Aging & Society: Eighth Interdisciplinary Conference

Abstract

Service Learning is a pedagogical practice in which students participate, provide meaningful work, and reflect upon activities that meet community needs. It is classified as a high-impact practice in higher education. An increasing number of students pursue online education annually, and as this number continues to grow, Service Learning must adapt to remain viable. In e-Service Learning, instruction and/or service occur online. The aim of the current study is to examine the efficacy of e-Service Learning. Thirty-three college students participated in a traditional face-to-face Atypical Development course, whereas, twenty-five students participated in a hybrid Atypical Development course. Students in the face-to-face section composed the traditional Service Learning group. These students painted a mural with youths with disabilities. In contrast, students in the hybrid section comprised the e-Service Learning group. These students had online meetings with youths with disabilities and created a website. Students completed a questionnaire assessing their experiences. Medians were calculated, and additionally, Mann-Whitney U tests were employed to examine differences between the groups. Students reported that the Service Learning experience was related to course content (Mdn=5, r=2), increased their understanding of individuals with disabilities (Mdn=5, r=2), increased student engagement (Mdn=5, r=2), helped relate the subject matter to everyday life (Mdn=5, r=2), impacted their future academic and career choices (Mdn=5, r=3), and overall experience (Mdn=5, r=2). Students in traditional and e-Service Learning groups did not statistically differ in their responses (p>.05). These results indicate that e-Service Learning is an effective pedagogical practice and warrants further study.