SoTL Commons Conference Presenters
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13.3 – Room 2904
Teaching Democratic Citizenship: Theory versus Practice (pr-1)
Christopher Nesmith (University of South Carolina – Columbia): cnesmith@sc.edu
Mary Hjelm (University of South Carolina – Columbia): mlhjelm@mailbox.sc.edu
This session will present and discuss the findings of a semester-long study of student learning outcomes in a required course for two baccalaureate degree programs at regional campuses of a large public university in the Southeast. Pre- and post-course surveys were administered, asking students about their past behaviors and attitudes regarding voting, volunteering, writing their representatives, and other measures of civic engagement. After several activities and classroom discussion, students were then given the same survey and some other follow-up questions to collect data on their perceptions of and attitudes toward civic engagement and active citizenship.