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Social Responsibility: An Intentional Not a Presumed Outcome

Core Commitments: Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility. Social Responsibility: An Intentional Not a Presumed Outcome. Dr. Caryn McTighe Musil Institute for Integrative Learning and the Departments July 10, 2014 . Goals for this workshop.

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Social Responsibility: An Intentional Not a Presumed Outcome

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  1. Core Commitments:Educating Students for Personal and Social Responsibility Social Responsibility: An Intentional Not a Presumed Outcome Dr. Caryn McTighe MusilInstitute for Integrative Learning and the DepartmentsJuly 10, 2014

  2. Goals for this workshop • To underscore what’s at stake in naming social responsibility as an essential component of every student’s college education • To provide evidence of social responsibility’s elusiveness when not intentionally designed • To help participants incorporate social responsibility into ILD campus action plans • To provide concrete examples of how other institutions have successfully done this

  3. Format for workshop 9:00-9:10 Introduction/Shared goals 9:10-9:35 Presentation of rationale, research, and campus examples 9:35-10:10 Table Work Exercises Integrating SR into ILD Plans A. By structural design B. By HIPs 10:10-10:15 Closing Comments

  4. A New Era of Responsibility “What is required of us now is a new era of responsibility—a recognition, on the part of every American, that we have duties to ourselves, our nation, and the world. . . This is the price and the promise of citizenship.” President Barack Obama January 20, 2009

  5. Truman Commission’s Higher Education for Democracy, 1947 • Education for a fuller realization of democracy in every phase of living. • Education directly and explicitly for international understanding and cooperation. • Education for the application of creative imagination and trained intelligence to the solution of social problems and to the administration of public affairs.

  6. The Essential Learning Outcomes Beginning in school, and continuing at successively higher levels across their college studies, students should prepare for twenty-first-century challenges by gaining: • Knowledge of Human Cultures and the Physical and Natural World • Intellectual and Practical Skills • Personal and Social Responsibility • Integrative Learning (See AAC&U College Learning for the New Global Century, 2007)

  7. Essential Learning Outcome Three • Personal and Social Responsibility (PSR) -- Civic learning and democratic engagement—local and global -- Diversity and global knowledge and intercultural competence -- Ethical reasoning and action -- Foundations and skills for lifelong learning Anchored through active involvement with diverse communities and real-world challenges

  8. Generative Tensions • A college education is a private good for personal enrichment, individual financial gain, and social mobility • A college education is a public good for communal purposes, economic reallocations of opportunities, and enhanced social cohesion across differences locally, nationally, and globally

  9. Association of American Colleges and Universities “. . .the aim of the undergraduate experience is not only to prepare the young for productive careers, but also to enable them to live lives of dignity and purpose; not only to generate new knowledge, but to channel that knowledge to humane ends; not merely to study government, but to help shape a citizenry that can promote the public good.” Ernest Boyer, 1987

  10. Why does it matter that higher education educate for social responsibility?

  11. Hunger and Disease

  12. Climate Change and Environmental Toxins

  13. Labor Issues and Global Goods

  14. Income Inequality andStark Social Stratification

  15. Inequalities are Dangerous “Our world cannot survive one-fourth rich and three-fourths poor, half democratic and half authoritarian with oases of human development surrounded by deserts of human deprivation.” United Nations Human Development Report, 1994

  16. Five Dimension of Social Responsibility • Striving for excellence • Exercising personal and academic integrity • Contributing to the larger community • Taking seriously the perspectives of others • Cultivating moral and ethical reasoning and action

  17. Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory: A Campus Climate Survey • The Personal and Social Responsibility Inventory (PSRI) surveys four different constituent groups: students, faculty, academic administrators, and student affairs staff • AAC&U developed the climate survey and the Center for the Study of Higher and Postsecondary Education at the University of Michigan, under Dr. Eric L. Dey, refined and administered the instrument and analyzed the findings. • The PSRI is now housed at Iowa State University under the direction of Dr. Robert Reason. Contact him about using the PSRI at your campus.

  18. PSRI Inventory • The Inventory was first administered at 23 Leadership Consortium campuses with responses from 24,000 undergraduate students and 9,000 campus professionals • AAC&U has produced three monographs on results: Civic Responsibility, Developing a Moral Compass, and Engaging Diverse Viewpoints.

  19. Key Findings • Across all categories, students and campus professionals strongly agree that personal and social responsibility should be a major focus of a college education. • Across all groups surveyed, they also strongly agree, however, that there is a clear gap between what should be and what actually is.

  20. Strongly Agree PSR Should Be an Essential Component of College • Most important of the dimensions excellence 71/88% integrity 65/74% • Least important of the dimensions perspective taking 58/78% larger community 56/73% ethical/moral 53/72% (This data and subsequent data slides taken from AAC&U’s Civic Responsibility: What is the Climate for Learning by Eric L. Dey and Associates, 2009)

  21. Strongly Agree Is Available • Most opportunity for development integrity 51/47% community 40/44% • Least opportunity for development excellence 39/34% perspective taking 33/37% ethical/moral 30/33% (Eric Dey and Associates, Civic Responsibility, 2009.)

  22. Institutional Commitment

  23. Do students say college contributes to their civic growth?

  24. One more PSRI Finding • Across all groups, there is strong agreement that students leave college having become stronger across the five dimensions of personal and social responsibility. It matters that we educate for these capabilities. • BUT there are significant discrepancies between student perceptions and campus professionals about the level of the gains—and plenty of room for improvement.

  25. Some Ways To Promote PSR • Engage the Big Questions • Teach the Arts of Inquiry and Innovation • Connect Knowledge with Choices and Actions • Invest in faculty, staff, & student development • Threaded curriculum reinforced by co-curriculum • Seamless integration of the life of the mind and the work of the world • Draw on high impact pedagogies

  26. Which HIPS have strong civic outcomes? Differentiating and Designing Outcomes

  27. First-year seminars and experiences Common intellectual experiences Learning communities Writing-intensive courses Undergraduate research High Impact Practices and Civic Learning?

  28. Collaborative assignments and projects Diversity/Global learning Service Learning, Community-based Courses Experiential Learning, Internships, Study Abroad Capstone Courses and Projects More High Impact Practices and Civic Learning

  29. First year Seminars Association of American Colleges and Universities • Non civic-specific positive outcomes: • Student persistence • Higher graduation rates • More faculty interaction • More involvement in campus activities • Civic outcomes when intentionally designed: • First year seminar with emphasis on diversity showed more growth in commitment to social justice and multicultural awareness than first year communication class or engineering course. (Engberg and Mayhew (2007) Brownell and Swaner. 2010. Five High-Impact Practices.

  30. Learning communities Association of American Colleges and Universities • Non civic-specific positive outcomes: • Student persistence • Higher grades • More faculty and peer interaction • Growth in academic self-confidence • Civic outcomes: • Builds sense of community and “social space” • Gains in personal and social development: understanding self and others different from oneself • More open to new ideas and more likely to participate in diversity-related activities • Higher rates of civic engagement Brownell and Swaner. 2010. Five High-Impact Practices.

  31. Intergroup dialogue Gurin et al, Liberal Education, 2011. 97 (2) • Civic outcomes: • Greater increases in understanding race, gender, and income inequality • Intergroup empathy and motivation to bridge differences • Commitment to post-college social and political action • Greater increases in the efficacy and frequency of their intergroup action during college • Cognitive openness and positivity in intergroup situations.

  32. Service Learning Association of American Colleges and Universities • Non civic-specific positive outcomes: • Student persistence and graduation • Higher grades • More faculty and peer interaction • Deeper understanding of subject matter and social issues • Higher satisfaction in learning experience • Worked harder Brownell and Swaner. 2010. Five High-Impact Practices.

  33. Service Learning Association of American Colleges and Universities • Civic outcomes: • Apply knowledge to real world problems • Recognize needs in the community • Reduce stereotyping • Greater tolerance • Sense of personal efficacy • Awareness of the world Brownell and Swaner. 2010. Five High-Impact Practices.

  34. More Civic Outcomes for Service Learning • Service learning linked with: • Increasing a sense of social responsibility • Racial tolerance • Working well with others • Sense of efficacy and social change • Critical consciousness and action • Exploring intersection of identity and privilege A Crucible Moment. 2012 Association of American Colleges and Universities

  35. Diversity and its civic outcomes • Inclusive curriculum correlates with • Pluralistic orientation • Perspective taking • Tolerance of different beliefs • Openness to having one’s views challenged • Ability to negotiate controversial issues • Ability to work cooperatively with diverse people (Sylvia Hurtado, 2012) Association of American Colleges and Universities

  36. More Civic Outcomes of Diversity • Out of class engagement with others • The more engagement with others of different racial/ethnic groups, the higher their scores on all six civic outcomes in the HERI survey of Diverse Learning Environments • The more students are able to engage in diverse interactions on campus, the more likely they are to confront notion of prejudice, take seriously views different than their own, and embrace social justice. (ASHE, 2002, ACM) Association of American Colleges and Universities

  37. What schools have made progress? University of Alabama, Birmingham Ethics and civic responsibility integrated into general education Capstone Courses in the major in demonstrating ethics and civic responsibility Integration with student affairs • Worcester Polytechnic University • First year seminars (Feeding the World, Powering the World, Healing the World, Grand Challenges) • Third year project (Intersection of science with social issues and human needs) • Senior year project (Synthesize previous study to solve problems or perform tasks in major field.)

  38. Table Exercises • Sketch out two places in your current ILD proposal where you could incorporate social responsibility more intentionally. --Free write alone for five minutes • What high impact practices that you currently employ—or might add—could you design to specifically incorporate social responsibility as an outcome? --Free write alone for five minutes

  39. Questions for Group Discussion • What are you most excited to share with others about your ideas? • What was most challenging about trying to incorporate social responsibility? • How does integrating social responsibility influence other kinds of integrative goals you have mapped out? • What are you most worried about when you talk to the rest of your team or carry these ideas back to your campus?

  40. Kavita RamdasFormer CEO, Global Fund for Women “In the end, it is the values that underlie our educational efforts—the intrinsic and unwavering belief in the shared humanity and equality of all beings, our respect for our planet Earth, and our capacity to tolerate differences—that will make it possible for us to live together in a new world.”

  41. Twin Goals:Lifelong Learning and Social Responsibility Association of American Colleges and Universities “Educational practices and diverse learning environments should provide students with skills that will serve them throughout their lives. Equally important, however, are practices that prepare students for the society we aspire to become, practices that empower them to create a world that is more equitable, just, democratic, and sustainable.” Sylvia Hurtado and Linda DeAngelo

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