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Teaching and Learning for Social Impact

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Incorporating a Racial Equity Lens 63 plain 2021-06-07T09:42:46-07:00
This summer, hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets to protest the murders of Black Americans. While the Black Lives Matter movement has been building for years, many have said that this moment feels different. As David Cunningham articulated in a conversation with Hedy Lee and Geoff Ward, "this is a time of great challenge, but it's also a space within which we can double down on this mission to say that it's impossible to think about a vibrant university moving forward that doesn't engage these pressing issues in a way that's relevant to students and relevant to the community and relevant to all of us as we work together." The following resources can support you as you consider how to incorporate a racial equity lens to your course.
In my intro neuroscience class this semester I provided a reading assignment about systemic racism in neuroscience. I’m sharing here a very long thread about this experience, what I learned & some of the responses from students. There were approximately 98 students enrolled. 1/13
— Serafine Laboratory (@SerafineLab) December 16, 2020
Curated Course Structures and Components
- Full Courses & Syllabi
  - #blacklivesmatter library, teaching, activism, and community resource list has a syllabus section among other resources
  - This University of St. Thomas library guide includes links to topical syllabi from the Minnesota Uprising Syllabus to #Immigration Syllabus and more
- Assignments & Lesson Plans
  - Setting the Tone: This step is essential for courses that will include conversations about equity. This Michigan LSA, Getting Started with Inclusive Teaching includes activities for creating guidelines for discussion, welcoming the use of gender pronouns and other markers of identity, and engaging other best practices.
  - Teaching about Race in the US:
    Project READY, Module 2: History of Race and Racism This is a fully developed online module, after which, learners will be able to "Describe how and why the concept of race was developed. Explain how the concept of race was applied throughout history in ways that advantaged white people and disadvantaged people of color and Native people. Outline how historical advantages and disadvantages based on race have accumulated to create and maintain the racial inequities we observe today. Connect historical events and trends to your own personal and family history.
    National Museum of African American History and Culture, Talking About Race Also has fully developed materials, including definitions, videos, reflection questions, etc. for educators who care about their "students' racial consciousness and want to develop their racial awareness."
    Racial Equity Tools offers tools, research, tips, curricula and ideas for people who want to increase their own understanding and to help those working toward justice at every level – in systems, organizations, communities and the culture at large.
- Other Resources
  - Michigan LSA, Incorporating Language About Gender-Based Violence and Sexual Abuse Into Your Course Syllabus
  - ACUE Inclusive Teaching Practices Toolkit includes "10 inclusive teaching practices that can be immediately put to use to benefit both faculty and their students."
  - Center for Teaching and Learning Inclusive Teaching and Learning Page
Curated Relevant Content
Read
- Tuitt, F., Haynes, C., Steward, S. (2018). Transforming the Classroom at Traditionally White Institutions to Make Black Lives Matter. To Improve the Academy: A Journal of Educational Development, 37(1).
- Thurber, A., Harbin, M.B., & Bandy, J. (2019). Teaching Race: Pedagogy and Practice. Vanderbilt University Center for Teaching. Retrieved [8/23/2020].
- Cole, C.E. Culturally Sustaining Pedagogy in Higher Education: Teaching so That Black Lives Matter. Equality, Diversity and Inclusion: An International Journal, vol. 36, no. 8, 2017, pp. 736–750.
- Patton, L. D. (2016). Race, equity, and the learning environment: The global relevance of critical and inclusive pedagogies in Higher Education. Stylus Publishing, LLC. (available as a WashU electronic resource)
- Brookfield, S. D. (2015). The skillful teacher: On technique, trust, and responsiveness in the classroom. John Wiley & Sons. (available in the WashU library)
- Ginsberg, M. B., & Wlodkowski, R. J. (2009). Diversity and motivation: Culturally responsive teaching in college. John Wiley & Sons. (available in the WashU library)
- Hales, K. G. (2020). Signaling Inclusivity in Undergraduate Biology Courses through Deliberate Framing of Genetics Topics Relevant to Gender Identity, Disability, and Race. CBE—Life Sciences Education, 19(2), es2.
- Sue, D. W. (2016). Race talk and the conspiracy of silence: Understanding and facilitating difficult dialogues on race. John Wiley & Sons.
Listen
- 1619 Project Podcast
Watch
- Whose Streets? (available in the WashU library)
- Race: The Power of an Illusion (available in the WashU library)
Experience
- Check out more opportunities to learn and engage at the Academy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion
Contextualizing St. Louis 54 plain 2020-09-08T10:30:48-07:00
We live, we teach, and we learn in St. Louis. It only makes sense that we integrate St. Louis in its many contexts – social, political, historical – into our work through research and teaching.
Contextualizing St. Louis can help bridge the divide between theory and practice, giving our work renewed relevance and make its impact tangible and visible to our students and the broader community. Our connection to place strengthens a sense of purpose and belonging that’s invaluable to understanding how we ourselves can positively impact social fabrics.

The resources provided below are meant to be a starting place. They should open up new lines of inquiry and better position us to introduce St. Louis to our work and our classrooms. When contextualizing St. Louis, it is important to complicate dominate narratives with the inclusion of many voices, for that reason, no list of resources would ever suffice to help one say they “know St. Louis." Knowing St. Louis is a continued action in which we always seek new knowledge, new histories, new stories, and new voices. Including a cross section of voices and perspectives often means presenting students with opposing storytelling and asking them to make sense of it – we must do the same. Some of that work is done directly with community through community engaged learning, but that work can also be done by developing relationships with our neighbors and welcoming community voice into our professional domains.
Curated Relevant Content
Read
- Land Acknowledgement
- American Indians in Missouri Timeline
- Forward Through Ferguson Report
- Dismantling the Divide Report
- Mapping Decline: St. Louis and the American City (Book & Website)
- St. Louis Reports and Case Studies (Digital versions of government reports about St. Louis)
- Higher Ground: Honoring Washington Park Cemetery, Its People and Place
- The Seeds of Regionalism
- Fragmented By Design: Why St. Louis Has So Many Governments
- Dr. John A Wright, Sr. Book Series (African Americans in Downtown St. Louis, African American St. Louis, Kinloch: Missouri’s First All Black City, The Ville: St. Louis, and St. Louis: Disappearing Black Communities)
Watch
Listen
- We Live Here (Podcast)
- Monument Lab rethinks memorials and historic sites of St. Louis (Cut & Paste)
- The Broken Heart of America (St. Louis On the Air)
Experience
- The Academy for Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion offers Zoom "In St. Louis" learning sessions
- The In St. Louis Project
- Documenting Ferguson
- Mapping LGBTQ St. Louis
- Humans of St. Louis
- State Historical Society of Missouri Digital Collections
- Missouri Historical Society Research Library
  - See STL Tours, including Virtual Tours
  - The History at Home (Interactive Activities)
- Local Museums
Credits
Nichole Murphy
Community Engagement Fellow
nnmurphy@wustl.edu

Stefani Weeden-Smith
Stefani Weeden-Smith
Assistant Director for Community Engagement
weeden-smith.s@wustl.edu
Linking Academic and Community Learning 45 plain 2020-09-22T13:34:59-07:00
Overview
Read: Principles of Good Practice
Watch: Ready, Set, Engage! Principles and Practice of Community Engagement
Relevance
Read: Articles about CETL in different disciplines
Reflection
Read: Principles of Reflection
Create: Reflection Assignments
- On this site from the University of Puget Sound you will find:
  - Sample Assignments from a range of disciplines
  - A Design Checklist
  - Reflection Types such as group dialogues, directed writing, and more
  - Reflection models Note: Kolb’s model is sometimes summarized as What, So What, Now What. You can also find specific reflection questions for different reflection models here.
- The Center for Civic Reflection provides reflection questions for a range of topics (e.g. Crisis and Conflict, Power and Privilege)
- Indiana University Bloomington provides reflection questions on service-learning courses
Equity Centered Community Engagement
(Theories to Inform Practices)
Critical Service-Learning
Read: Traditional vs. Critical Service-Learning: Engaging the literature to Differentiate Two Models
Listen: Interview with Tania Mitchell.
Discussion of Critical Service-Learning from 21:55 to 42:50.
Decolonizing Service-Learning
Read: From Critical to Decolonizing Service-Learning: Limits and Possibilities of Social Justice-Based Approaches to Community Service-Learning
Watch: Webinar on Decolonizing Service Learning
Epistemic Justice in Community Engagement
Read: A Brief Guide to Epistemic Injustice/Justice
Watch: How to Facilitate an Exploration of Epistemic Justice & Community Engagement Through Stories
Building in the Election 38 plain 2020-09-04T11:18:55-07:00
The youth voter turnout rate consistently falls below national averages. Students at Washington University are no exception. One best practice for addressing this disparity is integrating election content into classrooms.

Connecting students’ area of studies to relevant policies and political platforms and emphasizing the importance of voting as a response to material learned in the classroom has been proven to increase student voter turnout. In addition, students face numerous procedural barriers to voting.

Many students have never voted before and must navigate various processes, deadlines, and forms in order to successfully vote on Election Day. Including voter education as part of the classroom education experience will address many of these barriers and equip students with the information necessary to complete the steps needed to vote in a timely and accurate manner. Given the University’s interest in increasing the voter turnout rate among its students, adding elections content to courses is crucial.
Curated Course Structures and Components
- Full Courses and Syllabi
  - Project Pericles syllabus repository
- Assignments and Lesson Plans
- Other materials
  - Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement Faculty Voter Engagement Resource This webpage has been curated especially for Washington University faculty. It includes election resources to add to courses, including syllabus language, PowerPoint slides, Canvas announcements, and more.
Curated Relevant Content
Read
Articles about integrating voter engagement into courses
General Reading
- Institute for Democracy and Higher Education Election Imperatives 2020 Note faculty-specific strategies on pages 8 and 9.
- Making Sense of... The Vote by Mail Conversation
- Block the Vote: Voter Suppression in 2020
Listen
- Young Activists Pour Energy Into Protests, But What About the Election?
- Vote! The Podcast
Watch
- Suppressed 2020: The Fight to Vote
- The Power of the Youth Vote
Experience
- Volunteer at the on-campus polling location
- Engage Democracy events – The Gephardt Institute for Civic and Community Engagement will be hosting civic education events throughout the semester. These will include events that discuss important policy issues, how the pandemic is affecting the vote, and more.
- Become an academic voter engagement hub – Some WashU academic departments have been trained on voter registration and voter engagement strategies to better help the students in their department turn out to vote. If you are interested in having some members of your department trained, please contact Lindsay Gassman, Voter Engagement Fellow, at lindsaygassman@wustl.edu.
- Be a poll worker. Please note that this activity has heightened risk at this time. The Gephardt Institute is not encouraging this for students this year.
Credits
Linsday Gassman
Voter Engagement Fellow
lindsay.gassman@wustl.edu

Theresa Kouo
Assistant Director for Civic Engagement Education
theresa.kouo@wustl.edu
What Concrete Tools Can I Use for Community Engaged Courses 17 plain 2020-09-22T21:00:38-07:00
In the section “Some Hows for Community Engaged Courses” from this Teaching Schema, resources were organized topically. There were readings, videos, and podcasts, as well as some concrete tools that you could use for designing components of your community engaged courses. This section includes those course design tools and also adds additional resources that you may find helpful.
Full Courses & Syllabi
- Course Design Blueprint, created by Maine Campus Compact for the Fusion Course, to “map out how you plan to integrate community-based learning into your online course and will help you design a community-based project.”
- Campus Compact hosts a Syllabi Archive for community engaged courses. You can filter this archive by Discipline, Types of Instruction, Institution Type, Service Type, and Issue Area. To filter the archive, you will need to scroll down to see these options in the bar that runs along the left side of this page.
Assignments & Lesson Plans
- Civic Agency Workshops. A “series of experiential workshops…organized into the three themes—Self, Us, and Now—following Marshall Ganz’s public narrative framework.”
- Bonner Program Curriculum “to help students develop knowledge, skills, and values to engage in community well-being and social change efforts. On their 8 Themes Curriculum page, scroll down and click on the underlined topics that interest you.
- Reflection models. (More reflection resources available in the “Linking Academic and Community Learning”)
- Anatomy of an Ally Toolkit. This toolkit can be used with students to explore motivations for community engagement, reflect on them, and use those reflections to inform opportunities for growth. (Also found in “Engaging with Community”)
Other Resources
- Curriculum Collaboration Project Proposal. Template for outlining mutual understandings and expectations for collaboration on a proposed project in a class.
- Sam Fox Office for Socially Engaged Practice Blue Pages outline effective practices for working with individuals, communities, and organizations on social engaged projects.” They cover topics like,
- Using Community Capitals to Develop Assets for Positive Community Change
- Building and Maintaining Partnerships. This site covers many different considerations and also provides concrete tools. To start exploring, begin by reading the overview page, but be sure to click on the “Guides” link and anything else that interests you. (Also found in “Engaging with Community”)
- A Guide to Reciprocal Community-Campus Partnerships (Also found in “Engaging with Community”)
Curated General Resources
The following organizations are engaged in ongoing work on campus and community collaborations, including conferences, online resources, podcasts, and webinars.
Read
Listen
- Campus Compact Podcast https://compact.org/podcast/
Watch
- Campus Compact's YouTube channel has recordings of their 2020 Virtual Conference Sessions and recordings of previous webinars
- Communities in Partnership: Ensuring Equity in the Time of COVID-19
Experience
- Campus Compact Webinars
- AAC&U Webinars