Community Service as a Lifelong Learning Practice: Themes and Hypotheses
Yahui Su, Liyia Feng

Abstract
Researchers have highlighted the importance of community service as an integral component of the educational process. This paper considers community service as a part of lifelong learning. Community service, which occurs through an individual’s engagement in community relationships and interactions, could become a key “participatory learning” practice, contributing to lifelong civic action. The notion of community service as a lifelong, sustainable learning practice is rarely addressed. As an initial step, a pilot study is conducted, using a questionnaire that has been tested for clarity, validity, and economical use of time. Four hypotheses, which might be tested via further study in the future, are presented. It is assumed that community service can be viewed as a lifelong learning practice, one that has potential long-term effects on those who participate in and benefit from it.

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