Abstract:

Service-learning (S-L) is an innovative pedagogical approach that integrates meaningful community service or engagement into the curriculum (Europe Engage, 2015) with the intention to ensure equal benefits for the provider and the recipient of the service and equal focus on both the service and the learning process and outcomes (Furco, 1996). Though the impact of traditional (face-to-face) S-L on student social, civic, personal, and academic outcomes is well studied (Celio et al., 2011), the area of e-service-learning (full-online or hybrid model) is still under-researched (Marcus et al., 2020). Since online learning has significantly grown within the last two decades (and demonstrated exponential growth within most countries in the last 2 years due to corona pandemic) the following question arises: does e-service-learning lead to the same beneficial outcomes as the face-to-face S-L, or does physical contact with the community (i.e. lack of it) significantly effects obtained outcomes? The opportunity to further investigate this issue presented itself when an elective course Service-learning and social interventions, designed for the first-year social work students, piloted a hybrid model as a response to corona pandemic conditions. This work aims to explore the benefits of implementing the S-L method to first-year university students and to investigate possible moderation effects related to the modality of students' engagement in the community.

In accordance with the quasi-experimental design, 22 students (11 in a full online S-L model group and 11 in a hybrid model group) voluntarily participated in 2 measurements – one at the beginning and the other at the end of the S-L course. In both measurements, participants provided anonymous self-assessment of general self-efficacy, civic efficacy, social responsibility personal beliefs and values, participation skills and teamwork therefore mixed factorial ANOVAs were conducted to provide an answer regarding the problem of the study. Analysis of the main effects revealed that S-L experience did not significantly affect general self-efficacy and social responsibility personal beliefs, but it did enhance civic efficacy (F (1, 20) = 10.69; η2p = 0.35), social responsibility personal values (F (1, 20) = 6.56; η2p = 0.25), participation skills (F (1, 20) = 18.12; η2p = 0.48) and teamwork (F (1, 20) = 12.28; η2p = 0.38). The only statistically significant interaction was found related to civic efficacy (F (1, 20) = 7.43; η2p = 0.27), suggesting greater improvement in civic efficacy in the case of hybrid S-L.

Findings of the present study demonstrate that implementation of S-L (in both hybrid and full-online model) in the first-year study leads to enhancement in generic skills and civic beliefs and values, implicating desirable positive effects of this method - not just for social work students, but for students in other disciplines too. Additionally, results suggest that modality of S-L experience plays an important role in some areas (e.g., civic-efficacy) – indicating the need for further discloser of S-L modality-dependent variables and a requirement for consideration of an e-course-modifications related to desired course goals and outcomes.

Keywords:

E-service-learning, civic-efficacy, moderator effect, participation skills, social responsibility personal values, teamwork.