TEACHING FOR CIVIC CAPACITY AND ENGAGEMENT:How Faculty Align Teaching and Purpose

IARSLCE 2011 | CHICAGO

Jennifer M. Domagal-Goldman | November 3, 2011

Higher Education’s Civic Mission

Democracy has to be born anew in each generation and education is its midwife.

– John Dewey (1916)

The involvement of faculty in preparing students for their role as active citizens is one of the most significant and challenging aspects of the college civic engagement movement …. Faculty members are key in helping students understand the social contributions to be made by every discipline.

– Elizabeth Hollander (2007)

Definitions

Civic Engagement: Active participation in the civic or political life of a community.

Civic Capacity: Knowledge, skills, and attitudes of informed citizenship.

Public Scholarship: Teaching, research, and service that contribute to informed engagement in society.

Research Questions

How, if at all, does faculty participation in the Public Scholarship Associates influence their teaching-related learning and/or practice?

How, if at all, do faculty members align their undergraduate courses and teaching practices with their implicit and/or explicit ideas about civic engagement as an educational purpose?

FORM

CON

TEN

TCO

NTE

XTSociohistori

calContext

COURSE DECISIONS

Feedback

Instruction

Sequence

Goals

Content

Faculty Members’Background &Characteristics

Views of Academic Fields

Beliefs about Purposes of

Education

Pragmatic Factors

Public Scholarship Associates

Student Goals

Student Characteristics

Teaching & Learning LiteratureProgram &

College Goals Other Influences

External Influences Advice Available on Campus

Facilities, Opportunities, & Assistance

Participants

Selection Criteria: Tenured/tenure-track faculty members in

the PSA Sample:

6 women, 8 men 4 Assistant, 4 Associate, and 6 Full

Professors 4 faculty of color, 10 white faculty members 4 humanities, 4 social sciences, 2 natural

sciences, 4 professional fields 16 academic fields

Data Analysis Data Collection

Methods

Documents

(CVs, syllabi)

ObservationsFieldnotes

Semi-Structured Interviews

Participant Data Forms

I. Content

II. ContextIII. Form

Coding(a priori &

open)

Contact Summaries

Analytical

Memos

•Triangulation•Bracketing•Reflective Memos•Peer Debriefer•Member Checks

Trustworthiness & Ethical

Considerations

Limitations

Single institution; small sample Some PSA members elected not to

participate Retrospective interviews; did not

observe teaching

Findings

FORM

CON

TEN

TCO

NTE

XTSociohistori

calContext

COURSE DECISIONS

Feedback

Instruction

Sequence

Goals

Content

Faculty Members’Background &Characteristics

Views of Academic Fields

Beliefs about Purposes of

Education

Pragmatic Factors

Public Scholarship Associates

Student Goals

Student Characteristics

Teaching & Learning LiteratureProgram &

College Goals Other Influences

External Influences Advice Available on Campus

Facilities, Opportunities, & Assistance

FORM

CON

TEN

TCO

NTE

XTSociohistori

calContext

COURSE DECISIONS

Feedback

Instruction

Sequence

Goals

Content

Faculty Members’Background &Characteristics

Views of Place of Civic Purposes inAcademic Fields

Beliefs about Civic Purposes

of Education

Pragmatic Factors

Public Scholarship Associates

Student Goals

Student Characteristics

Teaching & Learning LiteratureProgram &

College Goals Other Influences

External Influences Advice Available on Campus

Facilities, Opportunities, & Assistance

Q #2

Q #1

Theory Development: Proposition 1

Proposition 1Content influences on course planning, specifically views of the academic field and beliefs about educational purpose, are dynamic rather than stable.

Theory Development: Proposition 2

Proposition 2

A reciprocal relationship exists between content and context elements of the contextual filters model.

Theory Development: Proposition 3

Proposition 3

Local contexts can be catalysts for faculty learning, as well as influences on course form.

Theory Development: Proposition 4

Proposition 4Planning for civic engagement courses is influenced by perceptions of institutional mission, particularly perceptions of what counts for promotion and tenure.

Theory Development: Proposition 5

Proposition 5Once faculty have decided to incorporate community engagement into a course, subsequent course decisions are influenced by that community’s characteristics and needs.

Future Research Continue to extend and refine the Contextual

Filters Model by studying course planning in different: Institutional settings Faculty populations Course levels & types

Conduct longitudinal or ethnographic studies of faculty course planning and teaching for civic purposes

Develop assessment tools for evaluating civic learning

Implications for Institutional Practice & Policy

Pay attention to rhetoric and reality Allocate institutional resources Prepare future faculty members Forge partnerships across the institution

and with local communities Consider position descriptions and

contracts Revisit promotion and tenure policies

Participants’ Course Goals

Participant Characteristics

Participants’ Disciplines/Fields

Questions & Discussion