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This chapter reports on one faculty member’s experience introducing a service learning component into a sequence of required courses in a College of education at a University in the United Arab Emirates. This study identifies local issues associated with introducing service learning into the curriculum and examines students’ perceptions of self, attitudes toward service to others, and service as leadership and outcomes. Relatively little evidence exists in the Middle East of the actual processes involved in developing and implementing service learning programs and the relevant connections that can be made to Islamic principles for community advocacy and leadership.

In Spain, despite the increase of initiatives that promote the institutionalization of the Service-Learning (SL) methodology in the university sphere, the development of SL has been slow. The academic literature has noted this normative support, and in recent years there has been a proliferation of publications collecting research results, teaching innovation projects, and theoretical reflections on the benefits of SL. However, a current situation analysis of SL in Spain is still to be performed. Hence, this chapter aims to provide an overview of the current situation of SL in Spanish universities. A qualitative systematic review of the Spanish literature on SL in higher education is carried out by searching for original articles in English and Spanish in several databases. The principles established by PRISMA declaration for systematic reviews were followed.

The study reveals an increasing trend in the number of publications on the subject, although with significant differences between territories. Likewise, most of the studies used descriptive methods. In relation to the categories analyzed, the interest of the literature in the benefits obtained by university students through their participation in the experiences stands out, compared to the benefits obtained by the target group, the university–community relationship or the promotion of university social responsibility. The 50% articles included in the review refer to the effect of SL on the curriculum through teaching practices. Others evaluate the impact of the service, analyze dissemination actions of the experiences carried out, the future challenges for research on SL in Spanish universities, and the obstacles in the implementation of the experience.

The chapter deals with a service-learning course based in the School of Journalism and Media Studies at Rhodes University in South Africa. It provides a backdrop for the case study, describing the context in which the course is based and kind of intervention that it aims to make into this context. It then maps out the theoretical framework that informs the course, explaining how this is informed by the available spectrum of approaches to service-learning. It demonstrates how the course draws on the concept of a ‘communicative ecology’, to provide itself with a language in which to reflect on the social significance of communication. The chapter then reviews the first cycle of the course which took place in 2019, drawing on insights from participants (teachers, students and community partners). It deals, firstly, with the participants’ engagement with the concept of service-learning. Secondly, it describes their experience of service-learning as a communicative process. Finally, it describes their evaluation of this process as an intervention into the local communicative ecology. It is demonstrated that service-learning enables the school to respond strategically to the need for innovative communicative practices both in their immediate environment and within the broader South African context.

Problematic attributes of providing development aid in International Service-Learning (ISL) placements exist with its paternalistic implications. Broadening the discussion of ISL by shifting the focus toward prioritizing the incorporation of goals of cross-cultural learning and fostering cultural humility addresses these problematic attributes. Approaching ISL placements with a learning mindset inverts the service-learning model by emphasizing learning over helping. Additionally, cultivating a deeper self-awareness and learning from the host communities prior to offering service encourages cultural humility, enhances the ability to remain open to different perspectives, and sustains engagement as a lifelong learner. A framework for developing international education experiences with a systems-oriented approach is proposed: one that acknowledges the interdependent relationships with others in global social and economic structures. The proposed framework applies Milton Bennett’s Developmental Model of Intercultural Sensitivity and Vanessa de Oliveira Andreotti’s HEADS UP educational tool for critical engagement in global social justice issues. Transformative learning theory guides the process of perspective transformation and invites students to critically reflect on their own values, assumptions, and cultural beliefs. The intent is to establish a model for ISL placements which invites respectful collaboration across cultural differences and imbalances in power relations.

This chapter provides practical research-based advice on implementing service-learning in inclusive classrooms to maximize academic, social-emotional, and civic outcomes. The K-12 standards for service-learning quality are explained in detail, and the relationship to inclusive learning is described. Guidance and examples for how to improve meaningfulness of service, connect service-learning to curriculum, develop strong reflection processes, engage in progress monitoring, ensure appropriate duration and intensity of the experience, provide students’ with voice and choice, promote diversity, and develop strong community partnerships are provided. The chapter also includes information on improving student engagement and retention of information.

Students enter college with the desire to make a positive impact on the world. They are also likely to enter higher education with literacy skills that need nurturing and support if students are to succeed in college and positively contribute to the world. Combining academic content and reading instruction in a service learning framework provides the focus for reading and action and uses students’ energy to solve problems. This chapter describes an educational approach that places reading and content learning in the service of the community. This approach includes explicit reading instruction, focused on introducing students to information literacy and reading strategies for common forms of texts aligned with the stages of service learning.

Within tertiary education, service-learning can offer deeply engaging and transformational experiences for students, broadening their consideration of a host of social justice issues of our time, including diversity and inclusion. This chapter describes how service-learning interfaces with two areas in particular, both of which have wide-ranging public health implications and are generally misrepresented in public media: poverty and mental health. Representative studies are highlighted and case examples are presented in each domain, concluding with recommendations for future research. The authors argue that service-learning courses addressing social justice issues such as poverty and mental health can lead to deep learning in students if they are sequenced to include both direct service-learning that concretizes the issue and community-based research that highlights the public policy challenges and implications of addressing that issue systemically.

The purpose of this chapter is to present a model to support a humanizing approach to international education that is sustainable and facilitates respectful service, scholarship and teaching. University faculty engage internationally through teaching, service and scholarship. All three require faculty to possess strong trusting connections to the international community in which they operate. Literature suggests that the impulse to initiate service learning and scholarship with communities foreign to the faculty too early can be detrimental. A deep relationship between the faculty and community built upon trust and mutual respect is the key to successful internationally situated service, teaching and scholarship. However, such relationships require time to develop and many universities cannot support faculty toward developing international relationships. The Deep Field School presents a way of blending teaching, service and scholarship in a way that supports the nurturing of long-term relationships. The Deep Field School is an internationally situated short-term faculty led study abroad that operates with a commitment toward the long term and closely adheres to the humanizing principle that learning is a process not an outcome. A deep field school operating in Peru is presented as a case study along with guidelines for development.

This chapter draws from the authors’ experiences with service-learning pedagogy in allied health training programs, and illustrates ways in which community-engaged teaching and learning can prepare students to become ethical healthcare practitioners. The authors infuse examples from their own courses throughout the chapter, mostly from the clinical fields of speech-language pathology, audiology, and occupational therapy. However, the chapter is applicable and generalizable to faculty from a wide scope of allied health training programs. The chapter introduces considerations for establishing campus–community partnerships in an ethical manner, as well as ways to foster student self-reflection and critical thinking through an ethical lens. Principles from the codes of ethics of various allied health professions are incorporated throughout the chapter along with examples of how each can be applied in community-based clinical experiences. Through a review of relevant literature, analysis of professional codes of ethics, case-based examples, and a step-by-step guide to course development, this chapter provides readers with a mechanism to ground their courses in professional ethics in a way that is relatable and relevant to students.