Community Service Learning Individual Learning Report, HKU, Sem 1

This report is a comprehensive reflection on a student's community service learning experience at the New Home Centre, detailing their interactions with children and minorities. The student discusses their expectations, the skills they developed, and the benefits of the program, including problem-solving, sharing, and cultural understanding. The report highlights personal growth, moral development, and the application of classroom content to real-life situations. It emphasizes the importance of community service learning for students in Hong Kong, advocating for its role in developing critical thinking, leadership skills, and professional connections. The student also reflects on the course's impact on their academic and career development, emphasizing skills like problem analysis and leadership, and offers a recommendation for other students to embrace community service learning.

Running head: COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING 1
Community Service Learning
By (Student’s Name)
Institutional Affiliation

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING 2
Part A: what I experienced during the course
Community service learning is a collaboration between agencies and the faculty enabling
the learners to apply what they have learned within the class into the world. Over the years,
students have worked with governmental and non-governmental agencies developing their skills
while helping and supporting the community. During my time, I worked with New Home Centre
offering service to the community. I had various expectations before moving to the Home center,
however, during the community service learning, I learned a lot working with needy children and
minorities. Working with children equipped with various skills (Battistoni, 2017). I learned how
to interact with multiple people within the community. For example, during the stay, I played
games with the children and experience the benefit of a close relationship with others. I
developed close contact with children and benefited through the happiness we created.
Another experience was problem-solving; children at the home center had various
problems which they presented to me as well as other people we were working with at the center.
Solving their problems equipped with the needed skills required to solve problems. At the center,
I also observed children sharing various items they had, this was a great experience, and I
learned to share with the community. I also developed the urge to support others within the
community and my colleagues in school who may need my help (Hildenbrand & Schultz, 2015).
Moreover, through the course interacted with individuals from various cultures. By experience,
their lifestyles and how they carry out activities enabled me to appreciate other people's
perceptions and accept them for whom they are in society. What impressed me most during the
project was that I was able to apply the class content in the real-life situation supporting and
helping the needy children and interacting with the community members.

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING 3
Part B: Benefits of community service
I learned a lot from community service. The course has been within the school for an
extended period, and students have been moving beyond the classroom for a complete study. I
had been told a lot by the previous students what it entails and their former. However, what I
have learned from the course is more than what I expected. During the course, I was able to work
with people from the community and interact with society as a whole. I can say that, through the
course, I have broadened my self-awareness, increased my relationship with people as well as
my interaction with the community (Baldwin, 2016).
Moreover, I believe that from the course, I have developed a sense of individual efficacy,
developed spiritually and have gone through moral development. For example, during the study,
I worked with a non-governmental organization known as the New Home Association center
providing support to the needy children and the minorities. The organization has a straight way
of handling resources and individuals as well as solving a rising conflict. This enabled me to
develop morally as every service we offered to the community was based on integrity and
uprightness. The resources given to support the minorities and the needy children were only
directed to that specific purpose, and misuse or loss of the funds was not taken quickly. By
working with people with integrity, I developed moral uprightness which I believe would be of
great help in my future career (Butler & Shaw, 2018).
Apart from the management, I benefited a lot from the course through my interaction
with the children. By helping and interacting with the children, I developed a sense of loves and
sharing. The children were able to share whatever was given to them. Moreover, they loved and
cared for each other within the home center. The close relationship was also evident while we
were playing various games with the children. Through the relationship with the children, I

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING 4
learned on manage time as well as interact and deal with other people within the society. The
interaction and helping the children also enabled me to link with the community (Huff,
Zoltowski & Oakes, 2016).
Concerning my career and academic development, community services proved to be very
critical. Through the interaction with the children, I was able to apply what I learned within the
classroom into the community-based activities which we were doing at the children home, and I
have a strong belief that this will have a significant impact on my academics. By helping and
working with the children, I was presented with a lot of challenges. Therefore, solving these
challenges gave me a sophisticated understanding, problem analysis, and understanding, ability
to think critically as well as problem-solving techniques (Higgins, 2017). I believe that these
skills will not only help with my academics but also with my career. For example, by guiding
and helping the children, I acquired leadership skills which I will help with my career in the
future. Moreover, working with the organization enabled me with an opportunity to connect with
various professional people within the community for learning and career opportunities.
Part C: the importance of community service learning to Hong Kong students
Based on personal experience, I would recommend for students in Hong Kong today to
value community service learning as a course. As illustrated in part B above, through the course I
acquired a lot. The community service enabled me to apply classroom content into a real-life
situation. Throughout the course, I was able to acquire, academic competency, professional
development, and personal development skills. To this reason, I would recommend community
service learning as a general learning course. This is because, community service will present
learners with the opportunity to develop critical thinking, problem analysis techniques, self-
efficacy and competency as well as the ability to work well with others within the community

COMMUNITY SERVICE LEARNING 5
(Bennett, Sunderland, Bartleet & Power, 2016). The experience acquired through the community
service learning as a course is also essential to learners within Hong Kong as it will enable them
to learn and build leadership skills, responsibility and citizenship skills. Moreover, community
service learning allows learners to work with professionals and community members. Therefore,
presenting them with professional connections necessary for career development in the future
(Kerins, 2016).

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References
Baldwin, M. (2016). Social work, critical reflection and the learning organization (pp.31-45)
Routledge.
Battistoni, R. M. (2017). Civic engagement across the curriculum: A resource book for service-
learning faculty in all disciplines. Stylus Publishing, LLC. 18(1), 32-64
Bennett, D., Sunderland, N., Bartleet, B. L., & Power, A. (2016). Implementing and sustaining
higher education service-learning initiatives: Revisiting Young et al.’s organizational
tactics. Journal of Experiential Education, 39(2), 145-163.
Butler, I., & Shaw, I. F. (2018). A Case of Neglect?(1996): Children's Experiences and the
Sociology of Childhood (pp.35-54). Routledge.
Higgins, B. (2017). Reinventing human services: Community-and family-centered practice (pp.1-
30). Routledge.
Hildenbrand, S. M., & Schultz, S. M. (2015). Implementing service learning in pre-service
teacher coursework. Journal of Experiential Education, 38(3), 262-279.
Huff, J. L., Zoltowski, C. B., & Oakes, W. C. (2016). Preparing engineers for the workplace
through service learning: Perceptions of EPICS alumni. Journal of Engineering
Education, 105(1), 43-69.

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Kerins, A. T. (2016). An adventure in service-learning: Developing knowledge, values, and
responsibility (pp.34-40) Routledge.