A pilot study of common outcome measurement of service-learning in Hong Kong

Since the Office of Service-Learning (OSL) at Lingnan University was established in 2006 as the first independent office dedicated to promoting service-learning (S-L) in Lingnan and among the higher education institutes in Hong Kong. OSL undertakes an important role to develop of service-learning in Hong Kong higher education. The Higher Education Service-Learning Network (HESLN) in Hong Kong was first established in 2007 to provide a platform to discuss the local development and opportunities of S -L. Its members include Lingnan University, Hong Kong University, The Chinese University of Hong Kong, the University of Science and Technology, City Univers ity of Hong Kong, the Polytechnic University of Hong Kong, the Baptist University of Hong Kong, the Hong Kong Institute of Education, Hong Kong Shue Yan University and the Hong Kong College of Technology. As different higher education institutes implement S-L in their teaching and learning the common outcome measurement (COM) of S-L is necessary to investigate the student learning outcome across different institutes to demonstrate the knowledge transfer model. Two pilot tests of COM were conducted in 2011 and 2012 in order to develop the standardized measurement for assessing student learning outcome in terms of nine domains (e.g. self-understanding/confidence, communication skills, problem-solving skills, civic engagement, social responsibility and willingness to contribute, team skills, self-reflection, general knowledge application, caring for others, intercultural competences). 189 and 197 university students from 5 different institutes have completed the pilot questionnaire in 2011 and 2012 respectively. The reliability test was applied for the scale reduction from 78 items to 36 items. For the preliminary findings of the 2nd pilot study, eight domains -- except intercultural competences -- reported an acceptable Cronbach’s Alpha (from 0.87 to 0.75). Also, the significant improvement in the mentioned 9 domains was found. Further development of the intercultural competences domain and a greater comprehensive and large-scale scale validation are needed to develop the common outcome measurement in Hong Kong