Development of a Community Social Work Course Based on Problem-Based Learning Combined with a Service Learning Approach to Enhance Service Knowledge, Service Awareness, and Project Plan for the Community of Second-Year Students

Background and Aim: Based on domestic and foreign policies and literature related to higher education planning, Ministry of Education policies, educational concepts, Problem-Learning methods, Service Learning methods, teaching strategies, teaching evaluation, etc. The researcher interviewed community workers and students with the existing Foundation of Community Social Work Course. The research and development aimed to: 1) study the background information relevant to develop Community Social Work Course Based on Problem-Based Learning combined with Service Learning approach to enhance Service knowledge, Service Awareness and Project plan for community of second-year students, 2) develop Community Social Work Course based on Problem-Based Learning Combined with Service Learning approach to enhance Service Knowledge, Service Awareness and Project plan for community of second-year student, and 3) determine the effect of implementing the Community Social Work Course based on Problem-Based Learning Combined with Service Learning approach to enhance Service Knowledge, Service Awareness and Project plan for community of second-year students. Materials and Methods: The sample was 25 second-year students majoring in social work at Jilin Normal University, People’s Republic of China, derived by cluster random sampling. The experimental design adopted in this study was a one-group pre-test post-test design. The research instruments follow from each phase of the study were as follows: Phase I: Interview questions for community social workers and students. Phase II: Community Social Work Course Based on Problem-Based Learning and Service Learning, with a very high level of appropriateness. Phase III: 1) Eight lesson plans based on Problem-Based Learning and Service Learning with a very high level of appropriateness. 2) A Learning Service knowledge test with a reliability of 0.86. 3) An Observation Form for assessing students' service awareness with a reliability of 0.83. 4) An Evaluation form assessing students’ project plans for the community with a reliability of 0.78. The data were analyzed by using mean, standard deviation, and a one-sample t-test. Results: The results of the study were as follows: 1) The researcher reviewed literature and interviewed the 5 community social workers and 25 students for problems of the community social work course. The problems such as the disconnection between theory and practice, the lag in updating course content, and the single teaching method. These challenges emphasize the urgent need for a comprehensive reform of the course content, teaching methods, and assessment system in order to enhance Service knowledge, Service Awareness, and Project Plan for the community of Second-year students. 2) The Community Social Work Course, based on Problem-Based Learning and Service Learning, consisted of the principle, objective, content, instructional strategy, materials, and evaluation. 3) After implementing Community Social Work Course based on Problem-Based Learning and Service Learning, the students’ Service Knowledge Achievement was higher than before at the statistically significant level of 0.01 (t=6.779, p <. 01). The students’ Service Awareness in the post-test was higher than the criterion set at 70% which was statistically significant at the .01 level (M = 50.72, SD = 4.49, t = 9.607, p = .001). 4) The students' plan for the community mean score was higher than the determined criterion set at 70% (M = 22.72, SD = 2.01, t = 14.696, p = .001). Conclusion: The developed course components consisted of six aspects, which include the 5 steps of teaching. The steps of teaching were step 1: Community analysis and problem design, step 2: Form a group and need-based project, step 3: Research and Guidance and support, step 4: Solve problems and citizen participation training, and step 5: Reflection and evaluation. The developed course could effectively improve the service knowledge, service awareness, and community project plan of second-year students.