Welcome!
Please take a moment to introduce
yourselves to your neighbors, then consider
the following:
• What is civic engagement?
• Why should civic engagement be part of
the college curriculum?
Promoting Civic Engagement in Lower Level General Education
Aryn Bartley, Brenta Blevins, Michele Ren, Haley Russell
5th Annual Conference on Higher Education Pedagogy - 2013
What is Civic Engagement?
Why should civic engagement be
part of the college curriculum?
Truman Commission on Higher Education
(1947)
Emphasis on education for:
• A fuller realization of democracy
• International understanding and
cooperation.
• The application of creative imagination
and trained intelligence to the solution of
social problems and to the administration
of public affairs.
The National Task Force on Civic Learning and
Democratic Engagement (2012)
“[D]eep engagement with the values of
liberty, equality, individual worth, open
mindedness, and the willingness to
collaborate with people of differing views
and backgrounds toward common solutions
for the public good”
Talloires Network (2005)
“The university should use the processes of
education and research to respond to, serve
and strengthen its communities for local and
global citizenship.”
Munck, McQuillan and Ozarowski (2012)
The university as a “socially
embedded institution” with a “[firm
commitment] to social transformation
and the pursuit of knowledge for the
benefit of the community” (26).
Lyons (2012)
“A mutually beneficial knowledge-based
collaboration between the higher-education
institution, its staff and students, [and] the wider
community, through community-campus
partnerships.”
Can Include:
•Service Learning/Community-Based Learning
•Community-engaged Research
•Volunteering
•Community/Economic regeneration
•Capacity-Building and Access
• Education for
“democracy,” “common
good,” social benefit
• Emphasis on
cooperation/collaboration
/ partnering
• University as located
within community global, local, “glocal”
Rationale
• Encourage active civic
•
•
participation/engagement and reinvigorate
democratic practices like voting, civil public
discourse, etc. (National Task Force on Civic
Learning and Democratic Engagement )
Strengthen relationship between university
and community (Munck et. al., Lyons)
“improved graduation rates and narrowed
achievement gaps between racial–ethnic
groups” (Kinzie, 2012, 13).
Rationale
•
“Real” Rhetorical Situations
•
•
•
Rather than writing to complete an assignment,
“writing as social action” – (Heilker, 1997, 71-72)
no need "to imagine an entire rhetorical world, to
conjure up an appropriate audience, subject
matter, and ethos out of thin air“ (Heilker, 1997, 71)
Motive/Exigence
•
"students are conscious of the responsibility they
have to readers, civic communities, and even
themselves to produce accurate, reflective, and
moral writing” (Sidler, 2005, 49-50).
Group Wikis
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2012 - Aryn Bartley
• Construct a wiki page about“an important,
interesting and/or helpful aspect of RU,
Radford, or the New River Valley.”
• Three sections (60 students) participated.
“Civic Engagement”Component
• Writing for a specific audience of their
peers (student body as “community”)
• Writing to help their peers access local
resources
• Engaging with local/university community
(places and people)
• Collaborative project with peers
Sample topics (on and off campus)
• Clubs and Activities
• Sororities/fraternities
• Food/hangout spots
• Local small businesses
• Outdoor Recreational Locales
Sample Wiki: “RU Leisure Activities”
•
Reflections: Pros
Asked students to consider the positive
impact of their writing/research on
others within their community (student
body)
• Students learned about community
resources
• Engaged students with each other, RU,
and Radford
Reflections: Cons
• Varying levels of student engagement often
depended on their interest in the topic
• Community as commodity?
Finding and Interviewing “Experts”
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2012 - Michele Ren
• A formal, taped, interview with an “expert”
•
•
on the topic the student is addressing in their
final essay
Asks students to become familiar with not
only the issue, but with a community member
who has experience, knowledge, expertise in
the area
Gives practice in working with others who are
concerned about the issue, and, often, allows
students to encounter different viewpoints.
Argument Essay
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2010, Fall 2011 – Brenta Blevins
UNCG - English 101 – Fall 2012 - Brenta Blevins
• Write an argument essay about an issue on or
affecting our campus
• Students choose and research topic, audience,
and potential publication on campus
• Topics
• Reducing athlete concussions, more dining
hall choices, the importance of University
100, on campus smoking, the perennial
parking issue, campus technology, the role
of alcohol on campus, dealing with
substance abuse deaths
Argument Essay: Civic Engagement
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2010, Fall 2011 – Brenta Blevins
UNCG - English 101 – Fall 2012 - Brenta Blevins
• Identifying an issue that can and should be
•
written about
Researching the issue, describing it, and
writing persuasively about that issue for the
community (college campus)
Argument Essay
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2010, Fall 2011 – Brenta Blevins
UNCG - English 101 – Fall 2012 - Brenta Blevins
• At Radford, scaffolded on a formal
interview assignment with an “expert”
• Helps students research who has
•
expertise and how to ask the expert
questions to build an argument
At UNCG, scaffolded on a rhetorical
analysis of argument building
• Helps students understand context,
audience in terms of needs and language
Argument Essay: Reflection
Radford University - CORE 101 - Fall 2010, Fall 2011 – Brenta Blevins
UNCG - English 101 – Fall 2012 - Brenta Blevins
Pros:
• Provides students with a choice about the
issue they wanted to engage
• Specific assignment focus limits paper
mill/plagiarism issues
Cons:
• Not every topic is publication ready
Informative Poster Presentation
Radford University – CORE 102 – Spring 2013 - Haley Russell
Research Portfolio
• Annotated Bibliography (5 Articles)
• Weekly Posts to a Research Blog
• Poster Design
• Oral Poster Presentation
• Multiple Peer Review Workshops
• Final Argumentative Essay
Informative Poster Presentation
Radford University – CORE 102 – Spring 2013 - Haley Russell
Modeling Civic Engagement in the
Classroom:
• models an academic community
• emphasizes the process of peer review
• requires that students question college culture
• requires reflection on personal engagement in
their community
• looks at the cultural and moral issues of college
life
Questions about our
assignments?
Take a few minutes discuss
with those around you and/or to make
notes on:
How might you incorporate a civic
engagement component in your future
general education courses?
Thank You!
Handouts on specific assignments are
available on the CHEP website.
References, p. 1
Department of Education, The National Task Force on Civic Learning
and Democratic Engagement (2012). A crucible moment: College
learning and democracy’s future. (ED-OPE-10-C-078).Retrieved
from Association of American Colleges and Universities
website:
http://www.aacu.org/civic_learning/crucible/documents/crucible_
508F.pdf
Kinzie, J. (2012). High-impact practices: Promoting participation for all
students. Diversity & Democracy, 15(3), 13-14. Retrieved from
http://www.diversityweb.org/DiversityDemocracy/vol15no3/about_issue.
cfm
Lyons, A. (2012.) Civic engagement practices in higher education in
Ireland. In McIlrath, L, A. Lyons & R. Munck, Eds. Higher
education and civic engagement: Comparative perspectives. New
York: Palgrave MacMillan.
References, p. 2
Munck, R., McQuillan, H., & Ozarowsk, J. Civic engagement in
a cold climate: A glocal perspective. In McIlrath, L, A.
Lyons & R. Munck, Eds. Higher education and civic
engagement: Comparative perspectives. New York:
Palgrave MacMillan.
Talloires Network. (2005). Talloires declaration on the civic
roles and social responsibilities of higher education.
Retrieved from http://talloiresnetwork.tufts.edu/what-is-thetalloires-network/ talloires-declaration/
Truman Commission on Higher Education. (1947). Retrieved
from
http://courses.education.illinois.edu/eol474/sp98/truman.html