Instituting a Service-Learning Requirement in Higher Education: Evaluation and Lessons Learned

Abstract

We found that students generally perceived that they learned quite a lot from service-learning. Learning gains are strongly correlated to the student’s interest and the learning experience, while the correlations to the student’s grade and whether they took service-learning primarily to fulfil the requirement are weak. It can be considered an encouraging affirmation of the decision to make service-learning compulsory. On the other hand, some students found the physical hardship tougher than expected. Some also have difficulties when the realities in the field were different from their expectations, when their preparations were inadequate, etc. Cultural and other factors seem to pose interesting challenges different from what is commonly presented in literature. Some lessons may be relevant to global adoption of service-learning as an educational pedagogy.