Service-Learning Impacts on Students’ Learning from Graduates’ Perspectives

Wing Fung Chad CHAN, Robin Stanley SNELL

Research output: Other Conference ContributionsPosterpeer-review

Abstract

Service-Learning (S-L) is a pedagogy widely adopted by some Higher Education Institutions in Hong Kong. S-L is a combination of academic learning and meaningful service through reflection which also puts teaching and learning in a social context for facilitating socially responsible knowledge transfer (Conway, Amel & Gerwien, 2009). S-L, which reflects Lingnan’s motto “Education for Service”, has been integrated into the curriculum at Lingnan University since 2006. Therefore, this study was conducted to investigate the impact of S-L on whole-person and career development from the graduates’ perspectives because there is only a limited body of prior studies in this area. Moreover, the findings can inform teaching and learning via S-L, on the basis of graduates’ perspectives on what students need, in order to flourish in their future careers. Besides incorporating a quasi-experimental design, a mixed-method approach was adopted for the research. In the quantitative part of our research, a quota sampling approach was adopted, under which six groups of LU graduates based on their year of graduation and on whether they had undertaken S-L were invited to complete the questionnaire between June and September 2018. In total, 424 graduates with S-L experience and 416 graduates without S-L experience completed the online questionnaire. In the qualitative part of our research, a sample of interviewees was selected based on the logic of Maximum Variation Sampling. 13 graduates with S-L experience were invited to participate in a one-to-one telephone interview. Each interview was audio-recorded, transcribed, and content analyzed using grounded theory. The findings indicated that S-L experience has significant perceived impacts on the student’s career choices, self-perceived research skills, and civic responsibility, which proof the S-L impacts on teaching and learning.
Original languageEnglish
Publication statusPublished - 28 Jul 2020
EventTeaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2019/20
- Chinese University of Hong Kong, Shatin, Hong Kong
Duration: 28 Jul 202030 Jul 2020

Conference

ConferenceTeaching and Learning Innovation Expo 2019/20
Country/TerritoryHong Kong
CityShatin
Period28/07/2030/07/20

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