Addendum Report on the Lumina Foundation’s competencies for Civic and
Global Learning by the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh
Summarized by Dr. David J. Siemers and
Contributions by Dr. Carleen Vande Zande
Over the last three years, the University of Wisconsin Oshkosh faculty members discussed the
integration of civic learning knowledge and concepts in several disciplinary courses. At the national
and campus levels, this work has been informed by several sources including the civic learning
outcomes proposed by AAC&U as well as a list of competencies from the Degree Profile sponsored
by the Lumina Foundation. The University provided faculty with an opportunity this semester to
provide input into a national discussion about civic learning through the examination of proposed
competencies that the Lumina Foundation published. This final faculty development opportunity is
supported by funds from the Lumina Foundation. Faculty members were invited to participate in a
short-term civic learning initiative to review the proposed Lumina competencies. Their involvement
focused on a course they are already teaching and a syllabus and assignments they already have
created or administered.
The University of Wisconsin Oshkosh has engaged in a significant reform of general education over
the last five years. Funding from the Lumina Foundation supported the development of several
courses focusing on civic learning for students in their first two years at the University. During the
initial phase of professional development, faculty members reviewed the Degree Qualifications
Profile (DQP) competencies for civic learning. Faculty created courses based on the DQP
competencies, as well as the civic learning and engagement outcomes from the AAC&U publication
Crucible Moment. At the end of five semesters, faculty members completed a review of their
courses using the DQP framework to identify how their course outcomes and assessments aligned
with the DQP. In addition, faculty members participated in two discussion sessions to provide a
critique of the DQP 2.0 civic learning competencies and to construct learning outcomes that they
would suggest for civic learning on this campus. The following report outlines a budget report for
the period of July 1, 2014 to Nov. 21, 2014.
1. Discussion of Lumina Outcomes
Our focus group concentrated on the four associate level and four bachelor level learning
proficiencies, because our institution is focused primarily on undergraduate education. We agreed
that these eight proficiency markers aim at matters of importance, and many of us approach
classroom work in a way that would satisfy them. However, they were also deemed rather safe,
somewhat formulaic in certain aspects, and not transformative. We doubted whether the college
experiences satisfying these criteria would necessarily move the student to be a more thoughtful
version of herself/himself, better able to contribute value to the world. Here are additional
comments, both general and specific:
-there is little acknowledgment of social or historical dynamics, or political patterns and structures,
matters which aid our understanding of how the world works
-the items generally have a very individualistic level of analysis, discounting how societal changes are
typically effected; bullet point #3 at the bachelor’s level is an exception, but it only asks individuals
to work with like-minded people and does not acknowledge the possibility of forging coalitions or
dealing with others who are not like-minded; one respondent said that the implicit message of the
objectives was that all a student needed to do was to take a position and as long as it was well
articulated, it could change the world for the better
-democratic values are mentioned, but human rights/human dignity should be explicitly introduced
alongside (or as part) of long-recognized democratic values; in other words, democracy is not simply
procedural, it is aspirational and rooted in humane values
-several of the items have a narrow phrasing when a more encompassing approach may be more
desirable: understanding global challenges is important, but phrasing them as two-plus continent in
nature is both strangely specific and excludes some important international issues; likewise,
mentioning three large subjects on bullet point #4 at the associate level (economic, environmental,
or public health) was thought to omit some important challenges; we like that students are expected
to have facility with data, but the required use of “tables and graphs” was somewhat restrictive—
those are ways in which data can be presented but not the only ways; wordings should not be too
present-oriented so that historical perspectives may be marshaled to grant insight
2. Survey of those who teach Civic Engagement-See attached survey results
Members of the focus group—nine people in total—were asked two questions. First, which of the
eight outcomes were assessed in a select course dealing with civic engagement in the individual’s
portfolio. Second, which of the eight outcomes were objectives in that course. The outcomes
produced by these two questions are so similar as to be negligible. Below we treat these outcomes in
turn, from most frequently mentioned to least frequently mentioned:
The most frequent result, with eight of nine respondents answering in the affirmative on both the
assessment and objective questions, was the third bullet point in the associate’s level: provides
evidence of participation in a community project, identifying civic issues encountered and insights
gained. The prevalence of this response is related to our new general education program, the
University Studies Program, which requires a community engagement component. Many
respondents referenced the course in which they built a community-engagement component.
A majority of the focus group recognized each of the next five items in their work. Having the
student “describe his/her own civic and cultural background” was the next most frequently
mentioned item, closely followed by “collaborates with others in developing and implementing an
approach to a civic issue,” and “develops and justifies a position on a public issue and relates this
position to alternate views.” Two additional benchmarks of progress were cited by a bare majority
of the focus group: “describes diverse positions…on selected democratic values, and presents his or
her own position” and “explains diverse positions, including those of different cultural, economic,
and geographic interests, on a contested public issue.”
The remaining two outcomes did not muster even close to a majority of the focus group employing
or identifying with them. One mentioned by a few members as relevant to their courses was
“identifies an economic, environmental, or public health challenge…and takes a position on the
challenge.” It was noted that if there were different disciplines represented in the room, or if a
similar sentiment was worded more broadly, there would have been additional congruence here.
An outcome chosen by none of the focus group respondents was “presents qualitative evidence of
[a global] challenge through tables and graphs, and evaluates the activities” of organizations and/or
governments. This may be a result of the prompt being specific to the work of quantitative social
scientists who work on international issues. The member of our group who roughly fit into that
approach identified two problematic choices of phrase that kept her from saying she did this in her
class: “at least two continents” and “through tables and graphs”. In an ensuing discussion we
thought these prompts should be more generalized and encompassing. Why not just ask students to
identify an issue that is “international” in scope, for instance? Why not just ask them to be
conversant with quantitative data?
3. Outcomes we suggest adopting In general, we offer these as complements, refinements,
and additions to the learning outcomes presented us by Lumina rather than replacements.
-the student develops an ability to meaningfully research and gauge the veracity of claims about
society, history, and politics, presenting reasoned conclusions on an issue that draws on these
understandings
-the student discerns the difference between values, interests, and facts, recognizing how these
impact positions taken by various actors on an issue of importance and how coalitions might be
forged across groups to affect societal outcomes
-Students demonstrate an understanding of social movements, government institutions, and major
non-governmental actors to develop a realistic picture of the development of social, political, and
historical phenomena, including how change occurs and is prevented
-the student develops a sense of empathy for others through direct, real-world experience and
discussion with diverse individuals; the student gains a realistic sense of efficacy about political and
social phenomena, knowing that concerted efforts can produce more just and rights-regarding
outcomes
-the student works in a group to formulate a collective goal and engages in a simulation requiring
critical thinking and in-depth analysis to get closer to the goal or solve a complex problem
Global Citizenship
At the same time as the Degree Qualifications discussion, faculty engaged in campus wide
discussions to identify global citizenship learning outcomes. These outcomes are now in final form
and professional development activities are being offered in spring 2015, thus extending the work of
the DQP on our campus.
From Non-Western Culture to Global Citizenship:
Recommendations to Revise the University Requirement
Introduction: In summer 2013, a Non-Western summer dialogue group examined the existing Non-Western
general education requirement in light of current national dialogues about global learning and liberal
education. The results of this examination are described in these pages. They include a proposed revision of
the Non-Western into a Global Citizenship Requirement, designed to provide students with opportunities
to gain deep knowledge about the world, build capacity for civic engagement at local and global levels, and
prepare students for the responsibilities of informed citizenship in a complex, interdependent and changing
world.
Process: How did we get here? The need to examine the existing Non-Western requirement emerged
through broader pedagogical and curricular discussions surrounding the campus Essential Learning
Outcomes and the development of the USP. In 2012, the Center for Excellence in Teaching and Learning,
together with the College of Letters and Science, initiated a series of visioning sessions with faculty and staff
from across campus to begin identifying the characteristics of a globally-competent UW Oshkosh graduate.
These characteristics include:
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an appreciation of the interconnectedness and interdependence of the human experience on a global
scale
knowledge of how global governance bodies, transnational social movements, nations, communities
and individuals interact to address pressing global challenges
the ability to interact effectively across cultural barriers, perhaps communicating in language(s) other
than English
curiosity about the world and a deeper understanding of students’ role in the world, including that
their actions locally have global impacts
Through these dialogues, the campus teaching and student support communities began envisioning global
competencies in terms of knowledge, skills, and dispositions that represented a more robust set of learning
outcomes than those implied in the existing Non-Western requirement. In particular, and in accordance with
the national literature on global learning, our teaching and student support community began emphasizing the
relational quality of global learning.
Confusion within the USP: Structurally, because the USP maintains our campus commitment to the goals
of the Non-Western and the Ethnic Studies requirements, it imported them from our previous general
education program to ensure that students continue a) to explore a culture or society beyond the U.S. and b) to
explore differences of race and ethnicity in communities within the U.S. The two requirements are connected
to courses addressing the Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Signature Question.
In practice, however, as instructors developed Quest courses and the USP Faculty Senate Committee began
evaluating them in preparation for the fall 2013 launch of the USP, it discovered some confusion related to
these two requirements. There was confusion, for example, about the working definitions of both
requirements, which were adopted by the former APGES but largely unknown to instructors. There was also
confusion about how those definitions align with the campus Essential Learning Outcomes, since they were
created prior to the passage of those outcomes. Likewise, there was uncertainty about how a global
perspective intersects with or differs from the multicultural learning that occurs by exploring ethnic identities
and Non-Western cultures. Moreover, through the Quest course-approval process, an imbalance emerged
between Non-Western and Ethnic Studies intercultural-offerings, with many fewer of the former and more of
the latter.
A further element of complexity was the identification of USP courses at the 100 and 200 levels only, leaving
aside the bulk of existing 300-level courses and faculty/instructional expertise in Non-Western and Ethnic
Studies content areas, a disparity that discourages further global and ethnic studies at the advanced level.
In an effort to resolve these opaque areas, CETL sponsored the creation of two summer 2013 dialogue
groups to discuss ways of understanding the respective definitions and make recommendations for possible
revision to open for campus-wide discussion in 2013-2014. The re-visioning recommendations of the “NonWestern” summer working group are outlined below.
Why revise the Non-Western Requirement now? The value of global citizenship has long been endorsed
as a campus priority in our university mission statement, strategic planning documents, and Essential
Learning Outcomes. Global citizenship also clearly informs the three Signature Questions of the USP.
We have committed ourselves rhetorically to the importance of global learning; however, our curriculum has
lagged behind considerably. Our Non-Western general education requirement was founded on the important
and admirable goal of providing students with knowledge about societies, nations and cultures profoundly
different from their own. This goal continues to be essential for our students’ development as engaged and
culturally competent global citizens; yet the very term “Non-Western,” the level of many of the existing NonWestern courses in our university curriculum (at the lower and upper divisions), and the alignment of the
current “Non-Western” requirement with our campus Essential Learning Outcomes beg our attention for
clarification.
This proposal builds upon our established commitments to “global” learning as a key component of liberal
education – an education, as noted by the AAC&U, that is inherently global in its scope:
“Because liberal learning aims to free us from the constraints of ignorance, sectarianism, and myopia, it prizes curiosity and seeks
to expand the boundaries of human knowledge. By its nature, therefore, liberal learning is global and pluralistic. It
embraces the diversity of ideas and experiences that characterize the social, natural, and intellectual world. To acknowledge such
diversity in all its forms is both an intellectual commitment and a social responsibility, for nothing less will equip us to understand
our world and to pursue fruitful lives.” – Association of American Colleges & Universities, Statement on Liberal Education,
1998
Two Recommendations Related to USP (and a Third Recommendation beyond the USP):
1) Change the name of the “Non-Western” requirement to the “Global Citizenship” requirement.
Timeframe: now.
The term “Non-Western” was well-intentioned but is now anachronistic. The very terminology of West /
Non-West envisions each as distinct and uniform entities, despite their complex and intertwined historical
relationships. The proposed Global Citizenship requirement is defined not by geographical or ideological
dichotomy, but by relationships of interdependence that are embedded in, and constructed by, local and
global power inequalities (cultural, economic, and political). These relationships are marked by acts of agency,
such as domination, resistance, rebellion, accommodation, cooperation, or assimilation. With respect to
student learning outcomes, the relational nature of global learning stresses students’ appreciation for and
agency within a multicultural, pluralistic, interconnected and interdependent global human community.
To capture this sense of agency, and consistent with the University’s commitment to civic engagement (global
and local), the Non-Western summer dialogue group recommends the term Global Citizenship. This choice
is grounded in best practice and reflected in a national shift toward global learning, engagement and
citizenship.
Why Global Citizenship as a title for the revised requirement (and why not the more common “Global
Learning” or “Global Perspectives”)? The summer working group felt that Global Citizenship most
accurately reflects the UWO model of liberal education and the goals of the USP. Global Citizenship
spotlights why global learning is central to a liberal university education – because we are educating
engaged citizens, both local and global. Global citizenship creates important conceptual and practical
bridges between our Essential Learning Outcomes, the Student Learning Outcomes for the USP,
and faculty learning goals in individual courses. The term citizenship encourages students and faculty
to consider their responsibilities to their communities and to the world around them; and helps to
focus learning on the knowledge and tools essential to engaging positively and purposefully in the
world. (Green, “Global Citizenship: What Are We Talking About and Why Does It Matter?” (2012);
Schattle, The Practices of Global Citizenship (2007) and Altinay “The Case for Global Civics” (2010).).
2) Expand global learning and engagement opportunities within the USP. Timeframe: now.
Currently, Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Signature Question courses must fulfill either the
“Ethnic Studies” or the “Non-Western Culture” requirements. We recommend maintaining both of these
distinct requirements as essential to the liberal education we provide at UW Oshkosh. There is clearly
some overlap between these two requirements associated with the Intercultural Knowledge and Competence
Essential Learning Outcome and the similarly-named USP Signature Question. Nonetheless, the Global
Citizenship learning goals are broader in and intentionally focused at the global and comparative (beyond the
U.S.) levels. This broader focus is consistent with the original goal of the Non-Western requirement – to
provide students with an avenue to “gain knowledge of traditions, culture and societies outside” of our own –
and faithful to the goals of the Ethnic Studies requirement, defined and approved by the Faculty Senate in
2009 as “the study of the histories, cultures and experiences of racial, ethnic and/or cultural groups in the
United States.”
All three Signature Questions in the USP are compatible with a Global Citizenship requirement. We
therefore recommend that all three Signature Questions, and not solely Intercultural Knowledge and
Competence, potentially fulfill the Global Citizenship requirement. It would then be incumbent on
instructors to make the case for their course to double count – that is, to meet the requirements for a
particular SQ and the Global Citizenship requirement. This change would expand the offerings of and
exposure of students to global learning and engagement while maintaining a one-course requirement. The
impact on credits-to-degree would thus be neutral.
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Proposed language for the Global Citizenship Requirement within the USP: The Global Citizenship
requirement is designed to provide students with opportunities to gain deep knowledge about the world and
its peoples, build capacity for civic engagement at local and global levels, acquire understanding to create a
more sustainable world, and prepare students for the responsibilities of informed citizenship in a complex,
interdependent and changing world.
Global Citizenship Student Learning Outcomes:
In courses with a “Global Citizenship” designation students will:
● Gain deep comparative knowledge of nations, cultures, and/or societies beyond the U.S. historically
and/or in the present.
● Develop knowledge of global systems, movements, institutions of cooperation and/or fundamental
international agreements.
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Understand the interactions, interdependencies and inequities among economic, political, cultural
and human systems over time and/or how these have shaped contemporary global challenges and
opportunities.
Recognize the construction of identity as shaped by historical legacies and/or patterns of power and
privilege.
Gain competency in, familiarity with, and appreciation for different forms of intercultural
communication.
Examine real global challenges and opportunities though diverse methodological or disciplinary
lenses
Understand the connections between personal experiences, local action, and global impact.
Acquire the tools to actively address global challenges and opportunities.
Definition of Global Citizenship for course-approval purposes:
Global Citizenship courses examine nations, cultures, and/or societies beyond the U.S. historically and/or in
the present, to help students understand the interactions, interdependencies, and inequities among economic,
political, cultural and human systems over time, including how these have shaped contemporary global
challenges and opportunities.
Course Criteria:
Global Citizenship courses forefront the relational quality of global learning and engagement and deep knowledge
of nations, cultures, and societies outside of the United States.1 Instructors of Global Citizenship courses
must demonstrate how their courses meet the Student Learning Outcomes provided above and address
multiple ways of knowing (see below).
Ways of Knowing
Knowledge of a Place, Culture or Society beyond the U.S.
● Focus on nations, cultures, and societies outside of the U.S., in comparison to the U.S., in
comparison with other non-dominant populations abroad, or diaspora studies.
● Explore global systems, movements, networks institutions of cooperation and fundamental
international agreements such as the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, the Earth Charter, the
Rights of the Child, etc.
● Address the interactions, interdependence and/or inequity among economic, political, cultural and
human systems, processes, and structures over time.
● Examine global challenges and opportunities within and across national boundaries
Knowledge of the Process of Academic Inquiry
● Pose and explore answers to critical questions about historical and/or current patterns of interaction,
interdependence and/or inequity among nations, cultures, societies, and/or human systems.
● Provide opportunities to use different forms of evidence (e.g. quantitative and qualitative data).
1
One of the implications of moving away from the West/Non-West dichotomy is the need to be clear about what “counts” as a
subject for global or comparative inquiry. The Global Citizenship requirement opens the field of inquiry to countries, regions, and
institutions that could be considered “Western.” It is important, therefore, to emphasize how the relational nature of global inquiry
informs this recommendation. A course on French culture and society (solidly within the “Western tradition”) might gain Global
Citizenship approval to the extent that it clearly addresses the Global Citizenship SLOs outlined above. One could conceive of a
French Culture and Society course focused on the colonial origins of minority populations, the cultural impact of these populations
on French society and reciprocally on the cultural identity of first vs. second generation immigrant French citizens, the evolving
relationship between France and its former colonies at the both the political and cultural levels, and/or the evolution of
multiculturalism in France (perhaps compared to its European neighbors who have followed different models of accommodation of
cultural diversity) as meeting the intended goals of a “Global Citizenship” course. A course focusing on Medieval French literature
might stretch to meet the criteria.
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Provide opportunities to gain competency in, familiarity with, and appreciation for different forms of
intercultural communication (e.g.: oral, written, audio, visual, and digital).
Application of Global Knowledge
● Apply comparative knowledge to real global challenges and opportunities relevant to the disciplinary
focus of the course.
● Evaluate how the interactions, interdependencies and inequities among economic, political, cultural
and/or human systems have shaped contemporary global challenges and opportunities.
● Interpret the construction of identity as shaped by historical legacies and patterns of power and
privilege.
● Participate in cross-cultural communication.
● Relate global issues to personal experiences and action (such as consumption patterns and individual
choices and global consequences).
Course-Approval Process:
Course approval in the USP would follow the existing USP course approval mechanisms, with the oversight of the
USP Faculty Senate Committee. Non-USP courses (upper division courses) would follow the existing course
approval path.
3) Third recommendation (beyond the scope of the USP): Infuse global and learning and engagement beyond
the
100/200-level, across the curriculum, and throughout the campus. Timeframe: near future.
A single course is no longer considered sufficient to prepare students for an increasingly globalized and
multicultural world and does not reflect our commitment to scaffold student learning beginning in the
University Studies Program and intentionally pulling it through the major fields of study in all of the
Colleges. It is our recommendation that students encounter global learning opportunities in multiple
sites and at increasing levels of complexity throughout the curriculum. This increased exposure will
result in expanded student learning opportunities, both curricular and co-curricular, across the whole of
our undergraduate students’ educational experience at UW Oshkosh. At the same time this
recommendation foregrounds existing (300 level) curricular strengths in global learning course work and
activity in each of the Colleges.
The University’s Essential Learning Outcomes are intended to shape the learning experience for all
students at UW Oshkosh, from their entry into the University Studies Program to their graduation from a
major field of study or professional program. Student learning associated with a global citizenship
requirement can, and should, occur at multiple levels (lower and upper) and in multiple sites of learning
(curricular and co-curricular). Expanding sites for global learning and engagement thus requires
intentional curricular and faculty development resulting in infusion of global and learning and
engagement across the curriculum through programs, majors and co-curricular activities.
In the near future, we propose building capacity within departments to expand major-specific
opportunities for global learning and engagement at upper-division levels. Through the Global Learning
and other similar initiatives, we propose a Winnebago-esque project for infusing global citizenship
learning outcomes in existing and new courses, and we look forward to such faculty development
opportunities in the summer of 2014.
4. Professional Development Opportunities Recommended
Faculty members suggested several ongoing professional development activities to
support this work. The following ideas are under consideration and are also reflected
in the next section, #5, related to organizational structures to support this work.
A. Faculty Development Intensive Experience over interim with monthly
meetings in academic year
B. Faculty special interest group that meets three times a semester to explore
signature pedagogies related to civic and global learning
C. Small group faculty sessions consisting of cross-disciplinary teams who work
on syllabi revisions
D. Civic learning student forums that showcase student work products
5. What Organizational Structures are needed to support this work?
There is an acute need for a Campus Coordinator of Civic Engagement at UW Oshkosh.
Civic engagement is one of the three pillars of our general education program. As such, it deserves
to have similar infrastructure and support as sustainability (a well-established council with a
Sustainability Director leading it) and Intercultural Knowledge (now supported by a variety of
structures, including our new Associate Vice Chancellor for the Academic Support of Inclusive
Excellence). The Campus Coordinator could alleviate some of the burden on the USP Director by
being responsible for coordinating civic engagement classes, holding training workshops,
disseminating best practices, encouraging dialogue among teaching faculty, and publicizing a
calendar of events. This coordinator should be a faculty member and be responsible for teaching a
Quest I and a Quest III course every year.
The Civic Engagement Coordinator should be supported by a council, consisting of
members of the civic engagement teaching community, those in affiliated support positions, and
students. The goal of the council should be the implementation of approved civic engagement
outcomes and to encourage high quality instruction in the area. Frequent conversations of faculty
(and others) should be facilitated by this team. They could offer advice in the form of classroom
observations, a syllabus reading service, best practices in civic engagement training, and fielding
students’ frequently asked questions, like “why do I have to do this community project?” The use of
the Provost’s Teaching and Learning Summit for panels that include members of this team would be
desirable.
We have an ongoing global education initiative, with a Provost’s Leadership Fellow leading
us to the adoption of new global education standards. The global education committee should be
kept separate from the above council and be responsible for approval of courses satisfying the global
education requirement. The leadership for the global education group might also be within the job
description of a Civic Engagement Coordinator, though it might be hard to be both a general civic
education coordinator and responsible as well for global education, which requires an expertise in an
international field. Close coordination with the Provost’s office, through an Academic Vice
Chancellor, is highly desirable.
In all our teaching there should be open feedback mechanisms available to students, helping
us to discern how our teaching is received. In short, we need to know what practices and courses
are transformative in students’ experiences and which are not. In many cases the same course can
be greeted as both by different students, of course, but we should a look for patterns, seeking out
best practices, aiming to remedy potential defects, and striving constantly to improve.
6. Final Budget Report
For the period of July 1, 2014 through December 1, 2014 UW Oshkosh had the following grant
supported expenditures.
Salaries: Faculty received stipends for this period for course review and civic learning outcome
creation. A total of 11 faculty received stipends (10 at $885 and 1 at $775) and associated benefit
costs for a total of $16,025.60.
S&E: Travel and conference attendance for an assessment conference and the UW System Quality
Collaboratives conference resulted in expenditures of $450.70.
Additional assessment monitoring software to monitor transfer student performance, transfer
student materials publishing costs, and supplies for a civic learning activity resulted in an expenditure
of $2,450.oo.
Total expenditures for this period are $18,926.30
The remaining balance is $18.68 that was not spent.
Appendix A: Agenda of Final Lumina Foundation Meeting
UW Oshkosh and Lumina Foundation
Degree Qualifications Profile Discussion
October 14, 2014
I.
Overview of DQP Project
II.
Update on UW Oshkosh and UW Fox activities
III.
Purpose of Meetings
Oct. 13, 2014
A. Faculty comments on DQP language for Civic and Global Learning
Consider your own courses, other USP courses you know about, your majors, and the
global learning proposal to answer the following questions.
1. What do we agree with in this framework?
2. What may be missing/underdeveloped in this framework?
3. What do you suggest that we add to this framework?
Oct. 14-Nov. 13, 2014
B. Faculty review of courses
Faculty will complete an online survey based on their own courses to answer the
following questions. Survey is due on Nov. 13.
1. How do you integrate the DQP outcomes into your courses?
2. Do you assess the DQP outcomes in your own course assessments?
Nov. 13, 2014
C. UW Oshkosh expectations for civic and global learning
1. What are the UW Oshkosh expectations for civic learning? We will submit the
committee global learning expectations already established.
2. What future professional development opportunities will support this work?
3. What structures do we need in place to best support the teaching of civic and global
learning?
Appendix B: Survey Results
Initial Report
Last Modified: 10/16/2014
1. Course Number and Title
Text Response
History 215 - Charity and Memory, 1066-1935
Interdisciplinary Studies 284 (Quest III) • Community and Collaboration
Soc/ES 261: Environment & Society
84-105 Introduction to American Government and Politics; and Essentials of Civic Engagement
Physical Education 208- Effective Leadership in Adventure, Outdoor, & Recreation Education
PS 105 Introduction to American Government and Politics
INTRDSCP 270 Telling Stories for Fun, Profit and World Peace
Statistic
Total Responses
Value
7
2. Department
Text Response
History
Course Dept = IS; my dept = English
Sociology and Environmental Studies
Political Science
Human Kinetics & Health Education
Political Science
Interdisciplinary Studies
Statistic
Total Responses
Value
7
3. For this survey focus on the activities, outcomes, and
experiences for one course you teach. You may copy/paste from
your course syllabus in the text box provided. Insert the course
description in the box below.
Text Response
Objectives: The main objectives of this course are: 1) to begin to answer the question “How do
people understand and engage in community?” 2) To study how people understood poverty and
charity in England from 1066 to 1600, and in British North America and the U.S.A. from 1600 to
1935, 3) to engage in work for the community of Oshkosh and 4) to reflect on how this engagement
with the community is similar to and different from the historical community engagement we are
studying in this course. What is this Course About? This course will approach the question of
community life by examining how communities cared for their poorest members (and nonmembers) from the Middle Ages to the early twentieth century in England and then in the U.S.A.
Often ignored in traditional history courses, the relationship between a community and its poorest
members can nevertheless answer a number of important questions. What is a community? Who
belongs to the community and who does not? What do members of the community owe to one
another? How do they respond to outsiders? How do we compare to different communities in
history? Students, you will begin to answer these questions by focusing on how religious
communities and the state cared for the poor in medieval and early modern England. You will also
explore the ways in which charity depended on memory in that period. You will continue to
explore these questions by following the story of communities and their poor to the New World,
first in English colonies in North America, and then in the United States. You will examine how
poverty and charity are remembered in the U.S.A. today, and reflect on how our communities’
responses to poverty have changed or stayed the same since the earliest days of national history.
All of this study, combined with your own engagement with how our communities help the needy,
will open up numerous opportunities to reflect on what, exactly, our communities are and what
they do in the present. What is the University Studies Program? If you had been an American
college student around 1800, you would have been a young man, probably wealthy, and you would
have had very little choice in what courses you took. You would have had to recite literature in
Latin and Greek, just like every single one of your classmates, and you probably would have been in
the same classes with the same people throughout your four years. Obviously, things have
changed and most of these changes suit us much better. For one, we have a great deal more choice
in our classes, and what we specialize in. However, years of research has shown that there are two
ways in which we ought to emulate colleges circa 1800. First, it is good to take some of the same
classes with the same people in them. This helps build small learning communities, in which you
can forge connections with other students who are learning the same things. Second, it is good to
learn some of the same things as all your fellow college students. This helps build big learning
communities, in which you can be assured that your fellow students at UWO will have learned some
of the same things that you have, a basic foundation on which you can build your college education,
whichever subject you want to specialize in. The University Studies Program (USP) is how we, at
UWO, will build these small and large learning communities. By taking courses such as this one,
focused on a signature question, you will build an educational foundation based on the same
questions as every other entering UWO student. This will ensure that as UWO alumni, you will have
learned a few basic things in common, and can continue their learning communities beyond your
careers here at the university. So just how do people “understand and engage in community life?”
Well, a big part of this course is for us to each figure out an answer to how communities in the past
have understood community life, how you think we should understand it, and how you want to get
involved in it. So let’s not jump the gun and start answering the question too soon. To get us
started, though, we could contemplate what some of our UWO faculty have said in answer to this
question: “Civic knowledge consists of an awareness and understanding of the various political
and social processes that impact the nature and quality of life in local, state, national, or global
communities. It also encompasses the cultivation of skills that may be useful in public life, like
effective communication and ethical reasoning. Civic engagement means having an appreciation
for and applying the values gained from civic knowledge in real world settings, directed at
improving the quality of life in the communities of which one is a part. Civic knowledge and civic
engagement emphasize learning, reflection, and action in order to create better communities.” So
how is this Quest III course different from my Quest I and II courses? The main way that this Quest
III course is different from the Quest I and II courses is that it adds something new and important to
your university experience: community-based learning. UWO has decided that all students should
have the chance to experience the issues they are studying in the curriculum and try to analyze and
solve problems within the community. Because this is a history course, your instructors are hoping
that you will learn about how communities have dealt with issues of poverty and charity in the past,
that you will reflect upon their solutions, and that, after working on similar issues here in Oshkosh,
you will consider how our community might best deal with these issues now. By sending you out
into the community, the faculty and staff at UWO want to encourage you to understand your
responsibilities as educated people, and to lay the foundation for the skills and knowledge that will
enable you to succeed not only as a university student, but also as a free person--an engaged local
and global citizen. We see these goals as an important part of a liberal education. Indeed, the word
“liberal” in liberal education does not mean on the political left, but rather an education necessary
for a free citizen. This meaning of liberal is closely connected to the Latin word for free: liber.
Learning Outcomes of this Course: 1) You will be familiar with how communities from medieval
England to Depression-Era U.S.A. responded to their poorest members. 2) You will have hands-on
experience addressing neediness in our own community which will help you build a “willingness to
move from the comfort zone to the contact zone by transgressing boundaries that divide” as well as
experience “planning, carrying out, and reflecting upon public action” (Musil). 3) You will have
examined numerous examples of communities' charitable giving in the past, and will articulate
which of those are worth emulating and which are not. 4) You will be able to compare examples of
communities’ response to neediness in the past to each other and to our response in the present.
5) You will reflect on an “Understanding that the self is always embedded in relationships, a social
location, and a specific historic moment” (Musil). 6) You will develop an “appreciation of the rich
resources and accumulated wisdom of diverse communities and cultures” (Musil). 7) You will
reflect on “how communities can also exclude, judge, and restrict” (Musil). 8) You will hone your
writing skills. 9) Finally, you will engage in the twin practices of “serious exploration of and
reflection about core animating personal values” and “examination of personal values in the context
of promoting the public good” (Musil).
COURSE DESCRIPTION Intercultural communication offers ample opportunities to enhance
knowledge and competence. We all grow very comfortable in our own ways of knowing and
sometimes have difficulty breaking free from them, like a prison. These prisons we choose to live
inside can hamper our understanding of one another and can offend. For example, the opening
vignette shows how members of one community unwittingly can become prisoners of their own
communities of practice. In the United States in 2013, posting pictures to Facebook is fairly
ubiquitous, yet that view of Facebook activity is culturally bound to this particular time and place.
Navigating how the practices of one culture intersect with those of another is a key skill for 21stcentury global citizens. Self-reflection and intercultural understanding are both routes out of the
prisons we choose to live inside. We will be exploring these means of escape over the next several
weeks. Quest III • Collaboration and Community (3 cr.) focuses on the University Studies Program
(USP) Intercultural Knowledge and Competence Signature Question: how do people understand
and bridge cultural differences? Intercultural knowledge and competence is the understanding of
one's own culture as well as cultures beyond one's own; the recognition of the cultural values and
history, language, traditions, arts, and social institutions of a group of people; the ability to
negotiate and bridge cultural differences in ways that allow for broader perspectives to emerge;
and the skill to investigate a wide range of world views, beliefs, practices, and values. To begin to
answer this complex Signature Question, this course will consider how groups of people can work
to best understand one another as partners in a complex web of cultures and subcultures in the
21st century. To begin this consideration, we will study writing centers as a model of collaborative
discourse. How can different people in a community collaboratively work together to construct
meaning? If you’ve never been to a writing center before, you might wonder how it relates to
collaboration. Many people who are unfamiliar with how writing centers work might imagine the
writing center as a fleet of writing and grammar experts armed with red pens ready to “fix” writers’
papers. However, writing centers are really sites of collaborative discourse—places where people
listen carefully to one another and engage in conversations about intended and perceived meaning,
how each person might understand various features of a piece of writing, etc. Writing is, after all, a
communicative act. The reader, writer, and message all contribute to meaning. We’ll study writing
centers as a site rich in these kinds of communicative practices and apply this knowledge to our
Community Experience Projects. WHAT STUDENTS CAN EXPECT TO LEARN • Develop further
connections to the University and broader community through a Community Experience project; •
Increase self-awareness of your own culture and its values and associated communication
practices; • Recognize that cultures are framed by the shared knowledge and values of a group and
practice perspective taking to better understand for others’ cultural values, experiences, and
perspectives; • Articulate the ways in which rhetoric and communication can determine and be
determined by cultural and individual identities; • Trace the thread of power inherent in particular
communicative practices and the ways these practices form culture; • Employ tools based in
writing center pedagogies (critical and creative thinking and suspension of their own judgments) to
engage in collaborative discussions to collaboratively create a shared artifact with partners from
the Intensive English Program; • Articulate in various assignments and projects an awareness of
your own perspectives and the frames of reference in understanding and communicating with
others and the recognition of the complexity inherent in such communication; • Utilize feedback
from peers and professor to make collaboratively informed decisions in drafting and revising
various assignments and to articulate the rationale for their decisions; • Develop an authoritative,
self-aware scholarly position from which to consider cultural values and norms; • Demonstrate an
ability to negotiate the differences in your own worldview and others’ in order to collaboratively
accomplish assigned tasks and find fulfillment in their individual and collective work; and • Gain
experience applying academic knowledge in real-world settings and reflecting on that experience.
EXPECTATIONS OF STUDENTS • Complete all assigned readings by the due dates with dedicated
effort toward understanding and appreciating them, reacting to and analyzing what you have read;
• Actively participate in activities and discussions, offering personal insights and opinions on
discussion issues and asking questions for clarification, if needed; • Offer specific, balanced,
constructive feedback to peers about their work, demonstrating critical thinking; • Integrate and
accurately credit others for their ideas and work, using others’ opinions, beliefs, and/or
observations to support students’ own opinions, beliefs, and/or observations; • Respect the
personal beliefs of others in this class and among our partners in an effort to further our knowledge
of the course material and to better understand our society and ourselves.
Society and the natural environment are vitally linked in a number of ways. In this course, we will
explore these linkages at various levels from the local to the global, but with a focus upon the
Oshkosh area as a case study. It will be a discussion- and active-learning based course that gets you
out into the community. We will examine the important contributions that sociology can make to
the study of natural resources and the environment, which starts with the premise that what
appear to be “environmental problems” are actually social in origin. Secondly, we’ll explore the
important impacts that the environment and natural resources (and their use) have on social life,
and vice versa. The course is designed to provide you with you with intellectual tools (concepts,
frameworks, ideas, and skills) and hands-on experiences that will help you gain knowledge of
sustainability and its applications: the ability to understand local and global earth systems; the
qualities of ecological integrity and the means to restore and preserve it; and the interconnection of
ecological integrity, social justice and economic well-being. We’ll build this knowledge through
reading and discussion of sociology and environmental studies texts, journal and newspaper
articles, a novel about a future that looks a lot like the past (circa the 1800s), relevant and thoughtprovoking films, and your active work on an in-depth Community Experience (CE), the distinctive
feature of Quest III courses in the USP.
A nation cannot work without a government and that means it cannot work without politics. But
politics can be problematic. To keep government functional and politics constructive we need
citizens willing to spend time to understand their nation’s government and to take stands in favor
of their values while simultaneously engaging in civil and productive discourse with others. This
course aims to help the student understand American politics better, prepare for a lifetime of
constructive citizenship. We do so by studying American governmental institutions, elections and
informal arrangements like political parties and interest groups, and by considering our own place
in American politics. And This course introduces the student to the obligations and benefits of
active citizenship and participation in their communities. Theories of citizenship and citizen
activity, policy analysis and the challenges of the practice of democracy at the full array of
governing levels from local to global will be explored. Experiential activities—job shadowing and
volunteer work within the community—are featured. This is the gateway course to both the Civic
Engagement Minor and the Civic Engagement emphasis within the Political Science Major.
This course presents the concepts of adventure, outdoor, and recreation education including
cooperative and leadership activities. Each student will take part in a civic engagement experience
where they will help teach others how to react and respond to a variety of situations they engage in
while being physically active. Some of the activities students could be involved in are: individual
and dual sports, team sports, rock climbing, swimming, cycling, running, and ice skating. A focus
will be placed on the pedagogical aspects of adventure, outdoor, and recreation education and how
these activities build community through physical activity as well as the transferable skills of
leadership in adventure, recreation, and in the outdoors.
This course invites students to explore the institutions that make up the government of the United
States, its policies, and politics. What are the underlying values, theories of government, and
compromises that comprise our public institutions? How do these institutions and the perspectives
of those who engage them combine to produce our public policy? How can you, as a citizen-activist
participate effectively in our democracy? To begin answering these questions, we will examine the
relationship between citizens and their government in the United States, with an emphasis on the
many ways in which individuals participate in the political process. The course will also explore
current political debates over public policy at both the national and state levels to gain a better
sense of how these policies affect our lives. The product of these experiences will be a deeper
understanding of the issues, institutions, and inputs necessary for effective civic engagement. As
members of a democratic society, we cannot escape the influence of government on our lives.
Through civic engagement, you can add your civic voice to popular debates, and help determine the
course of our democracy.
True stories have great power. They have the power to inform; they have power to effect change. In
this Interdisciplinary Studies 270 course, Telling Stories for Fun, Profit...and World Peace, you will
learn to embrace the power of a good story told in multiple platforms. This is an INTRDSCP course
because of the multiple disciplines involved (Journalism, Radio-TV-Film, Communication). You will
study how humans told personal stories through the ages, and how those stories shape our world.
You will examine stories that appear in traditional media (such as books, newspapers, magazines,
radio, TV) and online (audio/video podcasts). You will learn the components of good storytelling
and help others tell stories with accuracy and compassion. You will populate and help maintain the
Humans of Oshkosh website and Facebook page, which is inspired by the Humans of New York
photo blog. You will also work with student and staff veterans at the University of Wisconsin
Oshkosh Veterans Resource Center on a multimedia book project called Humans of OshkoshVeterans Story Project. This will be an offshoot of the existing War: Through Their Eyes series
(www.uwosh.edu/war/). Just like the real world, you will work in groups, possibly with people
you won’t like, but more likely, with others who share a love of story. You will learn to write well,
listen better and see the world from different perspectives.
Statistic
Total Responses
Value
7
4. Which of the following Lumina Foundations outcomes are
addressed in your course? (Select all that apply)
#
1
2
3
4
Answer
Describes his or
her own civic and
cultural
background,
including its
origins and
development,
assumptions and
predispositions.
Describes divers
positions,
historical and
contemporary, on
selected
democratic values
or practices, and
presents his or
her own position
on a specific
problem where
one or more of
these values or
practices are
involved.
Provides evidence
of participation in
a community
project through
either a spoken or
written narrative
that identifies the
civic issues
encountered and
personal insights
gained from this
experience.
Identifies an
economic,
environmental, or
public health
challenge
affecting at least
two continents,
presents evidence
for that challenge,
Response
%
6
86%
4
57%
6
86%
2
29%
5
6
7
8
and takes a
position on the
challenge.
Explains diverse
positions,
including those of
different cultural,
economic and
geographic
interests, on a
contested public
issue, and
evaluates the
issue in light of
both those
interests and
evidence drawn
from journalism
and scholarship.
Develops and
justifies a position
on a public issue
and relates this
position to
alternate views
within the
community/policy
environment.
Collaborates with
others in
developing and
implementing an
approach to civic
issue, evaluates
the strengths and
weaknesses of the
process, and,
where applicable,
describes the
result.
Identifies a
significant issue
affecting at least
two continents,
presents
quantitative
evidence of that
challenge through
tables and graphs,
and evaluates the
3
43%
3
43%
5
71%
0
0%
activities of either
nongovernmental
organizations or
cooperative intergovernmental
initiatives in
addressing that
issue.
Statistic
Min Value
Max Value
Total Responses
Value
1
7
7
5. For this survey, consider all course
assignments/assessments/experiences related to the course.
Place a check by each of the outcomes that you assess in the
course.
#
1
2
3
4
Answer
Describes his or
her own civic and
cultural
background,
including its
origins and
development,
assumptions and
predispositions.
Describes divers
positions,
historical and
contemporary, on
selected
democratic values
or practices, and
presents his or
her own position
on a specific
problem where
one or more of
these values or
practices are
involved.
Provides evidence
of participation in
a community
project through
either a spoken or
written narrative
that identifies the
civic issues
encountered and
personal insights
gained from this
experience.
Identifies an
economic,
environmental, or
public health
challenge
affecting at least
Response
%
5
71%
4
57%
6
86%
2
29%
5
6
7
8
two continents,
presents evidence
for that challenge,
and takes a
position on the
challenge.
Explains diverse
positions,
including those of
different cultural,
economic and
geographic
interests, on a
contested public
issue, and
evaluates the
issue in light of
both those
interests and
evidence drawn
from journalism
and scholarship.
Develops and
justifies a position
on a public issue
and relates this
position to
alternate views
within the
community/policy
environment.
Collaborates with
others in
developing and
implementing an
approach to civic
issue, evaluates
the strengths and
weaknesses of the
process, and,
where applicable,
describes the
result.
Identifies a
significant issue
affecting at least
two continents,
presents
quantitative
evidence of that
3
43%
4
57%
5
71%
0
0%
challenge through
tables and graphs,
and evaluates the
activities of either
nongovernmental
organizations or
cooperative intergovernmental
initiatives in
addressing that
issue.
Statistic
Min Value
Max Value
Total Responses
Value
1
7
7
6. Describe at least two assignments/assessments in this
course and their relationship to the Lumina outcomes checked
above.
Text Response
1) Students keep a blog related to this course, with a different question to address each week. The
questions are copied below. Questions 1, 3, 8, and 9 address the outcome "Describes his or her own
civic....” Questions 3, 4, 6, 7, and 9 address the outcome "Describes diverse positions....” Questions 1,
2, 5, and 8 address "Provides evidence of participation....” Questions 6, 9, and 10 address "Identifies
an economic... challenge....” Question 10 address "Develops and justifies a position." 1. Your first
blog should be about volunteer or community experiences that you have engaged in before starting
this class. What did you do? What did you learn? 2. Reflect on some aspect of your Community
Experience Project, such as something significant that happened that day, an insight about
charitable giving that you had while working, a reflection about charitable practices, etc. If you have
not yet started your project, comment on what you have learned about one or more of our
Community Partners. 3. Reflect on gift giving in medieval or modern culture. 4. Reflect on what
you have learned about how memory and commemoration affect the motives of many people to
contribute their time and money to a charitable cause. 5. Reflect on some aspect of your Community
Experience Project, such as something significant that happened that day, an insight about
charitable giving that you had while working, a reflection about charitable practices, etc. If you have
not yet started your project, comment on what you have learned about one or more of our
Community Partners. 6. Reflect on some of the examples of medieval communities responding to
neediness: which seem worth emulating now and which do not? 7. Reflect on charity and poor
relief in the United States of America. What role ought charity and poor relief to play? 8. Reflect on
how communities can exclude, judge, and/or restrict people, in early America and based on your
community experience. 9. Reflect on how early Americans responded to neediness. Which
examples are worth emulating and which are not? 10. Reflect on how you would like to engage your
communities in the future? Would you like to continue with experiences like those you’ve had this
semester, or engage your community in some other way? 2) Another assignment is our paper,
asking students compare and contrast the American poor law system to medieval English charity
practices. This paper address the outcomes "Describes his or her own civic and cultural
background" and "Describes diverse positions, historical and contemporary, on selected democratic
values or practices."
BLOG ENTRIES AND COMMENTS ON COURSE CONTENT AND PARTNERS MEETINGS: “Culturally,
we revere the Rodin ideal—the belief that genius breakthroughs come from our gray matter alone.
Physicist Richard Feynman once got into an argument about this with historian Charles Weiner.
Feynman understood the extended mind; he knew that writing equations and ideas on paper was
crucial to his thought. But when Weiner looked over a pile of Feynman’s notebooks, he called them
a wonderful ‘record of his day-to-day work.’ No, no, Feynman replied testily. They weren’t a record
of his thinking process. They were his thinking process.” — Clive Thompson, Smarter Than You
Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Minds for the Better Because writing allows us to think on
the “page,” we will be engaging in this type of thinking and information processing regularly. You
will be assigned specific tasks to help you digest and apply course concepts. Assignments for these
tasks will appear in D2L. You also will be asked to write a blog entry after each visit you have with
your group’s Intensive English Program partner (at least once per week; see D2L for details). In
order to give everyone connected to the class access to our thinking, each group will be setting up a
blog using Blogger. You will share your blog with the class by posting a link to the URL in D2L
Discussions. Then, for each post, you will comment on a group member’s and a classmate’s blog
entries. Be sure to post on entries that no one else has commented on so that everyone’s blogs have
visitors. After you’ve posted on a blog that didn’t have a prior comment, you can join any
discussion. Alumni Mentors also will be joining this conversation. Example: Part A • D2L Post:
Spend a few minutes discussing your associations with another country or culture outside of your
own. Use specific examples in your post. Part B • Individual Blog Post: Compose a mostly visual
blog entry that shows the culture you belong to. Be sure to name it something that coordinates with
your Group members' similar entries but distinguishes it as your own for readers' ease. In defining
the culture you belong to, consider clothing/fashion, food, body expression (tattoos, hair, piercings,
etc.), free time, a pic of who/where people aspire to be, heroes/icons, text conversations or
FB/social media posts. What is your culture like? Remember that culture ≠ identity. This is a tricky
question because we all participate in culture, but—like fish in water—it's hard for us to see. Your
own individual identity relates to culture, but it's not the same as culture, so keep this in mind as
you create your post. GROUP PRESENTATION AND INDIVIDUAL REFLECTION ON COMMUNITY
PARTNERS PROJECT: As described under the Community Experience Project section, above, you
will work with Intensive English Program students to help them produce a story they would like to
share with the broader Oshkosh community. This could be a story about something that happened
to them while they were at Oshkosh or about how their future intersects with their time at UW
Oshkosh, etc. Quest III students will not tell the story but will work with the Intensive English
Program students to help them most effectively tell that story, which will be represented visually,
verbally, etc., in a variety of media. These stories will help promote greater awareness of the
experiences of Intensive English Program at UW Oshkosh. Stories will be showcased at the Quest III
Showcase, as well as at venues throughout the state that the class will select; this could be at Reeve,
Polk, the public library, local churches, community organizations, the State Capitol, etc. In addition
to the Intensive English Program student’s work, you will upload your group’s presentation and a
brief (300–550 word) reflection about the Community Partners Project to your ePortfolio.
This project will focus on two important elements of society and environment interaction to which
we are all directly connected: consumption and place. You will dig into them through individual
assignments, including: • taking and reflecting upon photos designed to represent certain concepts
or issues (Photo Voice Reflections—PVR); • keeping an ongoing Consumption and Place Diary, and,
• writing reflections about your experiences with our community partner for the CE (CE
Reflections—CER). --- In these assignments students will be asked examine their own practices,
and the cultural roots of as well as the community impacts of those practices. --- They will also be
collaborating with others in carrying out approaches to civic issues
In 105: One assignment asks the student, after taking a couple of "who am I politically" quizzes, to
describe who they are politically. What do they stand for? What things are they unsure about?
Which party represents them better? What do they most agree on about that party's approach;
what do they disagree with that party about? What things am I willing to compromise with others
on? Etc. In 108: After their volunteer experience/community service, the student writes a paper
describing how politics and public policy impacts the organization served, both positively and
negatively. In doing this they have interviewed a person at the organization about this matter and
they have done general readings about public policy that they are to incorporate and weave into
their narrative in appropriate ways.
Reaction/reflection paper- detailed description Learning Outcomes: • Planning, carrying out, and
reflection upon public action • Understand effective leadership in recreation, adventure, and
outdoor education in theory and practice • Demonstrate important leadership skills through realworld applications throughout the semester we will have reflected and debriefed in class about the
different experiences you went through as well as the ones you created for others. You will be
expected to write a 3-5-page reflection paper of how you changed over the course of the semester.
The basis of the paper should be taken from your community engagement experience, how you
have grown as a leader, and how community is built through physical activity. How did your
leadership style help with this effort? Consider the leadership tenants you wrote about in the first
assignment as well as your personal philosophy. Keep in mind you will also want to look at how
physical activity through adventure, outdoor, and/or recreation helps build community. This is
students’ final assignment where they are providing evidence of participation in a community
project through a written narrative. This assignment correlates with the third outcome by
providing insights gained from their experiences. Recreation/Adventure/Outdoor programdetailed description Learning Outcomes: • Increase adeptness at critical thinking, conflict
resolution, and cooperative methods • Demonstrate skills in deliberation, dialogue, and community
building • Find the capacity to work well across multiple differences (creating community with
individuals of varying ages and abilities) • Planning, carrying out, and reflection upon public action
During your civic engagement experience in the Oshkosh Area School District (OASD) you will be
working with a verity of different individuals (all ages and abilities) to help them achieve
distinctive goals. You will be expected to develop and write a recreation, adventure, or outdoor
program for whatever group of individuals you are working with in the OASD. This assignment will
be done in small groups of 4-6 individuals who share similar community experiences. The proposal
format is up to the group but must include the following: set structure for programming, learning
objectives and goals, benefit to the participants, and follow the foundations of adventure
programming as discussed in class. This program should help build community within your civic
engagement experience. Final documents should range from 15-30 pages. All group members are
expected to contribute equally to this assignment. This assignment is due the twelfth week of class.
This assignment aligns with the seventh outcome because students are evaluating different
approaches to civic issues each week through lesson planning. Each week there is a spot on the
assignment for reflection form previous weeks. Bye the end of the semester each small group will
be able to see how their students grew and learned.
The focus of the class is the production of an essay, which asks students to evaluate the citizengovernment social contract in light of a diverse, set of course readings. These assignments ask
students to examine and critique a variety of perspectives on how democracies should serve their
citizens and how citizens should support government through the presence of absence of distinct
forms of political participation. The brief descriptions of these assignments follow: Writing
Assignment Students will produce 3 writing assignments over the course of the semester. After the
first paper draft, students will meet with a classmate to improve their paper. The meeting will take
approximately 30 minutes, and will be scheduled by the students individually. Students will have
multiple weeks between paper drafts to meet with their classmate and revise their paper between
due dates. All assignments will be submitted to a D2L drop box. Elements of the Paper 1.) Provide
examples of positive and negative freedom from the U.S. Bill of Rights and U.N. Declaration of
Human Rights that you think best represent the essence of each term. 2.) Define positive and
negative freedom in your own words. Cite the documents as needed. 3.) What do you think
government should look like? How much room is there for negative freedom, positive freedom?
How would you define government’s obligations under the social contract? What is the purpose of
government? 4.) In defending your answer, be sure to address the assumptions you make, and how
these fit your definition of human nature, government’s scope and purpose, and the forms of
equality government should attempt to guarantee, citing the Hudson reading as needed. Your
discussion of assumptions should focus on: human nature, the role of citizens, the role of
government, and government’s areas of equality. 5.) In broad terms, what sorts of policies would a
government using your philosophies enact? Give examples from U.S. history at the national or state
level. Basic Requirements Length: Your papers should be 5-8 pages in length for each draft. The
sections identified above will require a substantial amount of space to address fully. Be sure that
you do so and make each sentence count: some of you may find 8 pages too short to answer each
question; this is an opportunity to revise your work for brevity. Citation: All of your citations must
be in the form required by the American Political Science Association (APSA). A brief citation guide
is available on our departmental website under “Writing in Political Science”
(http://www.uwosh.edu/political_science) or you can consult the APSA Style Manual (available as
a PDF here: http://www.ipsonet.org/data/files/APSAStyleManual2006.pdf ). Font, Size, and
Spacing Matters: Please use a standard font (TNR, Garamond, Helvetica) in size 12. The body of the
paper must be double-spaced. A Note of Caution: This is a project that will require substantial
work for not only the first draft, but also for each revision. Please treat each draft as though it will
take the same amount of time as writing the paper from scratch. Revisions take time.
Part of the course required the students to understand and engage in community life beyond
campus grounds. They each had to produce stories that populate the Humans of Oshkosh Facebook
page. They had to engage with people - children, elderly, laborers, person of color, person with
challenges (physical or otherwise), veterans that they may not normally would if not for the course.
Each week, they wrote stories told to them by the people of Oshkosh. Those stories cover the gamut
of humanity - from the joy of motherhood to the death of a longtime spouse. The students, none of
whom are journalism majors, say that they discovered a diversity in this city that they did not
know. The second major assignment - the Humans of Oshkosh-Veterans Story Project - involved
the students helping the veterans (current students and alumni) tell their stories. The results are
eBooks that contains photos and videos of the veterans telling about their experiences. By
interacting with the student and staff veterans at the University's Veterans Resource Center, the
students learned about a certain segment of the U.S. population - those who volunteer to serve in
the U.S. military. These men and women are among the 1 percent, who are charged to protect the
other 99 percent. The students use their storytelling voice to educate others about the person
behind the ‘veteran” label and use that voice to affect change in perspectives.
Statistic
Total Responses
Value
7
7. List any outcomes for civic and global learning that we
should consider sending to the Lumina Foundation.
Text Response
Here are some possibilities: 1) Be conversant in a foreign language. 2) Know the history and/or
contemporary politics/economics/culture/society of a foreign country 3) Reflect on the locuses of
power in American politics 4) Identify a public issue that you feel strongly about, be knowledgeable
about it, and able to articulate your position well.
More focus should be placed on understanding, analyzing, listening, and evaluating others'
perspectives and the ramifications of our own positions. I do not ask second-year students to "take
a position" because they have been doing that since 7th grade. I expect more sophisticated thought
from my students. Another important (and related related) key point that emerged from our
discussion is that part of the evaluation/analysis should be the application of disciplinary frames to
the discussion. Also, watch our words; precision is needed. Visual literacy should not be limited to
tables and graphs. Journalistic evidence should not be automatically downplayed. Experiential
evidence should not be largely eliminated. We should not separate the world into continents or into
global and local. P.S. I think Connect, as currently written, also does most of these things (even at
the Master's level) in the research project.
Think critically, broaden your worldview, and better understand diverse people, situations, and
places, including the ways that environmental problems have local, regional, national, and
international causes and consequences. Enhance your ability to work in a small group and
communicate with people of diverse backgrounds.
Ability to meaningfully research and gauge the veracity of claims about society and politics,
presenting reasoned conclusions on issues that draw on these understandings. Discern the
difference between values, interests, and facts and know how all three impact positions taken and
how issues are approached, including building potential solutions to public problems by forging
alliances with others who see things differently. To understand social dynamics, government
institutions, and major non-governmental actors well enough to develop a realistic picture of the
development of social, historical, and political phenomena, including how change occurs. To gain a
sense of efficacy about political and social phenomena, an understanding that concerted effort,
particularly in groups, can make a positive difference in the world.
• Increase adeptness at critical thinking, conflict resolution, and cooperative methods. •
Demonstrate skills in deliberation, dialogue, and community building.
Given the national focus of this class I was unable to check goals which asked students to
understand challenges which "affect at least 2 continents." Although many of the issues we address
are faced by several different countries, the course topic constrains our analysis to the United
States. Some recognition of sub-national variation (2 communities, 2 states, 2 regions of the same
country) would more accurately describe the focus of this class, and would reveal larger integration
of this learning outcome for this class and likely many others.
My course aims to teach the students and the followers of Humans of Oshksh Facebook page the
power of storytelling. As of the 10th week, the page has almost 3,000 followers, 5,000-7,000 actual
people engaged by liking or commenting on individual stories, which have reached more than
20,000 each week. Oshkosh has 68,000 residents. The students have learned through this
assignment to do the following: ● Learn components of a good story. ● Participate in a team
environment. ● Develop empathy for others through direct, real-world experience and discussion
with diverse individuals. ● Communicate in ways that honor diversity of thought. ● Identify
stereotypes and preconceptions concerning people different from oneself. ● Practice and improve
one’s verbal and written communication skills. ● Practice and improve one’s teamwork, leadership,
observational, and interpersonal skills. ● Use critical and creative thinking to solve problems. ●
Work on deadline. Through the Humans of Oshkosh photo and story blog, they learned learn to
appreciate the diverse stories from the people of Oshkosh. Through the Humans of OshkoshVeteran Story Project, the students and the student veterans exchanged thoughts, views,
perceptions of each other and other topics such as peace and war. The veteran stories allowed the
students to appreciate the rich resources and accumulated wisdom of the community and culture of
the U.S. military. At the same time, they also learned of stories that may expose weaknesses in that
culture. The students learned to listen without uninformed judgment, even when the stories took
them outside of their comfort zone.
Statistic
Total Responses
Value
7
FY15: AAC&U UWSys Quality Coll #133-021021-0 -- YEAR 4 carryover -- all
funds have to be used by 12/31/14
FY14 Carryover:
Total Funding:
1000: Salaries -- NOTE: Salaries f/b rate 56.5%: we have to pay f/b on this grant because
funding comes directly from an outside source, not UWS.
Quality Collaboratives Civic Engagement Stipends:
Tracy Slagter
Paul Van Auken
Emmet Sandberg
Michael Lueder
Christopher Stratton
Michelle Kuhl
Gabriel Loiacono
Grace Lim
Crystal Mueller
David Siemers: writing report
56.5% of salaries
Transfer Student Assessment Stipend: Jennifer Considine
56.5% of salary
Subtotal:
2100: Travel:
C. Vande Zandee: LiveText Assessment Conf, Chicago, July 21-22, 2014
C. Vande Zande: QC Conference Mtg, Madison, July 23, 2014
$18,944.98
$18,944.98
Expenses
Month
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$885.00
$1,500.00
$5,347.73
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
November
$775.00
$437.88
$16,025.60
November
November
$400.46
$50.24
Subtotal:
3100: S&E:
SAS Software licence; 8/15/14 thru 8/14/15
Academic Advising: TTR006292 - Doc Services for USP & Transfer costs
Civic Engagement S&E - J. Considine
July
$0.00
July
July
$450.70
$1,800.00
$500.00
$150.00
Monitored
WISDM
$18,944.98
$18,944.98
Monitored
WISDM
$400.46
$50.24
$450.70
July
November
November
$1,800.00
Subtotal:
$2,450.00
$1,800.00
TOTAL EXPENDITURES:
$18,926.30
$2,250.70