Taught By:
Susan Munkres
Director, Office of Community-Engaged Learning and Lecturer, Department of Sociology
University of Vermont
Read profile here.
Course Description: Social Action Campaigns is an experiential course, using a “problem-based learning” model. Students will study issue-based campaigns through developing and implementing their own issue-based campaigns for change. Campaigns are “strategic sequences of actions toward achievable demands”; as they develop their own campaigns, students will also explore historic and contemporary issue-based campaigns – including base-building, power analysis, goal-setting, strategy choices and impact. Readings,short lectures, and movies will contextualize issue-based campaigns within the social change repertoire.
In the first 2 weeks, students will form teams and develop issue-based campaigns. These teams will work together over the entire semester to set campaign goals and strategy, and to build support for the campaign through outreach. Out-of-class group work, meetings, and events are a required component of the course. Students will be expected to track these hours of work on the campaign with a goal of @25 hours of campaign work during the semester. The student teams will produce a portfolio of campaign work as the main deliverable. As individuals, students will also complete reading responses and an individual analysis of their campaign’s process + outcomes. Students will be evaluated on their participation in the course + their campaign, the campaign portfolio, and on their individual reading responses/final essay.
