Asee peer logo

Role of Reflection in Service Learning-based Engineering Programs: A Cross-cultural Exploratory and Comparative Case Study in India and the USA

Download Paper |

Conference

2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access

Location

Virtual Conference

Publication Date

July 26, 2021

Start Date

July 26, 2021

End Date

July 19, 2022

Conference Session

Community Engagement Division Technical Session 5

Tagged Division

Community Engagement Division

Page Count

18

DOI

10.18260/1-2--37691

Permanent URL

https://strategy.asee.org/37691

Download Count

380

Request a correction

Paper Authors

biography

Srinivas Mohan Dustker Purdue University, West Lafayette Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-3840-7450

visit author page

Srinivas Dustker is a Ph.D. student in Engineering Education at Purdue University. He received his B.E. in Industrial Engineering and Management from B.M.S. College of Engineering, Bengaluru, India and his M.S. in Industrial and Operations Engineering from University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, USA.

visit author page

biography

Bandi Surendra Reddy Hyderabad Institute of Technology and Management Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6421-1806

visit author page

Surendra Bandi has been with Hyderabad Institute of Technology and Management (HITAM), Hyderabad since 2009 as Associate Professor of Computer Science Engineering. He is a Post Graduate in Computer Applications and Computer Science Engineering. Surendra completed IIEECP (IUCEE International Engineering Educator Certification Program) during 2015 in the pilot batch. He is a Microsoft Certified Educator. Surendra is currently pursuing his PhD in Engineering Education at KLE Technological University, Hubballi, Karnataka. His research area is Service Learning in Engineering.

visit author page

biography

Rohit Kandakatla KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0003-0137-2589

visit author page

Dr. Rohit Kandakatla has completed his Ph.D. in Engineering Education from Purdue University and is currently serving as the Director for Strategy, Operations, and Human Resource Development at KG Reddy College of Engineering and Technology. He also has an adjunct faculty appointment with the Center for Engineering Education Research at KLE Technological University. He completed his Bachelors of Engineering in Electronics and Communication from Manipal Institute of Technology and Masters in Embedded Systems from Jawaharlal Nehru Technological University Hyderabad. His research interests include education policy, faculty development, understanding organizational development in higher education, and integration of technology and entrepreneurship in engineering education. He was awarded Young Engineering Educator Scholarship by National Science Foundation (NSF), IUCEE Young Leader Award for the year 2015, and IGIP SPEED Young Scientist Award for the year 2014. He previously served as the President of the Student Platform for Engineering Education Development (SPEED) and the Vice-President for Student Engagement of the International Federation for Engineering Education Societies (IFEES) where he has led many student-based initiatives to help solve engineering education issues at the local and global level.

visit author page

biography

Gopalkrishna H. Joshi KLE Technological University

visit author page

I hold a PhD in Computer Science and Engineering.

Areas of research:
1. Data Engineering
2. Engineering Education Research

Current position: Professor and Head of Computer Science and Engineering, Director of Centre for Engineering Education Research

visit author page

biography

William C. Oakes Purdue University, West Lafayette Orcid 16x16 orcid.org/0000-0002-6183-045X

visit author page

William (Bill) Oakes is a 150th Anniversary Professor, the Director of the EPICS Program and one of the founding faculty members of the School of Engineering Education at Purdue University. He has held courtesy appointments in Mechanical, Environmental and Ecological Engineering as well as Curriculum and Instruction in the College of Education. He is a registered professional engineer and on the NSPE board for Professional Engineers in Higher Education. He has been active in ASEE serving in the FPD, CIP and ERM. He is the past chair of the IN/IL section. He is a fellow of the Teaching Academy and listed in the Book of Great Teachers at Purdue University. He was the first engineering faculty member to receive the national Campus Compact Thomas Ehrlich Faculty Award for Service-Learning. He was a co-recipient of the National Academy of Engineering’s Bernard Gordon Prize for Innovation in Engineering and Technology Education and the recipient of the National Society of Professional Engineers’ Educational Excellence Award and the ASEE Chester Carlson Award. He is a fellow of the American Society for Engineering Education and the National Society of Professional Engineers.

visit author page

Download Paper |

Abstract

Reflection is one of the pedagogical components which differentiates service-learning from community service and makes student learning authentic. Reflections have been studied widely within the U.S.; however, it is relatively new in India and less investigated. This paper is an exploratory case study between three institutions from two countries.

The first program is a design-based engineering program that uses the service-learning pedagogy at a large midwestern university in the U.S.. Students reflect individually on a weekly basis and submit a final reflection at the end of the semester. The second program is part of a technology focused institution in southern India and employs reflection in a similar manner to the first. The third program, also a technology focused institution in southern India, adopted the framework of the first program but as a co-curricular activity.

This study was divided in two phases. In the first phase, reflections were coded from each institution applying Jacoby’s framework of General Criteria for Assessing Service-Learning Reflection. The second phase of the study investigated the cross-cultural comparisons and contrasts between the US and India.

The preliminary results showed that students generally reflected at the Surface or Emerging level in their weekly reflections and in Depth in their final reflection. Students occasionally reflected in Depth during the week if they experienced authentic learning and were able to relate with their personal experience. With the increase in international service-learning programs in undergraduate engineering curriculum, the results from this study would help us understand how reflections were perceived, utilized, and assessed across two distinct cultures. The findings presented would help engineering educators understand how to better facilitate service-learning projects that are international and require cross-cultural collaborations.

Dustker, S. M., & Reddy, B. S., & Kandakatla, R., & Joshi, G. H., & Oakes, W. C. (2021, July), Role of Reflection in Service Learning-based Engineering Programs: A Cross-cultural Exploratory and Comparative Case Study in India and the USA Paper presented at 2021 ASEE Virtual Annual Conference Content Access, Virtual Conference. 10.18260/1-2--37691

ASEE holds the copyright on this document. It may be read by the public free of charge. Authors may archive their work on personal websites or in institutional repositories with the following citation: © 2021 American Society for Engineering Education. Other scholars may excerpt or quote from these materials with the same citation. When excerpting or quoting from Conference Proceedings, authors should, in addition to noting the ASEE copyright, list all the original authors and their institutions and name the host city of the conference. - Last updated April 1, 2015