SFCE 200:
INTRODUCTION TO COMMUNITY EDUCATION
Credit Hours: 3
CATALOG DESCRIPTION:
Introduction to Community Education examines the role of education in the community, traces the history of community education, and analyzes current models of practice. In addition, the course introduces basic inquiry methods, leadership styles, and communication skills employed by advocates and cultivates strategies for democratic forms of community engagement and capacity building.
RATIONALE:
The course is designed to introduce students to the SFCE’s pillars of community education: community capacity building, democratic education, reflection and responsiveness, and sustainability. Students will build a historical understanding of the community education movement in the Unites States as well as analyze international frameworks and community education in multiple contemporary contexts. Students will reflect on models of leadership, communication styles, and modes of inquiry that are most effective at listening and responding to the community.
COURSE OUTCOMES/OBJECTIVES
Students will
1. Demonstrate an understanding of the core principles of community education: inclusivity and participation, civic intelligence, capacity building, models of leadership, and collaboration for public action.
2. Critically analyze historically and cotemporary community education practices.
3. Identify different roles for the community educator.
4. Identify opportunities and challenges across multiple communities and contexts.
5. Establish an understanding of modes of inquiry suitable for community investigations.
6. Identify the skills and knowledge that have contributed towards community change.
7. Develop and articulate a democratic rationale toward community education.
SUGGESTED TEXTS
Krile, J. F. (2006). Community Leadership Handbook: Framing ideas, building. relationships,
and mobilizing resources. Fieldstone Alliance.
Ledwith, M. (2016). Community development in action: Putting Freire into practice. London,
England: Policy Press.
Matthew, D. (2014). The ecology of democracy: Finding ways to have a stronger hand in
shaping our future. Kettering Foundation.
Postle, G. D., Burton, L. J., & Danher, P. A. (Eds.) (2104). Community capacity building:
Lesson from Australia. NIACE.
Stoecker, R. R. (2005). Research methods for community change. Thousand Oaks, CA: Sage
Publications.
Toms, F. D. and Burges, S. W. Congnella (Eds.) (2013). Lead the way: Principles and practices
in community and civic engagement. Academic Publishing.
Course Outline
I. What is community?
II. Theorizing Democracy
III. History of Community Education
IV. Civic Intelligence/Community Ways of Knowing
V. Developing Capacity
VI. Seeing from Other’s Perspectives
VII. Inclusion and Participation
VIII. Leadership and Advocacy
IX. Building Just and Sustainable Communities
INSTRUCTIONAL PROCEDURES:
These range from direct instruction/lecture, whole-group discussion, structured small-group activities, and student presentations and productions. An inquiry approach is utilized as much as possible. Materials are varied and may include theoretical sources, primary research, case studies, personal narratives, and policy documents. Community engagement/education beyond the classroom may be encouraged. The instructional procedures of the course will model democratic practices.
ASSESSMENTS AND REQUIREMENTS:
General Description:
Students may be evaluated through a variety of measures, including analytic essays, research projects, in-class participation, and discussions. All assessments are designed to encourage critical reflection on issues presented as they impact educational pedagogy/andragogy and communities in a variety of contexts. Students will be asked to evaluate, critique, and analyze educational practices and community programs through the lenses of multiple stakeholders
Types of Requirements:
Short essay responses, individual and small group projects and presentations, analysis of community education model, developed community education rationale statement
Criteria for Evaluation:
Evaluation will include quality of content (relevance to course, treatment of basic issues, significance), precision of expression and accuracy of reasoning, adequacy of evidence presented to support interpretations, criticisms and conclusions, creative, insightful expression of ideas, and relevance to classroom practice, advocacy for children and adults, and leadership in diverse educational and community settings.
Knowledge Base
Cortes, E., Jr. (1995-1996). Engaging the community in education reform. Community
Education Journal, 23, 26-32.
Decker, L. & Decker, V. (Eds.)(1977). Administrator’s and Policy makers’ views of community
education. Retrieved from http://files.eric.ed.gov/fulltext/ED147502.pdf
Dewey, J. (1916). Democracy and education. New York, NY: The Macmillan Company.
Emejulu, A. & Shaw, M. (2010). The Glasgow papers. Retrieved from The Glasgow Papers.
http://www.iacdglobal.org/files/TheGlasgowPapers_1.pdf
Etzioni, A. (1998). The essential communitarian reader. Lanham, MD: Rowman & Littlefield.
Friere, P. (1970/2103). Pedagogy of the oppressed. New York, NY: Bloomsbury.
Freire, P. (1974/2013). Education for critical consciousness. New York, NY: Bloomsbury Academic.
Ledwith, M. (2011). Community development. A critical approach. Chicago, IL: The Policy
Press.
Mayo, P. (1999). Gramsci, Friere, and adult education. New York, NY: Zed Books.
Medoff, P. & Sklar, H. (2009). Streets of hope: The Rise and fall of an urban neighborhood.
South End Press.
Minkler, M. (Ed.). (2012). Community organizing and community building for health and
welfare, (3rd ed.). Rutgers University Press.
Mott Foundation. (1982). Community education: Partnerships for tomorrow. [Special
report reprinted from the annual report]. Flint, MI: author.
Nussbaum, M. C. (2013). Creating capabilities. The human development approach. Belknap
Press.
Putnam, R. D. (1995, January). Bowling alone: America's declining social capital. Journal of Democracy, 6(1), 65-78.
Putnam, R. D. (1996, Winter). The strange disappearance of civic America. American Prospect, 24, 34-48.
Putnam, R. D. (2000). Bowling alone: The collapse and revival of American community. New York: Simon & Schuster.
Rogers, J. S. (1998). Community schools: Lessons from the past and present: A report to the Charles S. Mott Foundation. Flint, MI: Charles S. Mott Foundation.
Sirianni, C. & Friedland, L. (1995). Social capital and civic innovation: Learning and capacity building from the 1960’s to the 1990’s. Retrieved from http://www.cpn.org/sections/new_citizenship/theory/socialcapital_civicinnov.html
Sparks, P. (1996, Spring). Community schools: The Birmingham, Alabama way. Community Education Journal, 23 (3), pp. 19-22.
Sen, A. (1992). Inequality reexamined. Harvard University Press.
Tam, H. (1998). Communitarianism: A new agenda for politics and citizenship. New York: New York University Press.
Tocqueville, A. (2000). Democracy in America. (H.C. Mansfield & D.Winthrop, Trans.). Chicago: University of Chicago Press.
Warren, A. (1999, September). 21st century learning centers: Expanding educational
opportunities. In focus: The magazine of the Charles Stewart Mott Foundation, 2 (3), 3-14.