Empowering students through service-learning in a community psychology course : a case in Hong Kong

Abstract

This article chronicles a service-learning (SL) subject on community psychology in Hong Kong (n = 26) and elaborates on how students experience concepts, frameworks, and values in community psychology and put them into practice at service-learning settings. Upon acquiring basic concepts in community psychology, including sense of community, empowerment, human diversity, and social capital, students engaged in 40 hours of service-learning sessions that included assigned community services and independent SL projects addressing both community needs and students’ strengths. Learning reported by students in terms of experiential acquisition of community psychology concepts, personal empowerment, and implications on their service-learning practices are discussed with reference to Zimmerman’s (1995) conceptual framework of personal empowerment. Students’ interpersonal, interactional, and behavioral outcomes from their service-learning experiences are detailed.