Browsing by Author "Muehlethaler, Stephanie Elisabeth"

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    At Home and Abroad: An Exploration of the Development of Global Citizenship Identity through Service-Learning
    (2018-09-19) Muehlethaler, Stephanie Elisabeth; Spencer, Brenda L.; Burns, Amy A.; Saunders, Sue
    Post-secondary institutions strive to create experiential learning opportunities to foster students’ development. Service-learning, a form of experiential learning, has been employed as an effective strategy for exploration and development of outcomes that have been associated with global citizenship identity (Beard & Wilson, 2010; Jacoby 1996, 2015). This research explores students’ development of global citizenship identity from a different vantage point – engagement in a college-level, co-curricular service-learning program that offered both an international and domestic experience. The following question guided my study: What elements of a co-curricular service-learning trip foster and shape students’ understanding and development of their identities as global citizens? This study utilized case study methodology to gather in-depth perspectives on the experiences of college students who participated in either a domestic or an international co-curricular service-learning experience. Participants were interviewed twice: prior to and after they returned from the travel portion of their experience. Additional data sources included participants’ journals and photos that they took as records of their experience. For this study I developed and applied a conceptual framework to reflect how college students may understand and develop a global citizenship identity. This framework is supported by Jacoby’s (1996, 2015) argument that service-learning can be co-curricular, and experienced both domestically and internationally, Chickering and Reisser’s (1993) theory of identity development, and Baxter Magolda’s insights on self-authorship. Additionally, the framework incorporates Brigham’s (2011) model for global citizenship pedagogy and OXFAM’s definition of global citizenship (2006). Findings illustrate that participation in service-learning in one’s own country can foster development of global citizenship identity. This study demonstrates that when co-curricular service-learning experiences are thoughtfully designed, incorporating both reciprocity and reflection, they can be both successful and transformational for participants. Findings highlight how challenging it can be for students, even after engaging in service-learning, to define global citizenship and articulate an identity as a global citizen. This research contributes to the gap in Canadian scholarship pertaining to this topic, and findings are intended as a starting point, including some cautions, for post-secondary service-learning educators as they develop experiential learning opportunities designed to foster students’ global citizenship identity development.