SLS - Building and Piloting 2a1 - Piloting

The Senate approved the proposed Service-Learning Requirement in December 2010,  kicking off the process to build a brand-new core component of the new 4-year undergraduate programs.  There were only one year and a half left before it came into effect for the cohort starting 4-year undergraduate programs in September 2012.  At that point we had nothing in place: (1) no courses (subjects) in PolyU, (2) no academic procedure and infrastructure for approval and quality control for such courses, and (3) no mechanism to promote and develop such courses. All of these have to be addressed in order to roll out the new Service-Learning Requirement. It was obvious that we had to move fast to have any chance of having at least some of the required courses in place when the students arrive on campus in September 2012.  

The Task Force that was assembled to develop the Service-Learning Requirement was tasked to develop a plan to move things forward.  It became obvious that we need to experiment with some such courses to prepare for the formal roll-out.  It was quickly decided to develop a small number of “pilot” courses as soon as possible, and offer these pilot courses as elective subjects to the students in the then 3-year programs.  This way the university could gain crucial experience in developing, offering and managing service-learning courses, and to use such experience in the design of the supporting infrastructure.  

The Spring semester of 2010/11 was going to start almost immediately.  There simply wasn’t enough time to develop any courses for piloting in time for the Spring semester.  The earliest that any such courses could be tested was summer 2011.  We did get to work quickly.  The Task Force did a stock-taking around PolyU, to see how much service-learning-related activities there were in the various faculties and schools, particularly those that had a potential to be developed into credit-bearing subjects.  It was decided in early February to issue a call for proposals of pilot subjects, with accompanying guidelines.  

In mid March, a Call for Proposals was sent out from VP(AD) office, for pilot subjects on service-learning, to departments and faculties.  A set of criteria for the approval of SL subjects was specified based on the general principles stipulated in the original proposal to the Senate.  

To qualify as a subject meeting theService-Learning Requirement of PolyU, the proposed subject: 

1. Must carry a minimum of 3 credits
2. Can last for one or two semesters, and extend into the Summer Term
3. Must include, in addition to the intended learning outcomes associated with the academic content of the subject, the following learning outcomes common to all service-learning subjects: [On completing the subject, students will be able to:]

• Apply the knowledge and skills they have acquired to deal with complex issues in the service setting
• Reflect on their role and responsibilities both as a professional in their chosen discipline and as a responsible citizen
• Demonstrate empathy for people in need and a strong sense of civic responsibility. 

4. Must include in its teaching and learning process, a requirement for all students to participate in community service or engagement activities that: 

• address identified community needs in a meaningful way
• create opportunities for students to interact directly with the service users or community members, and 
• benefit both the students and the service users/the community at large. 
• For a 3-credit subject, students are normally expected to spend a minimum of 40 hours (~ one third of the expected total student effort) in rendering the service. 

5. Must provide structured opportunities for reflection to enable students to connect their learning with the service, and to reflect on their role and social responsibilities both as a professional and a responsible citizen.  
6. Must include a rigorous and systematic process in which students’ performance in and their learning from the required service activities are assessed, using a Letter-Grading system. 

On March 28, 2011, PolyU ran the first seminar on Service-Learning “Developing Proposals for Piloting Service-Learning Subjects for the 4-year Curriculum”.  It was hosted by Dr. Stephen Chan, Associate Professor in Department of Computing and Convenor of the Task Force on Service-Learning, and Dr. K. P. Kwan, of the Education Development Center and Special Assistant to Vice-President (Academic Development).  

Seven proposals for new SL subjects were received.  A panel appointed by VP(AD), consisting of Prof. Daniel Shek, Dr. K. P. Kwan and Dr. Stephen Chan, convenor of the Task Force, vetted the subject proposals based on the principles presented in the original proposal for the Servie-Learning Requirement.  Five of them were approved.  We will write about the pilot subjects in more detail in another section. 

The criteria for vetting SL subject proposals were developed quickly based on the original proposal to the Senate.  They have since been revised a number of times, but the core concepts have stood the test of time, and have not been altered significantly.  

The vetting panel was an ad hoc set up.  These are part of the boot-strapping process through which the academic procedures and policies were developed.  A subcommittee for the approval of SL subjects was subsequently set up as a subcommittee of the Committee on General University Requirements (CoGUR).  An Office of Service-Learning was set up to promote service-learning and in general support the implementation.   More on these important developments in another section.