The impact of community services as a catalyst for students’ growth and learning: The Case of a Taiwanese College of Technology

The purpose of this study was to understand the effects of community services on students’ growth and learning from Taiwanese college students’ perspectives. The data for present study was gathered using mixed method of quantitative and qualitative techniques. 277 under graduate students who were selected randomly responded the self assessed five Likert scale questionnaires. While, the follow-up exploratory qualitative approach was conducted on 19 students, selected randomly from a pool of students who had participated in the quantitative study. The results revealed that the student in general indicated existence of intention to do communal service voluntarily but the ultimately they are more prone to do due to the requirement of the college and the need to fulfill the credit hour .Besides that, on the aspect of service experiences, the students are incline to have the humanistic values appreciated when involved in the services such as joy, empathy,, appreciative and sense of belonging towards the community. As for conclusion, it was found that the community in general acts as the catalyst to build the students towards a more wholesome individual. This is as; the community functions as the educator in achieving the above goals.