Developing Civic Engagement in Distance Higher Education: A Case Study of Virtual Service-Learning (vSL) Programme in Spain

Juan García-Gutierrez ^[1] ; Marta Ruiz-Corbella ^[1] ; Araceli del Pozo Armentia ^[2]
1. [1] Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
  
  Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia
  
  Madrid, España
2. [2] Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  
  Universidad Complutense de Madrid
  
  Madrid, España
Localización: Open Praxis, ISSN-e 2304-070X, Vol. 9, Nº. 2, 2017 (Ejemplar dedicado a: Selected papers from the Open Education Consortium Global 2017 Conference), págs. 235-244
Idioma: inglés
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Resumen
- Higher Education is demanding the need of a greater connection between its academic offer and the necessary civic engagement of the graduates. This has given Spain the opportunity, for just over a decade, to develop the methodology of service-learning, which combines both the theoretical and practical aspect of university learning with the practical development of solidarity and civic commitment of the students. At the Universidad Nacional de Educación a Distancia (UNED, Spain) we have designed an online service-learning proposal, based on the virtual exchange which occurs between the students from the UNED and the University of Porto-Novo (Benin), requiring practical classes of Spanish. The result favours continuing with this virtual service-learning project aimed at the exchange with other universities; strengthening the planning of the training proposal for the development of ethical competence and civic engagement; the design of solidarity service action that enhances global citizenship and intercultural dialogue, consolidates digital competence, etc., all in a virtual educational environment.