Soft skill development in service-learning: towards creative resilience in design practice

Service-learning often links academic learning with real-world experiences to encourage experiential knowledge, personal growth and engaged citizenry. It is also considered a high impact practice (HIP) to improve engagement and retention of university students, particularly benefitting underrepresented populations. Less often examined is non-academic skill development necessary for creativity in professional design practice. This paper examines a multi-year service-learning partnership between undergraduate students and youth to design interventions in their middle school building and grounds. The experience incorporated participatory-design and design-build as significant components of an upper division undergraduate elective course in environmental design (architecture, landscape, planning and design studies). Pre- and post-course papers, blog posts and weekly reflections were analysed for themes related to non-academic skill development. Findings suggest positive impacts of service-learning experience on empathy, relationship building, flexibility, systems thinking and professional goals. These are discussed with respect to employability skills towards fostering creative resilience in managing complexities of design practice.