University Student Volunteering (USV): Instruments for Its Comprehensive Diagnosis (ICD-USV)

Authors

Elena Briones, University of Cantabria, SpainFollow
Irina Salcines-Talledo, University of Cantabria, Spain
Natalia González-Fernández, University of Cantabria, Spain

Abstract

University Student Volunteering (USV) requires attention to guarantee its pedagogic quality and its fulfilment of community service. However, a review of the literature reveals a lack of tools for assessing the quality of USV. Thus, our research question was: how can we evaluate the efficacy of volunteer programs in higher education? This article follows a qualitative methodology through an evaluative case study of the creation of a set of instruments for the comprehensive diagnostic of USV (ICD-USV) with a 360° perspective, which provide feedback and feedforward for the development of USV, thus offering indicators of its quality. The application of the ICD-USV at a Spanish university and the participation of one volunteer student, five participating entities' technicians and two USV unit managers allowed for the identification of new analysis criteria for the adequate management of a USV program. Measures that could be used to guarantee the quality of basic, pedagogic, logistic and processual criteria, and to address the proposals and difficulties detected, are suggested.

Keywords

community service, evaluative case study, university quality, volunteer students, university student volunteering

Author Bio(s)

Elena Briones is a Senior Lecturer in Developmental Psychology and Education. She teaches on the training in personal values and competencies for teachers. She is the author of national and international scientific publications on personal and social well-being in academic and acculturation fields, and on the initial training of teaching staff. She is a Member of the Group Research on Socio-Emotional Development, Well-being and Education (RSEDWE). Contact email: brionese@unican.es. Orcid code: http://orcid.org/0000-0003-4521-4582

Irina Salcines-Talledo is a Lecturer (fixed-term contract) in Research Methods and Diagnostics in Education, University of Cantabria (UC). Her main lines of research and publications concentrate on media literacy, training and shared evaluation in higher education and emergent methodological tendencies. Contact email: salcines@unican.es. Orcid code: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0170-9807

Natalia González-Fernández is a Senior Lecturer in Research Methods and Diagnostics in Education. Her research activity is focused in the field of media literacy, training and shared evaluation in higher education and emergent training methodologies. She has published numerous articles in prestigious national and international journals. She is a Coordinator of the MILET group, member of the Network of Training and Shared Evaluation and the Alfamed Network. Contact email: gonzalen@unican.es. Orcid code: http://orcid.org/0000-0001-6669-8446

Publication Date

1-18-2021

Creative Commons License

This work is licensed under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial-Share Alike 4.0 International License.

DOI

10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4235

Recommended APA Citation

Briones, E., Salcines-Talledo, I., & González-Fernández, N. (2021). University Student Volunteering (USV): Instruments for Its Comprehensive Diagnosis (ICD-USV). The Qualitative Report, 26(1), 204-230. https://doi.org/10.46743/2160-3715/2021.4235

ORCID ID

0000-0003-4521-4582