Exploring key service-learning experiences that promote students’ learning in higher education

Abstract

Service-learning has gained popularity as a new effective pedagogical approach in higher education across Asian countries in recent years. Yet, there are relatively few qualitative studies on students’ service-learning experiences in the unique educational context of each Asian country. This study explored critical experiences in service-learning programs that promote undergraduate students’ learning and examined how students incorporate their learning into other learning contexts by conducting in-depth interviews with students who actively engaged in extracurricular service-learning programs at a Korean university. The qualitative findings of this study demonstrated that students’ learning process and reflection were promoted by seven critical experiences: (a) understanding and providing benefits that recipients really need, (b) designing and planning a project by themselves, (c) solving a real-world problem, (d) collaborating with diverse people, (e) undertaking a specific role of responsibility, (f) recognizing and managing uncomfortable feelings, and (g) reflecting on their interest and abilities. Additionally, this study revealed that students had expanded their learning and reflection of their service-learning experiences into multidimensional learning contexts by (a) connecting with formal academic courses and (b) engaging in new on- and off-campus activities. This study contributes to broadening the global knowledge base of the service-learning field and it furthermore provides practical implications for policymakers and educators in higher education to design and improve service-learning programs.

Introduction

Service-learning is a form of experiential learning that combines meaningful community services and academic activities to provide both a learning opportunity for students and benefits for the community (Billig & Welch, 2004; Deeley, 2010). The concept of service-learning emphasizes students’ learning through critical reflection by having them participate in community service experiences in real-world settings; this aspect is grounded on Dewey’s theory of experience and Kolb’s experiential learning theory (Jacoby, 1996). Service-learning differs from general volunteer activities or internships in that it is intentionally designed to achieve reciprocity by valuing both student learning experiences and the benefits for the recipient (Furco, 1996). In other words, service-learning places a stronger emphasis on the academic and personal growth of participants through service provision, while volunteer work focuses more on supporting specific organizations or communities in need from short-term projects.

Since it has emerged in the United States, the concept of service-learning has gained popularity as a new effective pedagogical approach in higher education across Asian countries as well (Xing & MacCarthy, 2010). It especially appeals to many East Asian countries that recognize problems with an exam-oriented education system (MacCarthy et al., 2005). For instance, in South Korea, educators expect that the service-learning approach may improve active learning for students who are accustomed to academic-focused education. Responding to this, many leading universities in Korea have encouraged students to become involved in service-learning activities by providing diverse courses delivered in various forms such as academic curricular, co-curricular, and extracurricular activities (Joh, 2002; Park, 2018).

With its popularity, a substantial body of research on service-learning in higher education has suggested evidence of its positive impact on students’ cognitive and affective development. Previous studies have demonstrated that service-learning enhances cognitive development, such as students’ academic performance (Fredericksen, 2000; Markus et al., 1993) as well as personal and social development such as social responsibility (Kolenko et al., 1996), self-efficacy (Tucker & McCarthy, 2001), belongings to school and community (Soria et al., 2019), career development (Boru, 2017) problem solving, and communication skill (Tucker et al., 1998; Weiler et al., 2013).

While much research on service-learning has used quantitative methods to emphasize its positive educational outcomes, relatively few studies have explored qualitative learning processes from students' experiences during service-learning programs (Kiely, 2005). Accordingly, little has been revealed about qualitative learning processes such as how students learn through service-learning, how these learning outcomes affect their college life and career plans, and how these learning experiences appear in other learning contexts. Some case studies have focused on students’ voices by exploring how students valued and perceived the learning outcomes from participation in a service-learning program (Caspersz & Olaru, 2017; Parker et al., 2009; Rhoads, 1998). Based on Mezirow’s theoretical approach, some researchers have paid attention to when and how students experienced transformative learning during service-learning experiences (Deeley, 2010; Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). For instance, Kiely (2005) showed that the transformational learning process involves the interaction of contextual factors, dissonance, and affective learning combined with critical reflection. Furthermore, Deeley (2010) found that experiential learning, critical reflection, and small group work lead to personal development as the result of service-learning. During this process, challenges, discomfort, and confidence are important aspects for bringing about personal change.

Although this line of research focused on students’ experiences and perception of educational outcomes through service-learning, most of them highlighted the specific nature of students’ learning experiences from service-learning activities through the lens of transformative learning theory. As a result of that approach, previous studies have not identified the critical experiences in service-learning that promote students’ learning and lead students to more expansive learning processes throughout the college life. While service-learning has a clear educational purpose for students through community service, it is important to understand which specific experiences and unique conditions of it foster crucial reflection and personal learning related to students’ academic and career development. Thus, more qualitative research based on students’ voices about their learning experiences is needed to design quality service-learning programs for students’ learning.

Beyond service-learning, undergraduate students construct their own learning experiences by engaging in various activities, both inside and outside the classroom, during college life. Learning experiences such as these that occur in multiple contexts and service-learning experiences influence students’ personal development by being interacted with and incorporated. In this aspect, students’ service-learning needs to be understood in connection to other learning contexts, not only within the area where service-learning activities take place. Research on service-learning experiences has also suggested that students’ learning cannot immediately occur during service-learning participation; students may need more time or additional learning processes to engage in critical reflection (Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). These findings suggest the possibility that students may attempt to deepen their understanding and experiences from service-learning activities by engaging in other learning contexts. However, previous studies have paid less attention to how students incorporate and connect their service-learning experiences and reflections with other learning contexts in college life.

In addition to that literature gap, despite the growing popularity of service-learning in Asian higher education, there is scarce research on service-learning experiences in Asian educational and cultural contexts. Since the concept of service-learning primarily emerged in the US, most of the previous studies tend to center on Western countries. Xing and MacCarthy (2010) highlight that the practices of service-learning implementation vary across societies even across the Asian countries. More research is needed on how service-learning is implemented within the culturally diverse situations and practices of Asian higher education. Accordingly, it is critical to accumulate information about the various practices and experiences of service-learning programs implemented across different Asian countries to broaden the global knowledge base of this form of education.

The study context of Korea can provide important implications for service-learning research since it is one of the east Asian educational systems that emphasize high-stakes testing and high competition, and it attempts to actively integrate service-learning programs into higher education. Korean universities have made various efforts to improve students’ educational experiences by not only applying the service-learning approach to regular academic courses associated with a specific major but also offering various service-learning programs as extracurriculars. The few studies on service-learning programs in Korea tend to focus on cases of service-learning applied to academic curricula of specific disciplines or regular courses (Lee et al., 2018; Shin et al., 2018). Salam et al. (2019) also found that research on service-learning has mainly centered on implementation cases connected to a given specific discipline or major (e.g., nursing, teaching). Thus, more attention needs to be placed on students’ experiences that participate in service-learning programs as extracurricular in higher education. As such, this present research on students’ experiences in extracurricular service-learning programs in Korean higher education can provide a new understanding of, and add empirical data about, the various types of service-learning practices and backgrounds.

To address these gaps in previous research, this study explored the critical experiences in undergraduate students’ service-learning that promote their learning in the context of Korean higher education. It further attempted to understand how students expand and connect their learning process with other multiple learning contexts outside the service-learning program. For this, this study conducted in-depth interviews with eleven students who were actively engaged in service-learning programs at Seoul National University. We especially focused on extracurricular service-learning programs provided by a university-level organization. With this unique focus, this study especially considered the educational possibility of service-learning programs delivered as extracurriculars. The following two research questions were answered in the study:

1. What kind of critical experiences work to promote undergraduate students’ learning in service-learning?

2. How do undergraduate students incorporate their learning experiences from service-learning into other learning contexts?

Research context and service-learning program

The research site of this study is Prestige University (pseudonym), a comprehensive research-centered university in Seoul, South Korea. Prestige University is one of the most prestigious universities that only accepts students who are most academically successful in their high school and rank at the top in the entrance exam results. As Korea has socio-economically developed, Prestige University has pursued a vision of cultivating students who are not only academically excellent but also can contribute to the broader society based on its advanced knowledge and expertise. According to this vision, Prestige University established the Hope Center (pseudonym) in 2013, which aims to contribute to the community and enhance the shared notion of social responsibility among university members through knowledge-based social contribution practices. As the hub organization for service-learning education, this center intends to promote a culture of social contribution by creating continuous and sustainable environments for service-learning and encouraging broad participation across university members including students, faculty, staff, and alumni. We selected the Hope Center as the research site since it is a unique context that attempts to improve both students’ civic minds and academic development through service-learning programs that give students the chance to utilize advanced technologies, among other learning opportunities, in collaboration with faculty and university researchers.

For students, the goal of programs in the Hope Center is to enhance their learning and recognition of social responsibility by participating in various programs in broader contexts out of the classroom; especially, beyond the service-learning classes limited to specific majors or disciplines. Since the center was established, over 7000 undergraduate students participated in the programs. Generally, the Hope Center provides undergraduate students with service-learning projects within two main domains: (1) credit-bearing courses and (2) extracurricular activities. First, the credit-bearing courses include two types of courses: the volunteering course and the regular course aiming for service-learning combined with specific majors. Second, this center provides various opportunities for undergraduate students to participate in extracurricular service-learning programs, such as international or domestic services, mentoring, multicultural exchange to increase global citizenship, a contest for students to develop creative ideas for social contribution, and so on. These extracurricular activities are not tied to specific majors and regular courses.

Among these projects, this study focused on the latter programs, which are extracurricular activities to reveal how new forms of service-learning promoted students’ learning. In particular, since these extracurricular activities are not included in graduation requirements unlike specific majors and regular courses; thus, students need to devote their extra time to participate in these programs besides regular academic work. Given this, it is important to design these to be effective to enhance students’ learning by understanding which experiences are critical to trigger students’ learning within extracurricular programs.

More detailed examples of these extracurricular programs provided by the Hope Center are as follows. As a representative program, one of the major international programs is to serve the underdeveloped areas of developing countries such as those in African and Asia regions by providing water purification systems, medical care, education, agriculture support, etc., in collaboration with local university students and institutions during summer and winter break. To perform service work, program participants attend seminars on various topics including human rights, education, and cultural issues, and are expected to participate in student meetings each week to plan their semester project. The center also provides domestic service programs including mentoring and education for children in rural communities and student-driven projects in which students develop their own programs related to social responsibility to contribute to solving social and community issues. The programs’ pedagogy is based on a student-centered approach, including methods like student-driven inquiry and project-based learning, which can provide students with opportunities to deepen their own learning by actively engaging in real-world situations.

Methods

To understand the in-depth learning experiences of students who participated in service-learning in the context of Korean higher education, this study adopted a case study approach which is useful to yield an in-depth understanding of a complex phenomenon within its real-life context (Stake, 1995; Yin, 1994). The case study is especially worthwhile for researchers and practitioners in the education field to provide valuable information and insights on how new pedagogies or programs can be adopted and applied in diverse settings. Thus, this study selected the unique case of the service-learning programs provided at Prestige University and conducted in-depth interviews with students who participated in these programs.

Participants

To understand various experiences relating to learning in service-learning activities, this study utilized a purposeful sampling method (Merriam, 1998) which is used to yield insights and an in-depth understanding of the phenomenon by intentionally selecting participants who can provide rich information about the research question. Previous literature suggested that students’ learning occurred through continued reflection and engagement in service-learning (Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). In addition, a longitudinal case study found that ongoing reflection about service-learning experiences influenced students’ development even long after their participation (Jones & Abes, 2004). These findings indicate that students’ longitudinal perspectives, those who sustained to actively engage in service-learning programs for a long-term period, can provide more rich information about the influence of service-learning on students’ learning process and other contexts of students’ college life. Therefore, to recruit interview participants, we set the following sampling criteria: undergraduate students who (1) were above their junior year, (2) participated in service-learning programs in the Hope Center for at least more than two consecutive semesters, (3) were actively engaged with the activities, and (4) were willing to share their experiences.

With this sampling criteria, we first referred to the official list of the membership systems in the Hope Center to objectively identify undergraduate students who actively engaged in service-learning programs in the long-term period. The Hope Center grants the membership levels and benefits to students who actively participated in the programs by considering the duration and the extent of participation to encourage active student participation. We invited six participants who were officially recognized as ‘actively engaged’ in the programs by the membership system,1 those who ranked at the highest level. These six students continuously participated in service-learning programs at the Hope Center for at least three semesters and had experiences in taking a leading role in each service-learning project.

Second, we utilized a snowball sampling strategy to reflect an insider’s view from students who participated in service-learning programs for a long time and from those who supported them as a mentor. After the interview participants and staff members of the Hope Center were given a full explanation of the purpose of the study and sampling criteria and then recommended potential five interview participants. All five students met our sampling criteria. Also, among these five students, three students were listed in the membership system (ranked at the silver level) and one student was granted the volunteer work-related award in the university. Although one student was not listed in the membership system, she intensively participated in SL programs for over 2.5 years and international programs for 4 times, which is the largest number of times among participants. Therefore, we decided to include all five students in our interview.

These eleven participants in this study were meaningful cases in the context of Korean higher education. As Korea’s job market is getting more competitive, many students in Prestige University are getting under more pressure to manage good grades to be employed after graduation. Since extracurricular service-learning programs require a lot of extra time and activities outside the classroom and campus during the semester or vacation, it is not easy for undergraduate students to continuously participate in these programs for a long time until they become a junior or senior year in college. Indeed, the staff members confirmed that there were very few students who met the sampling criteria, and these eleven students were very unique cases. Therefore, we decided to include all eleven students as our final research sample.

Among eleven participants (one male and ten females), six were at the end of junior year and five of them were above senior year (See Appendix). The major areas of participants were varied including engineering, health sciences, education, art, social science, etc. All the participants have continuously participated in various service-learning programs of the Hope Center with an average of between 1.5 and 3 years. To maintain anonymity, pseudonyms were used in reporting all participants. In addition, all participants are discussed here as female to maintain anonymousness because there was only one male participant.

In the Appendix table, the main examples of service-learning projects in which participants engaged were also presented. Most participants (ten of eleven) had participated in an international volunteer program provided by the Hope center at least once. While countries (e.g., Laos, Nepal, Vietnam, Uzbekistan, Tanzania, etc.,) or specific contents could be varied, the international program mainly included appropriate technology. This approach is designed to improve the quality of life for underdeveloped regions through appropriate engineering and technology that can implement and maintain in their local contexts as a sustainable solution for environmental problems. Especially, the projects in which interview students participated attempted to install water purification systems in rural areas where drinking water is scarce along with several critical support (such as education, medical care, agriculture, etc.).

Along with international projects, several participants participated in the domestic program as well, in which they provided education and mentoring in rural areas of Korea. Some students also participated in a student project where they designed a social contribution project with their own themes that can disseminate the importance and the meaning of social contribution for university members. Only one student in our sample did not have experience in the international program. She has steadily participated in the domestic mentoring program for 3 years. She not only performed as a mentor in the mentoring program herself but also further has been participating in educating student mentors and monitoring the mentoring programs.

Data collection

The in-depth interviews were conducted in December of 2020. Interviews were in a semi-structured and open-ended manner, which included major questions about students’ main experiences and the learning process during service-learning activities and related learning-transfer experiences outside of service-learning programs. For instance, the interview included introductory questions such as (a) “recall your service-learning experiences in the programs,” (b) “how was your experience in service-learning activities?” (c) “what were the specific situations of the cases that you learned the most?” (d) “how did you connect your experience to other learning contexts?”. In addition, as the interview progressed, we asked probing questions about the details based on participants’ responses to generate an in-depth understanding of their experiences.

The duration for each interview was between 100 and 120 min. An online video program was utilized throughout the data collection process to ensure safety during the COVID-19 pandemic. Informed oral consent from all participants was obtained before the interview process. All the interviews were audio-recorded and were later transcribed verbatim.

In addition to the interview data, this study collected and examined multiple data sources to increase the credibility of the findings through the triangulation of data (Patton, 1999). These data include the Hope Center webpage and documents, official and informal reports, interviews, articles, or essays of participants previously released to the public or the press.

Data analysis

Constant comparative analysis (Strauss & Corbin, 1998) was used to identify the main themes and patterns from transcribed interview data. In the first step, we repeatedly and thoroughly read each transcript and coded all text relevant to the main research questions of the study in an open manner. Since the first author interviewed all participants and recorded her research note for each interview with personal interpretations and field memos, she conducted initial coding based on the interview experiences. The other two authors read the full eleven interview transcripts and carried out the initial coding. In this phase, the authors read and analyzed the interview data each based on their own readings of the transcripts to obtain the independence of the initial interpretation. After this initial analysis, all authors read each coded transcript together and shared their understanding and interpretations of the data. Then, we categorized the text into meaningful common themes and compared them against each other. During these steps, we referred to the additional data sources mentioned above to understand the students’ experiences. This process was iteratively conducted until we reached an agreement on the final themes.

To enhance the credibility of our research findings (Creswell, 1998; Lincoln & Guba, 1985), a member-checking procedure was conducted by interview participants. Interview participants were asked to rate their agreement with findings and interpretation for each research question on a 4-point Likert scale (1: strongly disagree, 2: disagree, 3: agree, 4: strongly agree). Eight of eleven participants responded to this member-checking survey. The respondents’ average level of agreement with each research question was 3.63 and 3.75, respectively, indicating eight participants overall agreed with the interpretations of the study. Although we did not have responses from the other three participants, our respondents in the member-checking process (including one student who had not participated in international programs) had similar characteristics to the main study sample.

To supplement member-checking with other validation strategies, two additional experts from outside the research team, a professor in the education field who has over 20 years of experience in Prestige University and a staff member in the Hope Center, reviewed the final findings to ensure the validity of the findings. These professionals contributed to elaborating each identified theme in a more in-depth manner.

Findings

When students first participated in a service-learning program through the Hope Center, the extent to which students were interested in service-learning activities was varied. While some students began with curiosity and interest in volunteering work, others have longed to participate in these programs before they entered college. Although students’ expectations or motivation for participation in service-learning programs were varied, this study found that students’ learning processes were promoted by the following seven critical experiences.

Key experiences of service-learning promoting students’ learning

Understanding and providing benefits that recipients really need

This study found that one of the most important experiences in service-learning is providing benefits that recipients really need. In the interviews, most participants repeatedly emphasized that it is important to consider the real needs of communities and recipients where they were serving. Students shared that they kept thinking about how they can make a sustainable change that improves the lives of recipients. This ambition is a critical driver that promotes students’ learning process. For instance, one student interviewee engaged in activities to make and distribute cow nutritional supplements for livestock farms of a small village in a developing country. However, when visiting these farms with the supplements, the livestock farmers doubted their effectiveness and refused to use them. Through this experience, the student Ashley realized “it was nothing if there are without reciprocal benefits in the volunteer process.” In her words:

“Over time, I realized that we did not make it clear about it from the beginning and we only understood what they want from our own perspectives. It turned out that we gave them what we wanted, not what they really wanted. So, I realized that I have to think about this point the most important when volunteering.”

When Ashley participated in similar activities afterward, she thoroughly researched the region first, learning from the previous failure. After coming back from the second visit to Laos, she heard back from the recipients that their work really helped the residents. On this, she recounted:

“I remember being really proud when I have been heard saying thank you so much from Laos. We thought a lot about the recipients. It also needs to be fair and to follow strict standards and procedures because we had to choose one farm for that work. I thought that there were things that worked out when we truly consider what they really want.”

Another student interviewee, Emma, participated in a project making science education books for students with intellectual disabilities and autism. She recalled that she had to think deeply about special education and students with disabilities because these books could be very impactful for them. As Ashely and Emma described, the intensive learning and reflection process occurred when participants perceived that they should provide real benefits for the recipients. After that happened, they started to make more effort to understand the activities and community settings relevant to where and for whom they worked. They tried to deeply understand the characteristics of recipients and community environments and consider the attributes and relevance of their volunteer activities to the community settings they were serving.

In this process of working toward real benefits, participants experienced a transformation in the focus of their service-learning from themselves to the core nature of their activities. When students participated in volunteering work, at first, they were satisfied by having fun through the activities without deep reflection. As they started to deeply focus on whether they could influence the communities and recipients they were serving, they engaged in more in-depth learning related to the relevant specific knowledge and contexts.

Designing and planning a project by themselves

We found that students’ experience of designing and planning their own projects during service-learning activities promoted their learning process. Service-learning programs offered by the Hope Center were designed based on student-driven and project-based learning. Accordingly, students should select specific topics or design detailed programs and plan for a project around them; these projects are to be carried out for one semester under a broad theme or budget that is suggested by the staff or program director. Although most participants had volunteer work experience before entering college, none had any substantial experience in designing or planning volunteer programs before as required by service-learning programs in the Hope Center. Regarding this feature of student-driven programs, many participants said that it was challenging since they were expected to ‘make something from nothing.

To design a project in detail, participants had to thoroughly research relevant topics and actively discuss directions about the programs they serve. One participant had to think heavily about what would be good for the people in the community they were to serve. So, she performed an Internet search about the area to gather information about it and get ideas about what she could do for them. Since most of the projects are carried out on a team basis, discussions and interactions among students were promoted in the designing and planning process. During this process, once, study participant Jessica was confused and felt challenged by an active discussion among other students on her team. However, she was able to develop her understanding of social responsibility by interacting with these students. In her words:

“When I first join the team, they told me to have a meeting. A major topic was fixed during the previous vacation through student discussion. So, our broad theme for this semester is about a rethinking of social responsibility. We have four student teams at the time. Our team chose to open a student booth. During a meeting, one student suggested making worry dolls in a student booth to remind of happiness for oneself. Then, other students disagreed with that idea. And another student told that is like deception to be satisfied with ourselves, not for contributing to our topic. I wondered ‘what was doing this?’. After finishing that semester, I gradually came to understand the concept of social responsibility.”

Furthermore, the student-driven project triggered participants to engage in more expanded learning opportunities to gain a more in-depth understanding of a specific subject related to the project. For instance, study participant Olivia contacted an NGO and attended lectures on the environmental movement to develop the project that she planned in a service-learning program. Through these attempts, she experienced learning about a specific subject for herself. As she explained:

“We had to do everything from selecting a subject for a project. It was really challenging to find a subject and plan a project that we can do as a student and can complete in a semester. To be honest, I did not think I had successfully finished it. But, I was able to think a lot about the subject for myself through that project. At the time, we chose environmental issues as a subject. Then, I realized I vaguely heard of the environment a lot, but I did not know anything about it. So, I remembered that I contacted an NGO doing the environmental movements and visited to attend lectures from them.”

Solving a real-world problem

This study found that solving real-world problems is a critical factor to promote service-learning participants to immerse themselves in the learning process. As described in previous sections, participants had to conduct thorough research to support the complex and real-world issues affecting the communities and recipients that they served. Another learning opportunity arose when students were faced with various unexpected problems in service-learning settings. When these problems occurred, they tried to actively communicate with others and engage in solution plans. When even well-prepared plans were not working, they realized that both contextual and situational knowledge is necessary to modify and adapt their plans to fit the given situation. Through this process, participants said that they learned not only how to cope with obstacles but also to maintain mental composure when faced with such unexpected situations. Rachel explained her experience with this as so:

“We thought it was prepared really well and enough. So, we were sure there are would not be many variables. But, another thing happened there, too! Then, I thought that even if it is the same activity, it can always depend on the different situations. (…) The rain was pouring and the interpreter went away for other work. To solve a problem, I went to the local market to buy new materials that we didn’t use before. I tried hard to communicate with the local merchant through gestures and cell phones to talk about what we needed. We kept having meetings without a break at the time. Fortunately, I remembered that we finally found a solution.”

For some students, these problem-solving experiences ignited further learning processes. For instance, when several participants went to another country as volunteers to help build a water purification facility, the purification system did not work due to defective parts. At the time, these problems were easily solved. However, when these same students returned to Korea, they started to conduct ample research to understand the nature of the problems that occurred and explored how to cope with similar contingencies going forward. For this, students tried to learn more about this technology through student discussions and sought advice from professionals. One of these students shared their story:

“Because many students experienced that the water did not come out, we shared thoughts that it should never happen again. So, we gathered together and tried to research a lot about how to improve and cope with it. Of course, we were not experts on that technology. So, we consulted a lot and discussed with professionals. We researched for ourselves and kept asking them, ‘Can we do this?’ ‘Is it alright?’ to confirm our ideas. We tried a lot.”

Collaborating with diverse people

Most of the participants emphasized learning by interacting with diverse people through service-learning. Since college students tend to socialize with peers within the same disciplines in courses or informal activities related to their major, they do not have many opportunities to closely interact with peers from other majors. Many students stated that they were able to understand diverse values and perspectives by interacting with students from different majors. In particular, since programs in the Hope Center provide a student-directed project, participants had many chances to actively discuss with various student groups. Participants noted that they can be intellectually inspired by students who share different points of view, knowledge, and skills during these projects. As Nicole put it:

“In college, I tend to meet students mostly in major classes. Even if I meet someone outside of my major, they are related to academic courses or limited to specific contexts or topics. In these programs, however, we work together on various topics. In the classroom, I tend to interact with students from my department or do a project with students having the same interest. Here, we almost always work with students who are from different departments and majors. Because a wide variety of people are coming here, I can learn various perspectives from them while preparing and working on a service-learning project. When I go serving communities, I can meet a lot of people and can experience much more various things than other activities.”

Furthermore, they experienced collaborating and communicating with the various level of authority figures, such as staff, researchers, faculty members, local managers, or coordinators. From this experience, they could learn how to deal with various relationships and manage a large project in real work situations.

“I saw that a lot of people cooperated to work on one project. I noticed that various local organizations cooperated on a project. From a small thing, for instance, we should have a network with local restaurants because we go to the same place every project. Watching this cooperating process, I also tried to communicate with them even though it is difficult to understand the language. I think it is a great experience.”

While collaborating with diverse people, participants also conveyed that they learned how to control their emotions during conflicts and help to coordinate multiple people to work as a team. They expressed this as “a way to escape from a small pond,” and that the more they meet different people, the more they can learn and grow.

Undertaking a specific role of responsibility

This study found that participants were more deeply engaged in reflection and the learning process by taking a specific role in activities. Most participants said that they learned much more when they took a specific responsibility such as design, photo, editing, education or technology staff, and so on, or leadership positions compared to when they participated in service-learning programs as a general member. Through playing a role of specific expertise or skills, students were more aware of the usefulness of knowledge and skills related to their work or major as well as to gain greater confidence in themselves and their capability. This experience also stimulated students’ desire and motivation for relevant learning even after the project ended. As Katie put it:

“Until then, I just thought it was fun and I liked people. At the next project, I took the role of staff taking photos and designing. When I designed a drinking fountain and painted a mural or something for the first time in charge of design tasks, I clearly realized I can do something here. Feeling it, I thought I really wanted to do it again. Also, I was convinced that it would be better to try more practical designs by learning technology as well beyond design art.”

Similarly, participants not only tried to more profoundly understand the process of projects and activities when in a specific role but also experienced taking responsibility when in a leadership position. Many participants recalled that ‘the depth of understanding was different’ when they became a leader. In a leadership role, they had to be concerned with the whole picture and process of the project and contemplate over what the group needed to be successful. They likewise needed to think about how to coordinate and lead people in the activities. Providing a representative example, Nicole explained her leadership experience as:

“Because I was taking a leadership position in mentoring and in charge of planning a project, I had to debrief the results of meetings every time, take feedback, communicate with school teachers for mentoring programs, and manage everything. So, I was worried all the time. If I was just one of the team members, I can hang around with people there without pressure. But, I had to spend my days really hectic then because I was a leader. I think it is apparently different in responsibility. When I undertook a leader, I had to think much more about our activities during a project. So, even after the project was finished, I reflected on what we have had the results of the activities compared to what we planned first. I reflected on how we can improve our activities and what differs from our thoughts.”

As reflected in Nicole’s statement, taking a specific role of responsibility encouraged students to partake in in-depth reflection on their activities and related knowledge, process, and outputs.

Recognizing and managing uncomfortable feelings

Service-learning experiences may not always lead participants to have positive emotions and satisfaction. Many participants in our study felt discomfort and skeptical about how their volunteer work was sometimes more focused on student development and learning experiences rather than considering the needs of the communities and recipients. One participant recalled when she visited a rural area of Vietnam and installed a water purification facility. She educated local people on how to manage and clean the facility, but she was worried because it was very difficult to actually manage and clean it in practice. She then felt uncomfortable when she saw how the staff and student volunteers were very satisfied with their work and celebrated on their last night. Katie vividly remembered that night as follows:

“I cried a lot at night because it was very heartbreaking. It was hardworking to manage this water facility. I very much doubted whether they really can manage this after we returned and whether it is the right way even when I told them they should clean it. (…) But we also should take a picture of our work. It was a rainy and windy day. Our staff selected some local children to take a picture. At that time, I felt very shocked that while the local children were shaking from the cold under the storm outside of the picture frame, our staff and students were very excited and enjoyed taking a picture of themselves in front of the facility we installed. So, I stayed with the children without having taken a picture. I thought, why did we do this activity even when we said it is for these people? At the time, I thought I saw the bare face of the short-term students volunteering.”

While being engaged in activities, they also recognized the limits of their expertise and ineffective work and the limits of the extent to which students can have a notable positive impact on the communities they were serving. Another participant, Rachel, who was involved in the installation of water purification facility, also asked herself:

“Why are we here? We spend a lot of money on this work. It could be more effective if they hire professional workers and it could be more beneficial instead working with students. I thought a lot about why. For what did we come here?”

Another participant Kylie expressed that short-term student volunteering work cannot help to solve the fundamental problems affecting local communities. As she described, most of the participants experienced more uncomfortable feelings as they continued the activities.

Despite these discomforts, participants tried to understand the source of their emotions and solve this uncomfortable emotion through a learning process and participating in other activities. For instance, Katie tried to increase the effectiveness of the water purification project by suggesting a way to investigate existing facilities and training managers in the next activities. Rachel tried to understand the value of service-learning for educating students by contemplating the goal of her activities and discussing her thoughts and feelings with other colleagues who participated in the same work. Kylie also started to seriously think about social systems and environments that can help marginalized people during her academic courses and college life. As such, recognizing uncomfortable feelings during service-learning activities leaded students to another in-depth reflection and learning process.

Reflecting on their interest and abilities

This study found that participants became being engaged in the other learning processes by reflecting on their interests and capabilities through service-learning activities. For instance, Madison said that she chose to enter the education-related major because she has been interested in education since young. Yet, she sometimes lacked self-confidence as to whether it was what her parents wanted or what she really wanted. Through participating in mentoring programs for low-income children in local communities, she realized that she likes teaching. Moreover, many participants said that they were able to increase self-confidence in the aspect of non-academic areas through service-learning activities. Although participants in this study were academically successful throughout secondary education, many students expressed being frustrated with their academic abilities when interacting with more high-achieving students in the top university. They can overcome these discouraging feelings and obtain self-confidence while they participated in service-learning programs. As Hailey described:

“Actually, when I was in high school, there are no chances to think about my role and abilities. There were not many activities to assess my abilities. In fact, even in college, I think it is hard to assess and identify my abilities excluding academic areas if you do it yourself. When I entered college, I felt somewhat frustrated and incompetent about myself because there are a lot of students with high academic abilities here. But, service-learning activities helped me a lot to think about my abilities and feel a sense of accomplishment that I can do something even in the non-academic areas. So, I think it helped me a lot to grow myself.”

Their ongoing reflection on their interest and abilities during service-learning activities promoted other college learning processes. In particular, reflecting on themselves led to motivation for academic work and career exploration. One participant was dreaming of a career path related to global environmental research and work, but she had doubts about whether she had sufficient motivation and capabilities for the field. She was able to gain confidence through various experiences by participating in service-learning activities. As a result, she came to decide on a more specific career path related to environmental study and work.

Furthermore, it also influenced which directions they set for their career and future life. While some participants considered a career path directly related to community service activities, many students tried to find out how to contribute to the broader communities through their future career work.

Connecting learning in service-learning activities with different learning contexts

The second research question explored how students incorporate their learning from service-learning activities into other learning dimensions. This study found that participants expand and incorporate their learning process from their service-learning experiences into multidimensional learning contexts by connecting with formal academic courses and engaging in on- and off-campus activities.

Connecting with formal academic courses

First, this study found that participants connected and integrated their service-learning experiences into their academic curriculum. Many participants attempted to intentionally reflect on their service-learning activities as a part of assignments in the classroom or took academic courses to gain more knowledge and theoretical background that could support them in service-learning activities. One participant said that she investigated the concept of service-learning and read domestic and international articles in her writing class to more deeply understand her activities after participating in service-learning programs. Likewise, after being involved in service-learning activities, another participant took a social design class that bridged her major and the topic of social responsibility; she also became interested in elective courses related to environmental issues or international development cooperation. A third participant, Emma, described how she took relevant academic courses to service-learning activities:

“When I am trying to do some activities in service-learning programs, there are so many things I don’t know. So, I thought I should study more. When we discuss the next project in the Hope, I also felt I had to study more. After our team talked about various subjects, we chose rights issues for the project next semester. We wanted to deliver important messages about human rights relevant to social responsibilities. But, I then realized I did not know anything about human rights than I thought. So, this makes me take classes related to philosophy and ethics. Also, we talked about a project related to feminism. Then I took a class about it because I felt I did not have relevant knowledge.”

Additionally, Emma shared that knowledge and skills learned in courses were useful to planning service-learning activities. For instance, she learned how to investigate and interpret health-related statistics indicators in graduate school courses. It helped her understand critical topics and investigate local health issues when working on the service-learning project in Uzbekistan.

Students expressed that they more meaningfully understood the theoretical knowledge they were taught in the classroom by connecting it with service-learning experiences. For instance, compared to what she was taught in her required courses, Kylie more deeply realized how people among social classes have different levels of power associated with their voice; she learned this by meeting socially and economically marginalized people during service-learning activities that interviewed their experiences. Ashely recalled that the theories taught in her major courses, her experiences reading academic articles, and communicating with faculty members were all helpful to know and apply during service-learning activities related to livestock farms in rural areas of Laos. In this regard, Nicole noted:

“I tended to think mostly that theories of the classroom are not alive. But, when I took courses after participating in service-learning programs, I was able to think about how I can apply it to the practice. And I was able to consider how it is associated with social issues and how to solve them. I think my perspectives have been broadened more than before.”

Overall, most participants tried to deepen their understanding of service-learning activities by connecting with the academic courses. They also attempted to integrate their experiences from service-learning activities with knowledge and skills taught in the classroom.

Engaging in new on- and off-campus activities

Many participants not only connected their service-learning experiences to their formal academic courses but also expanded their learning through on- and off-campus activities. One of the participants shared that she became interested in taking campus educational programs or lectures related to video and photo editing to enhance relevant knowledge and expertise that she experienced as an editing staff member in service-learning programs. She said that she had never been interested in these lectures before being involved in these activities through service-learning programs. Several students joined another student club or study group to deepen the knowledge and skills that they gained from service-learning activities. Study participant Katie, for instance, joined a student club to study more about water purification technology.

With the support of professors or researchers involved in service-learning programs, some of the participants conducted their own study by developing critical issues and experiences from the service-learning into academic research topics. One of the faculty members in charge of the service-learning program encouraged students to write academic articles and present at a conference. And indeed, several students developed research topics on how to overcome the limitations of students’ short-term volunteer work and improve practical design for using technology in problem-solving related to service-learning activities. These students later presented their papers at a professional conference and published a paper in an academic journal. They expressed that it was very challenging to work on a research paper as an undergraduate student, but they were able to learn research skills and to think about the link between practice and theory. Through this academic work, they also could look through their service-learning activities in-depth. It eventually led them to plan further study and activities. One participant described her experience as:

“One of the staff members suggested writing a paper saying ‘there are data that you have researched so far, how about writing a paper?’. So, I started to do it. Related to my activities in service-learning, I was thinking about how I can contribute as a designer. So, I decided to deal with fundamental problems about a technology design for practical use. (…) It was very difficult to prepare the paper. But, I can organize my thoughts about my service-learning activities so far and how to improve facility design through this work. I also got a handle on what I want to do next. And… while writing a paper, I was feeling a lack of studying. I felt like I need to study my major very hard.”

Furthermore, most participants continued to participate in other service-learning programs offered by the Hope Center and also newly partake in volunteering activities in on- and off-campus. Beyond volunteer work and its focus on student learning, some students tried to expand their experiences by participating in internships or working in nonprofit global organizations. One participant served as an intern for the institution that coordinated international projects of the service-learning programs because she wanted to improve service-learning activities as it pertains to community development. Other participants shared that they wanted to expand their experiences from service-learning activities by working on actual social problems beyond the student-learning-centered campus programs.

Discussion

This study explored critical experiences in service-learning programs that promote undergraduate students’ learning process and how students incorporate their knowledge gained from service-learning into other learning contexts. The qualitative findings of this study demonstrated that students’ learning process and reflection were promoted by seven critical experiences: (a) understanding and providing benefits that recipients really need, (b) designing and planning a project by themselves, (c) solving a real-world problem, (d) collaborating with diverse people, (e) undertaking a specific role of responsibility, (f) recognizing and managing uncomfortable feelings, and (g) reflecting on their interests and abilities. Furthermore, this study revealed that students expanded their learning and reflection of their service-learning experiences into multidimensional learning contexts by (a) connecting with formal academic courses and (b) engaging in new on- and off-campus activities.

The findings of this study provide critical information regarding the unique context and mechanisms that promoted students’ learning in the service-learning activities. The principles of service-learning are deeply rooted in reciprocity or mutuality between students as service providers and community recipients (Sheffield, 2011, p. 153; Sigmon, 1996, p. 4; Smith & McKitrick, 2010). Indeed, previous empirical studies emphasized that reciprocity is important to promote students’ critical reflection and personal satisfaction in the process of service-learning as well as to empower socially marginalized community members in terms of social justice (Donahue et al., 2003; Rhoads, 1998). Supporting previous findings, this study offers clear evidence that providing real benefits to recipients by understanding their needs communities was the most important and unique aspect of service-learning that can promote students’ in-depth learning related to a specific subject. This study also found that participants may gain feelings of guilt and doubts about their volunteer work when they felt that service-learning activities were more focused on their learning and when they failed to provide real benefits for recipients. Furthermore, this study found that participants can deepen relevant knowledge and expertise from their service-learning experiences beyond gaining personal satisfaction when they clearly recognized the goal of mutual benefits for the communities. Therefore, this study suggests that it is critical for promoting students’ learning to create a condition and environment for students that can make a real influence for the communities through service-learning programs as well as make students clearly understand the reciprocity as a goal of their activities.

The study showed that the characteristics of the student-centered pedagogical approach effectively enriched students’ learning process when leveraged in the unique settings of service-learning. For instance, this study found that participants’ learning was actively promoted by the following types of experiences: designing and planning their own projects, solving various real-world problems during service-learning activities, and collaborating as a team or for a group project. Furthermore, this study showed that participants can gain more strong motivation and reflection in learning through service-learning activities when undertaking a specific role of responsibility related to leadership or expertise than just being a general member. These types of experiences may facilitate student agency by empowering students to take an active role in their learning. Indeed, previous studies have also revealed that the array of active learning strategies focusing on student agency, such as student-driven, project-based learning, team-based learning, or problem-solving learning, can be successfully applied to the context of service-learning to enhance students’ personal and learning development (Bielefeldt et al., 2010; Hatcher-Skeers & Aragon, 2002; Yelsma, 1994). Therefore, our study findings suggest that service-learning programs can help students become more motivated and engage in in-depth learning processes when it is combined with various pedagogical approaches that promote student agency.

In addition, this study found that the discomfort that students felt during service-learning activities was one of the important learning sources for students. Many participants reported experiencing negative emotions mainly caused by their uncertainties about whether they truly understood and served the community members and about how they lacked the needed knowledge and expertise as a student. It is important to note that, however, participants did try to recognize the sources of their discomfort that arose during service-learning experiences and to understand these emotions by engaging in a reflective discussion with other colleagues or other learning opportunities. Similarly, researchers have also proposed that students’ negative emotions, such as fear, anger, guilt, or shame, which arise in response to dissonance during service-learning experiences play an important role in their transformative learning process and personal development (Deeley, 2010; Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). Supporting previous research, our findings demonstrate the possibility that negative feelings were linked to other reflection and learning processes for students, thereby providing more chances to broaden students’ perspectives and knowledge about related service-learning work and contents. Therefore, our findings suggest that further learning opportunities for students to transform these negative feelings into more productive learning processes may be critical in service-learning programs.

Moreover, it is noteworthy that students reflected on their interests and abilities through participating in service-learning activities and this helped them build their confidence and consider future career paths. As one of the most important components of service-learning pedagogy, numerous studies focus on students’ critical reflection related to specific activities within service-learning itself (Donahue et al., 2003; Kohlbry, 2016). Adding to this literature, this study found that the self-reflection processes—beyond the critical reflection on the service-learning activity itself—played an important role in leading participants to further expanded learning processes related to career paths outside of service-learning programs. These findings indicate that a more comprehensive student self-reflection process throughout service-learning activities can be a critical source of deeper learning. Consequently, this also implies that the educational impact of service-learning programs can be increased and extended when service-learning involves or is connected to students’ critical reflection process about their interests and abilities.

Notably, this study revealed that college students expanded their learning experience in extracurricular service-learning activities by connecting and incorporating these experiences into multidimensional learning contexts. Our interviews showed that participants intentionally tried to deepen their learning processes through reflection and by connecting it with various opportunities in academic courses and on- and off-campus activities. Through these connected experiences, participants were able to develop further knowledge and skills as well as career goals. This finding indicates that critical reflection through additional learning processes after service-learning is important for students’ development. This is similar to previous research that has argued that additional time and learning processes related to service-learning work after service is critical for students to internalize their experiences (Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). Adding to these previous findings, our study empirically showed that students gained more in terms of in-depth reflection and personal development by incorporating service-learning experiences into academic and other learning opportunities during college life. As such, this study suggests that service-learning is important to understanding and supporting these expanded learning paths connected to students’ multiple learning contexts during college life to leverage service-learning experiences.

These findings of this study also reflect important issues related to the context of Korea. Since most school environments in Korean education tend to center on academic ability and the hard work needed for academic studies, most participants did not have many opportunities to actively engage in other activities outside of the classroom during secondary school. Furthermore, the culture of top elite universities tends to be discipline-centered within a specific major and academic-focused; thus, students tend to more focus on their academic studies within a similar major rather than being engaged in various extracurricular activities in which they interact with diverse populations. In this context, it seems that students could recognize the great advantage of promoting expanded learning processes beyond academic-related abilities by participating in service-learning programs. In this regard, this study may suggest that extracurricular service-learning programs not tied to specific majors and regular courses could be an effective pedagogical strategy to promote learning within higher education contexts that have an educational environment similar to Korea.

Limitations and future research

Although this study revealed the educational possibility of extracurricular service-learning programs by exploring the case of Korea, there are some limitations to be addressed by further investigation. Regarding the research context, the extracurricular service-learning programs in this study recruited students among those who voluntarily applied to the projects. Previous research suggested that while prior participation was not associated with students’ attitudes or expectations of service-learning projects, highly motivated students toward participation in projects were more likely to have positive attitudes and higher expectations for their development through projects (Muturi et al., 2013). These results indicate that study participants’ motivation level to participate in extracurricular service-learning activities may influence learning experiences throughout the programs. Therefore, further research is needed to investigate how low-motivated students experience service-learning extracurricular programs and which experiences enhance their learning process and motivations more strongly.

Also, the unique nature of projects in which participants have participated may affect the overall findings of this study. In this study, most interview participants except one student were engaged in the international project that the Hope Center mainly provided as an extracurricular service-learning program. Previous work has shown that this kind of international project influenced students’ development more strongly through transformative learning since it provided them with strong emotions that they never experienced before (Kiely, 2005; Taylor et al., 2018). Furthermore, the international program in this study was related to appropriate technology that requires students to acquire intensive knowledge or expertise about the service site and technology. Given this circumstance, students' experience within these service-learning projects may promote a more active learning process than in other projects. Although this study found that one student who intensively participated only in the domestic mentoring program also confirmed and agreed with the final research findings through the member-checking process, more investigation on other various forms of extracurricular service-learning projects should be conducted in future work.

Finally, although this study utilized a case study approach to focus on the unique context of higher education in South Korea, further research would be needed to reveal a more in-depth understanding of the students’ service-learning experiences in Asian countries. In particular, the findings of this study showed the possibility that service-learning programs may have a more special meaning or impact on Asian college students who grew up in an academic-focused education culture. In this regard, other qualitative research designs, such as grounded theory, may be useful to investigate the process of how college students in Asia interpret service-learning experiences or how these experiences could be transferred to students’ personal and career development. Furthermore, the grounded theory approach may be helpful to develop a specific theory that can reflect the Asian context in the field of service-learning.

Implications

Despite these limitations, the findings of this study have practical implications for administrators and educators in global higher education who aim to design and improve service-learning programs by utilizing extracurricular activities. First, service learning should be designed to provide well-structured activities in order to improve students’ learning processes. For this purpose, as suggested by the findings, the critical experiences that can promote students’ in-depth learning need to be intentionally integrated within the unique context of service-learning activities. Moreover, in the case of extracurricular service-learning programs that this study focused on, it may be relatively more difficult for students to find a clear connection with specific expert knowledge than those traditional programs tied to specific majors or regular courses. To promote students’ learning throughout the service-learning process, professional support from the professors or mentors with expert knowledge or related knowledge about communities in that which students provide service should be needed. Accordingly, ongoing feedback throughout the service-learning programs from planning to implementation and reflection would be important to stimulate meaningful student experiences.

Second, it is important to help students leverage and incorporate their experiences from service-learning in and into other learning opportunities. Students can deepen and expand their learning experiences by connecting service-learning activities with the multidimensional contexts of college life. Therefore, universities need to provide institutional support and opportunities to encourage students to transfer and integrate their learning experiences from service-learning programs into other contexts.

Appendix

See Table 1.

Table 1.

Participants’ backgrounds

Names (pseudonym)	Majors	Grade level status	Average years of participation in service-learning programs	Main service-learning programs in which (s)he engaged (e.g.,)*
Ashley	Plant science	Junior	1.5	International project in Laos (2 times)
Emma	Dentistry	Junior	2.5	International project in Uzbekistan, domestic project in a rural area
Hailey	Economics	Junior	1.5	International project in Vietnam (3 times)
Jessica	Political science	Senior	2	International project in Nepal, domestic mentoring service to a rural area
Katie	Art	Junior	2	International project in Vietnam (4 times)
Kylie	Communication	Senior	2	International project in Vietnam and Laos (2 times)
Madison	Education	Junior	3	Domestic project in a rural area and mentoring program
Nicole	Forest sciences	Senior	3	International project in Uzbekistan, domestic project in a rural area and mentoring program
Olivia	Mechanical and aerospace engineering	Junior	2	International project in Vietnam, domestic project in a rural area
Rachel	Electrical and computer engineering	Senior	2.5	International project in Vietnam and Tanzania (4 times)
Sarah	Mechanical engineering	Senior	2	International project in Vietnam (2 times)

^*In this table, the representative examples of the main extracurricular service-learning projects that participants participated in were presented. Students may have been engaged in more projects and activities provided in the Hope Center

Declarations

Conflict of interest

The authors of this study declared they have no conflict of interest.

Ethical approval

Ethical approval was not necessary for this study as it does not involve any sensitive personal information data, clinical intervention, or participants from vulnerable groups. All the data are anonymous and informed consent from all participants was obtained verbally before participation.