What Sticks with First-Year Engineering Students and Engineering Faculty in STEM Education Service-Learning Projects?

There has been a dramatic increase of student groups participating in international service learning projects. For engineering students it is not difficult to identify meaningful educational objectives. The students improve their analytical and problem solving skills. They design and build something that fulfils a list of engineering specifications; they execute a solution to some problem. However, these projects have a human dimension. Service-learning involves changes in peoples’ beliefs, attitudes and values; impacting both the students and the recipient community. It is important for the academic community to develop assessment criteria that includes perspectives from all stakeholders engaged in the experience. It is imperative to assess not only the technical success but also the sustainability of the project and its larger effect. In courses involving service-learning, assessment needs to occur on three levels: the traditional evaluation of the student’s knowledge of the technical content, the assessment of the experiences impact on the students’ broader more humanistic “soft skills”, and the customer’s satisfaction. The paper examines the obstacles and opportunities in assessing project success from multiple international service-learning programs, and compiles insights and reflections that could serve to inform future projects.

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Service Learning Versus Traditional Project-Based Learning: A Comparison Study in a First Year Industrial and Systems Engineering Course

International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship ◽

10.24908/ijsle.v15i1.13569 ◽

2020 ◽

Vol 15 (1) ◽

pp. 18-32 ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Christina Scherrer ◽

Jennifer Sharpe

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Systems Engineering ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Project Based Learning ◽

First Year ◽

Management Communication ◽

Professional Career ◽

Hands On ◽

Real Community ◽

Service Learning Projects

Service learning involves solving a real community problem while meeting course learning outcomes. Participation in service learning is hypothesized to improve undergraduate student engagement and retention, but little research has been done to measure its impact specifically on beginning engineering students. This study compares two sections of an introduction to industrial and systems engineering course; one with a service learning term project and one with a traditional project-based term project. The service learning project was designed to be a hands-on approach to the material in the project management, communication, and teamwork modules of the course, in addition to giving students the opportunity to practice industrial and systems engineering functions related to their community partner’s defined problem. Surveys, grade data and interviews provide evidence that service learning projects improved students’ perceptions of their preparation for a successful academic and professional career and also lend limited support to improved engagement and retention in engineering compared to the students in the traditional project section.

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El aprendizaje-servicio como estrategia metodológica innovadora para el desarrollo de competencias digitales y ciudadanas / Servie-Learning as an Innovative Methodological Strategy for the Development of Digital Competences and Citizens

Revista Internacional de Tecnología, Ciencia y Sociedad ◽

10.37467/gka-revtechno.v7.1880 ◽

2019 ◽

Vol 7 (2) ◽

pp. 57-67

Author(s):

Domingo Mayor Paredes

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Ad Hoc ◽

Real Life ◽

First Year ◽

Transfer Of Knowledge ◽

Functional Learning ◽

Education Degree ◽

Service Learning Projects ◽

Learning Projects

ABSTRACTThis paper presents the results of a study analyzing the perception of the students and their professor in a course on Technological Teaching and Research Resources involved in designing Service-Learning projects. The study took as its axis of inquiry a classroom group in which 61 first-year primary-school education degree students and their professor participated. The case study was used as the research methodology and document analysis, observation, ad hoc questionnaire and interviews as instruments for collecting information. The data collected enable us to confirm the effects produced on the organization of the teachinglearning process and on acquisition of functional learning. The findings show that Service-Learning is configured as a pertinent pedagogical methodology for favoring transfer of knowledge to real-life situations, getting students hooked on their learning process and developing digital, social and civic competence.RESUMENEste trabajo presenta los resultados de una investigación centrada en el análisis de la percepción del estudiantado y el profesor de la asignatura de Recursos Tecnológicos Didácticos y de Investigación, implicados en el diseño proyectos de Aprendizaje-Servicio. El estudio tomó como eje de indagación un grupo-aula donde participaron 61 alumnos y 1 profesor. Para ello se utilizó el estudio de caso como metodología de la investigación y el análisis de documentos, observación, cuestionario ad hoc y entrevistas como instrumentos de recogida de información. Los datos alcanzados permiten constatar los efectos producidos en la organización del proceso de enseñanza-aprendizaje y en la adquisición de aprendizajes funcionales. Los hallazgos obtenidos evidencian que el Aprendizaje-Servicio se configura como una metodología pedagógica pertinente para favorecer la transferencia de conocimientos a situaciones de la vida real, el enganche del estudiantado en su proceso de aprendizaje y el desarrollo de la competencia digital y la social y cívica.

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Community Service Attitudes Of Engineering Students Engaged In Service Learning Projects

10.18260/1-2--4319 ◽

2020 ◽

Author(s):

Angela Bielefeldt ◽

Bernard Amadei ◽

Robyn Sandekian

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Community Service ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Service Learning Projects ◽

Learning Projects

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Assessment Methods for Service-Learning Projects in Engineering in Higher Education: A Systematic Review

Frontiers in Psychology ◽

10.3389/fpsyg.2021.629231 ◽

2021 ◽

Vol 12 ◽

Author(s):

Marián Queiruga-Dios ◽

María Jesús Santos Sánchez ◽

Miguel Ángel Queiruga-Dios ◽

Pedro Mauricio Acosta Castellanos ◽

Araceli Queiruga-Dios

Keyword(s):

Systematic Review ◽

Service Learning ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Community Services ◽

Assessment Methods ◽

Scientific Databases ◽

Community Activities ◽

Service Learning Projects ◽

The University ◽

Learning Projects

Service-learning (SL) helps engineering students to be involved in community activities and to be motivated by their studies. Although several reviews and research studies have been published about SL, it is not widespread in sciences and engineering at the university level. The purpose of this research is to analyze the different community services or projects where SL is implemented by engineering students and faculty and to identify the procedures that were usually implemented to assess SL-based courses and activities. Assessment could be considered as the evaluation of a specific module and the engineering competencies, the evaluation of the effectiveness of the SL program, the assessment of the participation of the student in those programs, and the assessment of whether students have achieved certain outcomes or gained specific skills. We conducted a systematic review with a search in three scientific databases: Scopus, Science Direct, and ERIC educational database to analyze the assessment methods and what that assessment covers. From 14,107 publications related to SL, 120 documents were analyzed to inform the conclusions of this study. We found that SL is widely used in several universities as experiential education, and it is considered an academic activity. The most widely used assessment technique is a survey to evaluate the engagement and attitudes of students and, to a lesser extent, teamwork presentations.

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Integrating Service Learning in Engineering Clinics

International Journal for Service Learning in Engineering Humanitarian Engineering and Social Entrepreneurship ◽

10.24908/ijsle.v2i1.2090 ◽

2007 ◽

Vol 2 (1) ◽

Cited By ~ 1

Author(s):

Yusuf Mehta ◽

Beena Sukumaran

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Hurricane Katrina ◽

Design Process ◽

Engineering Students ◽

Host Community ◽

Engineering Practice ◽

Student Body ◽

Global Issues ◽

Service Learning Projects ◽

Learning Projects

Rowan University College of Engineering’s innovative curriculum with the engineering Clinic sequence provides a unique opportunity to integrate service learning activities that increase student awareness of social equity, global issues, and stakeholder concerns as they pertain to engineering practice. In many curricula, case studies are presented in specialized courses, or as segments of a design course, but identification of stakeholder needs and views are not effectively included in the design process itself; hence, societal or environmental effects are reported at the end of the project rather than integrated as part of design considerations. Service learning projects, such as Hurricane Katrina Relief project, and EWB-USA projects present an ideal framework for incorporating social, cultural, and environmental considerations into the design process in a meaningful way. These activities help all students realize the contribution that non-technical disciplines and points of view can have in implementing more socially equitable and environmentally benign engineering designs. They also prepare students to participate intelligently in public debates on technical policy issues. In addition, engineering students also have the opportunity to work on research projects with emphasis on social entrepreneurships. The junior/senior clinics provide students with valuable experiences that give them advantages when applying for internships, scholarships, graduate school, and jobs after graduation. Often, Rowan undergraduate students can point to conference or journal publications, engineering reports, design and fabrication experience or field work as evidence of their exceptional preparation for the real world. This is supported by anecdotal evidence and internship surveys from employers. The engineering clinic sequence is an excellent platform for integrating service learning into the engineering curriculum. The purpose of this paper is to present the mechanism that was developed to provide service learning opportunities that include a larger student body that have varied levels of interest. In addition, this paper, curriculum features, such as engineering clinics at Rowan University’s College of Engineering is presented. In addition, a detailed description of the service learning projects conducted in these clinics and their impact on Rowan and the host community is explained.

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Ethnographic Service Learning: An Approach for Transformational Learning

Journal ◽

10.22582/ta.v6i0.426 ◽

2016 ◽

Vol 6 ◽

Author(s):

Melanie A. Medeiros ◽

Jennifer Guzmán

Keyword(s):

Service Learning ◽

Undergraduate Students ◽

Transformational Learning ◽

Liberal Arts ◽

The United States ◽

Field Methods ◽

The Social ◽

Service Learning Projects ◽

Transformational Experiences ◽

Learning Projects

Trends in higher education pedagogy increasingly point to the importance of transformational experiences as the capstone of liberal arts education. Practitioners of ethnography, the quintessential transformational experience of the social sciences, are well-positioned to take the lead in designing courses and term projects that afford undergraduate students opportunities to fundamentally reshape their understanding of the social world and their own involvement within it. Furthermore, in the United States, colleges and universities have become proponents of service learning as a critical component of a holistic educational experience. In this article, we describe how service learning can be incorporated into training students in ethnographic field methods as a means to transformational learning and to give them skills they can use beyond the classroom in a longer trajectory of civic participation. We discuss strategies, opportunities, and challenges associated with incorporating service learning into courses and programs training students in ethnographic field methods and propose five key components for successful ethnographic service learning projects. We share student insights about the transformational value of their experiences as well as introduce some ethical concerns that arise in ethnographic service-learning projects.

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