A Qualitative Approach to the Assessment of International Service-Learning

Autor/inn/en	Tonkin, Humphrey; Quiroga, Diego
Titel	A Qualitative Approach to the Assessment of International Service-Learning
Quelle	In: Frontiers: The Interdisciplinary Journal of Study Abroad, 10 (2004), S.131-149 (19 Seiten) PDF als Volltext (1); PDF als Volltext kostenfreie Datei (2) Verfügbarkeit
Sprache	englisch
Dokumenttyp	gedruckt; online; Zeitschriftenaufsatz
ISSN	1085-4568
Schlagwörter	Focus Groups; Service Learning; Program Effectiveness; Learning Experience; Study Abroad; Qualitative Research; Foreign Countries; Partnerships in Education; Universities; Student Attitudes; Cultural Awareness; Interviews; Career Choice; Program Improvement + Suchen Sie Ihr Suchwort? Service-Learning; Lernerfahrung; Studies abroad; Auslandsstudium; Qualitative Forschung; Ausland; Hochschulpartnerschaft; University; Universität; Schülerverhalten; Cultural identity; Kulturelle Identität; Interviewing; Interviewtechnik
Abstract	International service-learning combines aspects of conventional study abroad with aspects of conventional service-learning, offering an exceptional degree of integration into a target culture and an intensive experience of community service. The present study describes an effort to establish, through qualitative assessment, the degree to which such integration and experience actually take place, and their effects on the students involved. The authors focus on the first of three Ford Foundation-funded studies that are assessing the impact of the International Partnership for Service-Learning and Leadership on its three separate constituencies: (1) the students participating in Partnership programs; (2) the in-country agencies that sponsor the students; and (3) the in-country universities that house Partnership programs. The authors describe the first study, qualitative in nature, which sought to document the impact of the Partnership on student goals and attitudes through conducting interviews and focus groups with seventeen former participants. The study sought to explore two assumptions about student learning. The first is that study abroad provides students with rich environmental opportunities that allow them to interact and learn in ways not often available on their home campuses. The second is specific to the Partnership's own programs: that service-learning provides special opportunities for cultural integration, and that such experience broadens students' horizons and prepares them to be global citizens. The authors discuss what the students had to say about some of the major components of the international service-learning experience and end with a discussion of what the study revealed about ways to improve that experience. (Contains 6 notes.) (ERIC).
Anmerkungen	Frontiers Journal. Dickinson College P.O. Box 1773, Carlisle, PA 17013. Tel: 717-254-8858; Fax: 717-245-1677; Web site: http://www.frontiersjournal.com
Erfasst von	ERIC (Education Resources Information Center), Washington, DC
Update	2017/4/10