Abstract:

In this presentation we are going to evaluate the competences acquired in a service-learning project, as well as the degree of satisfaction of the community. In the context of the service-learning project “Sharing ideas” of the Universitat de Barcelona, university students divulgate, dialogue and contrast knowledge acquired in class through the organization of workshops at high schools. In terms of service-learning, university students supply a service to secondary schools in Barcelona representing the community demanding an intervention on use and abuse of substances. In the case which is object of this presentation, sociology students from the course Sociology of Genders and medicine students doing a Pharmacy course designed an intervention on drug consumption.
According to theory, service learning enhances university students’ motivation to study, facilitates the assimilation of the content of the subjects as well as more general competences such as communication skills, autonomous working, organization and empathy. The community is provided by fresh air motivated actors, who often establish other bounds than traditional actors. The aim of this paper is to prove if these competences have been acquired in the workshop and if it has resulted positively to the community taking into account a multiplicity of indicators and points of view.
Methodologically, this presentation aims to triangulate data relying on the university students’ evaluation, the participants’ evaluation and the participants’ teachers’ evaluation. It follows the indications of methodologic pluralism, combining qualitative and quantitative measures.
Our students evaluate very positively the advances they made studying the topic autonomously, as well as the competences they acquired preparing and implementing the workshop: here they mention to speak freely in front of an unknown group and stimulate or moderate debates; time management as well as planning, putting into practice and evaluating a workshop. They are critical about the self-evaluation they have to do, though. The participants and their teachers evaluate positively communication skills like transmission and explanation of content; they also consider that the dynamics of the workshop were participative, and students looked for closed interaction. These quantitative indicators are confirmed by the qualitative indicators. Taking into account the general evaluation of the workshop by the community both, students and teachers, consider that the topic and the chosen approach are interesting and useful. Just in the case of the novelty of the content some students would have liked to introduce a broader range of drugs considering the drugs presented antiquated.
All in all, our experience shows that the project Sharing Ideas of the University of Barcelona constitutes a powerful pedagogical device in order to satisfy the needs of public high schools and to boost the competences of university students.

Keywords:

Pharmacy, sociology, drugs, service learning, evaluation, competences.