Bridging the distance: Service learning in international perspective

Abstract

Partnering with Rotary International and residents of Xicotepec, Mexico, the University of Iowa Colleges of Engineering, Pharmacy, and Liberal Arts & Sciences have created a cross‐disciplinary, international service‐learning course whose impact through the years will respond to student‐learning and community‐identified needs.

International Service Learning: Analytical Review of Published Research Literature

“…Students looked at healthcare, environmental and educational problems in a cross-cultural and global context, worked with local community members to come up with long-term solutions to their problems and learned about another culture. Florman et al (2009) This experience strongly highlighted the utility of the experiential approach as the bridge that allowed our disciplinary perspectives to be joined. Community-based learning became the fulcrum that allowed us to define problems, understand the goals of the people we were endeavoring to work with, and bring the strengths of two different disciplines together to affect positive change.…”

“…Cross-Disciplinary: Engineering, Pharmacy and Liberal Arts & Sciences. In 2007, a crossdisciplinary group of University of Iowa students and four instructors took part in a week of service in Xicotepec, Mexico as part of a nine-week course involving coursework for seven weeks before the Xicotepec trip, followed by a week of public presentations in Iowa City (Florman, Just, Naka, Peterson, & Seaba, 2009). Students on the Water Team designed and installed drinking water systems for a Red Cross clinic and primary school in Xicotepec.…”

“…Garcia and Longo and partners are often involved with the ISL projects in host countries, and there is also significant nonprofit organization, non-governmental organization and host country community member involvement. Kohlbry and Daugherty, 2013;Main, Garrett-Wright and Kerby, 2013;Riner and Becklenberg, 2001;Larson, Ott and Miles, 2010;Walsh, 2003;Dharamsi et al, 2010;Plumb et al, 2013;Tabor, Carter, Kovar and Ramsing, 2008;Puri, Kaddoura and Dominick, 2013;Amerson, 2012;Hayward and Charrette, 2012;Pechak and Thompson, 2009a;Pechak and Thompson, 2011;Budny and Gradoville, 2011;Marsolek et al, 2012;Taylor, 2009;Parker and Altman Dautoff, 2007;Porter, 2003;Metcalf, 2010;Robinette and Noblet, 2009;Acquaye and Crewe, 2012;Prins and Webster, 2010;Urraca, Ledoux and Harris III, 2009;Pagano and Roselle, 2009;Florman et al, 2009;Swope and Siplon, 2011;Locklin, 2010;Garcia and Longo, 2013 university administration/staff involvement Curtin, Martins, Schwartz-Barcott, DiMaria and Ogando, 2013;Kohlbry and Daugherty, 2013;Porter, 2003;Metcalf, 2010;Acquaye and Crewe, 2012;Urraca, Ledoux and Harris III, 2009;King, 2004 university academic advisor involvement Borg and Zitomer, 2008 e...…”

Internationalizing public administration education: Why and how?

“…In addition to integrating internationally-oriented literature from academics and practitioners in foundational and advanced courses, public administration programs or individual instructors can exploit existing institutional linkages and networks between their home universities and those around the world for the purpose of facilitating collaborative work and exchange between their graduate students and those studying in the same field elsewhere (Florman et al, 2009). In other words, programs can establish deeper ties to foreign universities to allow public administration students in both places to produce joint assignments or interact in a series of discussions or symposia, through which they could share research designs, program evaluations, or capstone projects.…”

Service-Learning, Sustainability, and the Need for Cosmopolitan Experiences in Undergraduate Education: A View from Anthropology

“…International service-learning opens a pathway toward what I think of as deeply cosmopolitan experiences, that is, learning that teaches individuals how to be at ease and engaged in many different cultural contexts, an aptitude that is increasingly crucial in the transnational arenas students must learn to negotiate personally and professionally. When service-learning and sustainability combine in an international context, the potential for profound, competent, ethical education amplifies (Florman, Just, Naka, Peterson, & Seaba, 2009;Newman, 2008;Wehling, 2008).…”