Service-Learning in Asia: Curricular Models and Practices

4 - Service-learning Models in the Asia-Pacific Region and Lady Doak College

Service-learning is a method by which students improve academic learning and develop personal skills through participating in structured service projects and sharing guided reflections on their experiences. It is burgeoning all over the world as institutions of higher education realize that to fulfill their respective missions they must find ways of connecting students’ academic training to the community and its needs. Furthermore, educators now recognize that direct service experience enables deeper, more precise, and longer lasting learning compared to abstract learning alone. Therefore, these institutions are showing keen interest in integrating academic learning with community service by finding ways for students to directly apply concepts learned in the classroom. Service-learning integrates content with context to provide meaningful learning. Service-learning is not intended to be used in every course, but it is possible to incorporate it into any discipline. It is not possible to design a single model that effectively integrates service-learning into academic study for all disciplines or institutions. Service-learning must be contextualized and relevant to meet unique and evolving needs, and the broader objectives of service-learning provide room for various models to emerge. As institutions find creative ways of incorporating service-learning into their curriculums, we see many innovative approaches in adapting the new paradigm. By creating and evolving methods of adopting service-learning, faculty members have developed different models that allow their disciplines to serve society. Thus, service-learning takes different forms in different contexts. This chapter reviews a wide range of models practiced in Asia and other countries to inspire institutions to integrate service-learning into their curriculums. The service-learning models discussed here are identified through a review of publications and web sites and special attention is given to servicelearning models practiced at Lady Doak College (LDC). Service-learning Models in the Asia-Pacific Region and Lady Doak College J. Chithra and Helen Mary Jacqueline 4 J. Chithra and Helen Mary Jacqueline 64 Service-learning Models The broader objectives of service-learning provide room for various models to emerge. As service-learning promotes creative ways to incorporating it into the curriculum, there are different innovative approaches which are classified as service-learning courses, service-learning projects and international servicelearning programs. The service-learning courses are discipline-related, courserelated and module-related. The service-learning projects may be problem-based involving an interdisciplinary approach. In the international service-learning programs, students from institutions in other Asian countries serve in a different national culture, which has different values, assumptions and norms. Discipline-related service-learning Field study has long been incorporated into coursework in natural sciences, social sciences, and linguistics. Recently, a shift in mindset with regard to field study has occurred and service-learning is being introduced. With servicelearning , the target group is necessarily less privileged instead of well-established sophisticated institutions. Students, faculty, community and the service agencies jointly organize service-learning activities. Service-learning differs from traditional field study in that it is a separate program of the department or discipline and the comprehensive knowledge gained through coursework is applied to community service. Traditional learning by observation can be seen as exploitative because the student is the only one who gains. In service-learning, the beneficiaries are both students and the community. Students, faculty and service agencies jointly organize service-learning opportunities and students become working members of the community. Course-related service-learning In this model, service-learning is tied to one particular course within the degree program. It is a created study that is especially designed for the service experience and must be completed to earn credit for the course. It may involve multidisciplinary or interdisciplinary content. Interested students register for the service-learning component of the course as an option and earn additional academic credit after completing the service-learning assignments. Service-learning Models in the Asia-Pacific Region and Lady Doak College 65 Cohesive curriculum In a cohesive curriculum, two or more disciplines are brought together around a service opportunity. The service may be a group project and it may be problembased . For example, a curriculum that addresses the pollution of drinking water in a community might bring together points of view from biology, economics, engineering, chemistry, and sociology to examine the cause of the problem and arrive at a solution. Cohesive curriculums demonstrate collaborative teaching and learning and thus require a coordinated approach to problem solving. Module-related service-learning Under this...