The Role of International Service-Learning in Facilitating Undergraduate Students’ Self-Exploration

Abstract

This paper examines the role of international service learning (ISL) in facilitating undergraduate students' exploration of their conception of self-the use of specific values and beliefs to define one's role in society and relationships with others. ISL is intentionally structured activities involving students in social services for community members in overseas settings. Existing research underscores the importance of inducting students to other-oriented (showing care and empathy for others) values in facilitating students' self-exploration. In this paper, students' development of other-oriented values in the moral, cultural and leadership domains are considered in the context of ISL experiences. Findings from interviews conducted with 48 Hong Kong students suggest the need for students to exercise critical reflection and perspective taking when engaged in ISL experiences, which facilitated their incorporation of other-oriented values into their conception of self. Implications for service learning practitioners to support students' self-exploration in ISL are proposed.

Service-Learning as a Means to Understand Socio-Economic Privilege, Inequality, and Social Mobility

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