The impact of co-production theories on students’ critical service learning development in Hong Kong
Start Date
6-6-2013 1:45 PM
End Date
6-6-2013 2:55 PM
Description
Background A review of the contributions to the 3rd Asia Pacific regional conference on service learning (2011) reveals the presentation of a large number of international student projects targeted at “communities of need” and “community services” in order to bring public purposes and private benefits together. However, widely-reported concerns about, amongst others, access to and response from target communities, time constrains, relevance of applied knowledge to community interests and sustainability of student interventions continue to qualify the assumed gains of service learning. This presentation builds on these observations by charting the activities of a slightly more basic, localised, but permanent, approach to service learning that utilizes the day-to-day experiences of student practitioners in their paid work, for critical reflective learning purposes. Objectives and findings Drawing upon post-graduate student-practitioner insights of service work - as documented in course worksheets, presentation material and essays - the presentation explores the impact of students’ knowledge about co-production theory on personal development and relationship-building across a rich variety of occupational domains. The settings include the police force, banking sector and immigration services and are considered from the perspective of the simultaneous production and consumption of service interactions (i.e. co-production). The presentation explains that the theorised tensions about the emotional means by which producers of service are expected to manage their feelings according to organizational guidelines, handbooks and mission statements are clearly recognized by students; helping them to better understand the requirements of their jobs. Implications In facilitating “discovery enriched curriculum” the author explains how he seeks to elaborate on the student insights to design new course objectives that express the types of coping, experiential and reflection strategies needed by students to overcome the feelings of stress and anxiety that can characterise the service co-production process in their daily work. Though these achievements are modest, they intend to be practically accessible, relevant and sustainable permeating the workplaces considered and improving the service-user relationship for all those affected.
Recommended Citation
Higgins, P. (2013, June). The impact of co-production theories on students’ critical service learning development in Hong Kong. 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.
Included in
The impact of co-production theories on students’ critical service learning development in Hong Kong
Background A review of the contributions to the 3rd Asia Pacific regional conference on service learning (2011) reveals the presentation of a large number of international student projects targeted at “communities of need” and “community services” in order to bring public purposes and private benefits together. However, widely-reported concerns about, amongst others, access to and response from target communities, time constrains, relevance of applied knowledge to community interests and sustainability of student interventions continue to qualify the assumed gains of service learning. This presentation builds on these observations by charting the activities of a slightly more basic, localised, but permanent, approach to service learning that utilizes the day-to-day experiences of student practitioners in their paid work, for critical reflective learning purposes. Objectives and findings Drawing upon post-graduate student-practitioner insights of service work - as documented in course worksheets, presentation material and essays - the presentation explores the impact of students’ knowledge about co-production theory on personal development and relationship-building across a rich variety of occupational domains. The settings include the police force, banking sector and immigration services and are considered from the perspective of the simultaneous production and consumption of service interactions (i.e. co-production). The presentation explains that the theorised tensions about the emotional means by which producers of service are expected to manage their feelings according to organizational guidelines, handbooks and mission statements are clearly recognized by students; helping them to better understand the requirements of their jobs. Implications In facilitating “discovery enriched curriculum” the author explains how he seeks to elaborate on the student insights to design new course objectives that express the types of coping, experiential and reflection strategies needed by students to overcome the feelings of stress and anxiety that can characterise the service co-production process in their daily work. Though these achievements are modest, they intend to be practically accessible, relevant and sustainable permeating the workplaces considered and improving the service-user relationship for all those affected.