The CIVIS Expert Group Service-Learning has created and made available the CIVIS Service-Learning Guide for Lecturers at all CIVIS universities and associate member Universities in Africa in 2024. The guide aims to offer lecturers at all CIVIS universities a tool for better combining academic knowledge with civic engagement in their educational activities, by applying the pedagogical approach of service-learning.
Service-Learning is a pedagogical approach meant to increase students’ professional ability to advance the responsible application of science in society, while also ensuring a reciprocal transfer between science and society. By applying academic knowledge to practise with a social purpose, students can experience the results of their actions while learning and providing a service to the community. Thus, the guide offers lecturers an exciting way of teaching and learning.
Research has shown that students who participate in SL projects learn in a more comprehensive way and are more likely to become active in their community. Reflecting on this process helps them to understand their role in creating such results, grow personally, acquire a set of transversal competencies, and commit to future actions.
This guide aims to give lecturers a first insight into Service Learning, its key elements, and different forms, including international perspectives and digital means. Additionally, it provides tips for the design and implementation of their own SL project", says the CIVIS Expert Gropup on Service Learning
Authors: Prof. Pilar Aramburuzabala, Flavia Baccani, Dr Valérie Caraguel, Prof. Maria Iakovou, Prof. Elena López de Arana, Prof. Marian Marin, Prof. Marlen Mouliou, Franziska Müller, Dr Iris Niki Nikolopoulos, Isabel María Osuna Montilla, Radu Pintilii, Prof. Emiliane Rubat du Mérac.
Editors: Prof. Pilar Aramburuzabala, Dr Valérie Caraguel, Franziska Müller, Isabel María Osuna Montilla, Dr. Iris-Niki Nikolopoulos
Expert Group: Service-Learning, with the support of Ulla Harmala
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Challenge-based learning approach in course design (2026)
This module is part of a broader upskilling initiative aimed at educators who wish to learn how to apply innovative methodologies to their teaching practice.- Challenged-based approach
- Course, module or learning opportunity
- Academics
- Researchers
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IMAGINING HOMELAND: PALMYRA'S (IN)TANGIBLE HERITAGE AND THE VOICES OF DISPLACEMENT
This volume is a monograph documenting the virtual reconstruction projects of the Temple of Baalshamin, one of the most significant forms of tangible heritage belonging to the Syrian community, destroyed as a result of terrorist attacks. Through a series of workshops with Syrian communities—including refugees, displaced persons, and individuals who have experienced either forced or voluntary migration—the virtual reconstruction is presented as a process that supports social inclusion and the reconstruction of cultural identity.- Communication and Dissemination
- Cultural heritage
- E-book
- Students
- Academics
- Researchers
- Civil society