St. Cloud State University
General Education Goal Area 9
Civic Engagement and Ethics
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date:
Effective Date:
Proposal Number:
1.
Prepared by: Kristof Van Assche and Aspasia Rigopoulou-Melcher
Phone: 8-5225
Email: arigopoulou@stcloudstate.edu
2.
Requesting Unit: Community Studies
3.
Department, Course Number, Title: Community Studies, CMTY 195: Community and Democratic
Citizenship
4.
New Course
Existing Course
5.
Will this course be flagged as a diversity course?
Already Designated as Diversity
6.
Will this course also satisfy another General Education Goal Area?
If “Yes” specify which goal area.
No
Diversity Proposal Accompanying This Form
No
Yes
7.
Course bulletin description, including credits and semesters to be offered:
Exploration of the role of community in the United States, and the relationship between community,
active citizenship and civic engagement. The class emphasizes issues of diversity and sustainable communities.
3 Cr. F, S.
8.
Indicate the clientele for whom this course is designed. Is the course for general education only, or
does it fulfill general education and other program needs for this or another department? Obtain
signatures from any affected departments.
Students seeking to satisfy the General Education Area 9 requirement in Civic Engagement and Ethics.
9.
Indicate any changes that must be made in offerings or resources in your department or other
departments by offering this course.
NONE
10.
For new courses or courses not yet approved for General Education, indicate any other SCSU departments
or units offering instruction that relates to the content of the proposed course.
N/A
11.
Courses designated as General Education are included in the assessment plan for the Goal Area(s)
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for which they are approved. Courses for which assessment is not included in the annual GE
assessment report for two years will be removed from the General Education Program.
The Requesting Unit understands and recognizes the above conditions.
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12.
Provide a concise explanation of how the following goal is a “significant focus” of the proposed course.
Goal Area 9: Civic Engagement and Ethics
Understand and evaluate ethical or civic issues and theories, and participate in active citizenship or ethical
judgment.
The class explores several facets of the relationship between democracy, active citizenship, civic
engagement, and healthy communities. It considers civic and other community issues in the context of
various theoretical and practiced forms of active citizenship, and their interactions with the natural and builts
environments, work and technology, society, culture, and economy, formal and informal institutions, values,
and current demographic changes. Students acquire and apply insights of civic engagement and active
citizenship community based research in the context of action-based community research or a service
learning project.
13. In order for a course to be designated as fulfilling Goal Area 9, it must address at least 5 of the 6 student learning
outcomes (SLOs) below. Check the SLOs below that are focused on in the proposed general education course.
1. Explain the connections among education, citizenship, and participation in a democratic society.
2. Explain major ethical or political theories.
3. Describe how interpretations of ethics or citizenship may vary by nationality, ethnicity, race, color, religion,
gender, ability and disability, or sexual orientation.
4. Apply concepts such as democracy, rights, morality, justice, virtue, liberty and obligation to personal,
professional, and public issues.
5. Analyze and evaluate alternative theoretical approaches or formulate solutions to ethical or civic issues.
6. Develop and exercise personal agency or ethical judgment in the public domain.
14.
Discuss how each Student Learning Outcome checked above is achieved in this course. (Note: Although
descriptions of typical assignments or types of assignments may be part of this discussion, it is not
appropriate to submit copies of actual assignments.)
SLO 1: Via class readings, lectures, video presentations, role playing exercises, in class discussions, and small
writing assignments students will:
a. Explore in a continous basis the relationship between participatory citizensip and membership in communities;
b. Examine the tensions between individualism and community, a tension at the heart of understanding the
implications of democratic citizenship;
c. Analyze and evaluate the evolution of the rights and obligations of citizens within their communities, with
particular emphasis on the ways that issues of diversity have an impact on these rights and obligations. Special
emphasis is put on understanding the essential interconnection between sustainability and democratic citizenship
as well as on the connections between education, information, and meaningful participation in communities.
SLO 2: Lectures, readings from a variety of sources, written work on discussion questions, and in class testing
will allow students to describe and explain various theoretical perspectives on democracy, community, the roles
of the citizen in a democratic community, various theoretical perspectives on citizen participation, as well as
various forms of active citizenship.
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SLO 3: The study of citizenship and civic engagement as applied in the context of this class necessitates a critical
examination of the diversity of values and experiences that comprise our communities.
In this framework, via class reading assignments, discussions, guest speaker presentations, and in class testing
students will be able to describe:
a. The roles that age, gender, class, race, and ethnicity have played in the development of American communities.
b. The course themes of sustainability as integrated with the environment and social equity and as influenced by
public policy and economic issues.
c. The challenges of being active citizens and the various responses to the complexities generated by diverse
values in our society.
SLO 4: Via written work and in-class debates: students will be able to:
1. Apply principles of democracy, civil rights, justice, and personal responsibility in analysing and critically
examining current public policy, practices, and actions as these relate to the above topics.
SLO 5: Via written individual work, group work, and oral presentations, students will:
a. Critically analyze issues of diversity, the various forms of "ism", and sustainability as these exist in our
communities.
b. Evaluate existing options and formulate/propose actions to address issues of diversity, the "isms", and
sustainability.
SLO 6:Via the same individual, group work, and oral presentations as in SLO 5 students will:
a. Design and implement a service learning project or a community based action research project which addresses
above identified issues and offers students the opportunity to apply knowledge and skills to engage in active
citizenship.
15.
List or attach the Course Outline (adequately described and including percentage of time to be allocated
to each topic). Curriculum Committees may request additional information. Topics larger than 20% need
to be broken down further. Indicate in your course outline where the Student Learning Outcomes
checked above are being met.
1. What is democracy? What is community? What is a citizen? [Goals 1,2,4,5] –10%
- Perspectives on the perfect democracy. Different ideas on citizenship.
- Perspectives on the good community. Different ideas on community membership.
- Individual vs community?
2. Forms of active citizenship [Goals 1,2,4,5] -20%
- Social capital, networks -5%
- Formal and informal institutions -5%
- Forms of civic engagement -5%
- Participatory planning, community visioning -5%
3. Diversity, citizenship and commitment to community [Goals 1,6,3,4] -25%
- Gender and community -5%
- Race, ethnicity, culture and community -5%
- Aging and community- 5%
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- Religion and community- 5%
- On the –isms and citizen participation- 5%
4. Alternative communities in a globalizing world [Goals 3,4,5] -10%
- Globalization and its effects on community and democracy
- Technology and community; virtual communities
- Intentional communities; difference and localization in a globalized world
- Informal economies, community and globalization
5. The built and natural environment [Goals 6,4,5] -10%
- Community and the natural environment
- Community and the built environment
- Public policy and the creation of physical communities urban, suburban and rural
- Sense of place and participatory democracy
- Participatory planning and active citizenship
6. Towards sustainable communities [Goals 1,2,3,4,5,6]- 25%
- Recent perspectives on community and environment: dimensions of sustainability -5%
- Recent perspectives on social change -5%
- The shift from government to governance: a reinvention of active citizenship -5%
- Participatory planning for sustainable communities -5%
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St. Cloud State University
General Education Transmittal Form
Academic Affairs Use Only:
Response Date:
Effective Date:
Proposal Number
Department: Community Studies
Course or Course(s): CMTY 195 Community and Democratic Citizenship
Department or Unit Chair Signature
Date
Department forward to Academic Affairs for publication and electronically to Chair of General Education Committee, Chair
of College Curriculum Committee, College Dean
Recommendation of General Education Committee:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
Chairperson
Committee
Signature
Date
Recommendation of University Curriculum Committee:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
Chairperson
Committee
Signature
Date
Recommendation of Faculty Association:
Approve
Remarks:
Disapprove
FA Senate
Signature
Date
Action of Academic Vice President:
Approve
Disapprove
Signature
Entered in Curriculum Data File
12/11/2009
Remarks:
Date