I hope students will learn more about the course and to apply for the program!

My colleague from the Universitatea Libera Internationala din Moldova, Larisa Patlis (who is at USFSP this semester conducting research as a Carnegie Fellow) will be making a presentation about the history and culture of Moldova, and I will answer questions about the Study Abroad course at an event on campus. So the session is part presentation about Moldova’s history and culture and part about the study Abroad course specifically (information session). 

Please join us Friday, October 26th @ 10:00 am in Davis Hall 236! All are welcome to attend — faculty, staff, students, and the public.

Please also have a look at my Moldova blog.

The briefings, “Inspired to Engage: Stories of Muslim Engagement at the State Department,” were facilitated by Special Representative to Muslim Communities Farah Pandith.

The panel included eight speakers who “have been inspired by the Secretary’s vision to reach out to Muslim communities around the world to bring Muslim voices to the table, build bridges between communities, promote cooperation between young Muslim leaders overseas and their American counterparts, and bring about change in their communities.”

Stories of Muslim Engagement – briefings at the State Department

After President Obama delivered his “New Beginning” speech at Cairo University in June of 2009, Farah Pandith was appointed and her office launched initiatives to build relationships with Muslims around the world.

The speakers included Mohamed Ali, a founding member of Generation Change Somalia, spoke about youth leadership development and training he is organizing in Mogadishu.

Humera Khan spoke about her Viral Peace program, using social media training designed to prevent radicalization and violent extremism in the American Muslim community through engagement and empowerment.

Libyan Ambassador Ali Suleiman Aujali offers his condolences to the US over the loss of Ambassador Chris Stevens

Andrew Rabens, Special Advisor for Youth Engagement at the State Department, spoke about his work on youth engagement initiatives with 18 posts in the Middle East and North Africa.

Visit the Bureau of Educational and Cultural Affairs for more information about these exchange programs.

Following the briefings, I attended an Eid al-Fitr reception in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the Department of State. Secretary Clinton introduced the Libyan Ambassador to the United States, Ali Suleiman Aujali, who spoke briefly.

He offered heartfelt condolences to the United States over the loss of Ambassador Chris Stevens.

Secretary Clinton delivered powerful remarks about the need for religious freedom and toleration. She asked the crowd to work towards building a world where if one person commits a violent religious act, millions of people will stand up and condemn it.

“We can pledge that whenever one person speaks out in ignorance and bigotry, ten voices will answer,” Clinton said forcefully. “They will answer resoundingly against the offense and the insult; answering ignorance with enlightenment; answering hatred with understanding; answering darkness with light.”

Secretary Clinton speaks at the Eid al-Fitr Reception in the Benjamin Franklin Room at the State Department

The secretary urged the audience not to be discouraged by the hatred and violence that exists, but instead resolve to do something tangible to promote religious tolerance in their own communities.

“In times like these, it can be easy to despair that some differences are irreconcilable, some mountains too steep to climb; we will therefore never reach the level of understanding and peacefulness that we seek, and which I believe the great religions of the world call us to pursue,” she reflected. “But that’s not what I believe, and I don’t think it’s what you believe… Part of what makes our country so special is we keep trying. We keep working. We keep investing in our future,” she said.

Later Ms. Pandith recognized three of the leaders from the Generation Change program, who elaborated on their projects.

I appreciated the opportunity to network with others interested in civic engagement, the use of social media to affect positive change, and outreach to the Muslim world.

In 2002 I traveled to Egypt and Morocco as a delegate with the American Council of Young Political Leaders. More recently, I participated in an ACYPL alumni summit in Amman, Jordan in December.

It was in Jordan that I made a connection with the Women Lawyer’s Group of the Middle East.

During the Spring semester, my Constitutional Law students conducted comparative legal research on Women’s rights in the Middle East.

Students were partnered with an attorney from the group (practicing law in one of the seven countries my students were researching), who mentored them as they pursued their project. Read our blog for more information about the Women Lawyers Group, the research project assignment, and the students’ research findings.

This is my first online class. And this is the first online course that our Department has offered (the Department of History and Politics, which includes History, Political Science, Philosophy, and Art History)

During Summer A I video recorded all of my lectures for the course.

Each Unit of material has a video lecture (with accompanying PowerPoint and lecture outline) assigned readings and study guide, a unit quiz, and other recommended materials (books, articles, websites, videos, etc)

My biggest concern when moving this important course about American government to an online format was how to retain the civic engagement components — and the experiential learning components — that I believe deepen students’ understanding of and appreciation for the course content.

I thought I would give you an update by discussing 2 requirements for my online course — the civics project assignment and the simulations.

The Civics Project Assignment

I developed a new Civics Project Assignment for this course. Students will complete 5 civics assignments during the course of the semester. For the assignment, students will participate in an activity, selecting from a menu of options, write a reflection paper about the activity, and participate in a Discussion Board for each project (posting a description of their activity and responding to at least one classmate’s activity).

Students participated in a broad array of civics projects for the first assignment — attended City Council meetings, visited State Representatives in their District offices, attended neighborhood association meetings, volunteered for a community agency, visited a courthouse, wrote letters to the editor, volunteered for a presidential campaign, registered new voters… Some watched the Florida Supreme Court oral argument online, listened to the US Supreme Court oral argument online, or watched one of the Sunday morning talk shows (up to 2 of the assignments can be online), but I was able to meet many of my students in person when they came to the Republican National Convention Watch Party that I moderated on campus.

I was quite pleased with the creativity that students demonstrated in their projects and also with the quality of their reflection papers. Even though this was only the first civics project assignment, it seems as if the project is achieving the goals of increasing students’ knowledge and getting them out from behind the computer and in to the community, learning about politics from the front lines.

Many of my students said that they “got out of their comfort zone” for their assignment, which is exactly what I was hoping.

The student who attended a neighborhood association meeting in Orlando seemed a bit surprised when he concluded that “the meeting showed that you really can make a difference if you put enough effort into something.”

I think that the Discussion Board posting (which is not something I have used with my in-person courses) also increased interaction between and among the students on this Civics Project beyond what we would have been able to devote during class time.

That is to say, I think that students learned more from each other, and about each others’ projects in this online forum than if we were in lecture hall together.

Every student was required to post about his/her project and to post about another student’s project. I am sure we would not have been able to achieve 100% participation in this regard while in class and still have covered all of the lecture material for that day.

Our First Simulation, using Elluminate!

Developing the live simulation for the online course

Another aspect of my course that I did not want to give up — the simulations. I have found that students really enjoy the role-playing experience, and students consistently report that they learn more about the subject of that lecture as a result of their participation in the simulation.

I have very much appreciated the expertise and the support of the Distance Learning team in developing this online course. I was especially pleased when the Instructional Designer working with me on this course — Karla Kmetz — explained to me that I could keep the simulation for Unit 4, Civil Liberties, if I used Elluminate live.

Ellumiate allows all of us to be together, virtually, at the same time. I had the video on — so students could see me — but for all of the other participants, we could hear their voices only. We posted instructions on how to use Elluminate in the assignment folder on Blackboard (our online course management system), but I wanted to run the simulation in Poynter Library, with Karla at my side, in case there were any issues. Karla also gave a mini instruction session before we got started.

Karla helping me with online course development

This simulation is a mock City Council Meeting. The Council is meeting to decide whether to grant permit to the Nazi Party to march through a predominantly Jewish neighborhood (of Holocaust survivors). The facts are based loosely on the case in Skokie, IL. Some students are on the City Council, some students represent the leadership of the Nazi Party, other students are residents in the neighborhood, attorneys for the ACLU, etc.

Usually I run this simulation in a room other than our classroom and have the set-up mirror a city council chamber as closely as possible.

I was wondering how this simulation would translate into an online forum where we could not even see each other.

I was so pleasantly surprised! It was amazing! In many ways, I think we had a better quality simulation than when I run this in person.

I was able to prompt students using the online chat tool — to give them suggestions and feedback and to answer their questions — in a way that was not disruptive to the class. (Usually I sit back and take notes, and I have been reluctant to interrupt the simulation to provide suggestions.)

Feeling good about the online course we developed

I was very pleased with how the students jumped right into their roles and the (greater) extent to which they integrated the cases and concepts from the Civil Liberties lecture in their presentations/questions.

Of course, I understood that many students would not be able to participate in the simulation at a particular date/time. I scheduled this simulation during a Friday lunch hour. We had enough students participate so that we could run the simulation. The students who could not participate on that Friday will watch the simulation (it is posted on Blackboard, so they can watch it at their convenience) and write a reflection paper.

The Distance Learning team also maintains a blog. Check out their post about our simulation and the Elluminate software.

Support for Online Course Development

The USFSP administration has encouraged faculty to consider developing online courses in an attempt to meet scheduling needs of students. Resources have been offered to faculty to assist in this effort.

For example, earlier this spring I participated in a faculty development workshop series offered by our Distance Learning team to learn how to develop a good online course (one that could be certified by Quality Matters).

As Larisa explains, her research project, Devolutionary Trends in the Republic of Moldova: the Case of Gagauz Yeri, “explores the origins of devolution in the Republic of Moldova, defining challenges to the unitary system and analyzing difficulties and opportunities that Moldova encounters with its territory’s integrity.”

More to come on the blog about our collaboration and about Larisa’s activities on campus. You can also read her blog.

For now, let me just say

WELCOME TO USF ST PETERSBURG
добро пожаловать
Bine ai venit

The Mission of Spark the Wave is to empower, train, and mentor the next generation of leaders who will impact the world through a lifelong commitment to community service.

I spoke with the Wave Week volunteers about the importance of volunteerism and about integration of civic engagement into the curriculum in the U.S.

Of course, this meant they heard a mini-US Constitutional Law lecture. I wanted to first discuss the concept of “citizen” in the U.S. Constitution and the rights (and responsibilities) of citizenship in the U.S. before moving on to a portrait of civic health in America — and efforts to improve civic health by integrating civic engagement in the curriculum. I discussed the objective of my work with the Florida Joint Center for Citizenship (conducting teacher trainings to implement the new Sandra Day O’Connor Civic Education Act which aims to incorporate civic education in K-12 curriculum in Florida) and my work expanding the Citizen Scholar Program at the University of South Florida St. Petersburg (first as Founding Director of the Center for Civic Engagement, now as Associate Director of the Bishop Center for Ethical Leadership and Civic Engagement).

It was through a connection with a Wave Week 2011 volunteer (my colleague Svetlana’s daughter Beatrice) that we developed one of my daughter Peggy’s community service projects in Chisinau (at Casa Gavroche) — so I also had a personal experience to share about the ripple effects of their community service projects in Moldova that related to civic engagement in the K-12 curriculum in the U.S. (Peggy’s volunteer work in Moldova was a partial fulfillment of her gifted class Kids Care assignment in Madeira Beach, FL.)

• If you are interested in taking a Citizen Scholar course at USFSP, please see our Citizen Scholar Course Catalog.
• Read more data about civic life in the US.

I was pleased when they invited me to deliver a guest lecture to attorneys in Chisinau as a part of their speaker series.

I delivered a lecture about the history and operation of the U.S. Supreme Court that included a behind-the-scenes tour.

I will be giving a modified version of this lecture and tour on Monday, August 24 in my U.S. Constitutional Law class.

The Florida Joint Center for Citizenship is a joint effort among the Lou Frey Institute at the University of Central Florida, the Bob Graham Center at the University of Florida, and the University of South Florida.

In May I participated in a 3-day workshop at the Lou Frey Institute to learn more about the Sandra Day O’Connor Civics Education Act and its implementation in Florida.

Occasionally I will be conducting teacher trainings (as the Content Expert) with new teachers of civics around the state.

Tropical Storm Debby …. which brought road/bridge closures, flooding, sandbagging, a water main break in the training facility …. could not keep these dedicated teachers from the professional development workshops.

I am absolutely delighted to be a part of this vital effort to improve civics education in Florida.

The truth is, I have resisted online teaching. I enjoy the interaction with my students in the classroom. I incorporate civic engagement opportunities and experiential learning opportunities in every course that I teach. I have worried about how to maintain this high level of engagement in an online course.

However, the university put forward resources to help faculty to design high quality online courses, and in August 2011 I applied for a distance learning course development grant.

In April 2012 I participated in a four-part course organized by the instructional design department at Poynter Library.

I am working with wonderful staff who are going to make sure that my online course is as engaging and rewarding as the courses that I teach face-to-face.

Read an article I drafted — “Learning Citizenship by Doing: Evaluating the Effects of a Required Political Campaign Internship in American Government” — about the impact of the campaign internship in my previous face-to-face American Government courses.

Now I will be studying civic engagement in the online classroom…

However, on this last day of October Term 2011, the Supreme Court of the United States handed down its decision in National Federation of Independent Business, et al v. Sebelius (2012), ruling on the constitutionality of the Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act (“Obamacare”). Needless to say, we discussed the Court’s ruling and its impact on the 2012 presidential election instead.

We cover Congress’s power under the Taxing and Spending Clauses and under the Commerce Clause in POS 4614 US Constitutional Law I (which I will be teaching again Fall 2012). One of the assignments I have developed is a Mock Supreme Court Oral Argument.

We usually have the opportunity to reserve one of the courtrooms at Stetson College of Law for our simulation.

Some students are Supreme Court Justices, while others are the attorneys arguing the case. We typically break the class in half and do one Commerce Clause case and one Separation of Powers case.

In Fall 2010 (when I was teaching on a Fulbright in Moldova at ULIM) I patterned the Commerce Clause case after this challenge to the ACA “individual mandate.” I need to go back and look at my notes to see who won the arguments in our simulation two years ago. We agreed that we would discuss again after the Supreme Court issued a ruling in the case. I’m actually heading back to Moldova this summer, so we may even be able to have a discussion in person.

Read the 193-page slip opinion.

In any case, what a treat to be a guest on “Last Call Thursday,” and to hear immediate reaction to the Supreme Court’s decision.

When I was Director of the Comment Line at the White House I used to say that we “had our fingers on the pulse of American democracy.” My favorite was fielding the calls on the evening of the President’s State of the Union Address.

Now the news networks have those ticker tapes that run along the bottom of the screen, gauging how the audiences are reacting to the speech. It was a privilege to hear the thoughts of the callers directly.

That’s how it felt in the studio, fielding calls from throughout Tampa Bay.

I will look forward to a future appearance on “Last Call Thursday” to discuss the issue of civic education and civic engagement.

As a part of the course assignments, each student interned on a presidential campaign here in Florida.

I recently organized a Celebration Event to present students with a book of materials from the course (photo gallery, excerpts from students’ blogs, internship papers, journals).

Pizza lunch for Road to the White House students

Since the internship assignments were due the last week of class, there was no time to edit the book before final exam week was over.

A special thanks to Melissa DePasquale, who helped me prepare the materials for the book.

We were missing a few of our Obama interns, since they were over with the President in Tampa.

Student shows me a picture on his phone of him on the balcony outside Speaker Boehner’s Office.

But we did enjoy hearing from one of the students who is now a Regional Field Organizer on the Romney Campaign about his recent trip to DC where he attended trainings at the RNC.

We were pleased that Dean Bill Heller, Director of the Bishop Center for Ethical Leadership and Civic Engagement, could join us as well.

We are grateful for the Course Development Grant from the Bishop Center that supported this course.

To learn more about the Road to the White House course (and to read students’ blogs about their experiences on the campaign trail), see www1.usfsp.edu/whitehouse.