Students' E-Learning Module
A 10-hour web-based e-learning module was developed by Service-Learning and Leadership Office to prepare students for upcoming service-learning experience. It aims to introduce to students the concept of service-learning and equip them with the basic knowledge, attitudes and skills required for planning and implementing a SL project effectively.
Reflection
Reflection is a key component and an integral part of the service-learning pedagogy in which students review, examine, and create meaning from their own experiences during their service engagement. It involves a careful and systematic re-examination of assumptions, beliefs, perspectives, understanding, and actions in the light of the service experience. It is the process in which students look back on, think critically about, and learn from the service experience.
Here are some reflection cycles can be used to guide students to reflect on their experiences in a systematic manner.
Gibb's Model of Reflective Cycle
Driscoll’s “What? So What? Now What?” model
Here are some sample guiding questions that can be used to guide students critically reflect their service-learning experience:
- Description: What happened?
- Feelings: What were you thinking and feeling?
- Evaluation: What were good and bad about the experience?
- Analysis: What sense can you make of the situation?
- Conclusion: What else could you have done?
- Action plan: If it arose again, what would you do?
An empathy map is a simple and useful tool to better understand your service recipients based on their behaviours and attitude. The mapping process can help you synthesise observations and reveal deeper insights about your service recipients’ needs.
Creating the map helps students consider things from the service recipients’ perspective along with the project goals. After comparing students' expectations against the real situation, they may adjust their service plan to address the needs of service recipients better.
The sample reflection scenarios here serve as a collection of practice wisdom in guiding students' reflection.
- "I take pity on those I visited. I feel very content with my own life, and I am extremely grateful."
- "They live a simple life, accept their fate with optimism, and their smiles are radiant. I think their lives are better than mine."
- "I think they are very lazy/unwilling to improve. Why should I help them?"
- "I feel great about myself, as if I were a savior helping them."
- "I have learned communication skills and teamwork."
- "My life is as miserable as theirs."
- "I feel that I have shown love and care to the community."
- "I participate in service-learning with the aim of enriching my learning portfolio/resume, which will assist me in dealing with my further studies/finding a job."
- "I feel that this activity is meaningless."
Grading and Assessment
The sample assessment rubrics is developed with a criterion-referenced approach, with the following common intended learning outcomes assess students’ attainment of generic service-learning outcomes:
- Apply the knowledge and skills learned in the classroom in the service setting
- Reflect on their role and responsibilities as a socially responsible citizen
- Demonstrate empathy for people in need and a strong sense of civic responsibility
Evaluation
The Service-Learning Outcomes Measurement Scale (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 the below our categories which are commonly identified in service-learning.
- Knowledge application
- Personal and professional skills
- Civic orientation and engagement
- Self-awareness
This scale is designed in a flexible way that service-learning teachers can select individual or multiple learning domains for assessment at their discretion. It is originally developed for tertiary students and is now being used by the Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Lingnan University and Hong Kong Baptist University.
You can learn more about the process of how the S-LOMS was developed and validated, how the S-LOMS should be administered and scored, and how its results can be interpreted at the user manual here.
The development of the S-LOMS was funded by the University Grants Council as part of the project "Cross-institutional Capacity Building for Service-Learning in Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions" (PolyU4/T&L/16-19), which aims at enhancing and supporting the development of service-learning as an effective pedagogical strategy. This project is a cross-institutional effort involving The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Education University of Hong Kong. In particular, the development of the S-LOMS is the result of a collective effort from the above universities, in partnership with experienced community organizations, and involved a rigorous development and validation process.
The Process and Outcomes from Service-Learning (POSL) Scale developed by The Hong Kong Polytechnic University measures both students’ learning process and outcomes of their service-learning on five dimensions:
- goals and objectives
- meaningful service;
- challenging and interesting service;
- exposure to diversity, and;
- reflection and support.
Student learning outcomes includes intellectual, social, civic and intrapersonal development.
The Community Impact Feedback Questionnaire (CIFQ) was developed to allow service-learning teachers to assess the impact of their service-learning project on the community, particularly in the Hong Kong and East Asian contexts. It is a 22-item assessment tool adopting a 10-point Likert scale, self-reported by partnered organization's representative(s) immediately after the service-learning project.
The primary objective of the CIFQ is to serve as a standardized and reliable assessment tool for measuring the extent to which a service-learning project is perceived to have various kinds of community impact. The CIFQ is also designed to capture community impacts from the service recipients’ perspective, via the partnered organization(s) as the service recipients' proxy. A fuller picture of the community impacts arising from service-learning can help inform how to further advance this experiential learning methodology, and how to derive further benefits for partnered organization(s) and the wider community.
The scale covers the following domains:
- Achieving project goals to further the partnered organisation’s mission
- Augmenting resources of the partnered organisation
- Acquiring knowledge, insights, ideas and technique
- Impact for service recipients
- Overall assessment
English version Online Version (Microsoft Forms)
You can learn more about the process of how the CIFQ was developed and validated, how the CIFQ should be administered and scored, and how its results can be interpreted at the user manual here.
The development of the CIFQ was funded by the University Grants Council as part of the project "Cross-institutional Capacity Building for Service-Learning in Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions" (PolyU4/T&L/16-19), which aims at enhancing and supporting the development of service-learning as an effective pedagogical strategy. This project is a cross-institutional effort involving The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Lingnan University, Hong Kong Baptist University, and The Education University of Hong Kong. In particular, the development of the CIFQ is the result of a collective effort from the above universities, in partnership with experienced community organizations, and involved a rigorous development and validation process.
