Human relations: A service-learning approach.

Author(s):  
David B. Johnson
2021 ◽  
Vol ahead-of-print (ahead-of-print) ◽  
Author(s):  
Jonas Johannisson ◽  
Michael Hiete

Purpose This study aims to share experiences of an easy to adapt service-learning approach in a graduate course on life cycle assessment (LCA). Specifically, it reports on how students helped the university’s cafeteria to assess meals by conducting an LCA for 25 meals and identifying environmental hotspots. Design/methodology/approach A descriptive case study of a graduate course at Ulm University is presented. The course included lectures and problem-based exercises, both theoretical and software assisted. A course evaluation was conducted during the course and one year after completion to poll improvement potentials, as well as its impacts on students’ everyday life. Findings It was found that although it was the first LCA for all students, the resulting LCA information of 25 different meals were homogeneous, comparable to the scientific literature and beneficial to the cafeteria’s sustainable development strategy. The concept of service-learning had a higher impact on students’ motivation than a good grade and active-learning is explicitly requested by students. The course design sensitized students to the real-life problems of LCA and made their consumption patterns more elaborate and ecological. Furthermore, this digitization of higher education could be carried out with only minor changes in the present COVID-19 pandemic situation. Originality/value As the subject of service-learning in natural sciences is still expandable, this study presents an easy to adapt case study on how to integrate such an approach into university curricula dominated by traditional learning. To the best of the authors’ knowledge, this case study presents the first published LCA university course explicitly describing and evaluating a service-learning approach. The topic touches the everyday lives of students, allows comparisons between different student groups, is easily scalable to different group sizes and credits, and supports learning both how to study in small groups and cooperation between groups to ensure comparability of LCA results.


2020 ◽  
Vol 41 (3) ◽  
pp. 432-451
Author(s):  
Lora H. Warner

The challenge and opportunity for the field of evaluation is to prepare evaluators with sophisticated interpersonal competence alongside technical research skills. This article shows that service-learning, a “real-world” pedagogical model, holds promise as a way to educate students in evaluation while developing their interpersonal skills. While other community-based approaches offer experiential applications of evaluation methods, service-learning adds the important element of reflection to deepen student learning. A course that employed the “client-based” service-learning approach, individual-to-group student assignments, practice with interpersonal skills, and ongoing reflection activities is presented as a pedagogical approach to expand the range of interpersonal skills that can be developed among students. Student surveys showed that the course conveyed many benefits beyond technical knowledge of evaluation: use and awareness of important interpersonal skills, growing insight into their community and its people, growth of professional self-confidence, and kindling an interest in the field of evaluation.


Author(s):  
Marilyn Y. Byrd ◽  
Brenda Lloyd-Jones

There are limited human relations [HRL] programs in higher education in the United States, and even fewer that include an integrative concentration of social justice and workforce diversity. The purpose of this chapter will be, first, to identify the need for social justice and workforce diversity perspectives in HRL programs and then provide a philosophical and theoretical rationale for how an integration of these perspectives is critical to the advancement of HRL in praxis. Second, to develop students' awareness of ways that the organizational social culture operates to create social stratification and exclusion. Third, an experiential service learning component will be described as a necessary step for students to experience environments and contexts where social injustice is prevalent. The chapter will conclude with a proposal for a social justice workforce diversity certificate in HRL that recognizes professional competency and skill as a social change agent. This chapter advances the concept of organizational social justice (Byrd, 2012).


2010 ◽  
Vol 110 (9) ◽  
pp. A66
Author(s):  
S. Godwin ◽  
R. Coppings ◽  
L. Speller-Henderson ◽  
R. Stone ◽  
S. Cates ◽  
...  

2017 ◽  
Vol 5 (3) ◽  
pp. 226-235 ◽  
Author(s):  
Gordon Capp ◽  
Rami Benbenishty ◽  
Hadass Moore ◽  
Diana Pineda ◽  
Ron Avi Astor ◽  
...  

Author(s):  
Neti Juniarti ◽  
Jeffrey Fuller ◽  
Lana Zannettino ◽  
Julian Grant

AbstractAim:To develop a conceptual framework that can be used for the integration of community health nursing (CHN) practice, education, and research within a Nursing Centre (NC) model.Background:New forms of training and support are needed to equip nurses to manage the complex and costly challenges facing health care systems. The NC model provides scope to address these challenges by integrating nursing practice, education, and research. However, there is little information about how these constructs are integrated or how education is constituted within the model.Methods:This study used an embedded single case study design across three Nursing Centres (NCs) in West Java Indonesia. Semi-structured interviews and a review of relevant documents were conducted. Interview participants were recruited purposively to select stakeholders with rich information, including clients, nurses, nursing students and lecturers who have been using the NC model, as well as the head of the co-located Community Health Centres. Data was analysed using thematic analysis, pattern matching and cross-unit synthesis.Findings:Four components relevant to integration in the NC were identified, namely (1) client-centred care as the shared common ground for integration in the NC; (2) nursing education using a service learning approach; (3) the NC as a model for reviving CHN services; and (4) service improvement through research and community service activities. The service learning approach was identified as appropriate because it links services with the learning process and this serves to address the interests of both practice and education institutions. The conceptual framework identified in this study can be used to improve the functionality of NCs in Indonesia and be considered for use internationally.


Sign in / Sign up

Export Citation Format

Share Document