Start Date

6-6-2013 9:30 AM

End Date

6-6-2013 10:40 AM

Description

Recently, we expect students in universities have the abilities of caring the community, understanding the community demands and solving the community problems. Researchers proposed papers in literature about that, to students, service-learning can promote their personal development, public relationship learning, understanding knowledge and applications. Therefore many courses in universities are designed to combine academic learning and community service such that students become to be resource providers and learning by initiative service.

This paper presents the outcome of a course, the practical of ERP module, in which we integrated the service as a significant course requirement. Students learned academic knowledge in classroom and were required to run a project to implement the ERP system for a small-scaled non-profit organization, the Taichung City Deaf No Obstacle Association in Taiwan. This course was designed to follow three indexes: (1) relevant and meaning service with the community; (2) enhanced academic learning; (3) purposeful civic learning. The partnership between students and the non-profit organization is very suitable in this cooperation project because (1) to implement a regular ERP system including the consultant fee is too expensive to the organization; (2) students usually run a ERP implementation project by simulation such that they are short of the practical experiences.

Based on the methodological strategies of qualitative inquiry, data were collected using a variety of techniques, including formal and informal interviews, surveys, participant observation, and document analysis. We interviewed the students and the CEO of the Taichung City Deaf No Obstacle Association in Taiwan. In this case study, we show that some practical and high professional courses are very suitable to run the academic service-learning project to the small-scaled non-profit organizations. Students can get practical experiences by service-learning and the organization without sufficient budget can be serviced by this project. Moreover, reflection, responsibility, and awareness of their social roles as citizens to students during the service-learning are the most important outcomes in this project.

Recommended Citation

Chen, S. C. (2013, June). A case study on academic service-learning: Enhance academic learning by servicing with a non-profit organization. Paper presented at the 4th Asia-Pacific Regional Conference on Service-Learning: Service-Learning as a Bridge from Local to Global: Connected world, Connected future, Hong Kong and Guangzhou, China.

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Jun 6th, 9:30 AM Jun 6th, 10:40 AM

A case study on academic service-learning : enhance academic learning by servicing with a non-profit organization

Recently, we expect students in universities have the abilities of caring the community, understanding the community demands and solving the community problems. Researchers proposed papers in literature about that, to students, service-learning can promote their personal development, public relationship learning, understanding knowledge and applications. Therefore many courses in universities are designed to combine academic learning and community service such that students become to be resource providers and learning by initiative service.

This paper presents the outcome of a course, the practical of ERP module, in which we integrated the service as a significant course requirement. Students learned academic knowledge in classroom and were required to run a project to implement the ERP system for a small-scaled non-profit organization, the Taichung City Deaf No Obstacle Association in Taiwan. This course was designed to follow three indexes: (1) relevant and meaning service with the community; (2) enhanced academic learning; (3) purposeful civic learning. The partnership between students and the non-profit organization is very suitable in this cooperation project because (1) to implement a regular ERP system including the consultant fee is too expensive to the organization; (2) students usually run a ERP implementation project by simulation such that they are short of the practical experiences.

Based on the methodological strategies of qualitative inquiry, data were collected using a variety of techniques, including formal and informal interviews, surveys, participant observation, and document analysis. We interviewed the students and the CEO of the Taichung City Deaf No Obstacle Association in Taiwan. In this case study, we show that some practical and high professional courses are very suitable to run the academic service-learning project to the small-scaled non-profit organizations. Students can get practical experiences by service-learning and the organization without sufficient budget can be serviced by this project. Moreover, reflection, responsibility, and awareness of their social roles as citizens to students during the service-learning are the most important outcomes in this project.