The implementation of Digital Community Engagement (DiCE) in higher education has an enormous potential for generating diverse benefits for students. As part of the Literature Review of the DiCE Project, the consortium identified the following benefits:
1. Increase leadership skills: DiCE helps students develop skills such as project management and coordination, but also self-awareness, empathy, and motivation.
2. Development of digital competencies: By acquiring new digital skills, such as content creation, moderation, marketing or social media, students can get more digitally competent.
3. Consolidation of critical and design thinking: By working with social issues, students will use methodologies such as design thinking, that allow them to think out of the box and come up with creative solutions to complex problems.
4. Personal development: DiCE fosters a greater sense of personal efficacy, personal identity, spiritual growth, and ethical development. It allows a student to discover their interests and professional orientations. It improves the ability to face complexity and ambiguity.
5. Understanding of community issues: Through DiCE, students can gain a deeper understanding of the complex social, economic, and environmental challenges in their surroundings. This can help them increase intercultural understanding, develop a multifaceted view and a critical perspective on different social issues, sense of empathy, compassion, and social responsibility.
6. Improved sense of purpose and fulfilment: Engaging in community-based research can give students a sense of purpose and fulfilment as they can see the positive impact of their work on the lives of others. This can increase motivation and satisfaction with their academic pursuits and foster a lifelong commitment to community service.
7. Support for individual student initiatives: Through CE, there is the possibility for students to get funding from various grant schemes, initiatives, calls for action etc. to support their DiCE initiative.
8. Creation of university research centres: Possibility of creation of research centres within universities to support the potential and ideas of students and further develop DiCE.
9. Increased employability skills: DiCE helps students to acquire skills that can land them a job offer in the future, as they already come to the job market prepared. It develops soft and interpersonal skills, such as working in groups, communication, active listening, or conflict resolution. Depending on the type of CE activity, students can even acquire specific skills, such as the ability to conduct an interview (structured or unstructured) or present a pitch. Working with different stakeholders allows students to shadow different organisations and work positions. It also allows them to gain work experience, which looks good on their résumé.
10. Enhanced network: Students can gain awareness of the network of organisations working with social issues onsite and digitally (NGOs, civil society organisations, public authorities, HEIs, businesses, SMEs, entrepreneurs, community leaders, policymakers and peers interested in the same topics). These contacts are often invaluable and important for young students´ interests and careers as well.
11. Cross-cultural learning: Through DiCE, students can interact with individuals from diverse backgrounds and cultures, providing them with opportunities to learn about different perspectives, values, and lifestyles. This can broaden their understanding of the world and foster cultural sensitivity and awareness.
12. Increased experiential and social learning: Via hands-on approaches, students can apply what they have learned in an academic environment and they get to practise their digital skills. Social learning takes place by observing mentors and societal stakeholders and at the same time students learn how to solve or analyse problems.
13. Increased integration of civil society activities: During DiCE students strengthen relationships with their communities as they are an active element in civil society and democratic life. They improve their social responsibility and citizenship skills.
Want to know more? Consult Hadidomova, N; Binchiciu, E; Buitrago, H; Fernandez Sanz, L; López Baldominos, I; Fratini, T; Russo, L. (2023). Digital Community Engagement: Literature Review Report. DiCE Project. https://doi.org/10.5281/zenodo.7722806
