Lights and shadows of the service-learning: difficulties and decisions to implement projects

Abstract

Service-Learning projects have shown enormous training potential, due to the significance they give to the learning of academic content, while offering a quality service based on the needs of the community. They place each student at the center of the teaching-learning process, strengthen personal skills and help reflect on their social role. The objective of this work is to identify and analyze the difficulties and inconveniences that arise in the initial stage of an SL project and to propose some guidelines that contribute to improving a successful implementation. In it, two groups of 17 and 19 students participated in two subjects in which the SL methodology was implemented, two teachers responsible for the subjects and two receiving entities of the service. The information has been collected through a questionnaire of expectations applied to the students, an interview with the strategic partners, in addition to the student diaries and the field notes of the teachers. The results obtained from the analysis indicate that it is necessary to anticipate in detail planning the actions of the students, because there is a fairly limited time and different from that of the community. In addition, to achieve the success of the project, it is necessary to establish relationships of trust that allow knowing the context and facilitating collaboration. It is essential that the diagnosis is carried out properly to respond to the real needs of the community.