Event Title

Teaching for Social Justice: Effecting Change and Increasing Student Engagement

Location

Hart 114

Start Time

13-5-2016 11:05 AM

End Time

13-5-2016 11:50 AM

Description

This workshop will present one way that professors can both foster student engagement and support students in effecting change. It will begin by discussing, as a case study, a course I developed with the support of the Institute of Social Justice. In an English 102 section with the theme “Writing for a Better World” students wrote with a genuine purpose - to effect a change they would like to see - and also wrote for a real audience, one broader than just the professor. To reach a broad audience, students wrote and revised op-eds that they were required to submit to a print or online venue of their choice. They wrote and revised researched arguments that they are required to present at the BSU Arts and Research Symposium. As evidence for the efficacy of this pedagogical approach, I will share excerpts of published op-eds that students felt made a genuine impact, and I will share a few representative narrative evaluations gathered by an independent party who won’t show them to me until grades are submitted. Finally, I will mention the glitches that are almost inevitably experienced whenever a professor tries a new approach, and I’ll reflect on how those glitches might be avoided.

Comments

Moderator: Kevin Kalish

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May 13th, 11:05 AM May 13th, 11:50 AM

Teaching for Social Justice: Effecting Change and Increasing Student Engagement

Hart 114

This workshop will present one way that professors can both foster student engagement and support students in effecting change. It will begin by discussing, as a case study, a course I developed with the support of the Institute of Social Justice. In an English 102 section with the theme “Writing for a Better World” students wrote with a genuine purpose - to effect a change they would like to see - and also wrote for a real audience, one broader than just the professor. To reach a broad audience, students wrote and revised op-eds that they were required to submit to a print or online venue of their choice. They wrote and revised researched arguments that they are required to present at the BSU Arts and Research Symposium. As evidence for the efficacy of this pedagogical approach, I will share excerpts of published op-eds that students felt made a genuine impact, and I will share a few representative narrative evaluations gathered by an independent party who won’t show them to me until grades are submitted. Finally, I will mention the glitches that are almost inevitably experienced whenever a professor tries a new approach, and I’ll reflect on how those glitches might be avoided.