CIVENHANCE: Extending the frontiers of thought and creativity III through service learning in rural areas

Abstract

The Thought and Creativity series of subjects aims to provide undergraduate students, regardless of their area of expertise, with an added-value training that equips them with the tools, concepts, and elements needed to foster social responsibility, ethical awareness, and social impact through a humanistic approach closely connected to society. In this regard, at the end of this series of subjects—Thought and Creativity III—students are involved in social action projects with local entities affiliated to La Salle Campus Barcelona, which limits its scope and impact. Thanks to the international partnership from the project CIVENHANCE (E-Service Learning for Boosting Academic Civic Engagement in Rural Areas) and the project itself, these effects can be substantially magnified. Specifically, CIVENHANCE aims to research new ways to digitalize service learning (i.e., e-Service Learning) in order to enhance civic and community engagement of Higher Education Institutions and students with a focus on rural areas. As a result, a set of new opportunities and challenges for institutions and students to collaborate with community partners adopting an e-Service Learning methodology will be created. The purpose of this work is to discuss the experience and potential derived from aligning a European Commission-funded project with the training goals of our institution where the challenges derived from the project will be brought to the classroom to be solved. It is expected that this approach has the potential to transcend the physical boundaries of the campus, enabling students to engage in social challenges with diverse communities and ackle issues on a regional, national, or even global scale.