A practical guide for integrating civic responsibility into the curriculum

Community College Review, Spring, 2004 by Courtney H. Thornton

A practical guide for integrating civic responsibility into the curriculum by Gottlieb, K., & Robinson, G. (Eds.). Washington, DC: Community College Press, 2002. 86 pages. $15 (AACC members)/$20 (non-members).

The discussion of civic responsibility at all educational levels is widespread today as a result of the civic engagement movement of the last decade. Community colleges, four-year institutions, and high schools are all actively employing new programs to engage their students in the public life of their communities. Karen Gottlieb, a service learning consultant from Miami, Florida, and Gail Robinson, Coordinator of Service-Learning with the American Association of Community Colleges (AACC), have edited a guide that is intended to provide practical and accessible applications for the widest range of community college faculty who aim to develop citizenship skills in their students by integrating civic responsibility, in concept and action, into their courses. In total, thirteen authors from the following six colleges contributed to the volume: Albuquerque TVI Community College, Glendale Community College, Hocking College, Mesa Community College, Miami-Dade Community College, and Oakton Community College. Faculty, staff and administrators at these colleges were part of a two-year service-learning project with the AACC funded by the Corporation for National and Community Service (CNCS). This guide is a result of the work on the AACC project.

Chapter One identifies several reasons why this discussion of civic responsibility is critical in today's society. First, society in general exhibits discontentment with public officials and with a lack of civic engagement. Second, increasing numbers of foreign-born people reside in the Unites States and attend colleges. The American interpretations of civic responsibility may not be innate for individuals from other cultures, and the venues of higher education can foster learning about civic responsibility. Third, although the number of students participating in volunteer activities is increasing, the connection between volunteering and civic responsibility is not often explicitly understood by students.

Chapter Two connects the goals of civic responsibility to the mission of the community college and offers a definition of civic engagement. The definition is broad, and faculty and students are encouraged to adapt or augment the definition through discussion and experience. Faculty and others who are considering civic engagement for the first time may be confused by the differences between civic engagement, community service, service learning, and other similar terms, as the editors and contributing authors do not clearly differentiate among them.

Chapter Three offers several considerations for faculty who desire to incorporate civic engagement into their classes. The chapter contains broad planning questions for faculty as well as a brief section that discusses how to advance the culture of civic responsibility at an institution. Sixteen activities in this chapter provide the practical guide that the editors intended and offer an appropriate level of detail to faculty who are new to the civic engagement movement. A variety of student activities are suggested that exist on a continuum of involvement level, ranging from reflective-thought activities to immersion in civic responsibility action. For example, sample activities vary from having students complete a self-inventory matrix of civic competencies and skills to having students plan and facilitate a town hall meeting around a community need. The final table in the chapter suggests service-learning activities that relate to specific community college courses.

Chapter Four takes the next critical step and addresses assessment of civic responsibility. The chapter offers suggested assessment activities, such as attitudinal surveys and writing assignments, as well as an assessment rubric to help determine when students exhibit developing, proficient, and exceptional qualities of civic responsibility. This chapter could be expanded, given the amount of literature available on assessment. Although the rubrics are helpful, developing an effective and valuable assessment program merits more attention, especially if institutional change, as encouraged by the volume, is a goal.

The final chapter summarizes the key elements of the text and encourages faculty to look beyond their discipline or department for opportunities for civic engagement. In fact, faculty are encouraged to look at the college mission statement and to initiate or engage in campus dialogues around institutional and departmental civic engagement missions.

As intended, the guide offers helpful strategies for faculty to incorporate civic engagement into their classrooms, but it does not address this decision in the larger context of faculty life and institutional boundaries. Furthermore, the volume could have expanded on the critical link between community colleges and civic engagement by discussing the unique community college structure, environment, staff, and students that make community colleges a viable venue for the encouragement of student civic responsibility. The uniqueness of community college culture will affect how institutional change is initiated or created to achieve greater civic responsibility. The high proportion of part-time faculty at community colleges has implications for curricular innovation and institutional involvement (Outcalt, 2000). Faculty demographics may be a challenge to widespread implementation of the civic engagement movement at community colleges. In addition, community colleges serve a disproportionately high number of the nation's nontraditional college students. The diversity of students at community colleges should lead to new perceptions, values, and approaches in civic engagement, but these possibilities are not addressed in this text. Case studies of faculty or departments at each of the six contributing community colleges may have been as valuable for faculty readers as the information provided and may have offered a more realistic picture of the implementation of civic responsibility initiatives in the classroom and beyond.