About the 10-year plan for ISSL

 

The University of Indianapolis, ESLI International (Campus ESPRIT Industries), and Stellenbosch University have decided to join forces to co-organize and co-host the International Symposium on Service-Learning (ISSL) in its 9th (USA), 10th (France), and 11th (South Africa) editions.  

The aim of this international collaboration on three continents is to expand service-learning as a teaching approach to incorporate the needs of the community into students' learning to the needs of the community. Another aim of this partnership is to focus on the various transitions of higher education and the role that critical service-learning plays in social transformation as a whole. Indeed, the three institutions will be working on both their students and faculty's delivery of critical service-learning experiences in order to become true agents of positive change for their communities.  

This American-European-African partnership aims to highlight the significant role that service-learning plays in students becoming more engaged citizens, in faculty members becoming more critical and collaborative, and the community becoming a true knowledge incubator.

This new dynamic will be discussed and threaded throughout the symposium via a variety of presentation types and formats to allow for a rich dialogue among academics, practitioners, community partners, international organizations, students, and other engaged parties.   

This new collaboration will allow for:

  • The exploration of the complexities of development, transition, and transformation within higher education across the globe  
  • The adoption of a vigilant stance when it comes to social transformation  
  • The acquisition of the transformative change leadership skills necessary for the piloting of communal or community change initiatives
  • The enhancement of the social impact of critical service-learning in society  
  • The review of current theoretical perspectives in higher education and how collaborative research and curriculum design can enhance Service-Learning's societal impact 
  • The overview of new ethical goals and challenges impacting service-learning in higher education 
  • The illumination of service-learning as an innovative and transformative pedagogy for social change  
  • The strengthening of networking between the different engaged parties in social change initiatives across the globe  
  • The development of a global service-learning community 
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