Research-based Service-Learning

Abstract: My dissertation project aims to develop a new teaching concept that connects teaching and research in the field of university didactics. The developed concept will be tested and evaluated in courses with projects within civil society.
More specifically, the new teaching concept is aimed at connecting the two teaching-learning methods "Research-Based-Learning" and "Service-Learning".

Key words: research-based-learning, service-learning, design-based-research

Narrative: My dissertation project aims to develop a new teaching concept that connects teaching and research in the field of university didactics. The developed concept will be tested and evaluated in courses with projects within civil society.
More specifically, the new teaching concept is aimed at connecting the two teaching-learning methods "Research-Based-Learning" and "Service-Learning".

The role of Universities of Applied Sciences (UAS hereafter) in the higher education landscape has changed significantly in recent years with their role becoming progressively more diverse and complex. In particular, the convergence between universities and UAS - as conceptualized within the Bologna Process framework - represents both new development opportunities as well as new tasks and requirements for UAS (Wissenschaftsrat, 2010). A UAS today is more than just a place where job-specific knowledge is transferred. It is more about opportunities for "research-based learning", which is understood as scientific, research-methodical, disciplinary, and self-directed learning and further development of competencies. (KMK, 2017).

According to this revised education avenue, UAS students need methodological, personal, and social competencies as indispensable prerequisites for achieving their full employability potential (Schubarth, 2015).
While professional competencies are transferred in classical formats such as lectures, seminars with project or term papers and exercises, etc., other teaching-learning formats such as project work in groups using "service learning" as a teaching-learning method must be considered for the development of social competencies as soft skills.
The fostering of methodological competency must also be emphasized more strongly than in the past. Students should be enabled to proceed methodically in such a way that they can learn the necessary knowledge independently. The method of research-based learning should be used for this purpose. This includes active design and participation of students in science, communication of experiences in research and generation of a result as well as the overall process of the research project (Huber and Reinmann, 2019).
Primarily, the aim is to employ teaching-oriented applications to enable learning by doing, with the didactic concepts made immediately applicable. Research-Based-Learning, intended as a didactic approach with a pronounced research orientation (Didion and Wiemer, 2009), combines the different knowledge approaches, applicability and qualification goals. Research-oriented teaching illustrates the practical relevance that UAS regard as the basis for their teaching and research, including Frankfurt University of Applied Sciences, where I have been teaching since 2018.

There are numerous publications and studies on both Research-Based-Learning and Service-Learning available in German. However, the combination of these two teaching-learning approaches has hardly been researched. Some publications about these two approaches do not fully address the question of the feasibility of both within one single teaching concept.
Sowa & Zitzmann (2020) is a field report.
In Müller-Naevecke and Naevecke (2018), both teaching-learning methods are outlined, each with typical features, characteristics, and different properties.
Kollender & Lonnies (2019) focus on the motivation of students and the analysis of value contribution of a series of courses.
These publications are not about the development of a new teaching concept, its testing or evaluation.

There are also numerous studies and publications on the effectiveness and efficiency of both teaching-learning forms, "research-based learning" and "service learning", considered individually. But the question of the possibility of these two forms of learning to act in combination to integrate research and teaching as a teaching concept has not been researched.

This dissertation project is aimed at addressing the aforementioned research gap.

In particular, the following research questions will be addressed:
1. Can the two teaching-learning approaches "Research-Based-Learning" and "Service-Learning" be combined in one teaching concept?
2. If the combination of these two methods is possible: Can the developed teaching concept be implemented in all courses where a service-learning project is possible, regardless of the department and degree program?
3. If the combination of these two methods is not possible: what are the obstacles that prevent it?

The development and testing of the teaching concept shall be conducted using the methodological approach Design-Based-Research (DBR) as a framework.

The basis of the interventions in this DBR project are the students' answers to the self-reflection questions to be developed, which are answered by them at the beginning, in the middle and at the end of each course. In addition, my observations during the course will be documented.

Both the students' answers to the reflection questions and the documentation of the participant observation will be evaluated with the help of qualitative content analysis and will flow as data basis into the design of the intervention in the respective iteration step.

References
Didion, D. & Wiemer, M. (2009). Forschendes Lernen als interdisziplinäres Element des Studium Fundamentale. Journal Hochschuldidaktik, 20(Heft 2), 7–9.
Huber, L. & Reinmann, G. (2019). Vom forschungsnahen zum forschenden Lernen an Hochschulen: Wege der Bildung durch Wissenschaft. Springer VS.
KMK - Kultusministerkonferenz. (2017, 16. Februar). Qualifikationsrahmen für deutsche Hochschulabschlüsse. Berlin.
Kollender-Jonen, P. & Lönnies, L. (2019, Februar). Forschung und forschendes Lernen im Rahmen von Service Learning: Am Professionalcenter der Universität zu Köln. HDS Journal | Tagungsbeiträge | Werkstattberichte | Modul-3-Projekte, 2018(Ausgabe I + II), 19–24. https://d-nb.info/1253140588/34 (Hochschuldidaktische Perspektiven).
Müller-Naevecke, C. & Naevecke, S. (2018). Forschendes Lernen und Service Learning: Das humboldtsche Bildungsideal in modularisierten Studiengängen. In N. Hericks (Hrsg.), Research. Hochschulen im Spannungsfeld der Bologna-Reform: Erfolge und ungewollte Nebenfolgen aus interdisziplinärer Perspektive (S. 119–143). Springer VS.
Schubarth, W. (2015). Beschäftigungsfähigkeit als Bildungsziel an Hochschulen. APuZ - Aus Politik und Zeitgeschichte, 65.(18-19/2015), 23–30.
Sowa, Frank; Zitzmann, Christina (Hg.) (2020): Anders lehren und lernen. Forschendes Service Learning über Lebenswelten von Menschen in Wohnungsnot. Wochenschau Verlag Dr. Kurt Debus GmbH. Frankfurt/M., Stuttgart: Wochenschau Verlag; UTB GmbH (Grundlagen Sozialer Arbeit)
Wissenschaftsrat. (2010). Empfehlungen zur Rolle der Fachhochschulen im Hochschulsystem: 2010. Wissenschaftsrat.