Ann Chen presenting in the panel Transformative Service-Learning at the IV Uniservitate Global Symposium
Ann Chen, who studies at Fu Jen Catholic University in New Taipei City (Taiwan), is passionate about service-learning. In 2022, she led a 6-month volunteer service helping students from a high school in Myanmar to develop their career plans. She has been in an exchange programme with the University of Mumbai and the Taiwanese Business Association and has gone on a 20-day volunteer mission to the southern part of India. In addition, she has been in an organization that provides support to disabled individuals affected by AIDS.
During the IV Uniservitate Global Symposium, held in the Philipines last November, she was a speaker on the panel Transformative Service-Learning: Cultivating Student Engagement, Community, and Spiritual Reflection for Social Change, and the Uniservitate team asked her some questions.
What kind of participation do you have in this project?
– My first experience in service-learning was in 2022, in Myanmar. We cooperate with a high school doing the “career planning” for high school students. We had five team members and produced six videos in seven months. From the outside, it looks like we could have done more, but the fact is that we developed everything from scratch, and many things were achieved in seven months. Then, I joined other initiatives and I was able to go to India, beyond Tibet, for more than twenty days. I learned a lot from all the experiences.
– What is important to emphasize about service-learning?
– I believe service-learning is unique because it involves us achieving experiences. The experiences mean taking the student off the campus to be able to discover a different way of life. In a traditional approach, as a student, I was always sitting in the chair, listening to the teacher and absorbing knowledge. But I never asked myself why I was sitting there. The most important thing for service-learning is we have a chance to see people face-to-face. When we see real people, we can realize that we are not different. Maybe our colour is different, we have a different upbringing; but actually, we are just like a big family in the world. So I believe that people are fighting because we don’t know each other, but service-learning gives us a chance to see real people. Actually, we will find out we are just a big family, we can share together and see we are not different. So, I believe that service-learning can cultivate empathy in the students.
In addition, service-learning has the potential to bridge the gap between theoretical knowledge and real-world application. It can be a key to transforming the next generation into an active contributor to the progress of society.
– What did you learn during your service-learning experiences?
– Well, the first thing is my own value. I was able to recognize my own value, that I have something I can use in my possession, and that I can use my effort to change the world little by little. That is what I learned. I’ve also learned to apply skills, for example, video editing and the writing of the proposal, and this helped me throughout my career. I also developed softer skills, like leadership and empathy. Service-Learning made me feel I was the person who had the responsibility. I wanted to take care of my team members and achieve empathy because I was surrounded by different people, and there I said: “Oh! Another person in the world is like me.”
-Did you notice any perceptible change after engaging in service-learning?
-Yes, definitely. I began to have an interest in service and education. In my future career, I want to stay in Taiwan. I want to work in an organization that promotes educational equality. I also pay more attention now to social issues. Every time I see news about what is happening in Myanmar, I listen more carefully. It is something that I am interested in and has to do with reflecting on the situation in Myanmar and thinking about what happens with the situation of secondary schools in Taiwan. I do this because I have experience in service-learning.
Do service-learning projects contribute to developing student engagement and leadership for social change?
I believe that service-learning can complement student engagement and leadership because the goal is different. Like, when I’m in school, our goal is to get a higher grade. But when I’m in service, our goal is to find out how to service other people better. So, when the goal is different, our attitude is also different. So I believe that when students put more effort and pay more attention to the service, they will find out why they are studying. And they are also cultivating their leadership.