Pro-Democracy Teaching & Learning Repository
Frequently Asked Questions
Thank you for your interest in the Pro-Democracy Teaching & Learning Repository. This collection of free, open-source teaching and learning resources is designed to make it easier for educators to bring democratic learning into courses, campus programs, student organizations, and other educational settings.
Whether you are looking for resources to use or are interested in contributing your own work, we hope these answers help you get started.
About the Repository
AAC&U’s Institute for Democracy & Higher Education (IDHE) created the repository in response to feedback from colleges and universities across the country. In 2022, IDHE surveyed colleges and universities to better understand how external organizations could support higher education’s public mission. Institutions consistently asked for practical, ready-to-use teaching materials rather than additional recommendations or reports. The Pro-Democracy Teaching & Learning Repository was created to meet that need by providing educators with adaptable, high-quality resources they can use, modify, and share.
The term pro-democracy means supporting the principles, practices, and institutions that enable democracy to flourish. Democracy is more than a governing system. It is also a culture built on constitutional principles, the rule of law, free and fair elections, freedom of expression, academic freedom, an independent press, pluralism, respect for the rights and dignity of all people, and a shared responsibility for one another and for the public good.
Being pro-democracy means helping students understand how democracy works, recognize the challenges it faces, and develop the knowledge, skills, and dispositions they need to study, improve, and defend it. We seek to prepare students to think critically, engage across differences, uphold democratic principles, and contribute to a more just, inclusive, and resilient democracy.
The purpose of this repository is to enable that learning across disciplines and institutions.
The repository focuses on practical teaching and learning resources that educators can use directly with students or adapt for their own contexts. Examples include interactive exercises or projects, discussion guides, research projects, homework assignments, media accompanied by teaching materials, digital tools with supporting documentation, handouts, reading lists, syllabi, and other adaptable instructional materials.
While syllabi are welcome, priority is given to resources that educators can readily incorporate into courses, workshops, or campus programming. The repository is not intended to collect descriptions of courses, academic programs, centers, or institutional initiatives. Instead, we seek resources that others can use directly.
Current topic areas include Civil and Human Rights; Democratic Governance and Constitutional Guardrails; Equitable Voice and Agency; Freedom to Teach and Learn; Global Democracies; Leading with Integrity and Public Ethics; Representation and Inclusion; Security; Social Cohesion and Democratic Norms; Truth, Information, and Media, and Wealth and Equity.
We envision contributions from across disciplines: humanities, social sciences, natural sciences, professional schools, the arts and other fields that engage important questions through evidence, inquiry, and informed discussion.
We also welcome suggestions for additional topics that support pro-democracy teaching and learning.
For Contributors
Contributing is simple. First, you'll complete a brief Contributor Description Form so we can learn about your resource and determine whether it's a good fit for the Repository. If your submission is accepted, we'll invite you to upload the resource and provide the information educators will need to discover and use it.
For a step-by-step overview of the submission process, including eligibility, review criteria, and what happens after you submit your description, visit the Contribute Your Resource page.
We will notify you once your resource is posted.
Yes. Email us and we’ll work with you to update your resource.
Yes!
No. Contributions are voluntary and are made to expand access to high-quality pro-democracy teaching and learning resources across higher education.
Yes. Contributors may choose not to have identifying information displayed publicly.
During the submission process, you may indicate whether you would like your name, institution, or role to appear alongside your resource. Regardless of your public attribution preferences, AAC&U must know the identity of each contributor for administrative purposes.
Yes. You retain ownership of your work. Contributing a resource does not transfer your copyright to AAC&U.
Yes. As part of the submission process, contributors confirm that they own or have permission to share the resource and grant AAC&U a non-exclusive license to make it available through the repository.
Yes. The repository is intended to support open educational use. Educators are encouraged to adapt resources to fit their own institutions, disciplines, and classrooms while providing appropriate attribution.
Yes. Downloaded resources contain an instruction to provide attribution when using the resource.
Absolutely. Because you retain ownership of your work, you remain free to revise, publish, or distribute it elsewhere.
For Users
No.
No. The repository is free and open to everyone to browse, download, adapt, and use its resources.
Yes, but you must provide attribution to the author and identify changes you made from the original. You do not need to notify the author if you modify the resource.
Yes. Don’t forget to provide attribution. You can also provide a link to this Repository.
On the “Find a Resource” page, you will see many ways to search: by topic, by type of resource, by how long it will take to do. You can search many ways all at once.
Who should I contact if I have additional questions?
Please email IDHE@aacu.org, and a member of the Institute for Democracy & Higher Education team will be happy to help.