Project promotes innovative Service-Learning experiences in higher education
Led by faculty members of the Faculty of Education and Psychology (FEP) and members of the Unit for the Integral Development of the Person (UDIP), the project CApS: Universidade Católica and Service-Learning: Innovation and Social Responsibility is underway. The main objectives are to implement and institutionalize the Service-Learning methodology (ApS) in specific, transversal and extracurricular curricular areas within the Universidade Católica and to create guidelines for other Higher Education Institutions that want to follow the same steps.
Service-Learning is a teaching methodology that combines academic learning with service to the community so that students are trained personally and professionally by working with the real needs of the community. This methodology values the active participation of students and community members, and reflection on the experience.
"Coordinating the CApS project has been a privilege," says Luisa Mota Ribeiro, professor at the Faculty of Education and Psychology, and Carmo Themudo, from the Unit for the Integral Development of the Person, coordinators of CApS. They also add that "being able to provide our students with these Service-Learning experiences that are innovative and differentiating in the context of higher education in Portugal is very stimulating because we believe we are contributing to the training of our students as people, committed to the most vulnerable and to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs)."
Throughout this project, which runs for three years, it is possible to "work with the community, based on real needs, reflecting on the action experienced, which makes learning more meaningful and transformative," says Carmo Themudo. The CApS Project: Universidade Católica and Service-Learning: Innovation and Social Responsibility is the first project at a national level that involves faculty, students and community partners from the 4 campuses of the Universidade Católica Portuguesa. "This involvement makes coordination more challenging, but feeling the dedication and enthusiasm of all those who have joined the project so far, gives us motivation to continue", stresses Luísa Mota Ribeiro.
Carina Cabral, master's student in Psychology who participated in the project highlights: "The CApS experience meant for me an opportunity for personal and professional growth and to put myself "to the test" by the fact that I was intervening in a real context. In terms of feelings, I highlight the empowerment for being able to contribute to fill an identified need, but even more for being able to make a difference in the lives of those children and adolescents, helping them to overcome their fears and anxieties. Sometimes, only when we are in a real context do we become aware of the role that a psychologist can play in people's lives. In addition to the lessons learned, if I were to choose one word to describe this experience I would choose gratitude, because that's what I felt at the moment I was running the training with the two inmates, also feeling a closeness to the reality of my professional future.
During the academic year 2020/2021, during the CApS Project: Universidade Católica and Service-Learning: Innovation and Social Responsibility more than 30 pilot experiences were developed: from curricular to extracurricular, disciplinary and interdisciplinary units, in undergraduate and master's degrees, and in various academic units. "To date, multiple projects have been developed on the most diverse themes and with multiple entities," concludes Carmo Themudo.