By Eric Hartman

There are existing bodies of literature that have established some research and best practices in international volunteering and global service-learning. The challenge, at this point in the field’s development, seems to be gathering those various research strands in one space. One year ago, we posted Situating Global Service-Learning: Drawing on Diverse Fields for Informed Practice, complete with hyperlinks to the research and a chart delineating separate strands.  Last week at Northwestern’s International Service-Learning Summit, I had the good fortune to learn of additional important research strands that are not reflected in that previous post. I’m going to share a few highlights below, but first, I would just like to remind readers and first-time users that this website gathers research and practitioner tools in:

• Our Global Service-Learning Research Wiki and
• Our Global Service-Learning Tools and Syllabi Wiki

Please let us know about any research you feel is missing or any tools you are willing to share with this growing community of practice. Simply email us at buildingbetterworld(at)gmail(dot)com. We will, of course, clearly credit you and/or your institution for any contributions to teaching tools or community partnership planning processes, etc. We are looking forward to adding additional research publications and practitioner tools to this site.

Ironically enough, given my own PhD fields were international development and public administration, some of the most glaring research literature absences on this site come from work published in journals in those fields.  No longer. I highly recommend reviewing:

• Sherraden, Margaret Sherrard, Lough, Benjamin J., and McBride, Amanda Moore. (2008). Effects of international volunteering and service: Individual and institutional predictors. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 19(4), 395-421. (abstract below) As well as,
• Devereux, P. (2008). International volunteering for development and sustainability: Outdated paternalism or a radical response to globalisation. Development in Practice, 18(3), 357–370. (abstract below)

Those articles, both quite engaging, will of course lead to many additional, relevant sources. We will work to add all of that to the research wiki in the weeks to come, along with any other resources you send our way.

Remember you can keep up with the resources and reflections added here using the email sign-up box on the right or by following us on Twitter or Facebook. We are looking forward to a couple of imminent contributions from doctoral students who are focusing on the extraordinary challenge of better understanding community impact assessment. Thank you for reading and for contributing.

Abstracts:

Sherraden, Margaret Sherrard, Lough, Benjamin J., and McBride, Amanda Moore. (2008). Effects of international volunteering and service: Individual and institutional predictors. VOLUNTAS: International Journal of Voluntary and Nonprofit Organizations, 19(4), 395-421.