Service-Learning Courses: The Fruits of the Pilot Year
1 August 2024
In the 2023-2024 academic year, S.H. Ho College launched its first-ever service-learning courses, namely, GESH2011 Service-learning: Bringing Knowledge to Life and GESH2012 Service-learning: Action towards Personhood. The courses aim to address community needs through actions, promoting students’ personal development, cultivating civic awareness, and encouraging community participation. Over 20 College students participated in the courses, working in groups and collaborating with four community partners in response to service needs in different areas.
GESH2011 Service-learning: Bringing Knowledge to Life primarily enables students to understand community needs and develop service plans. In class, students learn essential knowledge and skills, and they gain insights into the community and service users through field visits. The service plans the students design are diversified, covering areas such as special education for children, physical and mental health for the elderly, mental well-being for the elderly, and language education for ethnic minority children. At the end of the semester, students submit their service-learning project proposals.
GESH2012 Service-learning: Action towards Personhood focuses on practice and reflection. The course begins with a guest lecture, and from January 2024, each group starts implementing their service plans. After the service activities are completed, community partners and students review the performance together. Students also reflect on their service experiences during tutorials, and ultimately, they present their findings and insights with reflections on their personal growth and future plans.
The service of the four groups includes the following:
Eco-Tour on Board with SEN Children: In collaboration with LINK EDUCATION, Autistic Child Life Building and Island South Sixth Brigade, students designed a board game to enhance the organisational and communication skills of children with special educational needs.
Prevention of Alzheimer’s Disease for the Elderly: Students partnered with the Charles Kao CUHK BEAT AD Service to provide health workshops for elderly individuals who are at risk of Alzheimer’s disease. They designed booklets to assist the elderly in preventing cognitive decline and promoting healthy lifestyles.
Mental Health Awareness for the Elderly: In collaboration with the Hong Kong Red Cross, students set up a street booth in Lower Ngau Tau Kok Estate to promote mental health awareness, encouraging elderly individuals to care for their emotions and maintain community connections.
A Language Voyage with Ethnic Minority Children: Partnering with WEDO GLOBAL, students organised Cantonese classes with an environmental protection theme for ethnic minority children. The classes incorporated storytelling, writing exercises and reading practices to improve language skills and environmental awareness, helping children to integrate into the local community.
Students expressed that the service experiences taught them to think from different perspectives, understand the needs of their service users, and design solutions. Through their interactions with people, they developed greater empathy and found satisfaction and a sense of achievement by helping others.
