Using service-learning activities to enhance the teaching of cognitive-communicative disorders: A case illustration in the discipline of communication sciences and disorders with reflections from student clinicians and community agencies

Abstract

Background: The profession of communication sciences and disorders, or speech and language pathology, studies the nature and development of human communication abilities. It also covers developmental as well as acquired communication deficits spanning a range of impairments across processes of language, speech, hearing, voice, resonance, fluency, and swallowing. Purpose: The objectives of this chapter are threefold: (1) to illustrate how introducing service-learning activities can enhance master’s level education of cognitive-communicative disorders and to provide a sample course outline and some examples of previous service-learning projects, (2) to present student clinicians’ reflection and supervisors’ evaluation about the beneficial effects of this service-learning pedagogy on student learning, and (3) to discuss how the use of service-learning activities can further student learning objectives of an academic course. Methods: The set-up of service-learning activities in a graduate elective course on cognitive-communicative disorders is introduced. Written reflections by 175 master students from eight cohorts between 2008 and 2016 enrolled in this class were analyzed using content analysis. Common words or phrases in each reflection paper were identified, grouped, and coded into consistent themes. In addition, supervisors’ feedback from 48 agency evaluations was collected. Findings: A total number of 383 positive and 3 negative comments were identified in the student reflections. Eight positive themes relative to students’ perception of the inclusion of service-learning pedagogy in this class were yielded. Community partners’ positive feedback related to the value-adding nature of service-learning projects predominated in our agency evaluations. The advantages of service-learning were found to outweigh its disadvantages. The extra efforts to engage students in community engagement and knowledge application through servicelearning were acknowledged through student and agency feedback. Conclusion: The beneficial effects of service-learning are not limited to extending students’ classroom experiences, but also their clinical practice in future career. Investigations on how service-learning can be of greater use in other areas in communication sciences and disorders are warranted.