Parallel Session IV - Room 5

Research Paper

Session Chair: Chloe Siu, Lingnan University, Hong Kong

Critical Factors Affecting Teachers’ Involvement in Service-Learning: A Multinomial Logistic Regression Analysis [1323] 
Grace Ngai, Zhuoheng Luo, Alison Ip, Shuheng Lin, Kam Por Kwan and Daniel T.L. Shek
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University

Abstract

This study examined the key factors impacting secondary teachers’ involvement in service-learning (SL) by using a multinomial logistic regression analysis. The research involved 813 principals and teachers from 50 secondary schools in Hong Kong. The findings identified four critical factors that influence teachers’ engagement in SL while holding other factors constant: their perception of the benefits of SL for themselves, the level of institutional support, their self-efficacy in SL pedagogy, and prior involvement in community or voluntary service. Limitations and implications for theory and practice were also discussed.

Keywords:   service-learning, factors, teachers’ involvement, secondary school teachers, multinomial logistic regression

Thematic Area(s): 3. Service-Learning in Graduate, Secondary, and Co-curricular Education
 

Service Learning International Start-Up: Reflection from a Facilitator [9381] 
Vishalache Balakrishnan
Universiti Malaya 

Abstract

Service learning has taken off in all public universities in Malaysia since 2019. Service learning international is the next phase and been initiated in Universiti Malaya since 2023.  This research is to showcase the importance of understanding local and global wisdom in education for a multicultural nation where civic and morality is concerned.  This presentation would focus on the development of service learning in all public universities in Malaysia since 2019 and how the findings since 2019 can be a start up for service learning international 2024. A self-checklist in the form of critical reflection is conducted by the author to understand the challenges and opportunities that service learning facilitators and administrators face when coordinating and conducting service learning, locally and globally.

Findings show how service learning has shaped to organise humanities locally and globally. Changes are so rapid that every now and then, there must be collaboration and cooperation between different agencies to ensure that the tension between individuals, family, community, and nations are becoming more and more borderless. With more knowledge, skills, and wisdom on human rights, sustainability, humanitarian law, and universal moral values, there is hope for a new generation of universal life skills. Service learning international can help to make the world a better place to live in.

Keywords:   Service learning, internationalization, sustainability

Thematic Area(s): 3. Service-Learning in Graduate, Secondary, and Co-curricular Education

Learning Near and Far:  Lessons from a Service-Learning Exchange Programme [5196]
Rina Camus, Grace Ngai, Shuheng Lin, Kam Por Kwan and Stephen Chan
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University 

Abstract

The paper is a case study based on the Service-Learning and Civic Engagement Exchange, a leadership programme organised by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University’s Service-Learning & Leadership Office. The programme offers undergraduates advanced, immersive service-learning experiences both in Hong Kong and in the USA. Learning outcomes and experiences from the programme are explored using qualitative methods to analyse reflective exercises and feedback from SLCE student participants (N=11). The programme has a unique two-phase design which gives it a special interest for service-learning research. It has a local phase during which Hong Kong students engage in service-learning activities in their home city joined by visiting students from the USA, and an outbound phase during which Hong Kong students participate in service-learning activities organised by partner universities in the USA. The programme thus offers a singular vantage point for examining local and international service-learning as experienced by the same group of students within a two-month period. Results suggest that service-learning experiences in both local and international contexts were comparable in terms of civic impact, yielding civic learning outcomes which were complementary. Results also point to added value in international service-learning in terms of enhancing personal development and global citizenship.

Keywords: local/domestic and global/international service-learning, student learning outcomes, impact

Thematic Area(s): 3. Service-Learning in Graduate, Secondary, and Co-curricular Education & 6. Student Outcomes, Assessment, and Measurement