general education

Fostering Higher Order Learning in a Core Curriculum Module at Singapore Polytechnic

cdtlsd Paper Presentations 25 November, 202427 November, 2024communities, general education, Opportunities from Engaging Communities, Service-learning, social services, volunteering

Kin Guan WEE¹, Stephen En Rong TAY²

¹School of Mathematics and Science, Singapore Polytechnic
²Department of the Built Environment, College of Design and Engineering (CDE), NUS

wee_kin_guan@sp.edu.sg; stephen.tay@nus.edu.sg

Wee. K. G., & Tay, S. E. R. (2024). Fostering higher order learning in a core curriculum module at Singapore Polytechnic [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-kgwee-sertay/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Engaging Communities

KEYWORDS

Service-learning, general education, communities, volunteering, social services

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation

BACKGROUND

Singapore Polytechnic (SP) adopted interdisciplinary education through the SP Common Core Curriculum (CCC) in 2021 (SP Common Core Curriculum, n.d.). Within the SP CCC, the Data Fluency (DF) module aims to equip students with skills to employ data-handling processes. The assessments require students to demonstrate competency to use data to examine one aspect of a UN SDG (United Nations Sustainable Development Goals)¹ and generate insights to support a theoretical solution to a UN SDG.

The motivation to use scenario-based student-generated questions and answers (sb-SGQA) arose from the lack of understanding and application of the module content by some students even after Bigg’s Constructive Alignment (Biggs, 1996) and Michaelsen’s Team-based Learning (TBL) (Michaelsen & Sweet, 2008) framework were employed for DF in the previous academic years, evidenced by the low assessment scores in the submitted assignment CA2.

The sb-SGQA pedagogy builds upon student-generated questions (SGQ) (Rosenshine et al., 1996), which leads to active engagement of higher domains in Bloom’s taxonomy (Bates et al., 2014). The positive outcomes of the sb-SGQA implementation in other university courses (Du & Tay, 2022; Tay & Liu, 2023) provided confidence for its implementation for DF in SP.

Hence, our research questions are:

How does sb-SGQA help with students’ learning, as measured by the scores and the students’ artefacts in CA2?
How do students perceive the implementation of sb-SGQA in CA2, as measured by a post-module survey questionnaire?

METHODOLOGY

In Academic Year 2024/25 Semester 1, the sb-SGQA (termed as “Data Q&A”) was implemented at the middle of the module. Students are tasked to collect data from the community and develop a dashboard in a team. Subsequently, findings are summarised in five questions and answers. A post-module survey was administered at the end of the term. After data cleaning, a sample size of 475 CA2 submissions and 16 survey responses were obtained. The study was approved by SP’s Institutional Review Board.

RESULTS AND DISCUSSION

1. Students’ mark distribution

A histogram of students’ CA2 mark distribution (n = 475) is illustrated in Figure 1. The distribution is slightly left-skewed, which signifies a higher mean than median mark. While a comparison with the control group was not possible due to changes in the assessment modes, an analysis of students’ artefacts revealed an improvement in the quality of assignments.

Figure 1. Histogram of students’ CA2 mark distribution (n = 475)

2. Survey result

Students perceived the implementation of sb-SGQA in the module as helpful and constructive, as evident in the positive responses (“Agree” and “Strongly Agree” options) to Questions (1), (2), and (3) (refer to Table 1). In addition, the students agreed that the skills learnt in the sb-SGQA process are transferrable for their future, as shown in Questions (4) and (5). Qualitative feedback will be discussed during the conference due to the abstract word limit.

Table 1
Sb-SGQA survey result (n = 16, bracketed numbers indicate the percentage across the row)

3. Students’ artefacts

Based on the dashboard (Figure 2), it was noted that the students were able to address questions and develop answers that incorporate thinking skills of varying orders (level 1 in Q1, level 2 in Q2 and Q3, and level 3 in Q4 and Q5 in Figure 3). Specifically, students demonstrated how the skills taught in DF were able to provide them insights into the community’s use of energy and water.

Figure 2. Student team’s Dashboard

Figure 3. Student team’s Data Q&A

CONCLUSION AND SIGNIFICANCE

The sb-SGQA was successfully implemented in the DF module, which is part of the SP CCC. Though a comparison with a control cohort that has the same assessments was not possible, initial results were positive, indicating increased student engagement and learning in interdisciplinary subjects. Students appreciate the approach’s utility in their learning and professional development. The lack of hardware and software costs greatly aided with implementing sb-SGQA. The authors hope that this collaboration between IHLs could support and motivate similar efforts in the future.

ENDNOTE

The UN SDGs are 17 global goals established in 2015 to address challenges such as poverty, inequality, and climate change. Further details about the goals can be found on the official website: https://sdgs.un.org/.

REFERENCES

Bates, S. P., Galloway, R. K., Riise, J., & Homer, D. (2014). Assessing the quality of a student-generated question repository. Physical Review Special Topics – Physics Education Research, 10(2), 020105. https://doi.org/10.1103/PhysRevSTPER.10.020105

Biggs, J. (1996). Enhancing teaching through constructive alignment. Higher Education, 32(3), 347–364. https://doi.org/10.1007/BF00138871

Du, H., & Tay, E. R. S. (2022). Using scenario-based student-generated questions to improve the learning of engineering mechanics: A case study in civil engineering. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2022, 7-8 December, National University of Singapore.

Michaelsen, L. K., & Sweet, M. (2008). The essential elements of team‐based learning. New Directions for Teaching and Learning, 2008(116), 7–27. https://doi.org/10.1002/tl.330

Palinscar, A. S., & Brown, A. L. (1984). Reciprocal teaching of comprehension-fostering and comprehension-monitoring activities. Cognition and Instruction, 1(2), 117–175. https://doi.org/10.1207/s1532690xci0102_1

Rosenshine, B., Meister, C., & Chapman, S. (1996). Teaching students to generate questions: A review of the intervention studies. Review of Educational Research, 66(2), 181–221. https://doi.org/10.3102/00346543066002181

SP Common Core Curriculum. (n.d.). Retrieved 3 July 2024, from https://www.sp.edu.sg/sp/education/common-core-curriculum/about-the-ccc

Tay, E. R. S., & Liu, M. H. (2023, 7 December 2023). Exploratory implementation of scenario-based student-generated questions for students from the humanities and sciences in a scientific inquiry course. In Higher Education Campus Conference (HECC) 2023, Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecc2023proceedings/exploratory-implementation-of-scenario-based-student-generated-questions-for-students-from-the-humanities-and-sciences-in-a-scientific-inquiry-course/

The Impact Of Service-learning Courses On Social Responsibility In Students: A Preliminary Study

cdtlsd Poster 24 November, 20242 December, 2024communities, general education, Opportunities from Engaging Communities, Service-learning, social services, volunteering

^1.2Kenneth CHONG, ^1.2*Karyne Jie-lin TEO, ^1.2HAN Qi, ^1.3Anne Suet Lin CHONG, ^1.3Nursafiqah SAAD, ^1.3LOO Chuan-Jie, ^1.4Pamela Qi Ming YEH, ^1.4Carrie Jia Yu HO, ¹ZHENG Liren

¹Department of Social Work, Faculty of Arts and Social Sciences (FASS), NUS
²GEN2060 Team
³GEN2061 Team
⁴GEN2070 Team

* karyne@nus.edu.sg

Chong, K., Teo, K. J-L., Han, Q., Chong, A. S. L., Saad, N., Loo, C-J., Yeh, P. Q. M., Ho, C. J. Y., & Zheng, L. (2024). The impact of service-learning courses on social responsibility in students: A preliminary study [Poster presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-kchong-et-al/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Engaging Communities

KEYWORDS

Service-learning, general education, communities, volunteering, social services

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

The National University of Singapore (NUS) installed “Communities and Engagement” (C&E) as its sixth Common Curriculum Pillar in 2021, integrating service and learning to cultivate student engagement with broader societal issues through volunteer action, supported by structured training and guided reflexive learning. In this paper, we discuss the impact of three year-long C&E service-learning courses in developing social responsibility in undergraduate students.

The course GEN2060 “Reconnect SeniorsSG” is a partnership between NUS and the Agency for Integrated Care (AIC). Students serve as community befrienders for seniors facing social isolation. GEN2061 “Support Healthy AgeingSG” is also conducted in collaboration with AIC. Students are trained as Silver Generation Ambassadors to conduct Preventive Health Visits (PHVs) to check in on the well-being of seniors, as well as disseminate information on national support schemes and good practices to promote ageing-in-place. GEN2070 “Community Link (Comlink) Befrienders” is a collaboration between NUS and the Ministry of Social and Family Development (MSF). Students serve as befrienders to journey with disadvantaged families with young children through home visits and community interactions towards stability, self-reliance, and social mobility. As part of course requirements, each student undertakes 60-80 hours of coordinated service-learning work with the community partners.

The Pilot Phase for these service-learning courses was conducted over two semesters in AY2022, with 181 students for GEN2060, 166 students for GEN2061, and 168 students for GEN2070 successfully completing their respective courses. Feedback from community stakeholders and students were found to be strongly positive. The courses have now been fully launched with a capacity of 600 students per semester for GEN2060, 750 students for GEN2061, and 300 students for GEN2070, with Course Tutor teams seeking to study the impact of students’ service-learning experiences in shaping their perceptions of community and self, as well as in cultivating social responsibility.

Anonymised course evaluation surveys, students’ reflection papers as well as data from community partners were analysed. It was found that students expressed affective and cognitive growth from their service-learning experiences. For instance, students developed an emotional attachment to their service-recipients through the course, and grew in their empathy, recognition of their own privileges and a heightened awareness of social inequality. Students also demonstrated growth in their perspectives on the complexity of social issues, systemic barriers, and needs and resources in the community. These perspectives often lead to profound personal transformation and a sense of social responsibility. Finally, an encouraging proportion of students indicated a commitment to continue as a volunteer or be involved in other social initiatives after the course has ended. This commitment is often driven by a sense of personal agency and a belief in their ability to create change in society.

These results suggest that the key learning objectives of the Communities and Engagement Pillar can be met through the service-learning courses. In addition, they provide insights for the teams to further encourage students to develop their sense of social responsibility. In the longer term, consideration can be given for the programme to be further expanded to the wider NUS population and other institutes of higher learning.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The GEN2050 and GEN2062 Tutor Teams are presently hosted by the Undergraduate Education Unit of the Office of the Provost, NUS. We acknowledge the support and guidance of Ms ONG Mui Hong, Director of Operations & Planning (PVO), and Prof Peter Ho, Vice Provost (Undergraduate Studies & Technology-enhanced Learning). We also acknowledge the support and guidance of A/P Esther GOH, Dr Alex LEE, and A/P LEE Geok Ling.

REFERENCES

Deeley, S.J. (2015). Critical Perspectives on Service-Learning in Higher Education. Palgrave MacMillan.

Evans, Karen (2009). Learning, Work and Social Responsibility: Challenges for lifelong learning in a global age. Springer.

NUS (2024). Communities and Engagement Pillar. https://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-information-policies/undergraduate-students/general-education/communities-and-engagement-pillar

Wray-Lake, L., & Syvertsen, A. K. (2011). The developmental roots of social responsibility in childhood and adolescence. In C. A. Flanagan & B. D. Christens (Eds.), Youth civic development: Work at the cutting edge (pp. 11–25). Jossey-Bass.

Soken-Huberty, E. (2022, October 23). What is Social Responsibility? Human Rights Careers. https://www.humanrightscareers.com/issues/what-is-social-responsibility/

From Classrooms to Community: The Role of Tutors in Facilitating Experiential Learning in Service-learning Courses

cdtlsd Poster 18 November, 20242 December, 2024communities, general education, Opportunities from Engaging Communities, Service-learning, social services, volunteering

Raiza RIFAAIE^1,2, Qin Ying SIM^1,2, Chin Yee TAN^1,2, Hui Ting WANG^1,², Yvette SEOW^1,3*, Hui Bin CAI^1,3, Valerie CHUA^1,3, Liren ZHENG¹

¹Department of Social Work, National University of Singapore
²GEN2050 Team
³GEN2062 Team

yvette@nus.edu.sg

Seow, Y., Rifaaie, R., Sim, Q. Y., Wang, H. T., Cai. H. B., Chua, V., & Zheng, L. (2024). From classrooms to community: The role of tutors in facilitating experiential learning in service-learning courses [Poster presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-yseow-et-al/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Engaging Communities

KEYWORDS

Service-learning, general education, communities, volunteering, social services

CATEGORY

Poster Presentation

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

The National University of Singapore installed “Communities and Engagement” (C&E) as its sixth Common Curriculum Pillar in 2021, integrating service-work and learning to cultivate student engagement with broader societal issues through volunteer action. This is supported by structured training and guided reflexive learning facilitated by Course Tutors. In this paper, we discuss a key pedagogical innovation – Tutor on-site observation and feedback – that have tested to successfully deliver service-learning on scale for two activity-based year-long courses, GEN2050 Teach SG and GEN2062 Community Activities for Seniors with SG Cares. These courses are conducted in collaboration with the Uplift Programme Office of the Ministry of Education, Singapore, and with SG Cares Office of the Ministry of Culture, Community and Youth respectively.

As part of course requirements, undergraduate students collaborate in teams of 6 to 8 to undertake about 60-80 hours of coordinated volunteer work with community partners, comprising primarily of MOE schools for GEN2050, and Active Ageing Centres (AACs) for GEN2062. In GEN2050, student teams mentor groups of 15-20 primary or secondary school students in after-school programmes for 2 to 3 hours weekly over 2 consecutive MOE school terms (20 weeks), before handing over to the next cohort of student mentors to provide continuity in support to schools. The undergraduate students provide academic support, mentorship care, and organise enrichment activities such as learning journeys for underserved children and youth. In GEN2062, student teams plan and conduct activities to engage seniors at AACs, for 3 hours weekly over a period of 5 months, before handing over to the next cohort of students. The undergraduate students promote healthy ageing-in-place through activities that stimulate cognitive and mobility functions, leveraging on a natural intergenerational bonding. This encourages seniors to gather and bond within their community, combating social isolation.

The Pilot Phase for GEN2050 was conducted with 170 students over two semesters in AY2022, for GEN2062 with 156 students over Semester 2 in AY2022 and Semester 1 in AY2023. Feedback from community stakeholders and students were found to be strongly positive. The courses have now been fully launched with a capacity of 350 students per semester for GEN2050 and 530 students per semester for GEN2062, with Course Tutor teams seeking continual refinement of teaching pedagogies to facilitate reflexive learning meaningfully. In both courses, quantitative and qualitative evaluation feedback have revealed the overriding importance of Tutor on-site observation and feedback to the overall experiential learning of students. On-site observations and accompanying feedback sessions complement the structured training underpinned by Kolb’s Experiential Learning Cycle delivered through a blended learning format comprising online lecture videos, tutorial discussions, and personal reflection assignments. They also enhance the close support and coordination offered to students through messaging platforms.

This also accords with Tutor impact assessments. On-site observation and feedback provide students with opportunities for prompt peer-to-peer learning as they reflect on challenges and reflections collectively with their experiences fresh in their minds and allows tutors the opportunity to provide tailored guidance to shape team dynamics, attitude and behaviour before these become concretised. On-the-spot debrief sessions also facilitate timely, context-specific reflexive learning where students draw connections between their service-learning experiences with broader social issues, fostering empathy and personal effectiveness more effectively than delayed feedback or reflections. A key challenge with this approach is the high intensity of planning and tutor resources required. An optimum seems possible: to stagger the service-work of different teams to provide sufficient time of on-site observations of the first two sessions of each team, followed by a mid-to-end session for review and consolidation of learning lessons.

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

The GEN2050 and GEN2062 Tutor Teams are presently hosted by the Undergraduate Education Unit of the Office of the Provost, NUS. We acknowledge the support and guidance of Ms ONG Mui Hong, Director of Operations & Planning (PVO), and Prof Peter Ho, Vice Provost (UG & TEL). We also acknowledge the support and guidance of A/P Esther GOH, Dr Alex LEE, and A/P LEE Geok Ling.

REFERENCES

Bringle, R.G., & Hatcher, J.A. (1995). A service-learning curriculum for faculty. Michigan Journal of Community Service-Learning, 2(1).

Communities and Engagement Pillar. (n.d.). Retrieved August 15, 2024, from https://www.nus.edu.sg/registrar/academic-information-policies/undergraduate-students/general-education/communities-and-engagement-pillar

Kolb, D. A. (2014). Experiential learning: Experience as the source of learning and development. FT press.

Werner, C. M., & McVaugh, N. (2000). Service-learning “rules” that encourage or discourage long-term service implications for practice and research. Michigan Journal of Community Service Learning, 7(1).

Building Nature into the Curriculum: Wellbeing Through Nature Education

cdtlsd Paper Presentations 18 November, 20242 December, 2024experiential learning, general education, nature education, Opportunities from Wellbeing, Outdoor learning, Wellbeing

Patricia LORENZ

Ridge View Residential College (RVRC), NUS

plorenz@nus.edu.sg

Lorenz, P. (2024). Building nature into the curriculum: Wellbeing through nature education [Paper presentation]. In Higher Education Conference in Singapore (HECS) 2024, 3 December, National University of Singapore. https://blog.nus.edu.sg/hecs/hecs2024-plorenz/

SUB-THEME

Opportunities from Wellbeing

KEYWORDS

Wellbeing, outdoor learning, nature education, experiential learning, general education

CATEGORY

Paper Presentation

EXTENDED ABSTRACT

This paper presentation in the sub-theme of “Opportunities From Wellbeing” examines how nature education, built into the General Education (GE) courses at NUS, can benefit student wellbeing. Albeit not being the main focus of the courses, extensive opportunities to spend time in nature promotes a sense of wellbeing in students by countering widespread Nature Deficit Disorder (Lee, 2023). The term “Nature Deficit Disorder” was first described by Louv (2008) as a condition in which children and young people are deprived of spending time in nature and the opportunity to play outdoors. Recent research has demonstrated direct links between Nature Deficit Disorder and mental health in adolescents (Dong & Geng, 2023). Thus, universities have the potential to benefit students’ health and wellbeing by exposing enrolled students to nature through the formal or informal curriculum.

Ridge View Residential College (RVRC) focuses on teaching sustainability and labels itself the “College in Nature”. As such, it offers a range of extracurricular nature-based activities, such as the RVRC Leopard Cat Quest, RVRC Intertidal Walk and Clean, and the RVRC Citizen Science Programme. The college also offers two courses under the GE “Community and Engagement” pillar, namely RVN2001 “The Great Extinction”, focusing on the current biodiversity loss and mass extinction, and RVN2002 “Wild Asia”, discussing conservation issues and strategies in Southeast Asia. While both courses were designed with a focus on biodiversity loss and conservation, increasingly reconnecting students to the natural world has become an additional focal point.

Observational evidence and survey questionnaires have demonstrated that nearly all students enrolling in the courses suffer from Nature Deficit Disorder. Hence, a larger focus was placed on creating time throughout the course schedule to reconnect to nature. RVN2001 engages students in four local fieldtrips, and one outdoor learning session on campus, while RVN2002 engages students on a highly immersive 10-day overseas fieldtrip to Pahang, Malaysia, which is nearly entirely dominated by outdoor learning. While this provides ample outdoor learning time, specific techniques were employed to facilitate greater awareness of the natural world and the benefits immersion in nature provides to the individual. Great emphasis is placed on being still or quiet in nature, to silently observe wildlife or habitats, as well as to engage in a structured Forest Bathing session.

As a result, students have demonstrated a greater appreciation for nature in post-course surveys. Moreover, through experiential learning student were able to identify how these nature engagement sessions benefit their own health and wellbeing. Feedback from RVN2001 demonstrates the understanding “That nature is important to our wellbeing” and “how environmentalism can be directly linked with health”. Students were also able to connect the personal experiences to society: “Going on the field trips to nature parks really helped me take my mind off school work (which, if extended to larger society, could have really beneficial effects too if they would realise)”, and the bigger picture: “This kind of environmental action underscores the interconnectedness of all life and the critical role that conservation plays in our own survival and well-being”. Likewise, a noticeable number of students who took RVN2002 declared that “Forest bathing really opened my eyes and made me truly realise how much I love nature and how much I enjoy it”, and understood the health benefits of the activity: “Being silent in nature was very therapeutic”.

Thus, with little outdoor engagement built into the Singapore school curriculum, it can be argued that it is highly beneficial for educators to make an effort to incorporate extensive nature-based outdoor education into the curriculum in order to benefit students’ mental and physical wellbeing. This however ought not to be done in addition to existing classroom teaching, thus further adding to students’ already heavy workload, but instead outdoor learning ought to replace conventional classroom teaching.

REFERENCES

Dong, X. & Geng, L. (2023). Nature deficit and mental health among adolescents: A perspectives of conservation of resources theory. Journal of Environmental Psychology, 87(101995). https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0272494423000439

Lee, K. (2023). Addressing the Nature-Deficit Disorder in Singapore. Nature Watch, 31(1), 14-15. https://www.nss.org.sg/articles/492463b1-bAllPagesNW23Q1FINAL-5MB.pdf

Louv, R. (2008). Last child in the woods: saving our children from nature-deficit disorder. Algonquin Books of Chapel Hill. https://richardlouv.com/books/last-child/