This study explores faculty theories of service-learning as a teaching methodology in higher education. While there has been considerable increase in the understanding of how service-learning positively impacts students, there is a shortage of research on faculty experiences utilizing service-learning pedagogy. Because it is known that faculty involvement and commitment is essential to implementing groundbreaking forms of curricula and pedagogy, this research seeks to better understand faculty perspectives of campus community collaboration in service-learning partnerships. The study investigated faculty engaged in service-learning and used a multiple case study design involving descriptive qualitative methods rooted in faculty perspectives utilizing constant comparative analysis and coding in the tradition of grounded theory. Data consisted of interviews, course materials, and documents related to community placement protocol at one large Pacific-Northwest university. Findings across five research questions, which supported previous studies, established that faculty utilizing service-learning pedagogy are motivated by their adherence to values of social justice, individual awareness of positive student outcomes, and dedication to civic responsibility by meeting community defined needs through educational practices. Two new findings, which can augment the research literature, are (a) the perceived role that institutionally supported outreach to the community could play in restoring public trust, exhibiting genuine awareness of community need, and benefiting the overall credibility of the institutional mission and (b) the identification of faculty tacit theories of why community partners fade away during the student placement and perceived best practices for addressing the problem. Faculty’s identification of perceived barriers to implementing and sustaining service-learning pedagogy supported previous research and suggested a new finding that while excellence in pedagogical practices existed within the institution, lack of a centrally supported mechanism for collaboration may have thwarted growth of innovative and beneficial strategies. Research-to-practice suggestions include prospective policy implications for faculty who utilize service-learning in courses or would like to cultivate the professional potential to include a scholarship of engagement into their teaching strategies. Faculty theories of best practices and policy improvements for service-learning pedagogy delineated in the study have potential utility for entities who develop, initiate, organize, and support innovative campus community collaboration.

The purpose of this study was to inform global citizenship practice as a higher education (HE) agenda by comparing retrospective experiences of a range of community engagement (CE) partners, including the often silent voices of non-researcher partners. HE-CE aims to contribute to social justice as it constructs and transfers new knowledge from the perspectives of a wide range of CE-partners. This qualitative secondary analysis study was framed theoretically by the transformative-emancipatory paradigm and meta-theoretically by phenomenology. Existing case data, generated on retrospective experiences of CE-partners in a long-term CE-partnership, were conveniently sampled to analyse and compare a range of CE-experiences (parents of student-clients (n = 12: females 10, males 2), teachers from the partner rural school (n = 18: females 12, males 6), student-educational psychology clients (n = 31: females 14, males 17), academic service learning (ASL) students (n = 20: females 17, males 3), and researchers (n = 12: females 11, males 1). Existing data sources included verbatim transcriptions of (i) audio-recorded Participatory Reflection and Action (PRA)-directed group sessions (parents, teachers, student-clients), (ii) telephonic interviews (ASL-students, researchers) and semi-structured interviews (ASL-students); as well as rural school context observation data documented textually (audio-visual recordings and photographs) and textually (field notes). A significant insight from this study is that a range of CE-partners experience similar benefits and challenges when a university and rural school partner. Whereas all CE-partners experience HE-CE as beneficial for human capital development, they all experience that HE-CE is challenged by the structural disparity between a rural context and operational miscommunication. CE-partners with higher education levels experienced that the HE partner is an agent that facilitates knowledge generation. These CE-partners indicated that both academic researchers and non-researchers should be valued as equal knowledge co-generator partners. CE-partners within a rural school had expectations of material gain as part of their experience of participating in this CE-partnership. CE-partners involved in educational psychology (ASL) experienced connectedness and support as a result of participating in the FLY intervention. These CE-partners also experienced FLY relationships as a great platform for establishing bonds, whilst learning from peers. I theorise the Progressive Global Citizenship conceptual framework as a guide that points towards boundless engagement in the era of globalisation. This suggests that HE-CE should focus on innovative interventions that have support structures aimed at establishing connections across socio-economic, cultural, racial and academic backgrounds. Therefore, I propose that HE should make a concerted effort to enhance insight, awareness, reflection, exploration and develop critical consciousness among global citizens. In my view, this calls for innovation that moves away from traditional practices in global citizenship. HE should strive to partner with many role-players as an alternative way of broadening the scope towards understanding and enriching CE interventions. / Thesis (PhD)--University of Pretoria, 2017. / Educational Psychology / PhD / Unrestricted

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Magister Curationis - MCur / The re-engineering of the healthcare landscape requires Higher Educational Institutions (HEI) to employ teaching and learning approaches that would produce graduates, who could respond to the transformative initiatives within the healthcare system. Graduates are required to become involved in a service-learning project, as part of their learning experience, within the Masters of Nursing in Advanced Psychiatric Nursing programme. Their learning and teaching activity is intended to prepare them to become competent advanced psychiatric nurse specialists, who are able to address social transformation.

The purpose of this case study was to explore and describe educational psychology students' experiences of academic service learning (ASL) as part of a higher education- rural school partnership in order to inform knowledge on higher education community engagement. The Transformative Learning Theory framed the study by engaging students in an active meaningmaking process of critical self-reflection and integration of experiences. Qualitative methodology was chosen as the preferred mode of inquiry which contributed to my insight and understanding of participants' subjective experiences of ASL. A constructivist epistemology guided dynamic interaction with participants, providing a platform for co-constructing knowledge generated based on participants' retrospective experiences. Seven cohorts of Master's students in Educational Psychology (2007 to 2013; n=22), who were involved in assessments and interventions at a rural school as part of their training at the University of Pretoria, were purposefully selected. Participants were, as far as possible, representative in terms of gender, age and cultural background. Qualitative data generation techniques (i.e. questionnaires and semi-structured interviews) were used to collect data, which were then thematically analysed by reporting on patterns across cohorts. The findings suggested that participants experienced the ASL practicum as an engaged scholarship that is socially transformative. The findings furthermore revealed that participants experienced ASL as an integral part of the educational psychology curriculum and a platform for initiating and developing professional identity. The ASL practicum experiences of participants are consistent across cohorts and similar to that experienced by other students in ASL programmes. / Dissertation (MEd)--University of Pretoria, 2016. / Educational Psychology / MEd / Unrestricted