CREATING, IMPLEMENTING, AND SUSTAINING THE DEMOCRACY COMMITMENT INITIATIVES DR. NORMAH SALLEH-BARONE SUMEET SINGH.

CREATING, IMPLEMENTING, AND SUSTAINING THE DEMOCRACY COMMITMENT INITIATIVES

DR. NORMAH SALLEH-BARONESUMEET SINGH

America’s Community Colleges Educating For Democracy

“A healthy democracy depends on engaged citizens, proud of theirrights, thoughtful about their responsibilities, and informed abouttheir choices.”

“Beyond access to education itself, community colleges have anobligation to: educate about democracy, engage students in both anunderstanding of civic institutions and practical experience of actingin the public arena.”

Moraine Valley Community College

• Second largest community college in Illinois• Three campuses: Main campus in Palos Hills, Education

Center in Blue Island, and Southwest Education Center in Tinley Park

• Spring 2014 enrollment of approximately 17,000 students• Offer 100+ degree and certificate programs

Our Demographics

0.32% 2.19%

9.73% 0.04%

19.72%

1.48%

55.48%

1.44% 9.61%

American Indian

Asian

Black

Hawaiian

Hispanic

More than one race

White

Student on a visa

Unknown

TDC - Prime Initiative

The Democracy Commitment (TDC) is a national initiative providing a platform for the development and expansion of community college programs, projects and curricula aiming at engaging students in civic learning and democratic practice across the country.

The goal of TDC is that every graduate of an American community college shall have had an education in democracy. This includes all of our students, whether they aim to transfer to university, achieve an associate degree or obtain a certificate.

Democracy Commitment and Community College

The American community colleges share this mission of educating about democracy because we are the gateway to higher education for millions who might not otherwise get a postsecondary education. More critically, we are rooted deeply in local communities that need the civic leadership and practical democratic capacity of our students for their political and social health.

MVCC Mission Statement

The mission of our college is to educate the whole person in a learning-centered environment, recognizing our responsibilities to one another, to our community, and to the world we share. We value excellence in teaching, learning and service as we maintain sensitivity to our role in a global, multicultural community. We are committed to continuous improvement and dedicated to providing accessible, affordable, and diverse learning opportunities and environments.

It’s About the Students

Exploring

Committee created representing both academic and student affairsThree team members attended 2011 National MeetingPresentation by Kevin Navratil and Lisa Kelsay to All-Faculty

meeting on September 8, 2011Presentation by Kevin Navratil and Lisa Kelsay to Student Life on

October 4, 2011 Part of the Student Life Leadership Development Series

Faculty members attended the “7 Revolutions Institute: Educating Globally Competent Citizens” October 28-29, 2011 Fresno, California

Creating

Developed workshops for faculty to encourage and assist them in incorporating civic practice and service learning in their curriculum:

CTL Workshops Staff development Days Community Organizing Training Learning Community Seminar

Creating

Provided opportunities for students, faculty and staff to learn about important social issues and encourage them to get involved through presentations :

Local and sustainable food event with local farmers Faculty lecture series ActOut Education through service fair Film screenings (Inequality for All and American Winter)

Surveyed Faculty to find out what they are already doing and what needs they may have in doing more

Faculty survey completed fall 2013

Results From the Faculty Survey

identify problems in the community.

uncover the root cause of a problem.

generate alternative solutions to a problem.

evaluate information for possible biases.

1.00 1.50 2.00 2.50 3.00 3.50 4.00 4.50 5.00

By the end of the course, students would know how to:

Implementing

Work collaboratively with all areas of the college at the planning stage to ensure support and community effort :

ActOut fair is a collaboration between Mike McGuire, TDC Global Education and the library One-day seminar on civic engagement and learning communities was a

collaboration between Student Development and Academic Affairs

Sustaining

Providing a space for all levels of the college to get involved. Working with the TDC committee and inviting input from the college community:

Hosting a roundtable discussion for faculty to discuss this past year’s efforts and what we want to see in the coming years from TDC

Engage students through curriculum :

Link efforts that are college-wide to help students make the connections and see the importance of being engaged citizens.

Sustaining

Institutionalize the work

Develop communities of learning that students will expect to see every year

Develop a sense of community and shared responsibility on campus so that our small projects can grow and become a standard at MVCC

Collaborative efforts with other campus initiative (sustainability, global education, one-book)

Our Progression….

Hosted a regional conference for ADP and TDC area colleges on May 30, 2012

Hosted Brian Murphy, President of De Anza College (CA) and co-founder of The Democracy Commitment Initiative, to speak at In-Service Day on October 16, 2012

On-going Student Development and Academic Affairs programsSelected Faculty Program Coordinator

Tamarra Coleman-Hill, Assistant Professor of CommunicationUploading information to the national TDC website on MVCC

activitiesApplied for a Bringing Theory to Practice grant

2013-14 Short term goals

Implement a conversation board in building U Faculty Program Coordinator to present workshops Create a mission statement Select a graduate intern Add question to pool of interview questions Add a link to the Student Life Page to Service Opportunities Conduct campus-wide academic inventory Host a Naturalization Ceremony Create competition to create a tagline Create a Student Democracy Commitment award Outreach to local high schools and middle schools Create democracy commitment website Introduce The Democracy Commitment during orientations

2013-14 Long term goals

Research creating democracy certification/concentration program Host student presentation on democracy Determine process to select a student to attend /present at national

meeting Work with Kettering Foundation and National Issues Forums

Institute Locate speaker on democracy for convocation Learning College Day workshop by students Add session to Leadership Series on how to be moderators of

discussions Educate faculty on how to align General Education Learning Goals

and Objectives to class learning objectives to incorporate TDC components

Determine what it means to be a TDC course and share with faculty Create a designation symbol next to classes that relate to TDC

Democracy Commitment Events

Institutional Resources

On MVCC’s WebsiteBlackboardSustainability In the CurriculumVolunteering OpportunitiesVoter RegistrationSocial Action & Political EmpowermentThe Democracy CommitmentDeAnza Community College

Conclusion

Our community colleges have enormous talent andcapacity, with faculty and staff committed to the

success ofour students, and with students bright with ambition

andpassion. All of us share a commitment to a

democraticnation. Now is the time to fulfill that commitment byparticipating in the democracy commitment.

Questions?!! Concerns?!