Background: The COVID-19 pandemic resulted in strict social distancing and lockdown measures to contain the spread of the disease. These measures significantly impacted experiential pedagogies, including service-learning. Many teachers pivoted to e-service-learning. While past literature suggests that e-service-learning is as, or even more effective than, traditional service-learning, there are few large-scale comparative studies that support this claim. Purpose: Our study fills the research gap via a large-scale study into student e-service-learning experiences and outcomes during COVID-19. Methodology/Approach: The study examines learning outcomes of students taking e-service-learning subjects during the early stage of the pandemic, i.e., the 2020/21 academic year, in a Hong Kong university, and compares their learning experiences and gains with a similar group of students who studied the same subjects from 2014/15 to 2018/19. Findings/Conclusions: Results indicate that while e-service-learning is effective in enhancing students’ cognitive and civic learning, it is less effective than traditional service-learning in facilitating civic learning outcomes. Implications: Investigating students’ learning experiences suggests that the quality of reflection and interaction with the community, which are critical learning experience components, may have been impacted by online communication. These factors may have played a key role in influencing the effectiveness of e-service-learning compared to traditional service-learning. Copyright ©2024 SAGE Publications.

Service-learning (SL) is a pedagogy that can consolidate students' learning of academic knowledge and nurture their care about the needy in the community. In the West, SL is a popular pedagogy to promote civic engagement in high school students. In contrast, although high schools in Hong Kong emphasize the importance of community service provided by high school students, such service is seldom conducted within the context of academic service learning. In response to the lack of systematic academic SL programs for high school students in Hong Kong, we have launched a project supported by Chow Tai Fook Charity Foundation and Keswick Foundation to promote SL amongst high school students in Hong Kong. Besides developing an online training program on Service-Learning for high school students, we argue that there is a need to strengthen the leadership foundation of students who intend to carry out SL. As such, we have developed an online Service Leadership education program based on the Service Leadership Theory, which highlights the importance of 3Cs (competence, character and care) of an effective leader. In this paper, we outline the design and content of an online Service Leadership education program for high school students which is unique in the literature on youth leadership particularly in different Chinese contexts. © 2023 Nova Science Publishers, Inc.

Background: Educators have divided and often strongly held views on whether service-learning should be required of all students. However, studies examining students' view on mandatory service-learning are limited in the literature. Purpose: This article contrasts and examines students' views toward a service-learning requirement at a Hong Kong university before and after attending a mandatory service-learning course, and any resulting changes. Methodology/Approach: This is a retrospective qualitative study using semistructured interviews. Participants were 49 students who completed a service-learning course in the 2013-2014 academic year. They were selected according to the nature of their performance in their completed course. Findings/Conclusions: Results show that students' perspectives toward service-learning are not static but rather change dramatically as a result of their experiences. Most students, even those who recalled being initially negative or resigned, reported positive views toward service-learning after completing the course. Implications: Students' initial resistance alone is not a reason for making service-learning optional. Some students have a negative view due to a lack of information or misinformation. Making it compulsory gives these students an opportunity to decide for themselves based on true experience, which, if implemented effectively, has the potential of nurturing initially hostile or inert students into more civic-minded citizens. Copyright ©2021 SAGE Publications.

Many universities have integrated community engagement in their undergraduate programs. At The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, it is compulsory for all students to take at least one 3-credit subject on service-learning (SL). In each SL subject, there are purpose-designed academic teaching, rigorous service and structured assessment components. At full implementation, roughly 4,500 undergraduate students would enroll in around 70 subjects offered by a wide range of departments and faculties across the university. The subjects cover a diverse range of topics, such as digital divide, learning difficulties, engineering design, healthy living environments, orthotics, and ecotourism. The target beneficiaries are equally diverse, including slum dwellers, disabled people, children with HIV, villagers without water nor electricity, new immigrants, mentally ill patients, ethnic minorities, and children of migrant workers. To date, students have served different groups of clients in Hong Kong, Chinese Mainland, Cambodia, Vietnam, Indonesia, Myanmar, and Rwanda. This chapter outlines the pedagogical design of the program, challenges and strategies for implementation, and the experiences gained so far.
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