Perception of community partners in projects with remote or in-person Service-Learning. Does the model play a role?

Service-Learning (SL) seeks to promote the active role of the students who participate in the methodology by applying knowledge to real contexts through services delivered to community partners facing genuine challenges, and who also play a key role in the process (UC Faculty Development Center, 2023). In recent years, the COVID-19 pandemic has forced methodological adaptations with a significant impact on the presence-based nature of SL projects, thus encouraging remote work. In this context, this study aimed to discover possible differences in the perception of community partners according to the modality, whether remote or on-site, of the service projects in which they participated. For the purposes of this study, only the responses of the Community Partners Survey applied at the end of each of the subjects with SL at the Pontificia Universidad Católica de Chile, between 2019 and 2022 were analysed through a descriptive-comparative research design with quantitative and qualitative techniques. The results show that community partners value the experience positively, particularly the quality of collaborative work, distinguished by an attitude of respect and cordiality with teachers and students. The quality of the relationship between actors did not experience significant differences during remote implementation compared to the on-site one. This could suggest the possibility of having quality relationships in service projects, regardless of the work modality, as long as they are embedded in a methodology implementation model.