Assessment Tools

A Bank of Assessment Tools
Two assessment tools for teachers to assess the impact of service-learning on student learning outcomes and on the community have been developed with rigorous validation by the subject matter experts from the 4 participating institutions.
A wide range of stakeholders, namely tertiary and secondary students, experienced teachers and researchers from other educational institutions, and community partners have engaged in the scale development and validation to ensure and enhance the applicability of the tools in different service-learning contexts.

Service-Learning Outcomes Measurement Scale (S-LOMS)
S-LOMS is designed for teachers to assess student learning outcomes arising from service-learning, particularly in the Hong Kong and East Asian contexts. It is a 56-item assessment tool adopting a 10-point Likert scale, self-reported by students before (pretest) and after (posttest) their service-learning experience. The pretest-posttest differences indicate the change of students' perception over 11 learning domains under four categories (namely, knowledge application, personal and professional skills, civic orientation and engagement, and self-awareness) commonly identified in service-learning. Furthermore, the tool is designed in a flexible way that service-learning teachers can select individual or multiple learning domains for assessment at their discretion.
Its development started with an extensive literature review in the Hong Kong and East Asian contexts, and a theoretical framework regarding student learning outcomes arising from service-learning was developed. Based on the framework, 103 items were generated with satisfactory face and content validity.
The team then conducted a pilot study and a series of validation exercises of the tool to ensure the final tool is valid, reliable, and feasible to reflect students’ perception on different learning outcomes.
To enhance the applicability of S-LOMS in East Asia, the team also examined the tool’s cross-cultural validity by engaging 330 students from Republic Polytechnic of Singapore and 655 Hong Kong tertiary students in the study. Results indicate that S-LOMS shared the same factor structure and hence confirm that it is applicable in both contexts. The S-LOMS is also validated in the Hong Kong secondary schools which further enhances the tool’s pertinency.
Moreover, the team translated S-LOMS into Chinese with an aim to reach a wider audience in Chinese mainland, Macau and Taiwan. The translation employed a rigorous approach which included back-translation, pre-testing, and mass validation, and it was vetted by a professor in the Department of Translation from Lingnan University. The mass validation indicated strong evidence in the tool’s construct validity and reliability and it is now being used by PolyU, LU and HKBU.

Community Impact Feedback Questionnaire (CIFQ)
The Community Impact Feedback Questionnaire (CIFQ) was developed and validated to allow teachers to assess the impact of service-learning on the community, particularly in the Hong Kong and East Asian contexts.
The team started the development of CIFQ with an extensive literature review and formed a comprehensive theoretical framework. The theoretical framework was then validated through a qualitative study by interviewing 13 representatives from 11 local and overseas community partner organisations (CPOs) that have ever collaborated with the 4 participating universities in organizing service-learning projects. Results confirmed the theoretical framework with three major positive impact domains on the CPOs arising from service-learning in the Hong Kong context. Besides, few negative impacts on the community were also identified.
The team developed a draft CIFQ and invited 16 knowledgeable and experienced service-learning practitioners and CPO representatives to comment the draft via two to three rounds of anonymous idea consolidation. The team also conducted three rounds of Delphi study to establish validity and reliability for the finalised 22-item CIFQ. It is the first validated assessment tool for assessing the impact of SL on the community in the Hong Kong context.
In addition, the team translated the CIFQ into Chinese in order to reach a wider audience in the other contexts.

Manuals for Facilitating Use of the Assessment Tools
The team also composed and published user manuals of these two tools to instruct users on how to administer the tools and analyse data. An English manual was made for S-LOMS, and a bilingual manual was developed for CIFQ. The manuals were published online as monographs, and hardcopies were distributed to the offices of service-learning in the higher education institutions in Hong Kong.