Teaching development grants final and financial report: Developing resources for effective teaching and learning in academic service-learning courses

Academic service-learning, different from internships, volunteer activities, or social practice, intends to bridge the gap among abstract theoretical knowledge, life and the social world. Both academic learning and service actions enhance each other in the end. Academic service-learning has begun to take shape in some countries and regions, such as the U. S., Great Britain and Taiwan; however, teaching practices and research about effective design and teaching strategies remain underdeveloped in Hong Kong. Nonetheless, in recent years, more and more Hong Kong post-secondary institutions have started introducing service-learning components into their academic programmes and courses. During 2008-09, for instance, HKIEd offered three pilot academic service-learning courses in the general education domain. In order to promote academic service-learning at HKIEd , we are proposing the establishment of a database and resource bank on local and Asian countries' practices and current research on academic service-learning courses. The purpose of this database, developed through a literature review, will be to develop resources for teaching practice in courses that incorporate service-learning components, inform the organization of a series of service-learning related faculty development at HKIEd, and identify research themes and future research directions on academic service-learning in the Hong Kong context. The project not only aligns with the Institute's encouragement of "students ' whole person development and holistic learning", "students' social and intellectual engagement", and their "caring for the community and humanity," but also represents a timely endeavor in the face of the curriculum development in Kindergarten, primary and secondary education in Hong Kong. In short, the 12-month-long project is expected to provide a comprehensive review of practice and research in the field of academic service-learning. This will undoubtedly benefit the teaching and research of our colleagues and students in the future.