A transnational comparison of service‐learning as a tool for leadership development

Purpose – This investigation sought to identify learning outcomes for undergraduate students at a US college enrolled in community‐based learning courses. Specifically, the purpose of this paper is to examine the similarities and differences between American students' and international students' development of leadership skills through senior level service‐learning (SL) courses and analyzed the role of teaching methods on those outcomes. Design/methodology/approach – Over 150 SL courses from students representing 30 countries were examined at a major university in the USA. US and non‐US student leadership and learning outcomes were cross‐tabulated with instructional techniques to analyze for statistically significant differences. Findings – Facilitating leadership skill development is a function of utilizing transformational rather than traditional classroom teaching techniques. Practical implications – Transformational teaching and learning methods such as collaborative projects, student‐selected readings, and group decision‐making in SL courses help transform students' views of themselves, their communities, and the world as they consider their roles as leaders in an unscripted future. Originality/value – Few studies have examined the instructional elements in SL that transform student knowledge and leadership skills especially across such a breadth and variety of SL courses and student cultural backgrounds.