Schedule
The 2021 University-Wide Teaching & Learning Symposium will be presented using Zoom.
Registered participants will receive a list of links for the morning and afternoon sessions by email. If you have trouble joining a meeting, please contact the Technology Support Center at (309) 438-4357.
Introductions and Welcome
9 a.m. to 9:15 a.m.
Aondover Tarhule, Vice President for Academic Affairs and Provost
Jennifer Friberg, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
Morning Keynote Addresses
Full Participation in 21st Century Academe: Beware of Shrinking Imagination
9:15 a.m. to 10:05 a.m.
This critical time in the evolution of our democracy requires activating the true "work of imagining" within social institutions and networks. The 21st-century academy is well positioned to advance theory, discourses, and action that can play an ameliorative role in that regard. Publicly engaged scholarship brings to bear capacious strategies for deep knowledge making that can lead to substantive impact. Dr. Eatman's talk explores the power of Full Participation as a framework that leverages interdisciplinary culturally rich work to accomplish these goals. Employing multimodal expressions and devices he places special emphasis on the need for cultural change that addresses the stifling gravity of inequity and the promise the methodologies and strategies from the humanities, arts, and community organizing offer for substantive change.
- Presentation (Prezi)
New Challenges = New Opportunities for Community Engagement
10:15 a.m. to 11:05 a.m.
Recent events have required re-thinking how we approach community engagement. While the pandemic has created a lull in which students and faculty have limited interaction with community sites, it also provides an opportunity to engage in meaningful dialogue with community partners. This presentation will explore a theoretically-based approach and practical ways of giving voice to marginalized communities.
- Presentation (PDF)
How and Why to Teach Civic and Political Engagement across the Disciplines
11:15 a.m. to 12:05 p.m.
In this presentation, Professor Bennion will explain how to integrate civic engagement opportunities into your university courses. Dr. Bennion will provide ideas for in-class and out-of-class activities that develop students' civic knowledge, skills, attitudes, and identity. She'll offer examples from a wide range of course levels, academic disciplines, and class formats, from brief online assignments that can be integrated into large introductory courses to semester-long or multi-semester service learning and community-based research projects. Learn more about how community-engaged pedagogies can deepen your students' learning experience while enriching faculty teaching, research, and service. The presentation will include a brief discussion about how politics connects to every discipline and how instructors across the curriculum can educate students for democracy while linking political discussions to core academic course goals.
This presentation is for you, whether you teach freshman, seniors, or graduate students, and whether your training is in the field of chemistry, theater, marketing, communication, or education. Learn how faculty in the humanities, social sciences, fine arts, and professional schools create meaningful civic learning activities that promote academic learning while preparing students for post-graduate careers and a lifetime of active citizenship.
- Presentation (PDF)
Concurrent Sessions I
1 p.m. to 1:50 p.m.
Continuing the Conversation
Dr. Eatman's talk explores the power of Full Participation as a framework that leverages interdisciplinary culturally rich work to accomplish these goals.
- Related article (PDF)
Reflection Strategies
This presentation will provide an overview on how reflection is both a learning and teaching tool. Tried and true reflection strategies based on theoretical frameworks will be described and demonstrated. Assessment and feedback methods will also be provided.
- Presentation (PDF)
Integrating Civic Engagement into Your College Course: A Hands-On Workshop
Professor Bennion will work with instructors to integrate civic engagement activities into their existing courses by helping faculty to identify appropriate options based on discipline, course level, course size, and student learning objectives. After surveying participants about their backgrounds, courses, and prior experience, Dr. Bennion will provide some overall guidance before assigning a course-building activity and placing faculty in breakout groups to complete the activity. Faculty are encouraged to have a specific course in mind when participating in this workshop.
Instructors will identify 2-3 goals and work to develop measurable and specific learning objectives to match each goal. Next, they will identify activities linked to each learning objective and decide what data (or artifact) they will collect to provide evidence that students have met the learning objective. Finally, they will consider how they will assess student learning using the collected evidence. As part of this exercise, faculty will consider how they will use the results of their assessment findings to improve the course and whether they will share the results with a larger audience for professional development or publication purposes. As facilitator, Dr. Bennion will float between the groups to provide feedback and will bring the full group together at the end of the workshop to share a few examples and provide a workshop wrap up. If you are ready to integrate civic learning outcomes into at least one course, this workshop is for you!
- Handout (PDF)
Concurrent Sessions II
2 p.m. to 2:50 p.m.
Reimagining Community Engagement and Civic Learning in Changing Contexts
Dana Karraker, Center for Teaching, Learning, and Technology
In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, course instructors found themselves reimagining every aspect of course work, including civic learning and community engagement. While it wasn't easy, many remained committed to finding ways to continue offering their students this valuable learning experience. In reimagining projects and finding innovative ways to partner with the community, they discovered new possibilities that offered broader access to community engagement and civic learning.
In this panel discussion, you will hear from course instructors and community partners who continued to implement civic learning and community engagement in their courses. They will share their projects, the challenges they faced, and their lessons learned.
Panel Members
- Tanya Scott, Wonsook Kim School of Art, University Galleries
- Deborah Halperin, Illinois Wesleyan University's Action Research Center
- Miranda Lin, Teaching and Learning
- Alicia Wodika, Health Sciences
- Bert Stabler, Wonsook Kim School of Art
- Elahe Javadi, Information Technology
Deliberative Dialogues
Harriett Steinbach, Center for Civic Engagement
Christine Bruckner, Center for Civic Engagement
Looking for a way to spark engaging conversation in your class while encouraging discussions around a political or controversial topic? Over the past year, the Center for Civic Engagement has worked with classes across campus facilitating such conversations known as deliberative dialogues. Utilizing the National Issues Forums Institute (NIFI) model, dialogues remove one-sided lectures and polarizing stances on issues and instead ask students to investigate the complexity of issues and possible solutions through the help of research materials and a trained facilitator. In this session, Center for Civic Engagement staff will share how deliberative dialogues have been used at Illinois State over the last year, discuss assessment results, and describe how this model can be applied to any curricular or co-curricular setting to improve student engagement in class and civic life.
- Presentation (PDF)
- Facilitator Assessment handout (PDF)
- Pre-flection and Reflection questions (PDF)
- Student rubric (PDF)
- Instructor rubric (PDF)
Civic Engagement and Course Design
Katy Strzepek, Center for Civic Engagement
Would you like to learn more about how to incorporate civic engagement into your courses? This session will highlight the concepts of the co-creation of knowledge and collaborative social change, as well as the importance of centering anti-racist education and equity-based practices when creating civic engagement projects. Participants will learn about different types of civic engagement and how to develop civically-engaged learning goals and assessment models, which can be incorporated into their classes using resources from the Center for Civic Engagement.
- Presentation (PDF)
- Discussion guide (MS Word)