Student Perceptions of Academic Service Learning in the Online Public Health Classroom: A Pilot Study

Introduction: Online learning is increasingly common in university programmatic offerings, particularly in fields that often require human or social services such as public health. Academic Service Learning (ASL) is a strategy frequently implemented in traditional, face-to-face courses to promote community and civic engagement and to improve learning outcomes for students by connecting coursework to the related professional field. Given the ubiquity of online courses, however, more needs to be known about the role ASL can play in the web-based classroom. Methods: In 2016-2017, a pilot study was conducted to determine student perceptions toward ASL including civic engagement, course satisfaction, and satisfaction with ASL experiences using a mixed-methods design. Participants (n=32) were students enrolled in two health related undergraduate courses that required a service learning project. Results: The findings suggest that students’ ASL experience is generally positive and is expressed in a variety of ways. There are several challenges, to implementing ASL in the online course setting that should be considered. Conclusions: This paper presents student feedback and explores challenges and opportunities presented by offering ASL experiences in the online classroom, particularly in health and human services academic disciplines. Keywords: Academic Service Learning, Online Learning, Online Andragogy, Public Health Education