This three-day virtual institute 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.
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 Preparation
During the three-day Institute, which runs from 1-5:30 pm EST, 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 three-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 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.
Application
There is no cost to join the Winter ‘26 Institute on Teaching Social Action. However, we want to restrict participation in the institute to those faculty or staff (who can teach) 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).
CLICK HERE to submit your application
Institute Participants (Accepted To Date)
Neda Moridpour
Media Arts
Tufts University
Brenna Candelaria
Community Studies
UC Santa Cruz
Lisa Gibson
Public Services and Community Studies
Washington and Jefferson College
Rachel Radina
Leadership & Counseling
Eastern Michigan University
Sam Frye
School of Integrative Studies
George Mason University
Tyler Bush
Communications & Creative Arts
Purdue Univetsity Northwest
Annaka Exley
Geography and Geology
West Virginia University
Francisco Munoz
Climate Change Education Center
West LA College
Linda Mendez-Barrientos
Josef Korbel School of Global and Public Affairs
University of Denver
Casandra Coin-Sweeney
English and Humanities
Cuyahoga Community College
Gretchen Brien
faculty
Little Bighorn College (LBHC)
Jennifer Juszkiewicz
English
Saint Mary's College
Kate Rudder
Anthropology
University of Tennessee - Chattanooga
Skylar Bre'z
School of Interdisclipinary Studies - WGSS core
Grand Valley State University
Isabel Pla Julián
Applied Economy
University of Valencia
Lucio Antonio Bianchi
History Department, College of Social Science
Michigan State University
Michael Skladany
Criminology & Sociology
Cleveland State University
Pierre Bocquillon
School of Politics, Philosophy and Area Studies
University of East Anglia
Ayesha Ghazi Edwin
Social Work
University of Michigan
Carolyn Slotten
Family Science and Social Work
Miami University of Ohio
Erin Johnson
Social Work
University of Michigan-Flint
Gabriel Johnson
School of Social Work
Michigan State U.
Helen Machin
Social Work
Keele University
Laurel Sariscsany
Grace Abbott School of Social Work
University of Nebraska Omaha
Lori Sousa-Meixell
Social Work
Roberts Wesleyan University
Marshelia D. Harris,
Social Work
Indian University Northwest
Maria Isabel Espinoza
Sociology
Michigan State University
Charlie Domahidi
Criminal Justice
SUNY Oswego
Danielle Starks
Education
Purdue Northwest University