Learning and Knowledge: University and Community Perspectives in an International Service-Learning Partnership

• In Event: Global Partnerships: Perspectives on Developing Engaged Service-Learning Experiences

Abstract

The dominant culture of higher education has been characterized by a positivist epistemology while service-learning promotes a more constructivist epistemology. These competing epistemologies differ in terms of questions related to what counts as knowledge and how learning happens. This study explores both university and community perspectives about learning and knowledge in an international service-learning partnership. Existing research would predict that university stakeholders would express beliefs about learning and knowledge that align with the traditional epistemology of higher education. In this case; however, both community and university stakeholders shared ideas about learning and knowledge that align more with a constructivist epistemology.

Author

• Nora Pillard Reynolds, Temple University