The Developmental Impacts of Interdisciplinary and Inter-Institutional Service-Learning Collaboration

Four local universities launched a program entitled “Cross-institutional Capacity Building for Service-Learning in Hong Kong Higher Education Institutions,” funded by the UGC, to build capacity for Service-Learning (S-L) in Hong Kong Universities in 2017. Under the program, a pilot interdisciplinary and inter-institutional course collaboration with similar S-L elements was set up. The collaboration involved a News Writing course offered by the Department of Chinese at Lingnan University (LU) and a Health Care in Chinese Medicine course offered by the School of Chinese Medicine at the Hong Kong Baptist University (HKBU). The associated Service-Learning projects were conducted during two fall semesters in academic years 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. This study aimed to investigate student developmental outcomes associated with an inter-institutional and interdisciplinary course collaboration with S-L elements and to identify the factors contributing to or detracting from effective learning. A mixed-method approach was adopted. For the quantitative component, 72 students from experimental groups (who participated in the collaborative S-L projects) and 107 students from control groups (who undertook other S-L projects) completed pre-test and post-test questionnaires in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. For the qualitative component, altogether sixteen students from the two universities participated in four focus groups in 2018/2019 and 2019/2020. Significant differences were found between experimental and control groups in terms of general knowledge application and caring for others. Comments made in the focus groups indicated ways in which the collaborative experience could be improved.