When Service-Learning Meets Study Abroad

Abstract

As higher education institutions develop more international service-learning (ISL) opportunities for students, the origin may be a faculty-led trip, a third-party provider, an institutionally commissioned experience encouraged by administration, or a study abroad office initiative. Loyola University Chicago's ISL programs in Vietnam during the summer of 2009 and in Peru during the summer of 2010 demonstrate both successful and disjointed attempts at collaboration between service-learning and study abroad. Through both indirect and direct assessment measures, program evaluation research demonstrates how the collaboration of service-learning and study abroad offices created ISL programs that impact transformative learning for students. No matter the principal motivation, meeting student recruitment goals is a necessity for any ISL program. Though institutional responsibility regarding student safety abroad may limit ISL program design, study abroad theory regarding student immersion will often aid in fostering the transformative learning environment ISL program leaders seek.