Institute Highlights
This two-day, in-person institute held at the University of Notre Dame introduced faculty and teaching 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 people who have developed their knowledge and skills in bringing about positive change through real world experience.
Institute Host
Dr. Arun Agrawal
Pulte Family Professor of Development Policy at the Keough School for Global Affairs
Inaugural Director, Just Transformations to Sustainability Initiative
University of Notre Dame
Institute Participants
Anna Kochigina
Communication Studies
Eastern Illinois University
Austin Hestdalen
Communication & Creative Arts
Purdue University - Northwest
Avik Sanyal
History, Philosophy, Politics and Economics (HPPE)
Purdue University Northwest
Caroline Sharkey
School of Social Welfare
University at Albany
Christine Wilson
Core Curriculum
Dominican University
Coleman Allums
Community & Justice Studies
Allegheny College
Inés Botto
Human Development and Family Studies
University of Wisconsin-Madison
Jackie Votapek
Social Work
Indiana University
Jeff Hunter
Journalism and Media Studies
New Mexico State University
Jennifer Dunn
Communication Arts and Sciences
Dominican University
Jozie Nummi
Department of Behavioral Sciences
Purdue University Northwest
Juritzi Torres Mendoza
Community Organizer
SIREN's Youth Liberation Institute
Katy Hadley
Sociology and Anthropology
Hanover College
Kendall Deas
Department of African American Studies
University of South Carolina
Kristin Conley
Department of Interdisciplinary Studies
Ferris State University
Lee Artz
Communication
Purdue University Northwest
Lynne Ford
Political Science
College of Charleston
Melinda Farrington
Communication and Media Studies
Saint Vincent College
Otrude N. Moyo
Social Work
Indiana University School of Social Work - South Bend Campus
Pam Saylor
Behavioral Sciences
Purdue University Northwest
Patricia Linner
Labor Studies
Indiana University South Bend
Renee Schutze
Nursing
Saint Mary's College
Sara Patterson
Theological Studies
Hanover College
Sarah Renkert
Anthropology
Purdue University
Steve Carr
Communication
Purdue University Fort Wayne
Tommy Housman
Communications
University of Evansville
Tonya Ricklefs
Social Work
Washburn University
Toqa Hassan
Communication and Creative Arts
Purdue University Northwest
Valerie Stein
History, Politics, and Social Change
University of Evansville
We have asked all of the participants to fully participate in our community of practice by making the following commitments.
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
Below 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. Below is the Institute agenda:
Institute participants will work with a 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 attendees to participate in our networking community of fellow practitioners who are teaching or learning how to teach social action using this experiential, real-world model. The Teaching Social Action Group is hosted by the Bonner Foundation on the Bonner Learning Community Platform 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.