This three-day virtual institute (1-5:30 pm EST) will introduce 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. Note: we ask that attendees fully participate in our community of practice by making the following commitments.
Login for participants — 302-9907-447
Bobby Hackett's Personal Meeting Room
Institute Participants
Aaron PeeksMease
Sociology
University of Nebraska-Lincoln
Andrew Rhodes
Mechanical, Materials and Aerospace Engineering
West Virginia University
Chelsea Starr
History, Social Sciences, and Religion
Eastern New Mexico University
Corey Chan
Creation Care Team
Bishop O'Dowd High School
Ian Bethell Bennett
English
University of The Bahamas
Mahtaub Golab
Sustainability
Santa Monica College
Mallory Servais
Service Learning
Bishop O'Dowd
Marshall Stevenson, Jr.
Social Sciences
University of Maryland Eastern Shore
Misty Iwatsu
Marketing
Cal State LA
Othelia Lee
School of Social Work
UNC Charlotte
Paul Ronevich
Geography
University of California, Davis
Sarah Jane Brubaker
Virginia Commonwealth University
Sheryl Groden
Social Work
University of Michigan-Flint
Sonya Okoli
Educational Leadership
Clark Atlanta University
Tristan Sharratt
Decker School of Nursing and Health Sciences (Graduate Nursing/Public Health)
Binghamton University
Yamuranai Kurewa
Social Work
Bennett College
Institute Preparation
During the three-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. Below is the Institute agenda. 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.