This three-day, virtual Institute (1-5:30 pm EST) will introduce faculty and staff to an experiential learning approach for incorporating social action campaigns into either a semester-long course or co-curricular workshop series. In this transformative experiential learning model, students develop and launch a social action campaign of their choosing during the semester the course is taught. The student campaigns seek to change a rule, regulation, norm, or practice of an institution, whether on campus or in the community.
Our long-term goal is to mainstream this model for teaching active democracy. The world needs more citizens who have developed their knowledge and skills in bringing about positive change through real world experience. While not all of the student campaigns are successful, many have been and those that haven’t succeeded have still taught valuable lessons to those who led them and those who were engaged in one form or another.
Note: we ask that attendees fully participate in our community of practice by making the following commitments.
Institute Participants (Accepted To Date)
Participants
List View
Iqra Batool
Management Sciences
Superior University
Usman Sadiq
Social Entrepreneurship Program
Superior University Lahore
Mindy Goldstein
Human Rights Institute
Kean University
Rachel Goldberg
Peace and Conflict Studies
DePauw University
Stephanie Ruppen
Center for Service Learning
University of Kansas
Amy Best
Sociology and Anthropology/ Center for Social Science Research
George Mason University
Andy Garcia-Romo
Programs
Sunday Friends Foundation
Tatiana Colon
N/A
N/A Sunday Friends Foundation
Sydney Rittershaus
Geography, Recreation, & Planning
Northern Arizona University
Anthony Levenda
Environmental Studies
The Evergreen State College
Barbara Blonder
Natural Sciences
Flagler College
Ellen Reese
Society, Environment, & Health Equity
University of California, Riverside
Gillian Grebler
Anthropology/Sustainability in Earth Science Dept
Santa Monica College
Heather Maxey
Geology and Geography
West Virginia University
Kelly Mandy
Global Department and Science Department
Marist School
Leah Mundell
Anthropology and Sustainable Communities
Northern Arizona University
Mariam Konate
Institute of Intercultural and Anthropological Studies
Western Michigan University
Minahil Khan
Social Entrepreneurship Program
The Superior University Lahore
Niiyokamigaabaw Deondre Smiles
Department of Geography
University of Victoria
Ben Little
Politics, Philosophy, Language and Communication Studies
University of East Anglia (UK)
Gabriela Gonzalez
Justice Studies
San Jose State University
LaTasha Chaffin
Political Science
College of Charleston
Laura Barrio-Vilar
English
University of Arkansas at Little Rock
Sara Kendall
Geography; Social Change & Solidarity profile
Dawson College
Susanna Peters
Social Science
Michigan Technological University
Daniel Velez Ortiz
School of Social Work
Michigan State University
Nathan Stephens
School of Social Work
Illinois State University
Pam Saylor
Behavioral Sciences
Purdue University Northwest
Institute Preparation
During the three-day Institute, participants will begin drafting a syllabus and develop a teaching plan to support student campaigns which are launched by mid-semester. The Institute sessions will be led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at San José State University.
Participants will be asked to prepare for the Institute by reading CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action (2nd edition) and CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action. In addition, participants read the Companion Guide, which is a multimedia media presentation of the teaching guide. In the Companion Guide, there are "mini-lectures" of Scott speaking about each topic, as well as articles, in-class videos, and portfolios that Scott uses. The hope is that with the two books and Companion Guide, the Institute can be interactive with you and the other participants grappling with the challenges of doing a social action course, rather than just being taught the material.
At the Institute, we will discuss the pros and cons of revising a course to incorporate social action campaigns or develop a new course that complements an existing course, concentration, minor, major, or certificate program. We will also share the process and lessons learned from prior student campaigns. We welcome participants who want to explore developing a co-curricular social action workshop series embedded into a fellowship or co-curricular or integrated program. Participants will leave the Institute with an overview for their syllabus.
Over the three-days participants will break into smaller groups for discussions about your goals, course models, teaching approach, and sharing examples and exercises that will help you plan your social action course or workshop series.
At the conclusion of the Institute, we invite participants to join a year-long support and networking community of fellow practitioners who are teaching or learning how to teach social action using this experiential, real-world model.
When you apply to the Institute, we will automatically add you to the socialaction@bonner.org email discussion list where we discuss active student campaigns, share successes and challenges, and announce future opportunities for training, education, and reflection.
Application
There is no cost to join the Winter ‘25 Institute on Teaching Social Action. However, we want to restrict participation in the Institute to those faculty, staff or students who are committed to implementing this experiential social action course model. Please note that preparing and supporting students to launch their social action campaigns generally takes at least half of the course content and assignments. Some courses are directly on social action and change, while others address a societal issue (e.g., climate change, housing, poverty, etc.) around which students develop their campaigns; importantly, these courses come from a variety of disciplines. From experience, the social action campaign dimension of these courses takes up roughly half of the course work (readings, assignments, and in-class teaching and group work).
As stated above,, there is no cost to attend the Institute. In return, we ask that attendees pledge themselves to complete these commitments.
Application Deadline — no longer open