Understanding the Role of Social Interactions in the Development of an Extracurricular University Volunteer Activity in a Developing Country

Abstract

The relevance of participating in structured extracurricular activities (ECA from here onwords) in higher education is increasing. Involvement in these activities helps students develop personal and social skills that positively affect academic and professional training, well-being, and the development of attitudes toward community involvement. This study analyzes the role of social interactions in the perceived benefits of students, who have participated in an ECA in a developing country. Moreover, this research aspires to explore whether students perceive that these interactions positively impact academic training, professional development, and adjustment to the university context, psychological well-being, and development of community involvement attitudes. As a result, 46 in-depth interviews were conducted with 23 students who participated in the experience. 23 in-depth interviews were conducted before the experience and another 23 after it. Data analysis was carried out using the IRaMuTeQ software to conduct a descending hierarchical classification (DHC). This study highlights the value of social interactions in an ECA to increase the motivation of students to improve academic and professional performance, to build shared knowledge with others, and to develop personal and social skills that contribute to the integral development of participants. ECAs help students reflect on their actions and privileges and develop positive attitudes toward themselves and others. This fact is linked to the achievement of high levels of well-being that allow the enhancement of the students’ self-esteem. Finally, this experience has allowed volunteers to become aware of other sociocultural realities and to reflect on the possible ways of contributing to the development of a more sustainable society.

Trends of Active Learning in Higher Education and Students’ Well-Being: A Literature Review

“…The investigations were conducted in seven countries: three in Spain ( Díaz-Iso et al, 2020 ; Fernández et al, 2020 ; Luque-Suárez et al, 2021 ), two in the United Kingdom ( Mayew et al, 2020 ; Defeyter et al, 2021 ), and one in Germany ( Paulus et al, 2021 ), Taiwan ( Dutta et al, 2021 ), Israel ( Martin et al, 2020 ), the United States of America ( Vatovec and Ferrer, 2019 ), and Sweden ( Bälter et al, 2018 ). Most studies included students in higher education (as it was an inclusion criterion), however, Bälter et al’s (2018) investigation included also nine teachers.…”

“…Six of the authors’ approaches were fundamentally quantitative, with questionnaire searching as data collecting instrument ( Fernández et al, 2020 ; Mayew et al, 2020 ; Defeyter et al, 2021 ; Dutta et al, 2021 ; Luque-Suárez et al, 2021 ; Paulus et al, 2021 ), and four employed a mixed methods approach, where other instruments were used alongside the questionnaires, such as interviews ( Bälter et al, 2018 ; Díaz-Iso et al, 2020 ), life experiences ( Martin et al, 2020 ), and intervention reports ( Vatovec and Ferrer, 2019 ). Table 1 displays the results and provides an overview of the research found.…”

“…The studies by Díaz-Iso et al (2020) , with Spanish students, and Mayew et al (2020) , with English students, focus on well-being through a sense of social integration resulting from the interrelationship promoted by extracurricular volunteering ( Díaz-Iso et al, 2020 ), and from the use of a digital platform. Communication between students becomes (more) inclusive as a result ( Mayew et al, 2020 ) due to the use of that digital platform that has the potential to give a voice to less interventionist pupils for whatever reason, whether gender, culture, disability, or other.…”

Responsabilidad social: voluntariado universitario y comportamiento virtuoso. El caso de una ciudad de Perú

“…Las dimensiones evaluadas en esta investigación, son similares a los constructos encontrados por Severino-González et al (2020). Los resultados indican que los estudiantes universitarios expresan una mayor responsabilidad social en relación a la dimensión Planteamiento del ejercicio profesional desde la perspectiva del compromiso social, lo que está en correspondencia con el voluntariado universitario (Díaz-Iso et al, 2020). Esto se relaciona con los resultados obtenidos por Barajas et al (2020), particularmente con los hallazgos que dan cuenta del reconocimiento de los compromisos que deben tener los futuros profesionales con la sociedad, en búsqueda del bien común del territorio y la comunidad en general.…”

“…Los beneficios del voluntariado universitario favorecen el replanteamiento social de sus educandos debido a las diversas acciones realizadas en alguna comunidad en particular o, bien en algún grupo específico de personas, dotando a los educandos de habilidades personales y sociales (Díaz-Iso et al, 2020), gracias al aprendizaje experiencial y vinculadas a actividades curriculares y extracurriculares. Todo lo cual, fortalece la sensibilidad social y la capacidad en generar vínculos como consecuencia del abordaje de preocupaciones sociales (Chiva-Bartoll et al, 2020); conduciendo al desarrollo de competencias que permiten abordar alguna problemática sanitaria, política y medioambiental (Joseph y Carolissen, 2019;Chawłowska et al, 2021).…”