scholarly journals Service-Learning for Sustainability Entrepreneurship in Rural Areas: What Is Its Global Impact on Business University Students?

2019 ◽  
Vol 11 (19) ◽  
pp. 5296 ◽  
Author(s):  
Almudena Martínez-Campillo ◽  
María del Pilar Sierra-Fernández ◽  
Yolanda Fernández-Santos

Service-Learning (SL) is a teaching innovation method that combines learning and social service objectives to improve educational quality and graduate employability. To date, there are hardly any studies on its global impact on university students. This paper describes and evaluates an SL experience for Sustainability Entrepreneurship in the context of Spanish Higher Education. Based on knowledge acquired in classrooms, multi-disciplinary teams of students from different subjects related to Business Administration offered support to potential entrepreneurs from rural municipalities in the complex task of writing a successful Business Plan for their projects for local sustainability. Within this academic framework, our study has two goals: (1) to assess the self-perception of university students about the improvement in their curricular development, professional skills and civic-social responsibility after participating in the SL experience; and (2) to estimate its possible effect on academic performance. The results show that the students acknowledged they had improved their social and sustainability commitment and their curricular development, and had acquired skills that society increasingly demands from future business professionals. Furthermore, service-students achieved significantly higher academic performance than a control group of non-participating students. These findings highlight the effectiveness of SL to provide a more holistic education for business university students.

Author(s):  
Juan Lucas Onieva López ◽  
John Ramírez Leyton ◽  
Raúl Cremades ◽  
Soledad Ortega

The objective of this study is to determine the opinions of university students undergoing primary school teacher training to develop language teaching material for patients from the Children’s Hospital of Málaga, Spain, using the Service Learning (SL) methodology. Students evaluated this methodology by answering a 16-question questionnaire validated by external researchers. Academic performance was analysed using the Student’s t-test by comparing grades between an intervention and a control group. The results indicated improvements in several areas, including: the level of engagement, transversal competencies, academic performance, level of student satisfaction, and acquisition of teaching material related to the subject.


2017 ◽  
Vol 8 ◽  
pp. 171
Author(s):  
Constantino García-Ramos ◽  
Almudena Martínez-Campillo

<p class="Abstract">A teaching innovation methodology characterized for being a link between the students´ learning process and the University Social Responsibility is the "Service-Learning" (SL). Recently, it is been emphasized that teachers in the field of Business Management should use teaching methods that promote civic values and social commitment. In this line, the SL complements the economic-financial education that students receive, allowing them to develop important professional and personal skills as well as to receive training according to socially responsible principles, since they learn by working in community service initiatives.</p><p class="Abstract">Our SL experience consisted in combining the teaching innovation in five subjects taught at the University of León (Spain) –where one of them is from the field of Operations Management– with the provision of a free support service for rural women's entrepreneurship. In the current unemployment situation, a possible alternative is the creation of an own company. However, female entrepreneurs have to develop their business idea and to demonstrate its viability, which poses them serious difficulties due to lack of training, experience or even advice on the matter. After detecting this social need, our experience consisted in organizing multidisciplinary groups of students to guide female entrepreneurs in rural areas during the whole entrepreneurship process.</p><p class="Abstract">After developing this activity of teaching innovation, we can conclude that the SL is a good methodology to improve the academic, personal and social development of students, suggesting that it is possible to join their academic success with the social commitment of the University.</p><strong></strong>


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Suheir Awadalla ◽  
Bethan Davies ◽  
Cristine Glazebrook

Abstract Background Online CBT-based interventions have shown potential to improve mental health in university students. However, their impacts in West Asian cultures and on educational achievement have yet to be fully investigated. This study aims to explore the feasibility, acceptability and potential effectiveness of a self-directed, internet-delivered, cognitive-behavioural skills training program (MoodGYM) in reducing depression and improving academic performance in university students in the United Arab Emirates (UAE). Methods This exploratory pre-post intervention study with an historic control group recruited 50 students from one UAE university, with GPA < 2 and self-reporting at least one of two key depressive symptoms. Pre-intervention, participants completed an online survey including most recent grade point average (GPA), number of attendance warnings and the Hospital Anxiety and Depression Scale (HADS). Participants were then sent a link to MoodGYM. After eight weeks, 44 participants repeated the survey and provided feedback on MoodGYM (88% follow-up). A subgroup of 19 students with GPA scores < 2 at baseline formed an historical control group for change in GPA and attendance warnings. Results Total HADS-Depression scores fell at post intervention (P = 0.004) and the proportion of participants scoring above the cut-off for depression (HADS-D ≥ 8) fell from 77.2–27.3% (p < 0.001). There was also a substantial fall in HADS-Anxiety scores (p < 0.001) and the proportion of participants above the cut-off for anxiety (HADS-A ≥ 8) fell from 50% to 11.4 % (p = 0.001). GPA scores improved substantially over time (p < 0.001, d = 1.3) and attendance warnings reduced (p = 0.008, d = 0.6). Compared to historic control, the intervention group had higher GPA at follow-up (p < 0.030 d = 0.6) fewer attendance warnings (p = 0.036 d = 0.7). Most students (79.6%) evaluated MoodGYM as useful and all students completed at least 2 MoodGYM modules. More modules completed (p = 0.005) and greater reduction in attendance warnings (p = 0.007) were independently associated with greater improvement in GPA scores at follow-up. Conclusions This study provides support for a web based mental health promotion intervention (MoodGYM) to improve academic achievement in university students with depressive symptoms. Further research is needed to explore how MoodGYM can be best implemented within University settings.


2017 ◽  
Vol 135 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-28 ◽  
Author(s):  
Cláudia Ribeiro Franulovic Campos ◽  
Maria Lilian Coelho Oliveira ◽  
Tânia Maron Vichi Freire de Mello ◽  
Clarissa de Rosalmeida Dantas

ABSTRACT CONTEXT AND OBJECTIVE: University students are generally at the typical age of onset of mental disorders that may affect their academic performance. We aimed to characterize the university students attended by psychiatrists at the students’ mental health service (SAPPE) and to compare their academic performance with that of non-patient students. DESIGN AND SETTING: Cross-sectional study based on review of medical files and survey of academic data at a Brazilian public university. METHODS: Files of 1,237 students attended by psychiatrists at SAPPE from 2004 to 2011 were reviewed. Their academic performance coefficient (APC) and status as of July 2015 were compared to those of a control group of 2,579 non-patient students matched by gender, course and year of enrolment. RESULTS: 37% of the patients had had psychiatric treatment and 4.5% had made suicide attempts before being attended at SAPPE. Depression (39.1%) and anxiety disorders/phobias (33.2%) were the most frequent diagnoses. Severe mental disorders such as psychotic disorders (3.7%) and bipolar disorder (1.9%) were less frequent. Compared with non-patients, the mean APC among the undergraduate patients was slightly lower (0.63; standard deviation, SD: 0.26; versus 0.64; SD: 0.28; P = 0.025), but their course completion rates were higher and course abandonment rates were lower. Regarding postgraduate students, patients and non-patients had similar completion rates, but patients had greater incidence of discharge for poor performance and lower dropout rates. CONCLUSION: Despite the inclusion of socially vulnerable people with severe mental disorders, the group of patients had similar academic performance, and in some aspects better, than, that of non-patients.


2021 ◽  
Vol 9 (T6) ◽  
pp. 159-163
Author(s):  
Laili Rahayuwati ◽  
Iqbal Pramukti ◽  
Raini Diah Susanti

Abstract Introduction The COVID-19 pandemic has been affecting many aspects including education globally as many countries closed the school temporally. This study aimed to summarize the effectiveness of the-education application among health-fields university students Methods PubMed and EBSCO databases for studies published up to August 2020 were searched. Studies reporting the academic performance or skills performance or students satisfaction were included. Study quality was assessed using the Joanna Briggs Institute (JBI) appraisal tool. Result Published between 2002 and 2020, 22 studies were conducted in developed countries, and 2 studies in developing countries. The tele-education method included e-learning, virtual, and digital learning. When comparing to the control group, of fifteen studies intervention studies measuring academic performance, seven studies showed a higher mean score among the intervention group. For skills performance, there were no studies showing higher skill performance. For studies measuring student satisfaction, one-third showing higher students’ satisfaction among the intervention group compared to the control. Conclusion Our finding highlighted the positive effect of various tele-education on academic performance among the health-field university students. Applying the various tele-education in the learning process for health-field university students during the COVID-19 Pandemic is suggested. Keywords: health field students, tele-education, pandemic, effectiveness  


2015 ◽  
pp. 103-115 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lucky Sibanda ◽  
Chux Gervase Iwu ◽  
Olumide Henrie Benedict

Author(s):  
O. Bukhanovskaya ◽  
N. Demcheva

Method of calculating the index of crisis of gratification has been developed on the basis of the complete survey of 995 students of medical university and 804 students of engineering university, determination of clinical and social parameters and factors related to the process of education in the specialized university. It included: a scale for the assessment of the degree of intellectual intensity, academic performance, stress situations related to the peculiarities of education. Reliable differences in values between groups of healthy students, students with preclinical and clinical forms of mental disorders are revealed as a result of calculation of the index of gratification. The authors conclude that satisfaction with the results of education has a significant impact on the mental health of university students.


Author(s):  
Patrícia Antunes ◽  
Carla Novais ◽  
Ângela Novais ◽  
Filipa Grosso ◽  
Teresa G Ribeiro ◽  
...  

Abstract Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is a global societal challenge requiring the contribution of professionals along with general community citizens for their containment. Portugal is one of the European countries where a lack of knowledge on the correct use of antimicrobials and AMR problematic is preeminent. Moreover, youth demotivation to pursue science careers is emerging. To address these problems an innovative experimental service-learning pedagogical strategy, MicroMundo@UPorto, was implemented in Portugal during 2018 through University of Porto as a partner of the global Citizen Science project ‘Tiny Earth’ responding to the AMR crisis. In this first edition of MicroMundo@UPorto, university students (n = 41; Pharmaceutical Sciences and Nutrition Sciences) organized in eight teams tutored by university professors/researchers (n = 13) on Microbiology and AMR theoretical and practical aspects as well on communication skills to enable their guidance of younger school students (n = 140/3 schools) in experiments to discover antimicrobial-producing microorganisms while exploring the soil microbial diversity. Post-survey-based evaluation revealed that this project allowed university students to acquire diverse personal, social and scientific skills while increasing AMR awareness, in the One-Health perspective, and interest for science in school students. This University to Society approach can be successfully extended across Portugal and for education in Microbiology in general, with benefits for the future generations contributing to socially responsible and scientifically-literate citizens.


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