Abstract:

The main goal of this study is to determine whether there are any significant differences between Service-Learning and traditional instructional methods in reference to students' motivation. Service-Learning is an educational philosophy and methodology that focuses on learning and development of competencies through service to the community in the form of addressing real needs in order to offer real-world solutions. It allows students to apply their classroom learning to make a positive change in a community.

MaTumaini is an innovative Service-Learning Project as it integrates the academic work carried out in the classrooms to help the Maasai Community in Kenya. Different projects were undertaken by students from the schools of Education, Media Studies and Business within the higher education framework from which they obtain academic credits. The participants of the project from the School of Education, who constituted the sample for this study, were all preschool and primary education students that developed didactic materials to teach basic computer skills such as video tutorials, a textbook and an exercise book. These materials had been requested by the Maasai Community Primary School teachers who have been directed by Kenya´s Department of Education to teach computer courses and found themselves with no knowledge, training or resources. This project in particular, as well as the others included in the MaTumaini Service Learning Initiative, addresses real needs that the Maasai community expressed explicitly and asked us to help them with.

In order to measure and analyze students' motivation in relation to Service-Learning and traditional instructional methods, a questionnaire was distributed among students in which they had to evaluate a Service-Learning activity and a different activity based on traditional instructional methodology. The participants were 44 (N=44) preschool and primary school education students in a private university in Spain. The instrument used to evaluate motivation of the university students is the motivation scale called Motivated Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ) proposed by Pintrich and his collaborators (1991) and adapted to the Spanish population by Roces Montero (1996). The results of the research indicate that students consistently reported differences in regards to the two instructional methodologies. The analysis reveals that there are significant differences in favor of service-learning in relation to motivation in general, as well as for the completion of the activities, and specifically in relation to the utility of the activity both in the present and in the future. Results seem to indicate that the Service-Learning methodology promotes creativity, interest in the task at hand, which includes the perception of the importance of the project, the need to work hard and conscientiously as well as the willingness to face challenges and difficulties in order to achieve the set objective.

References:
[1] Pintrich, P.R. Smith, D.A., García, T., & Mckeachie, W.J. (1991). A manual for the use of the Motivational Strategies for Learning Questionnaire (MSLQ). AnnArbor, MI: NCRIPTAL, The University of Michigan.
[2] Roces Montero, C. (1996). Estrategias de aprendizaje y motivación en la universidad. Unpublised Thesis. Pamplona: University of Navarra.

Keywords:

Service-Learning, Traditional Methods, Motivation, Technology, International Educational Project, Higher Education.