Eservice Learning

This book serves as an introduction to using online teaching technologies and hybrid forms of teaching for experiential learning and civic engagement. Service-learning has kept pace neither with the rapid growth in e-learning in all its forms nor with the reality that an increasing number of students are learning online without exposure to the benefits of this powerful pedagogy.Eservice-learning (electronic service-learning) combines service-learning and on-line learning and enables the delivery of the instruction and/or the service to occur partially or fully online. Eservice-learning allows students anywhere, regardless of geography, physical constraints, work schedule, or other access limitations, to experience service-learning. It reciprocally also equips online learning with a powerful tool for engaging students.In eservice-learning, the core components of service, learning, and reflection may take a different form due to the online medium—for example, reflection often occurs through discussion board interactions, journals, wikis, or blogs in an eservice-learning course. Moreover, the service, though still community-based, creates a world of opportunities to connect students with communities across the globe—as well as at their very own doorstep.This book introduces the reader to the four emerging types of eservice-learning, from Extreme EService-Learning (XE-SL) classes where 100% of the instruction and 100% of the service occur online, to three distinct forms of hybrid where either the service or the instruction are delivered wholly on-line – with students, for instance, providing online products for far-away community partners – or in which both are delivered on-site and online. It considers the instructional potential of common mobile technologies – phones, tablets and mobile reading devices. The authors also address potential limitations, such as technology challenges, difficulties sustaining three-way communication among the instructor, community partner, and students, and added workload.The book includes research studies on effectiveness as well as examples of practice such drafting grants for a community partner, an informational technology class building online communities for an autism group, and an online education class providing virtual mentoring to at-risk students in New Orleans from across the country.

The chapters in this book provide an excellent story of the growth of e-learning and eService-learning over the past many years. Strait takes us from the first chapter examining current issues and considerations for eService-Learning, to a second chapter that documents the growth and maturation of a program at Missouri State University, to chapters that introduce “critical” e-service learning with a social justice orientation (Gordon and Jackson-Brown), and chapters that address international experiences (Ong, Tan, et al., and Dietrich and Ekici) that involve eService-learning in Singapore and long-distance relationships between the U.S. and Afghanistan, to illustrate the multiplicity and diversity of current models of service and learning that occur through electronic means. The importance of the book and its chapters is that change happens. What was occurring in the early 21st century was altered by situations, such as the global pandemic of COVID-19, to increase the reliance on e-educational systems and promote the increased use of electronic educational programs that covered almost all areas of educational systems. While early mobile phones existed in the 1970s (Teixeira, T. 2010), they evolved, and more sophisticated versions were produced throughout the 20th century. By the end of the century, phones that could easily transmit emails were developed, and then came camera phones and then smart phones by 2003. And phone communication has continued to change, existing today as a total communication device used by people all over the world. Similarly, video, and visual systems have evolved and continue to change. Zoom was developed in 2011 and has continued to evolve and expand services all over the world. People are now able to visually and orally communicate with others on every continent 24 hours a day, and the complexity and utility of communication has similarly expanded. Now phones can instantaneously translate between languages and people in all parts of the world can share experiences and visual products without barriers of language, country, or time. Indeed, the electronic world is an amazing entity and continues to evolve each year. So, what are the implications of all these changes for education and service? Simply put, they are and will continue to evolve to more complex and more useful forms for all communication and interaction. And this current volume gives us much insight into the important areas of change in both e-learning and eService-learning. All the chapters add great insight and information about important issues in the field and highlight some of the critical concepts embedded in its development.

Transforming Teacher Education through Service-Learning provides a fresh look at educational reform through the lens of teacher preparation. It poses the question “Why service-learning now?” as it discusses the meaningful ways service-learning pedagogy can transform the approaches used to prepare teachers to educate tomorrow’s children. The pedagogy of service-learning has significant implications for teacher education. Its transformative aspects have far reaching potential to address teacher candidate dispositions and provide deeper understanding of diversity. Knowledge of the pedagogy and how to implement it in candidates’ future classrooms could alter education to a more powerful experience of democracy in action and enhance the civic mission of schools. The current and ongoing research found within this volume is meant to continue support of the notion of educational reform. Because the vision we hold becomes the reality we experience, it is imperative to consider the question—Why service-learning now?—as we adjust teacher preparation programs to promote engaging opportunities for today’s youth.

This book serves as an introduction to using online teaching technologies and hybrid forms of teaching for experiential learning and civic engagement. eService-Learning (electronic service-learning) combines service-learning and online learning and enables the delivery of the instruction and/or the service to occur partially or fully online. eService-Learning allows students anywhere, regardless of geography, physical constraints, work schedules, or other access limitations, to experience this high-impact pedagogy. It creates a world of opportunities to connect students with communities across the globe-as well as on their very own doorstep. This book introduces the reader to the four emerging types of eService-Learning, which range from Extreme eService-Learning, where 100% of the instruction and 100% of the service occur online, to three distinct types of hybrid models, where either the service or the instruction is delivered wholly online or where service and instruction are delivered both on-site and online. This book will appeal to educational and community partners seeking to collaborate remotely, and to online instructors who want to engage their students through service.

The need for more empathetic and community-focused students must begin with educators, as service-learning has begun to grow in popularity throughout the years. By implementing service and community aspects into the classroom at an early age, educators have a greater chance of influencing students and creating a new generation of service-minded individuals who care about their communities. Teachers must have the necessary skills and current information available to them to provide students with quality service learning and community engagement curricula. The Research Anthology on Service Learning and Community Engagement Teaching Practices provides a thorough investigation of the current trends, best practices, and challenges of teaching practices for service learning and community engagement. Using innovative research, it outlines the struggles, frameworks, and recommendations necessary for educators to engage students and provide them with a comprehensive education in service learning. Covering topics such as lesson planning, teacher education, and cultural humility, it is a crucial reference for educators, administrators, universities, lesson planners, researchers, academicians, and students.

The authors of this volume collectively demonstrate the importance of critical service-learning in this historic moment as we participate in, and witness ongoing struggles for justice around the world. The contributors of this volume offer guidance to educators and scholars alike who are interested in designing, participating in, and studying the potential of alliances formed through critical service-learning. The volume emphasizes theoretical and historical foundations of critical service-learning, pressing questions facing the field, exploration of outcomes of, and ongoing challenges for the pedagogy, and design features and larger scale models of critical service-learning that can be implemented across the educational landscape of elementary, secondary, and higher education. ENDORSEMENTS: "This volume in the Advances in Service-Learning Research series does not disappoint. Emily Nemeth and Ashley Patterson have amassed an amazing team of authors who take readers on a rewarding journey across diverse cultural communities and educational contexts, revealing the limitations of traditional service-learning approaches in addressing issues of racial injustice. Readers of this volume will gain a greater understanding of the rapidly evolving and maturing nature of higher education service-learning pedagogy and the need to adopt more critical perspectives in the study and practice of service-learning." — Andrew Furco, University of Minnesota "Pursuit of Liberation, conceived and written during tumultuous times in the United States, offers hope for the possibility of social justice and liberation in educational spaces. The modern-day brutal lynching of George Floyd, an African American man by a white police officer, and the COVID-19 pandemic revealed the horridness and inhumanity of a country that advertises itself as a beacon of equity and inclusion. This volume is a reminder that social justice and liberation require vigilance. The editors, Professors Nemeth and Patterson, persuade us to understand that the work of inclusion and liberation in education is complex, multidisciplinary, continuous, and iterative. Most importantly, they convincingly assert that communities and educational institutions need to take bold steps toward a more just, hopeful, and loving world through critical service learning." — Shirley Mthethwa-Sommers, University of Mpumalanga

In today’s globalized world, professional fields are continually transforming to keep pace with advancing methods of practice. The theory of adult learning, specifically, is a subject that has seen new innovations and insights with the advancement of online and blended learning. Examining new principles and characteristics in adult learning is imperative, as emerging technologies are rapidly shifting the standards of higher education. The Handbook of Research on Adult Learning in Higher Education is a collection of innovative research on the methods and applications of adult education in residential, online, and blended course delivery formats. This book will focus on the impact that culture, globalization, and emerging technology currently has on adult education. While highlighting topics including andragogical principles, professional development, and artificial intelligence, this book is ideally designed for teachers, program developers, instructional designers, technologists, educational practitioners, deans, researchers, higher education faculty, and students seeking current research on new methodologies in adult education.

Advancing technologies are rapidly modifying the current state of business and society causing an expansion of possible career opportunities. In order to stay competitive, institutions of education must provide an emphasis on the wide-range of skills and experiences needed to contribute to a 21st century workforce. As new technologies emerge and even disrupt, there will be a demand for new forms of education and deeper learning. Disruptive and Emerging Technology Trends Across Education and the Workplace is a collection of innovative research on the latest instructive methods being utilized in classrooms and organizations as well as the benefits and challenges of adopting these technologies. While highlighting topics including mobile learning, augmented reality, and cryptocurrencies, this book is ideally designed for developers, professionals, educators, managers, researchers, scientists, stakeholders, strategists, practitioners, and students seeking current research on new forms of educational techniques in relation to the continued application of new technologies in the workplace.