Abstract
- Background:
Students in the Faculty of Education and School of Chinese Medicine will teach / treat children with autism when they become teachers / Chinese Medicine Practitioners (CMP) after graduation. Unfortunately, undergraduate students at CUHK do not have enough exposure to this group of children during their undergraduate study, resulting in challenges in implementing intervention for these children in their workplace.
- Objectives:
The proposed project aims to offer senior undergraduate students in these two faculties, respectively, in each semester in AY2021/2022, service-learning opportunities, where they will assist the existing service providers to provide tutoring / medical treatment to children with autism. It has three major objectives:
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To provide a platform for students to gain experiential learning in teaching / treating children with autism under the supervision of course instructors;
- To equip students with fundamental skills or techniques in teaching /treating children with autism; and
- To foster students’ professional development and prepare them to be teachers and CMP in their workplace.
- Expected learning outcomes:
Students should have mastered fundamental techniques in teaching / treating ASD children with autism and develop career readiness after 8 weeks of service learning.
Brief write-up
Project objectives
The project aimed to offer 40 senior undergraduate students in these two faculties, respectively, in each semester in AY2021-22, service-learning opportunities, where they assisted the existing service providers to provide tutoring / medical treatment to children with autism.
Activities, process and outcomes
Activities: Briefing and training sessions, 5-week service-learning (online / face-to-face)
Processes: Enhanced curriculum design and professional development of teachers and Chinese Medicine Practitioners (CMP)
Outcomes: High Participation and engagement of all students; improved self-efficacy after service-learning programs; Outstanding performance in their reflection essays
Deliverables and evaluation
|
No.
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Expected key activities/ deliverables/
outcomes
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Key performance
indicators (KPIs)
|
|
1
|
Participation and engagement
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32 senior
undergraduate students participated in one-hour briefing session, 2-hour
training session, 2-hour weekly service-learning session for 5 weeks; over
95% attendance; 9.84 out of 10 in engagement
|
|
2
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Professional/generic skills
enhanced
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Scored 9.8 out of 10
in each evaluation in each service-learning session.
|
|
3
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Change in attitudes and
values
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7% increase in
self-efficacy in the post-service-learning survey compared to the pre-service
learning survey.
|
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4
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Participating students’ reflection
essays to be handed in the last week of the semester
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B+ High performance on the application of
acquired knowledge and skills in facilitating teaching / treatment for
children with autism and provision of insightful reflection
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Dissemination, diffusion, impact and sharing of good practices
2-min video:
https://drive.google.com/file/d/1aT5ML-kZCo59Pqkm9d6mjLPn9yp0Dpfh/view?usp=sharing
Impact on teaching and learning
Most of the students did not have relevant experiences in treating / educating children with autism before joining this service-learning programme and they all appreciated the exposure to this population in this programme. After completion of the service-learning programme, they shared that they got more prepared for teaching / treating autistic children in their workplace. Their self-efficacy has also increased after joining the programme.
