This two-day, in-person institute at the Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin 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. 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.
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.
Note: we ask that attendees fully participate in our community of practice by making the following commitments.
Host
Andreas Richter
Research Associate
German Institute for Community Organizing (DICO)
Catholic University of Applied Sciences Berlin (KHSB)
Andreas Richter’s Social Action Course
Application
There is no registration fee for the Europe ‘26 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. 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).
Institute Participants (Accepted To Date)
CLICK HERE to submit your application
Andrea Collins
Social Work, Childhood education, Special education, Social Management
KHSB, EHB,B-tu Cottbus Senftenberg
Aylin Jordan
Education (Erziehungswissenschaft)
Humboldt-University Berlin
Helen Machin
Social Work
Keele University
Kevin Edmonds
Community Engaged Learning and Caribbean Studies
University of Toronto
Rosa Bracker
Social Work
HAW Hamburg | University of applied Science
Sarah Häseler
Social Work
Katholische Hochschule für Sozialwesen Berlin
Wibke Riekmann
Diaconal Studies, Health and Social Sciences
University of Applied Sciences and Arts Hannover
Institute Preparation
During the two-day Institute, participants will begin to develop a teaching plan to support student campaigns to be launched mid-semester. The Institute sessions will be led by Dr. Scott Myers-Lipton, Professor Emeritus of Sociology at San José State University. In preparation for the Institute, participants will read two textbooks — CHANGE! A Student Guide to Social Action and CHANGE! A Guide to Teaching Social Action — as well as CHANGE! A Companion Guide to Teaching Social Action.
These resources address all aspects of teaching a social action course, including:
- An Overview of Teaching Social Action
- Organizing Your Class
- Issue Development & Choosing Campaigns
- Change Theory & Building Power
- Research & Group Dynamics
- Strategy & Tactics
- Campaign Kick-Off
- Campaign Plan & Evaluation
Here is a graph of how these course topics flow in Scott’s social action course:
Over the two-days, participants will meet each day 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. Institute participants will work with this course planning worksheet (below), which explores many of the issues that arise when teaching social action.
At the conclusion of the institute, we will 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. You will also be added to the Teaching Social Action Email Discussion Group to give faculty, staff, and students a forum for asking questions, discussing active student campaigns, sharing successes and challenges, and announcing future opportunities for training, education, and reflection.