Redesigning Majors: Disciplinary Knowledge, Civic Learning, and Public Responsibility

This webinar, designed for faculty and departmental chairs and funded by the Endeavor Foundation, focused on how departments can structure the design, expectations, and experiences for all their majors to expand students’ civic capacities while also deepening students’ learning in the discipline. Led by practitioners who have already implemented such departmental designs, viewers can learn how departments adapted their curricula by developing civic-centered learning goals; mapping out levels of learning over time; and creating opportunities for applying disciplinary knowledge to address large public challenges.

Learning Goals for Webinar Viewers:

• Gather concrete suggestions for how to initiate department-wide discussions about incorporating civic learning and public responsibility as integral to the major
• See a variety of ways civic learning can be deftly woven into disciplinary learning outcomes for the departmental major
• Multiply the variety of approaches for mapping a civic lens across different levels in a student’s major over time
• Amplify the range of courses that honor disciplinary language, methods, and purpose, while enhancing students’ sense of responsibility to a larger good
• Enhance knowledge about how the hands-on application of disciplinary understanding can help address society’s and the world’s challenges