The 6th Global Service-Learning Summit website is officially under construction here. Take a look at the themes and begin connecting with colleagues and friends – on campus and off – to consider creative proposals.

GSL 6 – One World: Inclusion and Transformation in Global Service-Learning

Hosted by Clemson University, in collaboration with the Globalsl Network

November 3 – 5, 2019

Clemson, SC

Announcement of Themes:

A complete RFP and submission portal for the 6th GSL Summit will be posted in December, further expanding upon the themes articulated here. Teams and individuals proposing posters and/or discursive presentations at the Summit are encouraged to focus on program models, strengths and questions relating to the overarching theme and topics below and/or efforts to support holistic integration of these topics.  Through interactive formats including a breadth of individuals, public problem solvers, and collaborators from locations on and off campuses, the Summit will examine and advance:

SUB-THEME ONE:  The work and challenge of supporting global learning at home and abroad and the connections that apply in both settings.  Presentations under this theme might address:  

Local community-campus partnerships

Deliberate, interdisciplinary collaboration in GSL programming

Intentional inclusion of STEM disciplines and traditionally under-represented groups in global service learning

SUB-THEME TWO: Best practices, program models, and ethical approaches for global service-learning and community-campus partnerships.   We encourage proposals that address the following topics:

The co-construction of programs with full participation and inclusion of diverse and diffuse stakeholders,

The complexity of community-based global learning and important critiques developed through decades of research.

SPECIALIZED TRACKS:  Based on previous Summits and ongoing conversations in the field, we anticipate enough interest to provide specific tracks that address:

Educating in pre-health, health, and allied health fields with full awareness of the significant challenges in off-campus undergraduate and graduate health professions education.

Advancing best practices for reciprocal relationships in global service learning and education amidst diverse/differing cultural assumptions, as is the case in many contexts around the world, including collaboration with indigenous communities.

Proposals in this category are encouraged in the above areas, but are not limited to these topics. 

ADDITIONAL RESOURCES: Previous Summit attendees have found guidance and insight represented at the following links:  

1. Program links and resources for Summits 1 through 5.
2. Decades of research on community-campus partnerships for ethical global service-learning.
3. In respect to health and allied fields, please see the University of Minnesota’s Ethics of Help Symposium and the keynote presentation at the October 2018 AAC&U Global Learning Conference.  
4. In respect to vulnerable children and orphan volunteering, please view a report from a breadth of international development organizations here, a 3-minute summary video here, or a faith-based effort to stop orphanage volunteering while encouraging healthy and holistic approaches to supporting family and child development – Faith to Action – here.
5. In relation to ethical community-campus partnerships, attendees are encouraged to consider, critique, and further advance frames of reference for best practice such as the Fair Trade Learning guidelines and other approaches at the intersection of community-campus partnership, learning, and development.