Teaching Social Change: The Practical Activism Assignment

Janelle M. Silva (UNIVERSITY of Washington Bothell)

Please note: Instructors are welcome to use or adapt these teaching ideas for their own classes, provided the use is noncommercial and appropriate credit is given.

Objectives

For students to: (1) understand how inequities, power, and privilege shape social institutions; (2) synthesize and apply diverse theoretical concepts to real-world situations to bring about practical social change; and (3) learn the value of collective action in facilitating sustainable change

Abstract                      

In the Practical Activism Assignment, students spend eight weeks working together as a class to imagine and facilitate social change. Through a collaborative process, students select a social institution and identify one or more problems affecting the well-being of its community members. Using course concepts, students develop an action plan that describes why they selected their institution and how they will work to create socially-just change for members of the community it serves. As part of this collaboration, students decide on an agreement model (consensus, majority vote, etc.) to determine how they select the institution and action. Once class members have agreed on an institution and plan for action, they present their proposal to the instructor prior to engaging in social change. Students are assessed on how well their action plan aligns with course material and themes, and how effectively their actions facilitate social change. As a result of the assignment, students successfully lobbied their school administration for the establishment of a Student Diversity Center and Diversity Action Plan, among other outcomes. 

Background and Overview of the Activity

"How do we change it?" is a question that I encounter when teaching courses focused on social justice. When I started teaching at the University of Washington Bothell ten years ago, several students in my Institutions and Social Change course expressed a desire to move beyond static research proposals and learn how to effectively apply theory to advance social justice. The primary learning objective of the course is to "teach students how to critically examine institutions they are a part of and how individuals and/or groups have facilitated systemic change." The last part — about facilitating systemic change — had become a sticking point for students who wanted to create tangible social change through practical applications of the course content.

The Practical Activism Assignment incorporates research and theory on institutional change to provide students with the opportunity to have a practical effect on social justice. By design, the project requires all members of the class — capped at 45 students — to collaborate as a single team. In the second week of the course, students are presented with an instructional packet that describes the assignment and challenges them to use what they've learned to change an institution chosen by the class.

For the next eight weeks, students are given one 120-minute class session per week to work collectively on the assignment. The main tasks of the assignment, which are elaborated in the instructional packet and in class, appear in the weekly schedule below.

Course Week	Activity
Week 1	Introduction; draft the community agreements
Week 2	Determine decision making and organizational procedures
Week 3	Choose group leaders; decide how to organize class time
Week 4	Select institution; submit written justification of choice
Week 5	Research history, goals, and values of the institution
Week 6	Agree on change needed; develop and submit action plan
Week 7	Identify resources needed and components of the action
Week 8	Make sure the action plan links back to course content
Week 9	Prepare for and execute the planned actions
Week 10	Class debriefing; individual paper and reflective letter due

Each element of the project asks students to connect the group's decisions to the course material through individual reflections. For example, each student completes a 5-page paper reflecting on the class rationale for selecting the institution and proposed action, how the action incorporates course material on social change, the student's individual role in the project, and future directions. Students also submit a one-page reflective letter to the instructor about the project and how it connects to the learning objectives of the course. The individual paper and reflective letter are due at the end of Week 10.

Student-Driven Learning

From the choice of institution to the execution of proposed actions, the Practical Activism Assignment involves student-driven learning. This key aspect of the assignment begins with the very first step, when students create "community agreements" that specify exactly how students will work as a collective. The agreements often include the following: an acknowledgement of positionality and privilege in the classroom, speaking from your experience and not speaking for others, and guidelines for how to handle conflict (see the instructional packet for a sample community agreement). Every time I have taught this project, the class has elected to make decisions based on consensus rather than majority vote. In many cases, students also create subgroups of 6-8 class members and appoint group leaders to help facilitate discussions, allow for more voices to be amplified, and make space for students with differing abilities.

Once community agreements and group leaders are established and communicated to the instructor, students begin the process of choosing the institution that they want to critically examine for their project. One of the most popular institutions students select is their own school: the University of Washington Bothell. Students frequently choose UW Bothell because course materials suggest that for change to be sustainable and equitable, it's ideal if everyone is a member of the institution in question. By selecting their school, students also avoid the burden of finding transportation and lodging during the action component of the project.

After selecting their primary institution of focus, students then determine what kind of social change they want to create. The first step in understanding how to generate change requires students to familiarize themselves with the historical structures in place at their chosen institution. For classes that choose UW Bothell, this step requires students to learn about the university's mission, values, and goals. Students also identify the stakeholders invested in the institution and select individuals to interview based on inclusion and exclusion criteria that the class develops. The interview process gives students a chance to understand the importance of qualitative research and the importance of understanding invested community members' experiences, stories, and perspectives. In addition, these interviews enable students to better reflect on the change that they and other stakeholders see as integral in fulfilling UW Bothell's mission, values, and goals. Based on this combination of interviewing, reflection, and discussion, students then reach a consensus on one area to target for change, and they take action.

Actions Taken and Results Achieved

Students have carried out a wide variety of actions to complete this assignment, including campus-wide surveys, proposals for campus initiatives, the creation of student clubs and alliances, and the development of best-practice models. One of the greatest realizations that students gain from these actions is a sense of their own power and agency when it comes to creating greater social justice within an institution.

UW Bothell Student Diversity Center

My class in 2015 provides an especially clear example of how the Practical Action Assignment embodies the dual nature of action teaching (i.e., students learning while contributing to the greater good). That year, class members became aware of the increasingly diverse student body at UW Bothell and investigated the growing concern that stakeholders had about the absence of a diversity center in each iteration of a construction plan for our campus. As part of the Practical Activism Assignment, class members then organized the first ever student-led activism on campus: a walkout. The walkout included a list of demands drafted with student groups on campus, as well as an occupation of the Chancellor's office. These actions, coupled with other actions spearheaded by students in the class after the Practical Activism Assignment, led to the establishment of our Student Diversity Center and the school's first Diversity Action Plan (UWB Diversity, 2021).

Since that time, other Practical Activism Assignments have successfully championed changes to address the needs of international students, facilitated an initiative to established culturally responsive counseling plans, and spearheaded the development of student organizations such as the Gender Equity Society.

Student Reactions

Over the past six years that I have used the Practical Activism Assignment, I've witnessed its effectiveness as a teaching tool and a source of student growth. In their individual reflective letters, students frequently mention three specific lessons from this project:

• Lesson #1: Allyship and positionality. Given the diversity of students in the course and on campus, class members often emphasize how this project taught them what it means to be an ally. Central to allyship is understanding how positionality interacts with privilege and power. For many students, this was a hard lesson to learn. As one student wrote, "It's hard to feel motivated when your personal agenda is challenged. But I realized my personal agenda was just that — personal. It did nothing to make our campus a better place for everyone. I had to let it go and acknowledge I am privileged for not seeing that the Diversity Center was needed.

• Lesson #2: Collaboration and working across difference. One central objective of the Practical Activism Assignment is for students to learn how to communicate and work collaboratively across difference. As one student noted, "I witnessed people that didn't like each other in the beginning becoming friends, collaborating, and even hugging at points."

• Lesson #3: Collective action. As a whole-class project, students experienced the power of collective action in creating change. They learned how to use the skills and knowledge each student brought into the classroom to move their project forward, and how to organize collectively to promote inclusion. As one student said, "I would have been scared to speak up to Administration alone, or even with 5 friends. Doing this as a class gave me confidence. I learned that I had skills I didn't think were skills, and I learned how to use my voice."

These themes are also evident in the results of an anonymous survey I developed to assess student reactions to the Practical Activism Assignment (N = 268 responses, including both classes mentioned under "Challenge #3" below). To avoid bias, all surveys were administered by a colleague rather than me, and students were assured that the surveys would not be read until after course grades were submitted.

 All told, 89% of survey respondents strongly agreed that the Practical Activism Assignment was a key aspect of their learning in the course, 92% thought community agreements were a great part of the assignment, 87% strongly agreed that working with the entire class helped them understand what it means to do social change, 86% thought it was great that the group chose the institution, and 88% believed that having the group determine the decision-making process was a good or great aspect of the project.

Regarding the course learning objectives, 88% of respondents strongly agreed that the assignment allowed them to apply theory into action; 88% strongly agreed that the assignment allowed them to reflect on inequality, power, and privilege; 83% strongly agreed that the assignment helped them understand the role of context in shaping, transforming, and influencing an individual’s life and social groups; and 95% strongly or somewhat agreed that the assignment enhanced their ability to participate in respectful and collegial dialogue. Taken together, these results suggest not only that the assignment achieved course learning objectives, but that for many students, it was more than simply a school assignment.

Tips on Implementation

Although the Practical Activism Assignment can lead to transformative learning and social change, there are three teaching challenges that must be addressed:

•  Challenge #1: Establishing trust. Trust and agency are central to the success of this assignment and challenging to achieve with 45 individuals who are unique in perspective, ability, motivation, and identity. Community agreements are critical in establishing trust, both with the instructor and with classmates. Having open dialogue and allowing students to disagree with the instructor are also crucial to facilitating trust.

• Challenge #2: Resolving conflict constructively. Within the community agreements, I ask students to include a "Rule of 3" in the clause on addressing conflict: students should confer with three people in the group before involving the instructor. By checking with three peers, students get some outside perspectives, understand potential biases in the situation, and often come to an equitable solution on their own. Although it is important for students to learn how to deal constructively with conflict, it's also essential that the instructor be aware of the potential or ongoing conflicts, so I recommend maintaining consistent check-ins with class members at each stage and soliciting anonymous feedback.

• Challenge #3: Be ready to pivot. Not all course assignments work as planned, including the Practical Activism Assignment. Thus far, there have been two instances when I had to make an executive decision to end the assignment after group leaders sought help navigating a larger conflict that upended their overall goal. After collecting anonymous feedback and conducting dialogue circles, the students and I decided in these cases to end the project early based on student consensus. Dialogue circles create space for candidly discussing project tasks and struggles. In these two classes, ending the project allowed them to work on healing the classroom community, which was a valuable learning experience in its own right.

Final Thoughts

The Practical Activism Assignment can be a profound learning experience for students and instructors alike. So far, I have used this project successfully in classes ranging from 18 to 45 students, with the whole class working collectively in each case.

One word of advice to teachers is that they should make sure they're aware of what the students are envisioning for the action component before students move forward. As a tenured faculty member of color, I now have the security of using this assignment without feeling that my employment could be "at risk" based on the action students choose to enact, but this was not always the case. Students — especially those from marginalized communities — also need to feel safe and supported in their chosen project, ideally with explicit support from a department chairperson.

Whenever I walk by our Student Diversity Center, I know that action teaching has the potential to foster meaningful student-led changes coupled with deep and enduring learning. For a more detailed description of the assignment and student reflections, please see the article by Silva & The Students for Diversity Now (2018). The article was coauthored with the 45 students who successfully advocated for the UW Bothell Diversity Center.

References

Silva, J. M., & The Students for Diversity Now. (2018). #WEWANTSPACE: Developing student activism through a decolonial pedagogy. American Journal of Community Psychology, 62(3-4), 374-384.

University of Washington Bothell. (2021). Diversity. Retrieved from https://www.uwb.edu/odei/