Early Collaborative Service Learning Activities and Suggestions for Service Learning Courses at a University in the Mekong Delta Region

Huynh Thanh Tien, Vo Thi Kim Hoang, Huynh Thanh Viet

Abstract: Service learning (SL) is a teaching method that combines meaningful service to the community with curriculum-based learning. Students improve their skills by applying their academic knowledge into the real world; they then reflect on their experience to enhance the connectivity between their service and their learning (Baltimore County Public Schools, 2018). However, in fact it seems that this learning approach has not widely been applied in Vietnamese higher education institutions (HEIs). This paper reviews the SL application in foreign and national HEIs and its benefits towards instructors and students in the SL project process. In accessing some websites of institutions regarded as strong in the applicability of the SL approach, the authors used the document analysis method to explore the resilient advantages of the SL application. Then, an open-question survey was sent to 14 participative students from a Mekong Delta region university to learn about their SL perceptions, and finally this paper provided recommendations for the SL employability in some undergraduate training programs of this institution.

Keywords: application, community, employability, higher education, teaching method