Integrating civic responsibility into community college curricula
Abstract
Using service-learning to develop civic responsibility allows community colleges to fulfill their basic mission of providing a quality educational experience and serve the needs of the community. This effective practice offers strategies that educators can use to integrate civic responsibility concepts and activities into their courses so that students come away with a greater understanding of what is expected of them as citizens in our society. Adapted from the resource, A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum, edited by Karla Gottlieb and Gail Robinson, 2002.Issue
Service-learning is intended to provide meaningful service that addresses community-defined needs and course-relevant learning to students. The challenge for educators is to integrate, at the core of their courses, civic responsibility concepts and practices that contribute to this quality experience.Action
According to the guide, Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum, (Gottlieb and Robinson, 2002), effective practices for integrating civic engagement components into the course curricula include:
Educators involved in service-learning should first of all consider:
- What they want students to gain from a service-learning activity
- How service activities will enhance the competencies and skills as related to the discipline and learning objectives in which they are teaching
- How much time to spend on a service assignment, i.e. will this be a single service activity, activities that involve more than one class period, or an assignment that can take the entire academic term?
- Why did I become a teacher?
- Why do I teach in my discipline?
- Why am I thinking about integrating service-learning into my courses?
- Why am I interested in civic responsibility?
Afterwards, educators should share their answers with students.
Educators can introduce the following concepts and exercises to students:
- Assign Robert Cole's book, The Call of Service, particularly Chapter 2, in which he talks about different types of service. In a subsequent discussion of this reading, ask students about their own experiences with service and what led them into these activities. How does their service fit within Cole's framework?
- Discuss with students what they gain by doing service as well as what their communities gain from it. Explore with them whether service is an obligation of citizenship, a privilege, a right, or none of these.
- Ask students to define "citizen" and "citizenship."
- Have students define civic responsibility from the individual, family, community, national, and global perspectives.
- Effective citizens possess specific knowledge, skills, attitudes, and behaviors that allow them to excel. Ask students to list as many items as possible under each category that are necessary for effective citizenship.
- Have students discuss articles, quotations, or videos that present different images of civic engagement and communicate the message of civic responsibility.
- Pose the questions, "What kind of a society do we want? What can each of us do to make it that way? What role does civic responsibility play in creating the society we want?" Have students pair up and share their ideas with each other, then ask them to share with the larger group.
- Ask students how civic responsibility can be related to your course, discipline, or profession. Do certain professions model a greater sense of civic responsibility and engagement than others?
- Assign students to write their "citizenship resume," summarizing their own personal experiences in civic engagement.
Context
A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility Into the Curriculum evolved from a national service-learning project of the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC) funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service. The Association's project, Community Colleges Broadening Horizons through Service Learning, has strived to integrate service-learning in community colleges since 1994.
Recognizing that an intentional civic responsibility component was missing from many service-learning initiatives, AACC selected six colleges from around the country to participate in a pilot project whose purpose was to identify service-learning strategies to boost civic engagement and foster civic responsibility among community college students. The six participating colleges are Albuquerque TVI Community College, Albuquerque, New Mexico; Glendale Community College, Glendale, California; Hocking College, Nelsonville, Ohio; Mesa Community College, Mesa, Arizona; Miami-Dade Community College, Miami, Florida; and Oakton Community College, Des Plaines, Illinois.
The guide is the result of two years of work by faculty, staff, and administrators at these colleges, with Karla Gottlieb and Gail Robinson serving as editors.
Citation
Gottlieb , Karla, and Robinson, Gail. A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum. Washington, D.C.: Community College Press, 2002.Outcome
Classroom and service activities that include discussions of civic responsibility can help students cultivate citizenship skills that are vital to the success of the college and community. By nurturing the development of civic responsibility in students, community colleges help counteract citizen disengagement.Evidence
- In a 2002 study, Battistoni found that service-learning can be a potent civic educator.
- Two different studies revealed that participating in service as an undergraduate student significantly enhanced the student's sense of civic responsibility, academic development, and overall life skill development (Astin and Sax 1998; Astin et al. 2000).
- A third study showed that students who performed community service were more aware of the need to become involved in the policy process, felt a greater connection to the community, and were better able to view situations from others' perspectives (Eyler, Giles, and Braxton 1997).
Posted On
April 23, 2003For More Information
Resources
From The Resource Center library:
A Practical Guide for Integrating Civic Responsibility into the Curriculum
Item number: C2267
Also available in download version
http://www.aacc.nche.edu/Content/NavigationMenu/ResourceCenter/Projects_Partnerships/Current/HorizonsServiceLearningProject/Publications/CR_guide_2nd.pdf
The following books are good sources for articles and readings related to civic responsibility:
Barber, Benjamin R., and Richard M. Battistoni. 1993. Education for Democracy. Dubuque, Iowa: Kendall/Hunt Publishing Company.
Bellah Robert N., Richard Madsen, William M. Sullivan, Ann Swidler, and Steven M. Titpton. 1985. Habits of the Heart: Individualism and Commitment in American Life. Berkeley: University of California Press.
Lappe, Frances Moore, and Paul Martin Du Bois. 1994. The Quickening of America: Rebuilding Our Nation, Remaking Our Lives. San Francisco: Jossey-Bass. ERIC ED No. 386 812.
Shea, Margo, and Kevin Mattson. 1998. Building Citizens: A Critical Reflection and Discussion Guide for Community Participants. New Brunswick, N.J.: The Walt Whitman Center for the Culture and Politics of Democracy at Rutgers University.
Source Documents
Related Practices
Related sites
American Association of Community Colleges/Horizons Service-Learning Project