How ready is higher education faculty to engage students in community-based learning? - Apply Transtheoretical Model of behavioral change to measure faculty service-learning beliefs and adoption

Purpose: Reciprocal community-based learning helps deepen student learning and build a healthier community. This study examines perceived pros and cons towards service-learning (SL) among faculty in different stages of SL involvement. Methods: A representative sample of 1200 faculty members from a major research university in Southeast U.S. was recruited. The Transtheoretical model (TTM) was used to define SL into 5 stages: unaware (U), pre-contemplation (PC), contemplation (C), preparation (Prep), action and maintenance (A/M). The study compared 4 service-learning beliefs, perceived benefits at classroom (PROS_CLS) and community levels (PROS_COM), perceived barriers at classroom (CONS_CLS) and institutional levels (CONS_INST), across stages. Results: The distribution among faculty completed the online survey (n=450; 60% males) across stages was: 20% (U), 31% (PC), 16% (C), 10% (Prep), and 23% (A/M). Analyses showed significant differences across stages on all SL beliefs (F (3,358) ranged 7.05 ~ 78.31; all p<.001). Data showed linear trends of increasing perceived SL benefits from PC to C to Prep stages, and a linear trend of decreasing perceived CONS_CLS from A/M down to PC stage. The CONS_INST was, however, remained high regardless of stages, except faculty in Prep stage perceived lower CONS_INST. Conclusions: This study provides an innovative approach to assess faculty SL involvement and provides the first empirical data to support the application of TTM in the service-learning arena. Lessons learned help institutional leaders better to assess and understand faculty SL stages, respective levels of motivations and barriers, in order to develop tailored resources and infrastructure to support faculty SL adoption.