Conference Agenda

The rapid expansion of distance education has significantly broadened access to higher education, particularly for working adults and students located in geographically diverse regions. Despite these advances, online programs are frequently criticized for offering limited opportunities for experiential learning and sustained community engagement. In parallel, a substantial portion of the Service-Learning literature has historically centered on face-to-face contexts, which raises critical questions regarding the adaptation and effectiveness of this pedagogical approach in fully online environments.

This presentation analyzes the implementation of a Service-Learning experience within an Integrative Project course offered in the online undergraduate programs in Human Resource Management and Logistics at the Catholic University of Pernambuco, Brazil. In this course, Service-Learning is adopted as the core pedagogical framework and operationalized through four structured stages: identification of a community partner and assessment of local needs; development of context-sensitive and feasible intervention proposals; implementation of actions in collaboration with the partner organization; and dissemination of results through a final academic seminar.

Given the geographically dispersed nature of the student body, distributed across multiple regions of Brazil, particularly in the Northeast, the course design intentionally decentralizes community engagement. Rather than focusing on a single site, students are encouraged to establish partnerships within their own local contexts, including small enterprises, non-governmental organizations, and community-based initiatives. This configuration enables the application of academic knowledge in real-world settings while fostering the development of competencies such as communication, leadership, and problem-solving.

Anchored in the theoretical and empirical literature on Service-Learning and community engagement in higher education, this experience provides evidence that carefully designed online learning environments can support meaningful forms of community engagement. Moreover, it suggests that such approaches can contribute to strengthening relationships of trust and solidarity between higher education institutions and local communities, particularly in contexts marked by rapid social and technological transformations.