Identifying and understanding the graduate attributes learning outcomes in a case study of community service experiential learning project

Experiential learning has been increasingly adopted by universities worldwide as the means to develop students' graduate attributes. In this paper, the author investigated the learning outcomes that the type of graduate attributes can deliver in the University of Hong Kong (HKU) Sichuan reconstruction project. This project encompassed an experiential learning experience enabling students to serve the post-quake Sichuan community by applying their knowledge and skills. The author will explore how this community service type of experiential learning in the engineering discipline allowed students to experience deep learning and develop their graduate attributes. It is shown that most students dealt with authentic and unfamiliar challenges through group cooperation, and were able to reflect from the experience and act accordingly. Copyright © 2012 Inderscience Enterprises Ltd