Post Secondary Teaching and Learning - PSTL

Description:  JUSTICE ISN?T JUST US Reading "A Lesson Before Dying" will help us explore and express our own views of two institutional systems that clearly need people who can make a difference: the American educational system and the American justice system. But before we can stand up to make a difference in such large institutions, we must look inward to understand our beliefs and values about those institutions. For that inward look, we will discuss how education can help or hurt a person's understanding of who they are, and also consider how our courts, laws, and prisons work or do not work. Then we will look outward: we'll read contemporary stories of people's experiences in the educational and justice systems; we will read analysis articles that attempt to explain those experiences, and we will read profiles of activists trying to change those systems. Finally, our capstone project will be a collaborative activity highlighting both inward beliefs and outward action by asking students to research and publicize the work of a local person or group attempting to make changes that students in our class believe in and want to support. Acting toward justice is never acting for ourselves alone.

Class Time: 25% Lecture, 4% Film/Video, 40% Discussion, 20% Small Group Activities, 10% Student Presentation, 1% Guest Speakers.

Work Load: 50-100 pages reading per week, 25-30 pages writing per term, 3 papers, 1 presentations, 1 special projects, 16 homework assignments. Number of pages of writing per term includes: brainstorming, groupwork, rough drafts, and final products.

Grade: 65% reports/papers, 10% written homework, 20% class participation, 5% other evaluation. Advising component: attend six advising workshops and one individual meeting with advisor.

Co-Instructor:  Hodne,Barbara Downs (Educ Distinguished Tchg Awd) | Instructor Photo

Co-Instructor:  Hyland,Ezra St

Co-Instructor:  Duranczyk,Irene M

Description:  It's clear that food plays an integral part in our daily lives, but how much do you know about that burger you just ate? Will a healthy diet help you live longer? Can food really bring people together and resolve conflicts? In this course, team taught by a biologist, a social scientist, and a lawyer, we'll examine food through a variety of perspectives - scientific, sociological/psychological, literary, legal - to come to a better understanding of its impact on our world. Using writing, discussion, oral presentations, and other mediums, we'll consider the following question: Can you, either individually or working with others, make a difference by educating yourself and others about where food comes from and how to make informed choices about what you eat? We'll read and discuss Paul Rusesabagina's autobiography about the 1994 Rwandan genocide, An Ordinary Man, to explore how food and hospitality can make a life-saving difference in a difficult situation, as well as other food-related texts from a range of disciplines. At the end of the semester, students will collaborate in small groups to present a final capstone project on a food-related subject to the class (and possibly to the larger College of Education and Human Development academic community).

Co-Instructor:  Jensen,Murray Stowe (Morse Alumni Award) | Instructor Photo

Co-Instructor:  Peter,Gary E | Instructor Bio

Co-Instructor:  Stebleton,Michael J

Description:  All of our actions, whether deliberate and carefully considered or reactive and unconscious, have consequences and effects. In this course, we are interested in understanding the ways our actions can make important differences. We will question whether the individual is always the agent for change, or whether the context that surrounds the individual helps or hinders social action. The instructors will bring their backgrounds in law, writing, literature, American studies, and working with multilingual students to examine how experiences and stories are represented in art, literature, legal cases, and film. Student work will culminate in a multi-media capstone project that invites them to document a person or community that is making a difference.

Co-Instructor:  Cory,Kristin Anne | Instructor Photo | Instructor Bio

Co-Instructor:  Fayon,Annia

Co-Instructor:  Trites,Jill K (CCE Distinguished Tchg Award)

Description:  Can one person make a difference? Sometimes, if we leverage our resources! The concept of leverage originated in physics. Leverage also means using what you have to accomplish something more. In this course we will focus on how to do more with the resources we have by using tools such as levers and by organizing ourselves into groups. We will consider how groups reach tipping points?when fads take off and political paradigms shift. We will also consider when groups make good decisions and what causes group decision-making to derail.

Co-Instructor:  Madyun,Naim Hossein

Co-Instructor:  Staats,Susan K

Co-Instructor:  Hsu,Leon (Morse Alumni Award)

Description:  All of our actions, whether deliberate and carefully considered or reactive and unconscious, have consequences and effects. In this course, we are interested in understanding the ways our actions can make important differences. We will question whether the individual is always the agent for change, or whether the context that surrounds the individual helps or hinders social action. The instructors will bring their backgrounds in law, writing, literature, American studies, and working with multilingual students to examine how experiences and stories are represented in art, literature, legal cases, and film. Student work will culminate in a multi-media capstone project that invites them to document a person or community that is making a difference.

Co-Instructor:  Poch,Robert Karl

Co-Instructor:  Rojas Collins,Molly C

Co-Instructor:  Wambach,Cathrine A (Morse Alumni Award)