Open AccessService-learning in the Spanish university system. A study focused on course evaluation
Author(s) -
María del Mar Lorenzo Moledo,
Covadonga Ruiz de Miguel,
Elena Arbués Radigales,
María Jesús Martínez Usarralde,
Mariana Buenestado Fernández,
Ígor Mella Núñez
Publication year - 2020
Publication title -
aula abierta
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 0.376
H-Index - 9
eISSN - 2341-2313
pISSN - 0210-2773
DOI - 10.17811/rifie.49.4.2020.353-362
Subject(s) - bachelor , service (business) , higher education , bachelor degree , action (physics) , degree program , action research , quality (philosophy) , open university , service learning , mathematics education , order (exchange) , pedagogy , medical education , engineering , engineering management , distance education , sociology , psychology , political science , business , marketing , medicine , philosophy , physics , epistemology , quantum mechanics , law , finance
In this article, 41 Service-Learning (SL) courses have been evaluated in 5 Spanish universities (4 public and 1 private), in order to determine whether they are SL initiatives or other type of educational practices. These experiences, which were implemented during the 2015/2016 academic year, covered degree programs from the five knowledge areas. Most of them involved Bachelor’s degree students and only one of them Master’s degree students. A qualitative methodology has been used, focused on content analysis and based on evaluations made by four experts. The analysis of the experiences points out an encouraging course of action for this methodology in the Spanish university system, showing a certain change in the teaching culture, as they all meet the basic requirements which, according to international literature, must be present in service-learning projects and are also considered as criteria for assessing quality in such projects. Finally, a three-way action is presented, to open new prospects of educational innovation and social responsibility through Service-Learning possibilities in Higher Education.