overseas classroom

The Challenges and Possibilities of Service-Learning as a Catalyst for Social Impact in Southeast Asia

NUS CDTL Paper Presentations , , , , ,

Julius BAUTISTA
NUS College
bautista@nus.edu.sg  

 

Bautista, J. (2023). The challenges and possibilities of service-learning as a catalyst for social impact in Southeast Asia [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, 7 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/the-challenges-and-possibilities-of-service-learning-as-a-catalyst-for-social-impact-in-southeast-asia/

SUB-THEME

Communities and Education 

 

KEYWORDS

Service-learning, community engagement, experiential learning, overseas classroom, Southeast Asia 

 

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation 

 

ABSTRACT

In this paper presentation, I will discuss the challenges and possibilities of implementing Service-learning (S-L) programmes as a way of catalysing student-driven social impact in the Southeast Asian region. S-L refers to credit-bearing educational endeavours that enable students and their faculty mentors to engage and collaborate with community partners towards addressing mutually identified social needs and problems. As part of a socially-oriented pedagogy, educators harness the experience of community engagement in a way that enables their students to achieve a deeper understanding and contextualisation of curricular content (Bingle & Hatcher, 1996; Saeed & Ahmed 2021, p. 323). As a mode of experiential learning, the distinctive feature of S-L is that the dual goals of achieving specified curricular objectives and the cultivation of social impact are equally prioritised.   

 

The scholarship of teaching and learning (SoTL) has emphasised the benefits of S-L in  enhancing student aptitudes in civic and social consciousness (Battistoni, 2013), tolerance for intersectional diversity (Lemieux & Allen, 2007), relational empathy (Woo, 2019; Rondini, 2015), and responsible global leadership (Yorio & Ye, 2012; Pless et al., 2012). Nevertheless, relatively few studies have ventured into disambiguating the conceptual and institutional features of S-L vis a vis other modes of engaged pedagogy, such as volunteerism, field education and experiential learning. Furthermore, there has hardly been any scholarly research and benchmarking on how S-L, from a technical and methodological standpoint, can be effectively institutionalised in higher educational contexts (Mitchell, 2007). These gaps in the literature are indicative of some important conceptual, operational, and practical challenges that remain unresolved. As such, there may still be a reluctance among university faculty to fully implement S-L, particularly because it involves liability and compliance requirements that are time-consuming and often require extracurricular preparatory and in-class measures to implement (Bringle & Hatcher, 1996; Mitchell, 2007).    

 

In the presentation, I will share snapshots of practice in our efforts to offer S-L programmes as part of the NUS College Impact Experience (IEx) Programme. The ideas presented here emerge from discussions between IEx educators and students, who formed the Service Impact Learning Community (SILC) as an inclusive platform to propagate S-L as a way of confronting pressing cultural, socio-economic and environmental issues in the Asian region. As the lead facilitator of the SILC, I will channel our discussion on the following questions in particular:    

  1. What are the challenges and practice conundrums in the curricular implementation of S-L in higher education contexts? How can a deepening of our knowledge about S–L help configure existing NUS programmes that involve field trips and other forms of cross-cultural experiential projects?   
  2. How can ‘service impact’ or ‘asset-based community development’ be aligned towards the professional and personal growth of students?  
  3. What pedagogical methods and assessment regimes have not/worked in other institutes of higher learning (IHLs), and how can these be adopted or refined to suit the NUS General Education curriculum? 
  4. How do we collaborate productively with community partners, government, non-governmental organisations (NGOs) and industry in running S-L courses? What are the challenges of calibrating and coinciding the agendas of communities, students, and educators so as to meet social needs specific to the Asian region?    
  5. How do we maintain the distinction between S-L on the one hand, and advocacy, activism, and commodity endorsement on the other? What compliance and liability issues need to be considered? 

 

Under the NUS “Communities and Engagement” pillar, S-L is a crucial component of the graduation requirements for all students from cohort AY2021/22 onwards. It is important for NUS educators to work together in addressing the conceptual and practical challenges that may preclude the efficient implementation of a community engagement component in our curricula. The NUS community of students and educators would benefit from a sustained discussion of how S-L, from a conceptual and methodological standpoint, can be institutionalised in this regard.   

 

REFERENCES

Battistoni, R. M. (2013). Civic learning through service learning. In P. H. Clayton, R. G. Bringle, & J. A. Hatcher (Eds.), Research on Service Learning: Conceptual Frameworks and Assessment : Students and Faculty (pp. 111–32). Stylus Publications. 

Bringle, R. G., & Hatcher, J. A. (1996). Implementing service-learning in higher education. Journal of Higher Education, 67(2), 221-39. https://doi.org/10.1080/00221546.1996.11780257  

Lemieux, C. M., & Allen, P. D. (2007). Service learning in social work education: The state of knowledge, pedagogical practicalities, and practice conundrums. Journal of Social Work Education, 43(2), 309-26. https://doi.org/10.5175/JSWE.2007.200500548  

Mitchell, T. D. (2007). Critical service-learning as social justice education: A case study of the 

Citizen Scholars Program. Equity and Excellence in Education, 40(2), 101-12. https://doi.org/10.1080/10665680701228797  

Pless, N. M., Maak, T., & Stahl, G. K. (2011). Developing responsible global leaders through international service-learning programs: The Ulysses experience. Academy of Management Learning and Education, 10(2), 237–60. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.10.2.zqr237  

Saeed, M., & Ahmed. I (2021). An analytical review on rethinking service-learning as critical transformative paradigm in higher education. Journal of Humanities, Social and Management Sciences (JHSMS), 2(2), 318-34. https://doi.org/10.47264/idea.jhsms/2.2.23   

Rondini, A. C. (2015). Observations of critical consciousness development in the context of service learning. Teaching Sociology, 43(2), 137–45. https://doi.org/10.1177/0092055X15573028   

Woo, J. J. (2019). Service learning and public policy education. In J. J. Woo (Ed.), Educating for empathy: Service Learning in Public Policy Education (pp. 3-14). World Scientific.  

Yorio, P. L., & Ye, F. (2012). A meta-analysis on the effects of service-learning on the social, personal, and cognitive outcomes of learning. Academy of Management Learning & Education, 11(1), 9–27. https://doi.org/10.5465/amle.2010.0072  

 

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