Education Commons^™

Understanding The Impact Of Pedagogical Changes In An Honors Activism Course: A Case Study, Aaron Peeksmease

UNL Faculty Course Portfolios

The purpose of this portfolio is to document learning outcomes after initiating three pedagogical changes in an Honors Sociology of Activism course taught at UNL in both the Fall of 2022 and Fall of 2023. The first change was to provide students with prior student work of an assignment to see if student performance on the assignment improved. Findings indicated that providing examples of previous student work did not raise grades on the overall assignment, but did result in stronger projects for that one aspect of the overall assignment. The second change examined the impact of introducing reading quizzes and …

Socialist And Marxist Series Panel Explores What Racism Looks Like Today, Aldan Leavitt

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On Thursday, Feb. 20, 2020, students, faculty and community members gathered in the Bangor Room of the Memorial Union for a student panel, titled “Experiencing Racism Today: Experiences of Student Activists and Historical and Philosophical Insights.” The event, held as a part of the Socialist and Marxist Studies Series, sought to shed light on the realities faced by people of color throughout their lives and how they have been impacted.

Editorial: Diversifying Hollywood Is In The Hands Of The Consumers, Liz Theriault

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

“Once you overcome the 1-inch-tall barrier of subtitles, you will be introduced to so many more amazing films," Bong Joon-Ho said, calling out the cultural shortsightedness that plagues Hollywood, in his 2020 Golden Globe acceptance speech for his film "Parasite." His words rang true for minorities everywhere, who sat through yet another award show celebrating predominantly white men.

Editorial: Black Bear Pride Means Protecting Students From Hate Speech, Liz Theriault

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On Wednesday, Oct. 30, 2019, Rep. Lawrence Lockman arrived at the University of Maine campus to give a keynote presentation at the “Crisis at the Border; A Citizen’s Guide to Resisting Racist Immigration Policies in Maine” event, organized by the UMaine College Republicans. It did not take long for many UMaine students and alumni to condemn this visit, citing evidence of violent, discriminatory and hateful statements made by Lockman in the past. The controversy stirred up by Rep. Lockman’s visit is a perfect example for how UMaine, its students and its administration need to take a moment to reassess how …

Wgs Program Hosts 'Pop-Up' On Political Correctness, Charles Cramer

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

For the first time this semester, the Women’s, Gender, and Sexuality studies (WGS) program hosted one of their ‘Pop-up Panels.’ The panelist/audience discussions address topics of a divisive and polarizing variety in a format that is open to the student body. The hour-long event, which began at noon on Wednesday in the Memorial Union’s Bangor Room, discussed the concept of ‘political correctness’ and the connotations it often evokes.

Young People’S Expectations To Participate In Legal And Illegal Activities To Express Their Opinions: Findings From Iccs 2016, Wolfram Schulz

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

In reference to the theory of planned behaviour which links attitudes to action through intentions (Ajzen, 2001; Ajzen, & Fishbein, 2000), the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS) 2016 (Schulz et al., 2018) measured students’ intentions to engage in the future and developed items measuring students’ beliefs about their likelihood of civic engagement in the future. This paper focuses on young people’s expectations to participate in legal or illegal activities (as “unconventional” forms of engagements) to express their opinions. This paper uses data from 14 European countries that participated in the recent IEA study ICCS 2016 to explore the …

Civic Knowledge And Expected Civic Engagement Among Lower-Secondary Students, Wolfram Schulz, Julian Fraillon

Civics and Citizenship Assessment

Based on survey data from the latest implementation of the International Civic and Citizenship Education Study (ICCS 2016), this paper explores the associations between students’ civic knowledge, their disposition to and involvement in civic engagement within the school and community context, and their willingness to engage in future civic activities as adults. The multivariate analyses also include factors related to resources for engagement, variables reflecting the psychological disposition towards engagement, and network-related variables in order to explain variation in expected electoral and active political participation. The results show that civic knowledge is related in different ways to expectations of future …

Social Media Activism The Subject Of Recent Discussion, Emily Turner

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

On Nov. 6 the Women’s, Gender and Sexuality Studies Colloquium Series held its second discussion of the fall semester. Dr. Judith Rosenbaum gave the talk titled “#TakingAKnee: Exploring justice, respect, and patriotism on Instagram and Twitter.” Rosenbaum is an assistant professor of communication and journalism at the University of Maine whose research includes social and health effects of media. The theme of this talk surrounded creating meaning on social media platforms. It featured discussion on the hashtag #TakingAKnee and how this social movement has opened a new dialogue nationwide. Rosenbaum recognized that Colin Kaepernick played a large role in initiating …

Editorial: Challenging Diversity In Maine, Sarah Allisot

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Education is one of our best safeguards against ignorance. Without the crucial work of activist groups, representation would take a serious blow in our mostly-white state. Race demographics from the 2010 U.S. Census report that Maine is 94.8 percent white, with the remaining population split among several racial groups. The census also reports that black residents of Maine make up less than 1 percent of our population. Forbes reported on the 2016-2017 academic year demographics of the University of Maine, showing a modest 2 percent population of black students. Needless to say, Maine is mostly white, and very sheltered from …

Black Lives Matter: A Call To Action For Counseling Psychology Leaders, Candice Hargons, Della Mosley, Jameca Falconer, Reuben Faloughi, Anneliese Singh, Danelle Stevens-Watkins, Kevin Cokley

Educational, School, and Counseling Psychology Faculty Publications

Police brutality and widespread systemic racism represent historical and current sources of trauma in Black communities. Both the Black Lives Matter movement and counseling psychology propose to confront these realities at multiple levels. Black Lives Matter seeks to increase awareness about systemic racism and promote resilience among Black people. Counseling psychology states values of multiculturalism, social justice, and advocacy. Executive leadership in counseling psychology may seek to promote racial justice, yet struggle with how to participate in Black Lives Matter movements and address racial discrimination within larger systems spontaneously and consistently. However, counseling psychology trainees and professionals are actively involved …

Whitewashing In Hollywood Silently Affects Our Children, Sam Tracy

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

The reaction to the 2016 Oscars, which birthed the trending topic #OscarsSoWhite on Twitter, highlights a serious problem in our country — a lack of representation for non-white communities. Watching a movie in the 1950s is still somehow reminiscent of today. We have put an end to blackface, the practice of coloring a white person’s face with paint to fill the role of a historically non-white character without hiring an accurate representative. Yet major blockbuster films did not commonly hire non-white characters for major roles until just recently. Our movies now typically feature a white cast, with the exception of …

Student Activism Involvement Increases As 2016 Election Moves Forward, Mary Celeste Floreani

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Despite the fact that the 2016 Election Day is still more than a year away, involvement and political activism among the student body has been strong. It’s hard to walk across campus without being asked to sign a petition for an added proposition to the statewide ballot. While neither of Maine’s senators are up for reelection this cycle, Maine’s Second Congressional District promises to be hotly contested after the district held for 20 years by Democrats was lost to Republican newcomer Rep. Bruce Poliquin in 2014. In addition to the statewide elections, 2016 is shaping up to be one of …

I'Ll Choose Which Hill I'M Going To Die On: African American Women Scholar-Activists In The White Academy, Muriel Elizabeth Shockley

Antioch University Dissertations & Theses

This study explored the complexities of African American women scholar-activists' lived experiences in predominately white institutions of higher education. Existing scholarship on African American women's experiences in the academy locates these academicians in predominately white research universities and liberal arts colleges (PWI's) as well as historically Black colleges and universities (HBCU's) and focuses on the tenure process, recruitment and retention, evaluation, student relationships, career satisfaction, mentoring, survival strategies, and administrative leadership. Overwhelmingly the foci of the research are the challenges African American women scholars face and the concomitant strategies employed to militate the consequences. Less apparent are the ways African …

Study Guide For United In Anger: A History Of Act Up, Matt Brim

Open Educational Resources

The United in Anger Study Guide facilitates classroom and activist engagement with Jim Hubbard’s 2012 documentary, United in Anger: A History of ACT UP. The Study Guide contains discussion sections, projects and exercises, and resources for further research about the activism of the New York chapter of ACT UP (AIDS Coalition to Unleash Power). The Study Guide is a free, interactive, multimedia resource for understanding the legacy of ACT UP, the film’s role in preserving that legacy, and its meaning for viewers' lives.

Portraits Of Empowerment Exhibited By One Million Signatures Campaign Activists, Manijeh Badiee

College of Education and Human Sciences: Dissertations, Theses, and Student Research

Iranian women have shown themselves to be anything but victims (Afkhami, 2009; Price, 1996; Shiranipour, 2002). Although they live in an oppressive regime (Nafisi, 1999; ―Symbolic annihilation,‖ 1999), grassroots efforts of their One Million Signatures Campaign transformed gender politics in Iran (Khorasani, 2009). The Campaign has become international, and Iranian Americans have played a prominent role in furthering its message (Tohidi, 2010).

Iranian women‘s struggles reflect the global phenomenon of women‘s movements (Ferree, 2006). Empowerment is used to conceptualize such movements, but few studies have explored individuals from the Middle East (e.g. Dufour & Giraud, 2007).

The present study addressed …

Social Action Teaching: Engaging Middle School Students In Knowing And Doing In The Social Studies Classroom, Alyssa Hinkell

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

For the past three years I have had countless opportunities to engage in rich thinking around teaching and learning. As a member of the Critical and Creative Thinking Program (CCT) at the University of Massachusetts, Boston I have been able to reflect on these experiences in the context of my own teaching, applying what I have learned to enrich my own craft. Over the past eight months I have devoted this thinking to a teaching method I call Social Action Teaching. This method has helped to engage and motivate my seventh grade students and I believe, if applied elsewhere, can …

Original Curriculum For Encouraging Meaningful Community Service In High School Students, Elizabeth H. Naylor

Critical and Creative Thinking Capstones Collection

In this paper I have explored the importance of community service experiences and ultimately created a guide for implementing a high quality and meaningful community service program at the high school level. This paper begins with an initial discussion of my personal experiences in New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina, when I discovered firsthand the importance of personal reflection and sharing. I have defined community as a group of people with common place and common interest. Community service is an action within the community that betters the community in some way. The reader will find examples of communities coming together to …

Clags's Queer Pedagogy Workshops, Spring 2000, James Wilson

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

As a former high school English teacher and now a prospective college professor, I have long grappled with issues of gender and sexuality in the classroom. Is it, for example, incumbent upon me to be both a model and mentor for my Igbtq students? How will the classroom dynamic change if my private experiences become inextricably linked with my professional responsibilities? To what end might I implement issues regarding gender and sexuality while teaching canonical texts or traditional academic subjects? And finally, how would I handle homophobia, students coming out, and questions about my personal life in the context of …

Local/Global Conference Stages Conversation About Queer Future, Chandan Reddy

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

On April 23rd and 24th, CLAGS hosted Local Politics and Global Change: Academics and Activists Thinking About a Queer Future. The conference employed an innovative structure within which panelists, rather than delivering papers on their individual skill area or academic interest, were asked to respond from their located standpoint to prepared questions. These questions elaborated upon the broad topic of each panel and roundtable, which also included extended Q&A periods that encouraged conversation between "audience," moderator, and panelists. To describe the format seems noteworthy because it contributed in part to one of the most outstanding features of this conference: There …

A Fond Farewell, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

Sadly, this is my last column as the Executive Director of CLAGS. After five years teaching and working at CUNY's Graduate Center, I've decided to accept a position at the University of Texas at Austin. This was a difficult decision to make, but the offer of an endowed chair in the Department of Theatre and Dance at UT was finally too attractive to pass up.

Clags Forms New Advocacy Committee, Elizabeth Freeman

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

During the 1990s, attacks on the arts and higher education have demonized Women's Studies and Gay/Lesbian Studies, as well as those courses designed to make higher education available to academically underprivileged students. The CLAGS Board of Directors has come to feel that CLAGS should be taking a leading role in debates that use homophobia, racism, and sexism to justify cuts in funding for the arts and education, restrictions on freedom of academic and artistic expression, and policies that restrict access to higher learning. For this reason, we have formed a Board committee for advocacy in the arts and education.

Politics, Pedagogy, And Shaping Public Policy, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

We never exactly know when history is going to catch up with us, when we'll be in the midst of a crucial moment to which posterity will refer as key, as significant, as a lynchpin on which other moments, other decisions, other understandings were founded. The impeachment hearings recently conducted in the House of Representatives dragged us all, unwilling and amazed, into a dark hour of American politics, one in which partisan fury and ideological hatred are translated into strategies of power that disregard and reverse electoral politics. There's much to say about the disappointing performance of Bill Clinton as …

A Note From The Board Chair, Framji Minwalla

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

This has been a difficult, yet especially productive year for CLAGS. As most of you know, Jill Dolan stepped into Marty Duberman's shoes, becoming our first new Executive Director since the founding of the organization seven years ago. And while we all miss Marty, Jill has accomplished a daunting task brilliantly.

A Message From The New Executive Director, Jill Dolan

Center for LGBTQ Studies (CLAGS)

I'm honored and pleased to be succeeding Marty Duberman as Executive Director of CLAGS. I taught in theatre and drama and women's studies at the University of Wisconsin-Madison before I accepted my present position in the PhD Program in Theatre at the CUNY Graduate Center. At Madison, teaching and writing in lesbian performance theory, the fact that a national center for lesbian and gay studies had been established in New York gave me a sense that the field in which I worked was arriving, securing its legitimacy and its vibrancy and insisting on its visibility. In my two years at …

Clarence Ramey, A B.A. And Former Umo Janitor, Was Fired Because He 'Tried To Initiate Change', Fred Rogers

Social Justice: Diversity, Equity, & Inclusion

Clarence Ramey is black, college educated and former UMO janitor. But Ramey was fired last May, not because he was black but because the tried to initiate changes in a system where change may seem impossible.