Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III: Non-partisan and No-Blame: A Civic Education Resource to Meet the Moment

Session Submission Type: Roundtable

Part of Mini-Conference

• Civic Learning on Campus: Bringing Political Science In Mini-Conference III

Session Description

At this roundtable, participants will hear about how nonpartisan teaching tools from The Citizens Campaign have been implemented in college courses at two different institutions – a West Coast community college and an East Coast HBCU – and will generate ideas about how they could adapt this program to their own home institutions. The Citizens Campaign has developed nonpartisan training tools to help citizens learn to engage in public decision-making on the local level using a pragmatic No-Blame© approach. In political science courses, these teaching tools have helped students to focus on advancing evidence-based solutions in their local communities, strengthening their civic self-image as potential leaders and sense of civic connectedness to place.

This approach is particularly valuable in the present moment, when critics of higher education are claiming that colleges and universities fail to foster useful skills and instead engage in political indoctrination. Though many states are adopting new civic literacy requirements, many forms of civic education are also being criticized for allegedly encouraging radical student activism or simply cynicism. No-Blame Problem Solving offers a positive ethos and a practical roadmap for constructive participation through accessible, impactful local opportunities, which helps students to move past cynicism or negative preconceptions about political participation. The Citizens Campaign has based their training on the strategies of successful practitioners, rooted in the belief that citizens must work together with government officials to find solutions to the problems we face in our communities. Students learn how to research existing solutions to civic problems, how to deliberate on possible solutions collaboratively and constructively, and how to engage with local decision-makers to get things done, rather than to give in to despair or scapegoating. A self-paced online certificate course from The Citizens Campaign serves as an open-access multi-media textbook and roadmap for retrenching democratic literacy in an age of expanding authoritarian politics and decreasing trust in government. It is also offered as a non-credit micro-credential for continuing education.

Chaired by Rogers Smith, this panel explores multiple best practices for integrating this resource into political science, general education, and continuing education offerings. Jasmine Noelle Yarish of the University of DC will discuss her experience using the self-paced online course in a general education civics course. Erin Richards of Cascadia College will address how she helps students to identify a problem in their community that they want to fix, and then apply the No-Blame Problem Solving approach to crafting a solution to that problem which is then presented to elected officials at the end of the term. This project-based, High-Impact approach helps students to reimagine their role as democratic citizens and recognize their own civic agency, even if they are non-citizens or too young to vote in national elections. Students learn by experience that solutions to what seem like small local problems can actually have large impacts. Finally, Joanna Kenty from The Citizens Campaign will review the training tools from The Citizens Campaign and how they can be used in undergraduate coursework, for campus groups, and for community members or partners via continuing education platforms.

Sub Unit

• Theme Panel

Chair

• Rogers M. Smith University of Pennsylvania

Presenters

• Erin E. Richards Cascadia Community College

• Jasmine Noelle Yarish University of the District of Columbia

• Stephanie Lynn Williams University of South Florida

• Harry S. Pozycki The Citizens Campaign