A CASE STUDY OF COMMUNITY SERVICE EXPERIENTIAL LEARNING

Experiential learning is learning by actual experience. This is the most practical and efficient form of learning process to make sense of what is learnt from class and text book. Through participation in real life activities, students gain further understanding by utilizing the academic context learnt. Unlike traditional classroom-based learning which often is didactic, passive and standard; the process of experiential learning is much more active. The effect tends to be longer-lasting as it focuses on stimulating senses, experience and reflection by creating a meaningful learning experience. And often it is the student who creates their own learning experience and outcomes. The experience created can be either positive or negative, as even negative experiences can have a powerful impact on learning. Thus, experiential learning complements traditional classroom-based learning in education where one allows theoretical knowledge understanding and generation inside the classroom and the other supports the development of individualized experiences and skills outside of the classroom.

In higher education today, experiential learning activities can take in many forms such as cooperative education placements, practicum experiences, classroom-based hands-on laboratory activities, field studies, exchange studies and community service learning. The structure is very dependent on the discipline and in which the assessment takes place; and the learning can exist across multiple disciplines to encourage cooperation between students in various disciplines.

This paper presents the learning outcomes and student learning values of various case studies for community service experiential learning in higher education. It will also present a case study on students and teachers from a university of Hong Kong who engaged in the recovery project of post-earthquake in Sichuan. Our discussion mainly focuses on the types of experiential learning such as community service learning and cooperative education placements which includes an outside organization in order to narrow the scope. Focus group interviews with students and teachers were used to investigate their perceptions on the learning experience in this project.The research literature can help us to further our understanding on how to develop and to better improve the curriculum using experiential learning so as to enhance the learning experiences for Hong Kong undergraduates. It will make tremendous contributions to all knowledge-based societies.