Montclair students value opportunities for connecting their learning to real-world issues. When pressing and often challenging societal issues emerge and instructors are inspired to design new assignments or activities, course planning principles still apply.
As you plan to introduce an assignment or activity around a social or political issue, whether it’s planned in advance or during the semester, be sure to plan to:
- Position yourself as neutral, open to multiple points of view
- Cultivate a supportive classroom environment
- Select content and activities that are appropriate to your academic field of expertise and are germane to the course subject matter
- A review of the University’s published course description and student learning outcomes will help you make this assessment.
- Be ready to effectively deal with emotional conflicts (Pace, 2021)
Clear and intentional course design is key to integrating societal, and especially controversial, topics in your courses effectively and without unwanted consequences. Such integration should not happen in an improvised or reactive manner, and instructors should resist the urge to share their views on ongoing issues impulsively. Strategize carefully, recognizing that students may hold a wide range of perspectives, some of which may be very different from your own and those of their peers.
Below is a list of action items that will help you build out your course’s connections to real-world issues.
- Consider any societal topics and examples within the context of the course’s learning objectives and their place in the disciplinary curriculum.
- The American Association of University Professors’ work on academic freedom and teaching is useful to consult. The FAQs on academic freedom offer this guidance: “Faculty members are entitled to freedom in the classroom in discussing their subject, but they should be careful not to introduce into their teaching controversial matters which are unrelated to their subject, or to persistently introduce material which has no relation to the subject.”
- Choose examples and readings that represent a diversity of viewpoints.
- Model dialogic thinking. If some of the materials you’d like to use are likely to elicit an emotional response, carefully weigh the pros and cons of including them:
- Will these materials facilitate meaningful disciplinary conversation?
- Are they the best materials for fulfilling the course goals?
- Are there materials that could achieve the same goals but in less divisive ways?
- Provide high-quality, appropriately sourced materials from reputable sources; the last thing you want to do is model poor research skills and hasty selection of materials that can’t stand up to scrutiny.
- Model dialogic thinking. If some of the materials you’d like to use are likely to elicit an emotional response, carefully weigh the pros and cons of including them:
- Make room in your course plan for laying a strong foundation before any difficult conversations occur. Create a timeline that allows the classroom community to settle into the term first.
- Make all course topics and materials available for viewing before the semester begins.
- Send a pre-semester survey. If there are materials or topics you are unsure about, consider adding a question to probe students’ comfort levels.
- If difficult topics constitute a large part of your course, consider inviting your class to co-develop and sign a community agreement.
- Design assignments that facilitate dialogue and exchange:
- Offer flexible options for earning credit. Assignments should not include mandatory participation in political activism or action, especially if the same participation opportunities may not be available to all students.
- For example: not all students may be eligible or wish to vote; not all students may be equally willing to join a group project focusing on creating specific forms of protest art or religious expression.
- Design discussion questions and prompts that avoid viewpoint assumptions.
- Offer flexible options for earning credit. Assignments should not include mandatory participation in political activism or action, especially if the same participation opportunities may not be available to all students.
- Ensure that assignments make it clear that students’ political views are not being evaluated.
Resources
Conlon, Mark Anthony. (2023). Navigating Controversial Classroom Discussions. In Analytic Teaching and Philosophic Praxis, 43(2), 27-43.
Pace, J.L. (2021). How can educators prepare for teaching controversial issues? Cross-national lessons. In Social Education, 85(4), 228-233.
AAUP: FAQs on Academic Freedom: https://www.aaup.org/issues-higher-education/academic-freedom/faqs-academic-freedom