Building Sustainable and Engaging Service-Learning Subjects for Students in Higher Education

Abstract

Service-learning or community engagement is a not only vital in higher education to teach and improve connectedness, ethics, human dignity, and university graduate attributes, but also to develop more mindful socially conscious global citizens and professionals. This chapter covers lessons tried and learnt at one Australian University through the development and implementation of a service-learning subject. The authors are experienced service-learning educators, leaders, and subject developers, who have developed pedagogy and andragogy methods and strategies that enhance student engagement and move beyond traditional passive learning techniques. Through this chapter, the authors wish to contribute new knowledge and understanding to the field of service-learning by sharing past and current case studies along with potential directions for the future institutionalisation of service-learning. This is done with hopes to build common pathways and processes in service-learning to engage and empower students, educators, partners, and communities to achieve positive outcomes for everyone.