Conceptualisation of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in nursing education

Abstract

Background: Practices in higher education have been criticised for not developing and preparing students for the expertise required in real environments. Literature reports that educational programmes tend to favour knowledge conformation rather than knowledge construction; however, community service learning (CSL) is a powerful pedagogical strategy that encourages students to make meaningful connections between the content in the classroom and real-life experiences as manifested by the communities. Through CSL, learning is achieved by the active construction of knowledge supported by multiple perspectives within meaningful real contexts, and the social interactions amongst students are seen to play a critical role in the processes of learning and cognition. This article reflects facilitators’ perspective of the knowledge construction process as used with students doing community service learning in basic nursing programmes. Objectives: The aim of this article was to conceptualise the phenomenon of knowledge construction and thereby provide educators with a shared meaning and common understanding, and to analyse the interaction strategies utilised by nurse educators in the process of knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes in basic nursing education.Method: A qualitative research approach based on a grounded theory research design was used in this article. Two nursing education institutions were purposively selected. Structured interviews were conducted with 16 participants.Results: The results revealed that the knowledge construction in community service-learning programmes is conceptualised as having specific determinants, including the use of authentic health-related problems, academic coaching through scaffolding, academic discourse-dialogue, interactive learning in communities of learners, active learning, continuous reflection as well as collaborative and inquiry-based learning. Upon completion of an experience, students create and test generated knowledge in different contextual health settings.Conclusion: It was concluded that knowledge is constructed by students as a result of their interaction with the communities in their socio-cultural context and is mediated by their prior concrete experiences. The implication of this is that students construct knowledge that can be applied in their future work places.

Use of Intelligent Agents to Facilitate Group Learner Participation in Collaborative mLearning

“…Knowledge construction is a mental act of both acquiring new knowledge and communicating existing knowledge and takes place when a learner disagrees with a partner's conception or identifies an error in his/her own thinking (Mthembu & Mtshali, 2013). Knowledge building in collaborative environments is made up of two major steps: internalization and externalization (Zufferey, Bodemer, Buder, & Hesse, 2010).…”

“…Knowledge is created through interactions, as a joint undertaking during collaborative learning (Damşa, 2013). Collaborative learning requires that participants jointly construct knowledge and be aware of the group processes (Blake & Scanlon, 2012), such as exchanging ideas, viewpoints and arguments as students discuss a group problem (Mthembu & Mtshali, 2013). Knowledge construction itself is an outcome of collaborative learning (Shukor, Tasir, Van der Meijden, & Harun, 2014).…”

Learning from the unfamiliar: How does working with people who use mental health services impact on students’ learning and development?

“…Service learning is described as an authentic and experiential pedagogic approach that is often problem-orientated, in which students construct their own knowledge (Sindi and Fikile 2013). Key to effective service learning are the core values of reciprocity and mutuality -less about doing something for a community, more about engaging with that community to solve problems and address challenges together (Boland 2014;Butin 2010).…”

Defining Service Learning in Nursing Education: An Integrative Review

“…Three articles were from Taiwan (Hwang, Wang, & Lin, 2013;Hwang, Wang, Tu, Chen, & Chang, 2014;Yeh, Rong, Chen, Chang, & Chung, 2009), three from South Africa (du Plessis, Koen, & Bester, 2013;Julie et al, 2005;Mthembu & Mtshali, 2013); and one each from Canada (Schofield et al, 2013) and Ethiopia (Downes, Murray, & Brownsberger, 2007). In terms of the populations sampled in the included studies, the majority were undergraduate nursing students, although there were two studies involving postgraduate nursing students.…”