The Third International Conference on Service-Learning (2019)
10-12 December, 2019
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
The Third International Conference on Service-Learning was held successfully on 10-12 January 2019. The Conference brought together around 170 international and local researchers, practitioners, faculty members, administrators, NGO partners, and students to interact and share with, and learn from each other regarding the latest research and best practices in service-learning (SL).
The Conference aimed to both broaden and deepen the impact of service-learning, to raise the level of scholarship and research, to link up more strongly with academic disciplines, to build up the capacity to teach service-learning within and beyond PolyU, to help to build up a community in the region and to become a strong contributor in the international service-learning community. The conference consisted of 2 keynote speeches, 2 plenary sessions, 12 paper presentation sessions, 1 panel session, 3 interactive workshops as well as 2 pre-conference workshops.
We heard from Professor Andrew Furco, Vice President for Public Engagement at the University of Minnesota and a pioneer in service-learning, how we could raise the level of service-learning scholarship and research. We also heard from Dr. Matthew Johnson, Executive Director of the Howard R. Swearer Center for public Service at Brown University, one of the most respected centers in service-learning, about forming partnerships so that, together, we could achieve deeper and broader impact. We heard and learned from 49 paper presentations, 3 interactive workshops, and 1 panel session on a wide range of topics of research in SL. We also heard from two specialist panels of experts, discussing about Service Leadership and Disciplines and International Partnership in Service-Learning.
165 people from a wide range of places attended the conference. 89 were from Hong Kong, 30 from Chinese Mainland, and the rest from 14 different countries, in Asia, Africa, North America, and Europe.
The Second International Conference on Service-Learning (2016)
1-2 December, 2016
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
The Second International Conference on Service-Learning was held successfully on 1-2 December 2016. The Conference brought together over 200 international and local researchers, practitioners, faculty members, administrators, NGO partners, and students to interact and share with, and learn from each other regarding the latest research and best practices in service-learning (SL).
The Conference consisted of three keynote speeches, two plenary sessions, fifteen paper presentation sessions and a thematic session.
Prof. Timothy W. Tong, President of The Hong Kong Polytechnic University spoke about the university’s support to SL. Dr Andrew Seligsohn, President of Campus Compact, shared his views on the past and future of SL and university engagement, and Prof. Joseph Sung, Vice-Chancellor and President of The Chinese University of Hong Kong, shared his insights on the role of SL in higher education.
Two plenary sessions of esteemed speakers led discussion on the partnership in, and various insights on SL. One panel opened up a multi-stakeholder dialogue on partnership with universities in SL. The other session focused on the views and perspectives on SL from different parts of the world, with speakers from Taiwan, Argentina and the United States.
In total, 50 papers, 1 thematic proposal and 1 poster abstract were submitted from 7 regions, namely, the United States, Indonesia, the Philippines, Singapore, the Chinese Mainland, Macau and Hong Kong. Based on the review results, the committee shortlisted 40 papers for oral presentations and 1 for thematic session. The paper presentations were classified into the following categories: leadership, reflection, SL in business, pedagogy and model, SL and teachers, SL in engineering, measurement and outcome, engagement and empowerment, evaluation and growth, SL in health sciences, mandatory SL, multi-disciplinary students in SL, global SL, case studies from the Philippines and sustainability. The thematic session discussed the ethics in overseas project engagement.
2nd Summit on University Social Responsibility cum International Conference on Service-Learning (2014)
19-21 November, 2014
The Hong Kong Polytechnic University, Kowloon, Hong Kong
The Inaugural International Conference on Service-Learning was held successfully on November 20-21, 2014. The Conference demonstrated PolyU's role and trend-setting model in Service-Learning (SL) among institutions, and provided a platform for nearly 200 international and local researchers, practitioners, faculty members, administrators, and students to share and learn effective practices, to discover opportunities and resources, to be inspired and challenged, and to build up networks and foster partnerships. The conference consisted of two keynote speeches, two panel discussion sessions, eight full paper presentation sessions, one student paper presentation session and three poster sessions.
Professor Andrew Furco, Associate Vice-President for Public Engagement and Associate Professor of Higher Education, University of Minnesota, shared his views on the challenges in academic research and development in SL. Ms. Barbara Caynes, Executive Director of Massachusetts Campus Compact, spoke about the opportunities for collaboration and partnership.
Two panels of esteemed speakers led discussion on the challenges that our community is facing. One panel examined the issues from the perspective of university management, with speakers from the USA, China, Israel and Singapore. The other fostered a dialogue among different stakeholders, with speakers from the USA, Hong Kong and Rwanda, representing universities, non-government organizations and business enterprises.
In total, 51 full papers, 14 poster abstracts, and 6 student papers were submitted from 7 regions: the United States, Vietnam, the Philippines, the Chinese Mainland, Taiwan, Macau and Hong Kong. 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. These papers were classified into the following categories for presentation: Personal Development, College life, Engineering and Technology, Health and Language Services, Academic Elements, Learning and Assessment, Impact and Partnership, and Internationalization.