Welcome to another issue of Silliman Journal! This is a special issue, as all the articles here were presented during the 8th Asia-Pacific Virtual Conference on Service Learning, which Silliman University hosted on July 28-29, 2021. Service learning (SL) has been an important educational approach used by many universities around the world. It has been found to foster meaningful learning because students not only learn theories; they are also engaged in community work and reflective activities, allowing them to heighten their understanding of concepts. This issue is devoted to the discussion of service learning initiatives and insights of service learning practitioners from different universities in the Asian region. The discussion opens with an article written by a group of SL practitioners from the Silliman University Nutrition and Dietetics Program. In their work, Mark Ronald Genove, Ruth Ann Entea, Alvyn Klein Man-ay, and Jin Genove explore how their department’s SL has contributed to the strengthening of their students’ attributes that are aligned with the university’s whole person education approach. In the second article, Darryl Robinson and Michele Naranjo write about the experience and reflections of psychology students who interacted with female residents in a community in Dumaguete City. The focus of this initiative was on the women’s mental health. Next is Ka Hing Lau’s exploration of a conceptual framework that adopts a multi-stakeholder approach. Specifically, she discusses how a university in Hong Kong applied it and explicates how SL can be a winning collaborative effort by the faculty and students. The pandemic has made service learning more challenging. However, it can be done as illustrated by the fourth article. Marietta Guanzon writes about their partner organizations during the pandemic and identifies electronic service learning initiatives done by their university. How can service learning be measured? The Service-learning Outcomes Measurement Scale in English, a valid and reliable scale, was developed in Hong Kong. Since there are big Chinese speaking regions, the instrument was translated to Chinese. In the last article, Ka Hing Lau, Robin Stanley Snell, and Jeffrey Ching To Keung elaborate on the process of translation and validation done. Happy reading! The cover art is courtesy of visual artist and fashion designer Dan Ryan Duran. It is part of a painting called “Pulang Yuta,” an homage to the old artisan tradition of pottery using red clay in Dumaguete City

Warlito S. Caturay Jr., PhD
Editor