Exploring Motivational Factors for Faculty Engagement in Service-Learning Courses: Perspectives from Indian Undergraduate Engineering

Abstract

ContextService-learning is a teaching and learning strategy which integrates academic learning with meaningful community engagement and helps in an increased sense of civic responsibility (Oakes, 2014). Most research on service-learning so far have focused on the impact of service-learning on student learning, community benefits and institutional development and there is little literature available on the role of faculty in service-learning (S. R. Bandi et al., 2023). The article will investigate the motivational factors for engineering faculty in India to engage in service-learning programs. PurposeThere have been increasing calls on the wider adoption of servicelearning in undergraduate engineering in India, as it helps engineering students achieve graduate attributes as recommended by international accreditation agencies (Kandakatla et al., 2023). However, for engineering institutions to adopt service-learning, it is critical for to get the faculty engaged as they are one of the key stakeholders who will lead the design and implementation of these programs The study attempts to answer the research question -"What are the factors that influence faculty engagement in service-learning?" with a goal to understand how engineering faculty be motivated to engage in servicelearning programs in India. ApproachQualitative approach is chosen as the methodology for the study as we intend to investigate the experiences of engineering faculty which will reveal their motivational factors to engage in service-learning programs (Michael Quinn Patton, 2002). Data is collected from faculty at an engineering institution in South of India which has systematically integrated service-learning into their curriculum. Semi structured interviews were used to collect the data and we employed thematic analysis for data analysis to get an in-depth exploration of the faculty perspectives. OutcomesThe pilot study revealed primary insights on the impact of servicelearning courses on faculty learning in undergraduate engineering-education. Demographic background of faculty, peer support and institutional encouragement are the motivational factors for faculty members to be part of service-learning facilitation. The results will include a detailed thematic analysis and discussion on the motivational factors for faculty in service-learning. ConclusionsIndia announced the National Education Policy (NEP) in 2020 and service-learning has been one of the most relevant pedagogies to achieve the vision laid out in the policy (S. Dustker et al., 2023). Findings from the study will enable engineering education leaders to gain insights on how build capacity to enhance faculty skills in servicelearning, make available required for effective planning and implementation, and provide incentives to motivate and encourage engineering faculty to engage in service-learning.