Abstract:

The need for experiential learning among college students has been at the forefront of 21st- century higher education practice (Dewey, 1938; Kolb, 2015). Service-learning has been championed as a potent avenue for exemplifying experiential learning with an added advantage of advancing “reciprocal learning” (Sigmond 1979). Service-Learning (SL), an instructional pedagogy that embeds learning objectives with service opportunities increases participants’ problem-solving, collaboration, and communication skills to support practical learning. International service-learning programs have the added potential to increase cultural competence and social awareness. This paper describes an innovative SL course that embeds the United Nation's Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in course content to foster an interdisciplinary approach to understanding and addressing global issues. The University of South Florida’s (USF) Honors College designed and implemented a SL course that aims at solving societal problems using multiple academic disciplines. After three semesters of course iterations, this paper shares reflections on our learning and student outcomes.

The thrust of this innovation was to utilize the Collaborative Online International Learning (COIL) model that creates an opportunity for a virtual global exchange with faculty and students at USF in Tampa with colleagues at the University of Cape Coast in Ghana in a mutually beneficial course/project. The COIL model was adjusted to fit the circumstances for collaborators’ implementation. In the case of the present model, the context of unintended factors such as Covid 19, semester misalignment, time zone differentials, communication and colleague investment created challenges resulting in a creative work around which were collaboratively managed. To contend with the accessibility to program sites for SL participants, considerations within the context of this innovation were leveraged on graduate students at UCC as a resource to connect the SL candidates at USF to their project communities. As part of their role, these graduate candidates worked with faculty from UCC to mentor the SL candidates using our newly designed virtual exchange. The mentors’ role was to provide feedback and guidance to the SL candidates by sharing their thoughts on the proposed projects' feasibility, directionality and sustainability while ensuring clear connections to the SDGs and culturally responsive practices. Therefore, in this presentation, we will focus on our shared experiences of utilizing the innovation. Perspectives on collaboration and negotiations strategies for accessing key stakeholders will be discussed as well as the challenges and benefits of the program. We will conclude with valuable lessons learnt from the first three iterations of our innovation.

Keywords:

New trends in Education, methods & Innovation, technology, experiential learning, SDGs.