UNIVERSITY PARK, Pa. — With the U.S. census underway, protests across the country and an election on the horizon, civic engagement will be an important part of the national conversation this fall. However, it often conjures images in-person events like dialogues, rallies and door knocking.
How do you teach those strategies and civic engagement more broadly in a remote environment? A webinar series from the Penn State Civic Engagement Collective is addressing those questions this summer.
Sponsored by the Office for General Education, the Civic Engagement Collective is a community of educators from across Penn State’s campuses who are dedicated to preparing students for informed and ethical participation in civic engagement. The collective’s mission is to enhance resilience and responsiveness among educators, share resources and facilitate teaching activities to support these goals.
The group organized three webinars this summer that are open to faculty and staff across the commonwealth. The first, held July 14, was an open discussion about civic engagement in higher education. The next event on July 28 will address strategies for building civic engagement through distance learning. The series concludes Aug. 11 with a presentation about pedagogical and financial support for civic educators at Penn State. Both sessions will take place from 11 a.m. to noon.
“As we prepare to return to campus this fall, we are faced with a climate of protest and civic action amidst the constraints of teaching and cultivating community during a global pandemic,” said Jessica O’Hara, a member of the Civic Engagement Collective and associate teaching professor in communication arts and sciences. “In this turbulent, yet socially distanced time, delivering civically engaging curricula seems essential to our communities and our democracy itself.”
To attend the virtual sessions on July 28 or Aug. 11, register here.