SLS-5d SL Research at PolyU

By 2014, we have only been involved in rigorous academic service-learning for just a few years.  Yet we have already accumulated some significant experiences and preliminary research results to be shared with the conference.  

At ICSL 2014, we presented a paper on the salient features of the service-learning program at PolyU.  SL as credit-bearing academic subjects with common expected learning outcomes including linkage between academic content and societal need, application of academic knowledge to service, empathy and responsible citizenship.  SL is compulsory but we address student choice by providing them with a large pool of courses to choose from.  We design large classes to cater for the large number of students.  Quality is ensured with rigorous vetting process.  We also provide strong operational support and staff development through the Office of Service-learning.  Additional funding is available to support innovative practices and overseas travel so that SL can be integrated with international and cross-cultural competency.  Courses have been successfully launched from across all faculties.  It is our conviction that all academic disciplines have something to offer to address the needs of society, hence we made it a target to offer at least one SL subject from each academic department.  And we are very close to achieving that target.  Students are achieving the learning outcomes as expected, largely validating the original design of the program.  The PolyU model as presented was rather descriptive at that point.  It has continued to be developed and expounded in greater conceptual rigour, as we gather more experience, collect more data, and understand the interplay among the critical factors.  

In another paper, we presented our study on the validity of the Global Citizenship Scale in the Hong Kong Setting.  This is important to us as well as other universities having a significant international SL program.  The Global Citizenship Scale was originally validated with students in the USA.  Before we can use it to evaluate our own SL program, we need to validate it in the Hong Kong context.  Fortunately, our preliminary study has indicated that it may be applicable in the Hong Kong setting.  But a larger scale study is needed to be sure.  There are also papers on subject outcome evaluation, teacher development, problem-based approach to service-learning, and student reflections. 

Other than papers on general SL pedagogy and validation, PolyU colleagues have also presented a number of papers on the application of SL in specific disciplines such as youth leadership development, civil engineering, building and real estate, public health, environmental sustainability, etc.  

Evidently, our research program in SL was very modest at the time. In the following years, we would greatly expand on the scope and depth of the research.  We are particularly interested in a number of questions.   What are the most critical factors that affect the learning outcomes of the students in general?  Does making SL compulsory affect the learning of the students positively or negatively?  How does teaching SL affect the teachers?  How should we prepare teachers to teach SL?  How can we achieve cross-cultural competency through SL?   How about global citizenship?  How is the teaching of SL affected by the cultural, economical, and political environment of the society?      

By 2020, we will be publishing regularly in highly-ranked international journals on higher education. We are beginning to answer some of the questions that interest us.  And we will write about some of them in the laster chapters.  We will even win the International Research Award by the International Association of Research on Service Learning and Community Engagement (IARSLCE) in 2020.  But we are getting ahead of ourselves.  Subsequent development will be discussed in more detail in later chapters.