Webinar: Developing Students’ Political Skills, Knowledge, and Dispositions through Service-Learning

Posted by on August 25, 2008

Learn and Serve America’s National Service-Learning Clearinghouse (NSLC) and Campus Compact, the NSLC Program Advisor for Higher Education, are pleased to announce the upcoming webinar:

Educating for Democracy: Developing Students’ Political Skills, Knowledge, and Dispositions through Service-Learning

Wednesday, September 10, 2008, 4:00-5:15 pm Eastern time

Description:
Service-learning courses—including those supported by Learn and Serve America and thus prohibited from supporting partisan events and advocacy—can contribute a great deal to the health of our democracy by deliberately engaging students in ways that develop their political skills, knowledge, and dispositions. At the heart of service-learning (and higher education more generally) is the imperative of open inquiry. Engagement in dialogue and action that is nonpartisan, includes multiple perspectives, and requires critical thinking and deliberation about pressing issues not only increases students’ capacity and motivation to participate in public life (as documented in the Carnegie Foundation’s Political Engagement Project), but also responds to students’ desire for an alternative to polarization and “spin” (as documented in the CIRCLE report, Millennials Talk Politics).

The presenters will share key findings from the Carnegie Foundation’s Political Engagement Project, specific examples of activities that can be incorporated into service-learning courses without violating CNCS regulations, and suggestions and resources related to developing faculty members’ capacity to facilitate such activities. Please join us for this important conversation.

Presenters:
Thomas Ehrlich, co-author, Educating for Democracy: Preparing Undergraduates for Responsible Political Engagement; Senior Scholar, The Carnegie Foundation for the Advancement of Teaching; former university president, law school dean, and member of the board of the Corporation for National and Community Service

Rick Battistoni, Professor of Political Science and Public and Community Service Studies, Providence College; author, Civic Engagement Across the Curriculum: A Resource Book for Faculty in All Disciplines; member of the Campus Compact Consulting Corps

Registration:
Participants are encouraged to register ahead of time at:
http://www.servicelearning.org/nslc/teleconference_reg_form/

To join the session:
You must both log in online and call in via phone.

Log in at: https://etr.webex.com/etr/onstage/g.php?t=a&d=928509508

Attendee password: educate

Call in (toll free) at: 866-365-4406

Access Code: 4384139

Please note that the call will be recorded and provided to the public as a part of the new Bring Learning to Life Service-Learning Podcast series.