Students Civic and Democratic Engagement

Enrique Ramos & Brett Perozzi

NASDEV Winter School 2014

Overview

• Drawing heavily from a publication of the Association of American Colleges and Universities (AAC&U) • “A Crucible Moment: College Learning and Democracy’s

Future”

• Knowledge, skills, values, and action items; key items

• Discussion of programs in our countries and at our institutions; unique and well-respected.

A Framework for 21st Century Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

Knowledge

• Historical and sociological understanding of several

democratic movements, both US and abroad

• Understanding one’s sources of identity & their influence on

civic values, assumptions, and responsibilities to a wider public

• Exposure to multiple religious traditions and to alternative

views about the relation between religion and government

• Knowledge of the political systems that frame constitutional

democracies and of political levers for influencing change.

A framework for 21st Century Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

Essential Skills

• Critical inquiry, analysis, and reasoning

• Quantitative reasoning

• Gathering and evaluating multiple sources of evidence

• Seeking, engaging, and being informed by multiple

perspectives

• Deliberation and bridge building across differences

• Collaborative decision making

• Ability to communicate in multiple languages

A Framework for 21st Century Civic Learning and Democratic Engagement

Values

• Respect for freedom and human dignity

• Empathy

• Open-mindedness

• Tolerance

• Justice

• Equality

• Ethical integrity

• Responsibility to a larger good

Collective Action

• Integration of knowledge, skills, and examined values to inform actions

taken in concert with other people

• Moral discernment and behavior

• Navigation of political systems and processes, both formal and informal

• Public problem solving with diverse partners

• Compromise, civility, and mutual respect

Contributing to Community

Key Recommendations

• Foster a civic ethos across all parts of campus and educational culture

• Make civic literacy a core expectation for all students

• Practice civic inquiry across all fields of study

• Advance civic action through transformative partnerships, at home and abroad.

American Civic & Democratic Engagement

• Civic engagement not yet fully embedded in U.S. culture

• In 2007, U.S. ranked 139th in voter participation, out of 172 world democracies

• 14,000 college seniors scored 50% (an “F”) on a civics test (less than half of U.S. states require civic education in primary school.

Weber State University

Center for Community Engaged Learning

• Mission: To engage students, faculty, and staff members in a process which combines community service and

academic learning in order to promote civic participation, build community capacity, and enhance

the educational process

• Carnegie Classification for Community Engagement!

Faculty Engagement

• Sociology faculty member has release time to direct CCEL • Dual supervision from Academic & Student Affairs

• Infusion into the curriculum

• 81 professors teaching 227 CEL classes

Student Engagement

• 7,905 total CEL Students; 31.6% of student population

• WSU students gave 147,921 hours of service in 2012-13. That’s 16 years, 10 months, and 15 days; and the equivalent for service hours of $2.7 million USD

• Grade Point Average of community engaged students is 3.3, compared to 2.8 GPA of WSU general population.

Student Participation

0

1000

2000

3000

4000

5000

6000

7000

8000

9000

2006-07 2007-08 2008-09 2009-10 2010-11 2011-12 2012-13

CEL Students

CEL Students

Community Engagement

• 118 community partnerships

• Tracking and reporting of hours…

• Use of OrgSync software

• Students swipe their “Wildcard”

• Web-based – “permissions/access” granted to students, staff, faculty, and community agencies

• Many community agencies have purchased their own card reader!

Cultural Infusion/Promotion

• Assist in coordinating curricula and helping faculty members with syllabus development and implementation

• Service built into many aspects of Student Affairs, for example, leadership programs and student employment

• Living Learning Community in residence halls

• American Democracy Project.

Many institutions of higher education share a common mission and purpose: to contribute to

the public good by educating socially responsible citizens.

In Mexico, where 52 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line, the higher education system plays a key role in promoting

change by educating professionals who can improve economic and social conditions.

Civic & Democratic Engagement

in Mexico

Mandatory Social Service

• Mexico is one of the few countries that have a mandatory service component for students enrolled in higher education

• This requirement benefits marginalized sectors of society while raising students’ awareness and deepening their sense of social responsibility.

Mandatory Social Service (cont…)

• Mexico’s mandatory service requirement was established in the national constitution in 1910.

• Service should align with students’ majors.

• Most students are required to engage in 480 hours of work, students majoring in health science are required to perform one thousand hours of service.

• According to Mexico’s Ministry of Public Education, approximately 780,000 higher education students complete more than 374.4 million hours of service every year.

Mandatory Social Service (cont…)

• Mexico’s National Association of Higher Education Institutions (ANUIES) and its Higher Education Commission for Social Service (CISS) help manage the service component, but each university defines its own norms and processes for compliance.

• Each institution determines for itself the characteristics required of programs where students complete their hours.

The Tecnológico de Monterrey Case

We educate citizens who are ethical,

with humanistic values, an international

outlook, and with entrepreneurial culture.

TEC DE MONTERREY TECNOLÓGICO DE

MONTERREY SYSTEM

Presence

TEC DE MONTERREY TECNOLÓGICO DE

MONTERREY SYSTEM

LIAISON OFFICES

31

22

CAMPUSES IN

MEXICO

students enrolled in high school, undergraduate, and graduate programs

students studying abroad

foreign students

of the high school and undergraduate students have some type of financial aid

faculty members

TEC DE MONTERREY TECNOLÓGICO DE

MONTERREY SYSTEM

Students and Faculty

102,586

5,746

4,516

52%

8,448

59 undergraduate programs

39 international undergraduate programs

17 medical specializations

10 specializations in other disciplines

50 master’s degrees

10 Ph.D. programs

4 high school programs

TEC DE MONTERREY TECNOLÓGICO DE

MONTERREY SYSTEM

It is accredited by The Federation of Private Institutions of Higher Education in

México (FIMES) and by The Commission on Colleges of Southern Association

of Colleges and Schools in the United States (SACS).

Academic Programs

The Quality Enhancement Plan

The Tecnológico de Monterrey has established a Quality Enhancement Plan (QEP) to strengthen the ethical

commitment and citizenship competencies that will constitute hallmarks of students’ professional

lives.

The Quality Enhancement Plan

• The topic selected for the QEP was “Ethics and Citizenship Education”

• This selection was based on the broad consultation in redefining Tecnológico de Monterrey’s 2015 Mission,which involved 14,815 members –faculty, students, alumni and Board of Directors—.

Desirable characteristics for graduates

0% 5% 10% 15% 20% 25% 30% 35% 40% 45% 50%

High professional and personal ideals

Respect for individual differences and multi-cultural outlook

Entrepreneurial

Sense of responsability

Capacity to identify and solve problems

International outlook

Knowledge and clear awerness of the social and economic realities

Solid citizenship, ethical and moral education

15%

15%

16%

19%

19%

21%

27%

49%

The QEP objective

• The primary QEP objective is to strengthen ethics and citizenship core competencies of Tecnológico de Monterrey students so that they will transcend the university period and constitute a hallmark of their long term professional life.

• This objective is to be achieved through the institution’s curricular and co-curricular programs which offer students learning experiences in these areas.

Curricular programs

• Curricular Programs

• Include distinct courses in ethics and citizenship which are part within of the general education core of the curricula. • Ethics, Self, and Society. Mandatory course

• Ethics, Profession and Citizenship. Mandatory course

• Social Responsibility and Citizenship: An elective course.

• Micro-business Planning for Social Development: An elective course.

• Operating Micro-businesses for Social Development: An elective course.

Curricular programs

• An across-the-curriculum strategy is also being implemented. In each undergraduate major at least two courses have been identified to include case studies, posing dilemmas in ethics and citizenship linked to the respective discipline. These courses are taught by faculty specially trained for this purpose.

Co-curricular programs

• Mandatory community service

• Social Development Incubators

• Community learning centers

• Student organizations

• Athletic varsity team

Core competencies

• Competency 1: • Reflect on, analyze and evaluate ethical dilemmas related to

the person, professional behavior, and the milieu.

• Competency 2: • Respect for people and their milieu.

• Competency 3: • Knowing about and being sensitive towards improving social,

economic and political realities.

• Competency 4: • Acting with civic spirit and responsibility to improve the quality

of life in the community, especially in underprivileged communities

Assessment

• Direct measurement techniques include two rubrics: • A rubric for assessing ethic competencies that is

applied against a sample of final projects done by students completing the courses Ethics, Self, and Society; and Ethics, Profession and Citizenship. • (13,814 reports, sample:2,493, supervised:310)

• A rubric for assessing citizenship competencies that are applied against a sample of final reports of experiences written by students who have completed their social community service. • (9,403 essays, sample:2,558, supervised:298)

Assessment (cont…)

• Indirect measurements include the following surveys: • National Survey of Student Engagement (NSSE).

• Tec Values Survey.

• Survey of Citizenship Competencies.

• Additional institutionally related questions concerning ethics and citizenship are included in the existing follow-up projects for alumni.

Students graduating with a satisfactory level

Low Medium

Low

Medio

High High Satisfactory

2013 2% 32% 48% 18% 66%

2012 2% 42% 46% 10% 56%

2011 3% 45% 44% 9% 52%

2010 4% 52% 37% 7% 44%

2009 9% 58% 28% 6% 34%

+

Low Medium

Low

Medium

High High Satisfactory

2013 2% 29% 48% 22% 70%

2012 2% 40% 42% 16% 58%

2011 2% 37% 44% 17% 62%

2010 3% 35% 44% 18% 62%

2009 2% 35% 43% 20% 63%

Ethical

competency

Citizenship

competency

Results

QEP 2013