Why the human connections formed through service-learning matter

Abstract

As one of Kuh's high-impact educational practices, service-learning fosters deep learning and promotes both personal and practical gains. As a pedagogy, service-learning is often used as the context in another high-impact practice: capstone design. Together, the two offer students the opportunity to integrate and synthesize their knowledge in a new, and often diverse, setting. The experience has students working on real world problems for very tangible real people, with whom they interact to understand and define the scope and objectives of their design projects. A mixed method study was conducted consisting of a quantitative instrument and qualitative analysis of written reflections and focus groups transcripts. The 74-item Ableism Index includes subscales on intergroup anxiety, resistance to equalizing policies, negative internal states, contempt, phobic, and confidence. It was administered to students pre- and post- their capstone design class during which students worked on either an adapted physical activity service-learning project or an industry-sponsored project. Students responded to directed reflection prompts on design, clients, and teaming in written essays. Eighteen focus groups were conducted with student teams who worked on adapted physical activity design projects. This paper reports on the results of a thematic analysis on written reflections about service-learning clients, and presents links to the Ableism Index. Student motivation differed based on project type, and altruism increased for those working on service-learning projects that can be attributed to the relationships formed with individual clients. © 2012 American Society for Engineering Education.