Description

The Conference attracted 180 attendees from 20 countries and regions, other than Hong Kong: Australia, Cambodia, China, Israel, Japan, Kingdom of Saudi Arabia, Korea, Macau, Malaysia, Myanmar, Pakistan, Philippines, Russia, Rwanda, Singapore, South Africa, Taiwan, United Kingdom, United States and Vietnam. In total, 51 full papers, 14 poster abstracts, and 6 student papers were submitted from 7 regions: United States (10), Vietnam (2), Philippines (5), Chinese Mainland (5), Taiwan (2), Macau (3) and Hong Kong (44). Click here for the poster of and photos taken at the conference.

Based on the review results, the committee shortlisted 31 full papers for oral presentation, 10 poster abstracts with 11 additional full papers for poster presentation, and 5 student papers. Among these 57 accepted papers, 22 of them were from overseas, Chinese Mainland, Taiwan and Macau, 35 were from Hong Kong.

The conference programme included (for details please refer to Appendix A)

• 2 keynote speeches (themes: Research and Scholarship, Partnership)
• 2 panel discussion sessions (themes: University Service-Learning, Funding Support and Collaboration)
• 8 full paper presentation sessions (themes: Personal Development, Engineering & Technology, Academic Elements, Health & LanguageServices, Internationalization, College Life, Impact & Partnership, Learning & Assessment)
• 1 student paper presentation session
• 3 poster sessions

Two well-known overseas speakers shared their views and experiences on SL. Dr. Andrew Furco, Associate Vice-President for Public Engagement and Associate Professor of Higher Education, University of Minnesota, spoke about the challenges in academic research and development in SL, and Ms. Barbara Caynes, Executive Director of Massachusetts Campus Compact, shared the opportunities in collaboration and partnership.

Two panels of esteemed speakers led discussion on the challenges that SL is facing. One panel examined the issues from the perspective of university management, with speakers from the USA, China, Israel and Singapore. The fostered a dialogue among different stakeholders, with speakers from the USA, Hong Kong and Rwanda, representing universities, non-government organizations and business enterprises.

Impact 

The Conference was very successful and received positive feedback from the attendees (Appendix B). The total attendance was 925 person-sessions, in which 272 participated the two keynote speech sessions, 209 attended the two panel discussion sessions, and 444 joined the nine oral paper presentation sessions. 89% of the respondents (n=72) indicated excellent or very satisfactory on the overall gain from the Conference (mean score=4.19) and 81% stated (n=68) that the Conference was relevant to their interest/practice (mean score=4.12). 

To serve the objective of identifying and promoting good practices and sharing of experiences in the planning, delivering and assessment on the theme of servicelearning (Objective i), the Conference invited two well-known overseas keynote speakers, Dr. Andrew Furco from University of Minnesota and Ms. Barbara Caynes from Massachusetts Campus Compact, to share their views and experiences on academic research, as well as collaboration and partnership, and a group of speakers from USA, China, Israel, Singapore, Rwanda and Hong Kong, representing universities, community partners, and donors, to lead discussion and share their experiences on handling challenges from developing and delivering SL. 86% of the respondents (n=67) rated the keynote speech sessions as excellence or very satisfactory (mean score = 4.30). 81% of the respondents (n=69) rated the panel discussion sessions as excellence or very satisfactory (mean score = 4.07). In general, 94% (n=72) of the respondents stated that the Conference enabled them to share experience with, and learn from, academics and practitioners in SL from other institutions (mean score=4.33). Many responses from the open-ended questions also aligned with these outcomes. Some respondents stated that the most useful aspects of the Conference were “sharing from different countries”, “networking”, “learn from other experience through interaction”, “learning Asian models and practicing in SL”, “meet experienced teachers & scholars of SL, attended great presentation”, and “understanding of various aspects of service learning”.

To stimulate and encourage a scholarly/evidence-based teaching pedagogy in service-learning (Objective ii), apart from requesting full paper submission for oral paper presentation session, the Conference also invited international renown scholar, Dr. Furco to share his experience and academic works on academic research on SL. 80% (n=72) indicated that the Conference increased their insight into SL pedagogy (mean score=4.14) and 66% (n=70) stated that they have kept abreast of the recent advances in SL research (mean score=3.87). Qualitative feedback from participants suggested that the keynote speech by Dr. Furco was the most useful aspect of the Conference. Some respondents indicated that after attending the Conference they will “design & develop more relevant service learning policies, programmes & partnerships in my institute of higher learning”, “develop international collaborative research”, “do a research on our school international service learning program which has been done for 6 years”, “do more research”, or “encourage more systematic approach to organize & management of service-learning in my views”.

The Conference also improved the self-adequacy and preparedness of staff in designing, running and assessing service-learning course (Objective iii). 86% of respondents (n=72) indicated that the Conference expanded or reinforced their understanding of SL (mean score=4.26). 64% (n=72) stated that the Conference improved their knowledge and skills in designing, implementing and assessing SL (mean score=3.88). Many respondents stated in the open-ended questions that the Conference helped them “expand the understanding of SL”, “integrating SL to the curriculum”, and “learning Asian models and practicing in SL”. Others also expressed their wills to “apply what I have leaned into my project”, “design some new SL projects with reference to projects presented in the conference”, “do some structured assessment on the impact of SL project”, and “footprint an activity and organize in my university” as follow-up actions after attending the Conference.

All the accepted papers were published on the conference proceedings and posted on the website of Collaborative Forum (http://www.osl.polyu.edu.hk/forum/index.php/resources/conferenceproceedings). Public can assess the full papers through the website. Some good papers will be encouraged to JHEOE (Journal of Higher Education Outreach and Engagement) Special Issue on ServService Learning and Community Engagement in Asian Higher Education.