingredients that may be found in successful service-learning programmes. We identify six key ingredients: students provide meaningful service; the community partner representative plays a positive role; effective preparation and support for students; effective reflection by students; effective integration of service-learning within the course design; and stakeholder synergy in terms of collaboration, communication and co-ownership. In order to obtain an inter-subjectively fair and trustworthy data set, reflecting the extent to which those key ingredients are perceived to have been achieved, we propose a multi-stakeholder approach for data collection, involving students, instructors and community partner representatives.


2015 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 420-433
Author(s):  
Cathy Cavanaugh ◽  
Ewa Gajer ◽  
John Mayberry ◽  
Brendan O’Connor ◽  
Jace Hargis

This qualitative evaluation explored how female undergraduate students developed an understanding of themselves and the broader world as a result of an adventure and service learning experience in Tanzania, Africa. The project built upon theoretical frameworks regarding meaningful learning—active, constructive, intentional, and authentic—and applied activity theory as a framework for interpreting outcomes. The study included multi-faceted examination of student perceptions of the effects of the year-long experience that culminated in a ten day trip to Tanzania, including a climb to the summit of Mount Kilimanjaro. Students’ reflections on the impacts of the trip focused on wanting, doing, reflecting, and relating. Thus, the experience catalyzed change in students’ understanding of the world that strongly indicates a meaningful learning experience.


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