Civic Attitudes and Skills Development Through Service-Learning in Ecuador

A mixed methods study was conducted to determine if a mandatory hybrid service-learning course had an effect on the civic attitudes and skills of college students attending a private university in Ecuador. The Civic Attitudes and Skills Questionnaire (CASQ) was used in a quasiexperimental design using MANOVA with follow up t tests. After this analysis, results showed that civic action was not significantly different while the other five factors of the CASQ had a significant difference. A case-study interview approach was used for the qualitative portion, and students reported feeling engaged with the community and perceived a positive impact in each of the CASQ six factors: civic action, interpersonal and problem-solving skills, political awareness, leadership skills, social justice attitudes, and diversity attitudes.