SLS-7a Internationalisation - The UGC Teaching Award

On Thursday,  September 9, 2016,  a team composed of Dr. Grace Ngai of the Department of Computing and Dr. Stephen Chan of the then Office of Service-Learning was given the Hong Kong University Grants Committee (UGC) Teaching Award.  ‘The annual UGC Teaching Award was introduced in 2011 to honour those who excel in teaching in the UGC sector. The Award does not only recognise past and present teaching performance and achievements, but also the teachers' leadership in and scholarly contribution to teaching and learning within and across universities. The awardees are expected to become "ambassadors of good teaching" to collectively make a real and sustained impact in promoting teaching excellence.’

Each year up to a maximum of 3 awards are given, among the many thousands of academic staff teaching UGC-funded programmes in Hong Kong.  When PolyU nominate the Ngai-Chan team to compete against the nominees from other universities for the award, it was “in recognition of their outstanding achievement in facilitating transformative learning in students and immense contribution to the promotion of Service-Learning (SL) as an institutional strategy for developing students into responsible professionals and global citizens”. When UGC decided to actually give them the award, it is a testament to the significant achievements of service-learning at PolyU, with implications for and across the other universities.  The award includes a grant of HKD $450,000 that the Ngai-Chan team used to develop and run a staff development program for the community of university academics across Hong Kong.  The program consists of workshops in Hong Kong and experiential learning in Cambodia.  PolyU has built up a wide range of SL projects in Cambodia over many years.  There the academics can observe SL projects in operation, meet with the students, teaching staff, NGO partners and the community.  They can then develop their own proposal for a SL subject or project.  The program was subsequently able to train up quite a sizeable number of SL teachers.  In later years it even admitted a number of academics from universities from Mainland China, Vietnam and Philippines. 

Here is what the PolyU team said in the award ceremony:

“Dear ladies and gentlemen, fellow colleagues, good evening. It is an honor to be sharing the stage with such role models as Prof Leung and her team. Likewise, we are proud to share the stage tonight with our own colleague Shirley.

We want to start by thanking lots of people who have helped us along the way. This award really belongs to all of us. PolyU gave us this opportunity, and their trust. Our colleagues and NGO partners supported us, collaborated with us, and critiqued us. Our students were co-learners and co-travelers along the journey. Our donors, some of whom gave millions, some gave hundreds, but all are equally important. Our families, for their unconditional support, even when they did not always understand.

Our teaching philosophy is actually rather simple. We firmly believe that we should have faith in the younger generation. We believe that they matter. That they have a role. That they can make a difference in the community and in the world.

Our own journey in service-learning started before 2005, when we started doing community service projects in Hong Kong. In 2006, we took one step further and brought a team of students to mainland China.

In 2010, we decided to really dream big and designed a complementary studies service-learning subject. This subject had a syllabus and assessment and lectures and everything, it just did not carry course credit. We also noted that global competency and cultural sensitivity would become more critical in the coming years. So we organised one of PolyU’s first large-scale international service-learning projects, to Cambodia.

We believe that much of this experience helped to convince PolyU that service-learning should be a core component of the new 334 curriculum – that all students should be given a chance to learn from it. From our experiences, we developed PolyU’s first service-learning subject in 2011. That subject has evolved to become one of PolyU’s flagship service-learning subjects. In 2016, that subject enrolled 150 students, working in projects in Hong Kong, Cambodia, Myanmar, Rwanda and Kyrgyzstan. 

We have been very blessed and rewarded by our work in service-learning and we want to share what we have experienced and learned with others. Therefore, very early on, we started taking on an advocacy role. We want to convince colleagues that “if even Grace and Stephen can do it, so can I”. We organised workshops, helped colleagues to plan and design their own subjects and programs, and opened up our course and invited observers into our class, to shadow us and see how service-learning could be taught and managed. All this has helped to build up PolyU’s service-learning program — from 5 courses and 200 students in 2011, we reached full implementation in 2016. We are also seeing the formation of a core of colleagues with a diversity of expertise and experience in various aspects of service-learning.

It is well known that reflection is an important part of service-learning for students. Some people would even go as far as to say “without reflection, there is no learning.” As teachers, it is even more important that we take a reflective approach to our teaching. To know what worked, what did not, and to understand why. Therefore, we pioneered research into service-learning pedagogy, and we also try to motivate and facilitate colleagues to do the same. We are very grateful to PolyU and UGC for funding our collaborative projects, forums, research salons and conferences. We have learned much from these activities, which have resulted in many publications in international journals and conferences. We are also being invited to share our experiences all over the world, in Vietnam, Myanmar, Cambodia, even as far away as the US, Argentina and South Africa. PolyU is making a name for itself in service-learning, and we are proud to be a part of it. 

We started out learning to serve. Then we found that there is so much to learn from serving others. We have come full circle. Each cycle feeds on the last, and the snowball grows bigger and bigger. From our own little efforts back in 2005, PolyU has over 60 courses enrolling over 4000 students in 2016. It is our privilege, and blessing, to be part of something that is far, far bigger than we are.”

SLS-6b2 Does Compulsory SL Work?

Educators have divided and often strongly-held views on whether service-learning should be required of all students. Some believe that when students having unfavourable views on service-learning are compelled to take service-learning, they may resent it and it is unlikely to lead to positive outcomes.  Even for students favourable to SL, being required to do it may distort their motivation, leading to undesirable outcomes.  On the other hand, some of us believe that many students, not having experienced service-learning first hand, may not have an accurate understanding of what SL really is, and as a consequence, resist it.  When they actually experience it, even if reluctantly, they may become convinced of its benefits.  At least they can make an informed decision based on genuine understanding.  Based on our own experience teaching service-learning, as well as research on the critical factors impacting the students learning outcomes, we believe that whether students benefit from service-learning may depend more on the quality of their learning experience, rather than other pre-existing conditions such as attitude towards SL. However, studies examining students’ view on mandatory service-learning are limited in the literature.   

We hereby conducted out own study to contrast students’ views towards the service-learning requirement before and after attending their mandatory service-learning course, and examine whether and how their views might change as a result of the experience. This is a retrospective qualitative study using semi-structured interviews. Participants were 49 students who completed a service-learning course in the 2013/14 academic year. They were selected according to the nature of the course they had completed and their course grade.  We selected 18 (out of a total of 32) SL subjects to ensure a broad coverage of different disciplines, and a wide range of intended beneficiaries of their service projects.  We classify the students in each subject into higher, average and lower performance groups based on their subject grades and randomly select 3 students, one from each group.  Invitations were sent to 198 students, of which 49 finally accepted the invitation and attended the interview.  The participants were assured that their personal information would remain confidential.  

The students’ recollections of their initial views were classified into one of three categories: positive, passive-acceptance and negative.  According to one of the students with an initially “negative” view: “I found SL very worrisome.  I was afraid I might meet some agonising people. I was also worried about the problems or difficulties I might face.”  According to one of those in the “passive-acceptance” category: “I don’t know much about SL.  It is just … an obstacle that I need to clear in order to graduate.”  The students’ post-experience views were similarly classified into one of three categories: positive, ambivalent and negative - corresponding to the three categories of initial views.  

Results show that students’ perspectives towards service-learning are not static but rather, change dramatically as a result of their experiences. Most students, particularly those who recalled a negative or passive acceptance stance in their initial views, reported positive changes in their views towards service-learning after completing the course.  The results clearly indicate a very positive shift in students’ views about service-learning as a result of their SL experience, particularly among those who recall having a passive-acceptance or negative stance initially.  According to a student who had initial passive-acceptance view, a student majoring in Radiography, a high-achiever in a service-learning subject offering health assessment and rehabilitation programmes to the elderly or people with disabilities: “This service turned out to be a pleasant surprise for me: from no expectations to great gains; the whole experience is very positive. The result is good, and I don’t mind doing it again. At the beginning, I thought that it was just a trick played on students; but later, I realised that it had provided students with an opportunity to learn. All the good things and shortcomings I have mentioned about the experience are unforgettable memories in my university life.” 

Some students shared that they were inspired by knowing first-hand how their disciplinary knowledge could contribute to the betterment of the society, and felt that the service-learning experience added meaning to their discipline.  According to one of the students, a high-achiever in a SL subject teaching robotics to university students in Myanmar: “I study Electronic and Information Engineering. … I used to think I have few options after graduation, apart from working in factories on the Mainland.  After taking this SL subject, I realise that I can do a lot of things … Indeed life can become much more convenient because of the things I’ve made.”  

Some students mentioned that the service-learning experience had provided them with an opportunity to understand and help a group of people whom they did not know much about or even were afraid of before. Some reported that the experience had changed their way of viewing the service recipients. According to a high achiever in a subject using textile art and co-design as therapy and empowerment for people recovered from psychological disabilities: “I worried about whether it would be difficult to communicate with them… I was a bit scared… Actually, they are normal people; they fell ill because of emotional problems but now they have recovered. The medication might have caused side effects for some of them. They were unfortunate, but not scary.”

 

Some students pointed to the fact that service-learning challenged them to reflect on their own attitude and provided an opportunity for self-reflection and clarification of personal values.  According to a student majoring in computing and management and a high-achiever in a service-learning subject teaching sciences to the children in Cambodia: 

“It does not impose the values on me but rather, stimulates me to reflect on my own attitudes and values, and to think whether I need to change my values. It has given me new ideas and insights, and more choices … It has been a very stimulating experience indeed.”

A small number of students expressed a negative view towards service-learning after the course – because their actual experience fell short of their expectations. For example, a student who took part in a service-learning subject on engineering for the society and expected to have ample opportunity to meet and interact with the beneficiaries was greatly disappointed with the service experience: “I initially expected that I would have a lot of chances to interact with the clients or the needy, or work at the service location to create a tailor-made product for the clients. But it was not the case. I spent most of my time working on computers at the university.”  

Hence students’ initial resistance alone is not a reason for making service-learning optional. From an educational viewpoint, engaging only students who are already interested in service-learning is like “preaching to the converted”. It is those who are less inclined to participate in service-learning that we should focus on, as they are the ones who may benefit the most from the experience Making service-learning a requirement can be a strong push for the initially inert students to undertake the experience which, if implemented effectively, will nurture them into more civic-minded citizens. The critical question, then, is not about required versus voluntary service but rather, how to design and deliver an effective service-learning course or program that provides a rewarding experience for students and achieves the intended learning outcomes

The results are presented in the paper “How Participation Impacts University Students’ Perspectives towards Mandatory Service-Learning” to appear in the Journal of Experimental Education.  

SLS-6b1 Critical Success Factors

In 2010 PolyU made a bold decision to make service-learning credit-bearing and compulsory.  Financially it has committed a tremendous amount of funds to finance the offering of 60+ academic subjects to 4,000+ students each year.  It is proper to ask whether the effort is yielding the desired outcomes.  We have been monitoring the results since the beginning, and the results have been very encouraging.  Through pre- and post-surveys, the results indicate that the students are achieving the four major learning outcomes as expected: academic/intellectual, social, civic and personal.  The students’ performances as measured by the subject grades have been more than satisfactory.  In fact, average grades for SL subjects tend to be a bit higher than other academic subjects.  Students satisfaction as reflected through scores on the “Subject Feedback Questionnaires” filled in by the students at the end of each semester are also positive.  We have conducted interviews with students, teachers, and partner NGOs and the results are good.  Hence, overall, PolyU can be satisfied that the Service-Learning Requirement is achieving the expected positive results.  In other words, service-learning works for PolyU.

But we wish to understand better how the learning outcomes are achieved.  For example, specifically which factors are critical for achieving which of the intended learning outcomes?  Partly it is out of intellectual curiosity. When we know something works, we want to find out how it works. Partly, it is also to identify ways to achieve even better results.  In the 2014/15 academic year, we conducted a study to identify the key pedagogical elements influencing the student learning outcomes.  Target participants were 2,880 students enrolled in 55 credit-bearing SL subjects offered in the year.  A total of 2,214 valid returns were received, with a response rate of 76.9%.  Participants were invited, at the end of the subject, to complete a post-experience questionnaire that required them to: (a) indicate the quality of different aspects of their learning experience, and (b) rate their attainment of the intended intellectual, social, civic and personal learning outcomes as well as their overall learning gains as a result of attending the SL subject. Pearson’s product-moment correlation and multiple regressions were performed to identify and compare the relative contribution of the various factors that influence students’ learning experience and their attainment of specific learning outcomes of SL. 

Results show that students’ self-reported gain in intellectual development was most strongly influenced by “preparing students adequately for service”, “challenging and meaningful tasks” and “perceived benefits of service to the community/service recipients” On the other hand, students’ self-reported gain in social development was most strongly associated with “relationship with teammates” and “motivated and supportive teammates”.  Students’ self-reported civic development was found to relate most strongly to “challenging and meaningful tasks’, “perceived benefits of service to the community/service recipients”, “appreciation by collaborative agency/recipients” and “preparing students adequately for service”, whereas their reported gain in personal development were mostly influenced by “student effort in planning, preparing and delivering the service”, “challenge to try things never done before”, “challenge and meaningful tasks” and “perceived benefits to the community/service recipients.”  

Based on the analysis, we found that students’ learning outcomes from SL are influenced by a multitude of pedagogical elements, some more influential than others.  The relative impacts of the different pedagogical elements are not uniform across different outcomes.  14 pedagogical elements are significantly associated with at least one of the 4 SL outcomes.  

Based on these results we make these recommendations to the teachers of SL subjects:

1. Involve students in challenging tasks.
1. require students to apply knowledge & skills to deal with complex problems in the service setting.
2. challenge students to move outside their comfort zone & try new things. 
2. Design meaningful services that meet genuine community needs.
1. Students will work harder and learn better when they think their service is meaningful and 
2. the service is valued and appreciated. 
3. Prepare students well for the service.
1. Better understanding of the clients & community
2. Knowledge & skills for planning and implementing the SL project.
4. Engage students in direct interaction with clients
1. reinforce their understanding of social issues & problems
2. develop empathy for the needy
3. provide direct feedback on the service
5. Motivate students to invest more time and effort in service
1. long service duration & deep enough experience have positive impact on student learning 
6. Provide diverse SL subjects & projects, and allow student choices
7. Engage students in critical deep reflections through structured reflection tasks with clear instruction. 

One of the most encouraging results come from the observation that almost all of these factors are generally under our control.  One of the beliefs on SL is that students come with prior perceptions and attitudes.  If they are interested in the subject and are motivated that the fortunate teacher can help them achieve good outcomes. If they don’t then there is not much that the unfortunate teacher can do to change that.  The study tells us that this belief may not be completely true.  There is indeed much that a teacher can do to provide the student with a good learning experience, and achieve good learning outcomes.  We can even achieve that despite having some students with an unhelpful attitude.  More on that in the next section. 

The results of this study was published in the paper “A Multivariate Study of Factors Influencing Students’ Learning Outcomes from Service-Learning (SL), presented at the International Association for Research on Service-Learning and Social Engagement (IARSLCE) 2016 Conference, 26-28 September, New Orleans, Louisiana, USA.  

Silver Lining?

One would-be despot is on the way out.  Will others follow suit?  Maybe not.  They will try desperately to stay in power.  But perhaps, at least, they will be not be further encouraged?  Perhaps the tide is beginning to turn?

On the other hand, will the world-be despot’s country bully others less and turn to more centrist positions?  

Will countries feel less need to be draconian?  Instead try to convince others that they are reasonably civilised?  

After all, it should be to everyone’s advantage to control the pandemic better together. One country is never safe while the pandemic is raging in other countries. It should also be good to trade with each other more rather then fight mutually-detrimental trade wars.  Shouldn’t it be better to negotiate rather than fight in general?

Are those silver linings or hints of more impending doom?

PolyU - UPretoria Joint Project

We are concluding another new  initiative - a joint project between PolyU and University of Pretoria.  Actually a project with 4 parties.  PolyU students (party 1) are teaching a group of students from Caritas Ma On Shan Secondary School (CMS, party 2) how to take 360 degree photos and videos.  They are also collaborating with students from University of Pretoria (party 3) and secondary school students from the townships near Pretoria (party 4) how to do the same in South Africa, even shipping the cameras and other relevant equipment to South Africa to enable them to do so. 

 

Then the PolyU students and learners from CMS go to Kowloon City Walled City Park, PolyU campus, and Tsim Sha Tsui, to take various footage on our heritage in Hong Kong.  

The Pretoria students and the learners from the South Africa townships will do the same from an animal park near their campus - the wild life of South Africa is world famous.  All the different footage are going to be edited into a movie integrating the different themes together.  Due to the COVID-19 infections, the shooting in the field in South Africa, which should have been doe already, has been delayed for 10 days.  We are praying that the shooting can be done in time, so that the final movie can incorporate the input from both Hong Kong and South Africa.  

Throughout, PolyU students have to learn how to use the 360 degree cameras, take regular photos and videos, write a story to integrate all the themes together.  Then they have to teach learners from CMS in Hong Kong and the Pretoria students how to use the equipment and to basic editing of the videos.  Finally, they also have to get the township learners involved in the process in some way.  

All of these have to be done over video conferencing, and various social media wherever possible.  The 4 different groups of students face different aspects of the digital divide to different degrees.  The PolyU students who have access to our campus have access to a wide variety of equipment and technical support.  PolyU students who are stuck at home, some away from Hong Kong in their home country such as Kazakhstan, India, Indonesia or Malaysia are at a disadvantage.  Pretoria students face challenges on limited bandwidth depending on where they are, compounded by the severe COVID-19 situation.  The learners from the townships face the more severe challenges.  Most do not have computers at home.  Initially they could access the computers on the Pretoria campus, which became inaccessible because of COVID-19.  Later they can only rely on basic mobile phones.  

All these realities of the digital divide and social issues pose almost insurmountable challenges.  At the same time, they present learning opportunities impossible to recreate in the classroom.  The different groups of students demonstrate enviable ingenuity, finding innovative solutions to tackle different challenges.  Everyone pulling together to help the least privileged members of the team to get involved as much as possible.  

It is a great lesson for everyone involved.  Those on the “have” side cannot leave those on the “have-not” side behind.  Without the contribution from all parties the project cannot be completed successfully.  Hopefully, the lessons learned can be useful for them later on.  In real life, the “have” countries and communities cannot trade with each other only.  The “have”s cannot completely ignore the “have-not”s, if only because they wish to trade with them.  

SLS-6a6 Consistency in Assessment

Consistency in assessment across SL subjects is an issue that continues to post a challenge - and will probably continue to do so indefinitely.   Related to that is the challenge in communicating to the students the expectations of the subject.  It boils down to the practical question of what type of work truly deserves an A, or B, or C, or, in rare cases, failure.  It seems particularly difficult for the student to understand this question in the context of SL. Perhaps because it is a pedagogy that many of them do not have a lot of experience with.  A student probably takes no more than one or two SL subjects in a 4-year undergraduate program.  There is hardly enough exposure to become very familiar with it.  

A number of measure have been taken to address the consistency of grading.  Metrics to be used for assessment are required from the subject teacher for each subject.  Workshops are conducted for teachers periodically on assessment practices, development of metrics, etc.  At the end of each term, the grade distributions of SL subjects are reported to the Committee on General University Requirements, who are responsible for the quality control of SL subjects, together with other GUR subjects.  Subjects with grades that appear to be unusually high, unusually low, having an odd distribution, or otherwise out of the ordinary may attract scrutiny.  PolyU practices criteria-referencing assessment.  In theory, the grade distribution in each subject does not have to conform to a specific norm.  In practice, PolyU wishes to avoid the perception that SL grades are too arbitrary or subjective.   If the same group of students take two similar subjects, their performance in one is not expected to differ from the other. 

There are some challenges that may be specific to service-learning.  Many students who are initially indifferent during the classes and preparation phases often come alive and become very engaged when the actual service starts, when the students begin to interact with the community and begin to truly appreciate the societal issues.  The students’ enthusiasm can be higher than what they exhibit at other academic subjects.  Many teachers are pleasantly surprised by this elevated level of enthusiasm and the regrading may reflect that.  Enthusiasm often leads to greater effort.  There is also a tendency among some teachers to mistake effort and actually learning.  It is not uncommon to hear teachers explaining higher grades awarded to the class by pointing to the great enthusiasm and effort demonstrated by the students, rather than superior performance according to the learning outcomes.  There is, of course, a strong relation between the amount of effort put in by the student and the learning outcome, but this is far from guaranteed.  

One of the techniques practiced by some teachers to better communicate the expected standard of performance to the students is the discussion of samples of work with the students.  Often a sample produced by a previous cohort of students taking the same subject is presented to the class.  The students are asked to assign grades to the sample based on grading metrics announced by the teacher.  The teacher then reveals the actual grade assigned and how the grading metric was applied.  Discrepancies can then be discussed, and hopefully reduced.  Disagreement is perhaps unavoidable.  But students generally appreciate efforts from the teachers to better communicate expectations.  

Runners’ Foods 跑緣

Our friend P introduced us to an interesting restaurant “Runners’ Foods 跑緣”.  When we got there on Sunday, we found that it is both a running-themed ministry as well as a restaurant.  

The restaurant / ministry was found by Dino, a ethnic Chinese missionary sent from a church in London to Hong Kong.  He taught himself to run for better wellbeing.  Now he is teaching others to run for better wellbeing, both physically and spiritually.  The ministry is focused on the homeless and other in poverty.  

The restaurant is way to be self-sufficient, a place to gather, a place to promote running, and a place for worship.  We arrived when the online worship was wrapping up, and the restaurant was just being set up.  We were fortunate to be the first customers of the day.  I ordered an all-day breakfast and a special coffee.  It was cold, layered, smooth and flavourful.  Disposable utensils are used to minimise possibility of infections in the face of pandemic.  Otherwise the food looks and tastes good.  The sausages are flavourful, unlike those at many other places.   

While we were eating and chatting with Dino, many people were coming and going.  Most are young and/or runners.  There is a very vibrant atmosphere.  They have made faith really relevant to actual living.  The vision is attracting a youthful and energetic congregation.  

At a time when many established churches are going more and more aloof, stale, and irrelevant to the pressing needs of the masses, ministries like this are breathing fresh air into the community of the faithful.  More about them can be found on Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/runnersfoods/

The restaurant itself is located on Lai Chi Kok Road in Shumshuipo.  Not too far from the Prince Edward MTR station.  

SLS-6a5 Easy subjects?

One of the real challenges that we keep facing is rather mundane.  We try very hard, and have a rigorous process in place, to ensure that SL subjects are academically sound and challenging.  However, there is always some subjects or teachers that are perceived by the students as easier than others.  They can be easier in the sense that the work is less challenging - it can be objectively true or it may only be a perception.  Perhaps a smaller amount of work is required.  Perhaps a lower degree of difficulty is demanded.  Perhaps it is mainly group work as opposed to individual work - hence making it is easier to free-ride.  A subject can  be “easy” simply because the grading is more lenient.  Perhaps a lot of As are given.  In this sense the situation with SL subjects may not seem much different from other types of academic subjects in terms of student preferences towards certain “easy” subjects.  

Perhaps the work is more straightforward rather than cognitively challenging.  Perhaps the work is more prescribed rather than open-ended.  This aspect may be particularly relevant in with Hong Kong and perhaps Mainland China, where the dominant mode of learning is often considered to be closed-form, prescriptive with definite right and wrong solutions.  Many students training in this manner tend to favour SL subjects where they are assured they can carry out their tasks successfully in a definite, step-by-step manner. This type of projects, unfortunately, are somewhat artificial, while the real problems of the world are typically messy, ill-defined and even “wicked”.  

The situation may be made more intense because of the nature of SL.   SL is experiential, rather than theoretical.  It involves a lot of interactions with people.  It often challenges the students with unfamiliar and uncomfortable situations.  It compels the students to examine their own assumptions, values and beliefs.  The challenges may invoke strong emotional responses from the students.  It may,  in turn, heighten their preferences for or against certain SL subjects.  

Of course, many students do choose a subject based on their interest and do not mind working hard on something that interest them.  But human nature as it is, certain subjects are over-subscribed because they are perceived as “easier” subjects.  At one point, we encountered a situation where students literally sell their places in such highly desirable subjects to each other through a black market.  As soon as we hear of such practices, we quickly change the registration procedures to plug the loop holes that allow such undesirable practice to take place.  Fortunately, and hopefully, such practices are rare and quickly caught.  

The university, of course, work hard to ensure that no SL subjects are unreasonably easy, that all SL subjects are academically sounds and demand comparable amounts of work.  SL should not prescribe routine work without rigorous cognitive challenges.  Subjects should not make it easy for students to free-ride.  A reasonable degree of challenge to the students’ assumptions, values and beliefs is necessary for serious reflection and civic learning. Relevant teachers and departments are made aware of some of these perceptions on campus, among teaches, administrators and students.  Self-respecting academics and departments do wish to be rigorous as well as being perceived to be  rigorous in their teaching.  

SLS-6a4 A fallacy - running out of people to serve

At the beginning, one of the objections to implementing service-learning in PolyU runs like this: “Hong Kong does not have the type of extreme and extensive poverty such as exists elsewhere in the world such as in the inner cities in the USA; hence there is no strong need of service-learning at the large scale contemplated." A highly successful chair professor had voiced exactly this argument in a PolyU management workshop.  The worry is that there is insufficient “demand” for the service that our students are offering.  

Another related concern expressed by even some of our very senior external advisors goes like this: “with so many students at PolyU required to engage in community service, when other universities also get involved in service-learning, we may encounter strong competition in finding enough people to serve.”  The worry here is that there may be too much “supply” of service offered by the students.  Although the basis of the two arguments differ, the concerns are similar - there may be an over supply of service against a limited demand for it.  

Let us take a closer look at where the demand and the supply stand. It is true that Hong Kong is one of the wealthier cities in the world.  In Hong Kong we do not have a lot of people who are starving for lack of food.  Neither do we have a lot of crime-infested slums where people are afraid to intrude.  But we do have 1.4 million persons (out of a population of 7 million) who are under the poverty line.   We do have 1.27 million persons 65 or more years old, many of whom without adequate financial, familial or other necessary support for a life with dignity.    We do have 400,000 persons with a wide range of disabilities (mental, physical, …) according to the Census and Statistics Department survey in 2001.  We do have more than 10,000 refugees and asylum seekers who have nowhere to go.  We do have more than 1,000 registered street sleepers whose numbers are rising.  We do have more than 280,000 who live in subdivided flats or similar undesirable housing.  It is highly unlikely that we will run out of people who needs help any time soon.  And then there is Mainland China to the north with 1.3 billion people with their 10’s of millions of disabled persons, …    

PolyU is sending out 4,000 students each year to service-learning projects, each serving for 40 hours over one year.  It is a very small number when set against the tremendous need. We have been running our program for close to 10 years now.  And several other universities in Hong Kong are also expanding their own SL programs in their own ways.    If a massive expansion of service-learning among universities in Hong Kong really happens, it might conceivably expand the umber of students involved each year by, e.g., 10 times, to a scale of 40,000 students offering 40 hours of service each year. 

At this scale we are no where near exhausting needy communities to serve. It would be welcome by the community, rather than create a damaging competition among the universities. The challenge that we do face is in matching our expertise to the appropriate community,  or developing new skills to serve a need that we feel compelled to serve.  So far, our team and professors teaching SL have often been frustrated, feeling powerless facing such an enormous need that we can never fully satisfy.  After spending 4 years to install solar panels and wiring up 500 houses to provide basic electrical power for a village with a population of approximately 2,000, we realise there are still thousands of villages like this one in just one country of a population of over 10 million.  The fear that we will ever run out of people to serve is truly a fallacy due to our own poor grasp of reality. 

SLS-6a3 The First Batch of Graduates - The Wide Range of SL subjects

Other than the total number of students and places, we also have to ensure that the range of subjects match the range of student interests to a reasonable extent.  Student preferences may be linked to the academic discipline (language, engineering, health science, business, …), target community (children, elderly, …), site of service (Hong Kong, Mainland China, some generic or specific foreign country, …), type of service (direct, indirect, …), …   The match will never be 100% and student interests are usually and hopefully not very narrow.  But in general if students can enrol in a subject broadly in their interest, the learning experiences and outcomes are generally better.  More on that in the following chapter. 

Each year, over the fall, spring, and the summer sessions, we offer 60+ SL subjects covering almost all the academic disciplines.  We know, from research on service-learning, theory on education in general, and our own experience in teaching, that it is important to give students some degree of autonomy in learning.  One size does not fit all.  Since we have made service-learning compulsory, we need to give them sufficient choices in selecting a service-learning subject. 

 

On the other hand, we truly believe that all academic disciplines have something to offer to tackle the needs of underprivileged people.  It is only our imagination, actually the lack of it, that limits what service-learning subjects can be created out of engineering, science, social science, health science, humanities, business, design, textiles, hotel and tourism, etc.  On this front PolyU has been quite successful in offering service-learning subjects out of almost all of the academic departments.  However, we are far from exhausting all possibilities.  We have continued to look for new opportunities to create innovative subjects and projects. 

Following is a very brief sample of SL subjects and associated projects on offer.  Subjects are selected to demonstrate the range of academic disciplines, project types, locations involved. It represents roughly one-third of all the SL subjects on offer. 

1. Community Psychology - Students plan and deliver a health promotion project for the elderly residents of Kwai Tsing district in Hong Kong, and conduct a community needs assessment to help develop a better living environment for them. 
2. Enhancing Bi-literacy & Tri-lingualism through Language Service - Students render different kinds of language service to underprivileged communities including: composing of life stories for the elderly and drafting tourism materials with a group of under-privileged secondary school students in HK.
3. Community Engagement through Expressive Textile Arts and Fashion - Students adopt expressive textile arts, fashion creativity and garment prototyping as a caring medium, helping the recipients to enhance their self-image and re-construct a healthy self-image.  The final prototypes showcased in a styling presentation with photo-shooting sessions and exhibition.  
4. Engineering Design for the Community - Students work together with the elderly to design assistive tools to help facilitate and ease their lives so as to rebuild their self-confidence and ability for daily life. 
5. Social Justice in Private Housing Redevelopment - PolyU students provide services for the elderly and homeowners with low education and affected by urban renewal. In collaboration with social workers, students explain to and advised clients of their rights under the relevant ordinances, and give recommendations on the estimated value of their properties. 
6. You can make a difference to our planet - Students participate in innovative projects to tackle the food waste problems in Hong Kong.  They try to educate the public the importance of recycling and to motivate them to do it at the same time, they advocate the benefits of reducing and recycling food wastes through working with the community partner. 
7. Serving the Community through Teaching English - Implemented in Hong Kong, Mainland China, Taiwan, and Cambodia, PolyU students design and tailor the unique story based teaching kits on the basis of cultural conditions and the ability and learning needs of the students in different places.  
8. Promotion of Children and Adolescent Development - Students develop and deliver educational and supportive services, such as organising day camps for underprivileged children and adolescents to help unleash their potential.  Subsequently expanded into Mainland China to serve the children of migrant workers in cities. 
9. Inter-professional Health Promotion & Rehabilitation Services - Students work in teams to plan and implement health care projects for the elderly and people with disabilities, for example, conducting health education talks, providing assessments of balance and mobility, designing workout programmes and organising recreational activities. 
10. Eye Care and Vision Health for the Community - Student work in groups to provide vision screening services to underprivileged communities.  They also visit the community prior to the vision screening in order to better understand the needs of the service recipients.  The vision screening service subsequently extend to many sites in Mainland China as well as foreign countries such as Cambodia. 
11. Engaged with Diversity - Students engage in a variety of activities, including Chinese language teaching, personal tutoring, improving community communication and providing social services for school children from ethnic minority backgrounds in order to reduce discrimination and structured inequalities faced by people from diverse backgrounds. 
12. Land and Resource Management for Sustainable Development in Rural Area - Student help villagers conduct simple building inspection, and simple building maintenance, in Hong Kong.  For offshore projects in Mainland China and Taiwan, students collect geographic data and produce maps, teaching map reading to villagers,.
13. Educating Rural Farmers on Healthier Food Production - Students engage in s service project to help farmers to improve ether crop-growing standards as well as to avoid crop yield reduction, by introducing new concepts of agricultural practices as well as safe and healthier food production. 
14. Building Green Communities with Environmental NGOs - Students cooperate with communities and environmental NGOs to organise a series of activities, such as conducting voluntary environmental education in the community and providing solutions to environmental problems, ignorer to help develop a green community. 
15. Quantitative Methods for Community Service - Students help to quantify the needs and preferences of the people they serve through interviews and data analysis, to support the partner NGOs in follow-up service. 
16. Financial Literacy for Low-Income Youths - PolyU students design a unique financial literacy package, organise activities, for youths from low income families, in a mentoring programme, to foster appropriate values in personal financial management. 
17. Science for Healthy and Sustainable Living Environments - Students develop projects to measure environmental quality (air quality, volume, light pollution, etc.) to help secondary school students to learn about energy saving and sustainable development.   In a related subject, PolyU students carry out projects in developing countries such as installation of water filtration systems for villagers in Cambodia, or designing more efficient and cleaner-burning stoves in Rwanda.  
18. Reducing the Scientific Divide in Secondary Students through STEM - PolyU students tutor secondary schools students to develop projects such as muscle-signal controlled vehicle using sensors to detect electrical signals produced by skeletal muscles in different states to control the motor of the vehicle, with simple graphical programming language. Vehicles compete in a final competition.  Cultivate spirit of scientific literacy and understanding of human body.  
19. Technology Beyond Borders: Service_learning across Cultural, Ethnic and Community Lines - Students serve in Hong Kong, Mainland China as well as foreign countries such as Cambodia, Myanmar, Kyrgyzstan and Rwanda.  Projects include computer systems and network installation, workshops on programming, robotics, multimedia, social network, etc., solar-electric power generation, community learning centre installation, games and devices for cognitive/mobility training for the elderly and handicapped children, etc.  
20. Understanding Learning Difficulties - Students observe and interact with children of young people with learning difficulties to improve learning.  
21. Growing Resilience of Children in Post-disaster Contexts - PolyU students serve in post-earthquake Sichuan in Mainland China to address the impacts of recurring natural hazards on bio-psycho-social well-being of the children and their communities. 
22. Healthy Lifestyle Challenges for Developing Communities - PolyU students team up with local students to access the health status, examine the lifestyle pattern and living environment of families in slums or rural areas, provide suggestions for the families on habits and behaviours that can be changed to achieve a healthier lifestyle, in Cambodia, Vietnam, Kyrgyzstan, Rwanda and Indonesia. 
23. Preserving Cultural Heritage for Ethnic Minorities in Contemporary China - Student help record the oral testimonies, ceremonies, songs, dance and skills of ethnic minorities to preserve ethnic culture and minimise cultural lost.   
24. Ecotourism in Rural and Developing Regions - Polyu students assess and review the potential resources for ecotourism development through site visits, interviews, and interactions with local people, and observations to understand their culture and customs.  They plan ecotourism activities, provide trainings to the local community and design a website to promote the project site.