Start Date
5-6-2013 2:00 PM
End Date
5-6-2013 3:10 PM
Description
The School of Nursing at the University of The Free State (UFS) in South Africa (SA) has been advocating service learning and engagement with communities since the late nineties. Today the UFS is truly an engaged African university where faculty members use cross-border higher education to build capacity. Service learning fosters generic and discipline specific skills in students as well as empowers local communities. Curriculum based engagement in communities is one of the fundamental aspects of the service learning pedagogy. One of the key challenges, in order to provide students with appropriate learning opportunities, was to build sustainable partnerships where there was reciprocal acceptance and mutual respect for each other. In a case study qualified nurses who enrolled for a nursing education qualification mentored first year nursing students in a local community whereby course outcomes for both groups were met within an effective partnership milieu. The quality of these partnerships was safeguarded through the use of self-evaluation instruments published by the SA Council of Higher Education in June 2006. Collaboration (1) was the key quality indicator of these partnerships. Roles, benefits and expectations were clarified by means of written memoranda of understanding as well as through mutual trust. Maintenance (2) of the partnerships through informal communication built trust between the partners. More formal communication such as regular meetings with the service sector and community representatives took place on an on-going basis. Monitoring and evaluation (3) of the impact was done rigorously through analysis of reflection reports and course evaluation documents. The results were utilised to plan the expansion (4) of the partnership timeously for the next cycle. Celebration (5) took place through a formal appreciation and show-casing event. Various stakeholders such as academics within other disciplines, community members, as well as service sector representatives attended. The celebration events facilitated closure and provided an opportunity to network and celebrate achievements. The above mentioned quality indicators fostered an enriched service learning experience for students who could focus on the course outcomes within stable, flourishing partnerships embedded in a cross-border educational environment.
Recommended Citation
Seale, I., & Nogabe, L. (2013, June). Powerful partnership formation and powerful celebration: A case study. 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
Powerful partnership formation and powerful celebration : a case study
The School of Nursing at the University of The Free State (UFS) in South Africa (SA) has been advocating service learning and engagement with communities since the late nineties. Today the UFS is truly an engaged African university where faculty members use cross-border higher education to build capacity. Service learning fosters generic and discipline specific skills in students as well as empowers local communities. Curriculum based engagement in communities is one of the fundamental aspects of the service learning pedagogy. One of the key challenges, in order to provide students with appropriate learning opportunities, was to build sustainable partnerships where there was reciprocal acceptance and mutual respect for each other. In a case study qualified nurses who enrolled for a nursing education qualification mentored first year nursing students in a local community whereby course outcomes for both groups were met within an effective partnership milieu. The quality of these partnerships was safeguarded through the use of self-evaluation instruments published by the SA Council of Higher Education in June 2006. Collaboration (1) was the key quality indicator of these partnerships. Roles, benefits and expectations were clarified by means of written memoranda of understanding as well as through mutual trust. Maintenance (2) of the partnerships through informal communication built trust between the partners. More formal communication such as regular meetings with the service sector and community representatives took place on an on-going basis. Monitoring and evaluation (3) of the impact was done rigorously through analysis of reflection reports and course evaluation documents. The results were utilised to plan the expansion (4) of the partnership timeously for the next cycle. Celebration (5) took place through a formal appreciation and show-casing event. Various stakeholders such as academics within other disciplines, community members, as well as service sector representatives attended. The celebration events facilitated closure and provided an opportunity to network and celebrate achievements. The above mentioned quality indicators fostered an enriched service learning experience for students who could focus on the course outcomes within stable, flourishing partnerships embedded in a cross-border educational environment.