The Guide to Teaching
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Community or Experiential Learning
Date: Thu, 30 Oct 1997 10:20:58 -0600 (CST)
From: John Williams <jww@prin.edu>
Our college (and departmental) curriculum places a strong emphasis on experiential learning. We have an active internship program, an extensive foreign travel-study program, and an aggressive service learning program (including a full-time staff manager with student assistants). The service lerning component is generally oriented toward local activities. With a major curricular overhaul in the coming terms, instructors are encouraged to include service learning components in their course planning. Service learning is not a specific component of our State and Local Government course, though there is a central emphasis on experiential learning.
One of the primary requirements of the State and Local Government course is participation (attendance and observation) of a minimum of five state/local government meetings. The most exciting is the annual Governor's State of State address at the state capitol (Springfield, Illinois). Although we are a very small rural college, we are accessible to a number of state and local activities--county supervisor meetings, village trustee meetings, town commissioner meetings, city alderman meetings, zoning boards, public hearings, etc. It is not difficult to compile a calendar of scheduled meetings with two-three opporunities each week.
Students must "debrief" each meeting (as evidence of attendance and as basis for evaluation) with a short memo addressing three topics: personality, process, and policy. The student most discuss (albeit briefly) a personality at the meeting, recognizing how important personality--leadership skills, rhetoric, emotion--are to governing. Students are creative, discussing mayors, lobbyists, and outspoken citizens. After the first couple of meetings, students become brave enough to talk to their "subjects." Process, of course, is central, and students witness all forms of process, from formal procedure to evidence of backroom bargaining. This is perhaps the most difficult of the three topics since it is often the hardest to clearly appreciate. Finally, the students address one of the policy issues of the meeting. In a zoning meeting, this can be a concrete zoning case. In a city council meeting, it might be a taxation matter.
Students tend to find a certain policy or type of meeting of interest and return to subsequent meetings to follow the political developments. In subsequent classes, I intentionally refer to these personalities, processes and policies as the examples for explicating the textual material. This means that I attend many of the meetings myself (often driving students, giving me a chance to interact informally with them) and introduce students to the various parties. As we wander out and drive back to school, I can help debrief the activity. Otherwise, I rely heavily on the debriefing papers, trying to acknowledged the authors. "Do you remember at that meeting when so-and-so said...?" "Jack, you must have had a real lively session at city hall last night. How does that reveal...?"
The debriefing papers have many advantages. They serve as evidence of attendance. They force reflection about the activity. They provide preparation for student discussion. Every student has something to offer in the way of examples and insights. They provide a concrete basis for evaluation of student learning. Finally, they touch the students--I have had students ask me a year later about developments on a certain issue or how a certain person is faring.
I do bring in guest speakers. However, this coming term I am going to be more intentional about the guest speakers. I am inviting several of the local mayors (from villages of 700 to cities of 40,000) to come to class early in the term to help set the stage. They will suggest personalities to watch, introduce the process, and talked about policy issues. Based on past experience with my students, having a speaker in class in a great opening for future contact. I've found that students, feeling comfortable, readily approach these people during the meetings.
Our Political Parties and Elections course is also heavily experiential. There are three experiential vehicles: in-class speakers, field trip-like activities, and election day exit polling.
The in-class speakers are the candidates. I have all the local Republican candidates on one day, all the local Democratic candidates on another day. More important candidates--such as US Congress--will come separately. I have done this for a number of years so the local party leaders expect these visits as part of the campaign routine and insist that candidates participate. Candidates have recruited student volunteers, gain access to the student voters, and have raised some great controversies. Last year a major "scandal" (for county level politics) exploded in the classroom. One candidate made (for the first time--a trial balloon) significant accusations against another candidate. The following day, my students pressed the other candidate about the issue. He was stunned at the assertions (which were unfounded) and within a week the county political machines were abuzz with spin-doctoring. The students knew they were in the middle of political excitement.
I use these visits in a very intentional manner. We study the revelant theoretical literature and I use the visitors as empirical data upon which to test the textual assertions. The clearest example is political sociologization of party identification. Theory states that parents/family are very influential. The students ask the candidates why they are Democratic/Republican. Almost uniformly, the candidates pause then talk about their families. Once, a candidate candidly admitted that he was very different than his parents. The students started to smirk at me ("ah-ha, caught you, professor williams"). Then, a wise student started probing. Others picked up on the answers. The candidate had carefully chosen the party in order to maximize his chances of winning. He was a carpetbagger! Discoveries like this lead to great follow-up discussions, drawing upon the readings.
I use the field trips much like the town meeting visits in State and Local Government. The trips are usually to party meetings and fund raisers. I have easy rapport with both parties and the students are genuinely welcomed. In fact, to my chargin, most everyone in this part of the state has come to realize that I'm the only one who can get into the "other" meetings and they want to know what its like. Because of my familiarity with the actors, I introduce students to the pols and the movers and shakers. Class debriefings are akin to political gossip sessions as students ask me to tell me more about this character or that. This political titilation aspect and the fact that most campaign and party activities involve food are great drawing cards for students.
The election day exit poll, approved by our county election authority and, on one occasion, monitored by attorneys from the state, is not on how people voted that day, but on some theoretical topic of interest to me professionally. Because we do it every general election (those rotating polling sites), the local population is becoming attune to the exercise (and response rates are holding even or going up!). My educational intent is two-fold. The first is exposure to and participation in "doing political science" and public opinion. The second is to force the students to confront the public--voters and poll judges. Sometimes I do this through telephone polling in off-years.
Unlike working in campaigns, I find these experiences validate democracy rather than stimulate cynicism. As course evaluations, I have students writing about the usefulness of the exposure to local politics. Students appreciate, in spite of the "country-ness" of the participants, the sincerity and integrity of those in politics. And, the students are excited at how easy they can have an impact into the system.
John W. Williams, JD
Political Science
Principia College
Elsah, IL 62028
tel. 618-374-5230
fax 618-374-5122
e-mail jww@prin.edu
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