Undergraduate education in the professional disciplines prioritizes acquisition of discipline-specific knowledge and skills. However, it is worth considering a more holistic approach to shape students into future professionals capable of embracing a keen sense of service to society alongside their professional identity. One way of achieving this is by providing them with opportunities to make meaningful contributions to society directly through their disciplinary education, while enabling them to see the benefits and experience the satisfaction of their involvement. This paper describes the transformative learning experiences of engineering undergraduates in Malaysia who were involved in a service-learning module employing a non-traditional approach. This approach uses their engineering knowledge and skills to directly engage with teenagers from underprivileged communities such as children's homes, orphanages, refugee schools and low-income housing projects. In the beginning many undertook this compulsory module with some reluctance, resigning themselves to it. However, upon completion their views changed, and it was apparent that a profound learning experience had occurred. This paper narrates this experience and uses survey responses and students’ reflective journals to convey the outcomes.
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10 January 2023
8TH BRUNEI INTERNATIONAL CONFERENCE ON ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGY 2021
8–10 November 2021
Bandar Seri Begawan, Brunei Darussalam
Research Article|
January 10 2023
A non-traditional approach to service-learning in engineering education
Douglas Tong Kum Tien;
Douglas Tong Kum Tien
a)
1
Faculty of Innovation and Technology, Taylor's University
, 47500 Subang Jaya, Malaysia
a)Corresponding author: [email protected]
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Sivakumar Sivanesan;
Sivakumar Sivanesan
b)
1
Faculty of Innovation and Technology, Taylor's University
, 47500 Subang Jaya, Malaysia
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S. Ramesh
S. Ramesh
c)
2
Faculty of Engineering, Universiti Teknologi Brunei
, Tunku Highway, Gadong BE1410, Brunei Darussalam
3
Center of Advanced Manufacturing and Material Processing, Department of Mechanical Engineering, Faculty of Engineering, University of Malaya
, 50603 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia
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AIP Conf. Proc. 2643, 050028 (2023)
Citation
Douglas Tong Kum Tien, Sivakumar Sivanesan, S. Ramesh; A non-traditional approach to service-learning in engineering education. AIP Conf. Proc. 10 January 2023; 2643 (1): 050028. https://doi.org/10.1063/5.0116844
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