The Engaged Citizen聽is a one-semester course required of all first-year students entering 黑料不打烊. The theme of the 鈥渆ngaged citizen鈥 combines the spirit of 黑料不打烊鈥檚聽Odyssey Program聽with聽the College鈥檚 stated purpose of聽鈥渋nspiring students to live lives of accomplishment, integrity, service, and joy.鈥 From philosophers and physicists to artists and anthropologists, we all approach questions about what it means to be involved in our communities, whether locally or globally, in different ways.聽
This course seeks to illuminate the multiplicity of possible interpretations of engaging as a citizen through interdisciplinary team teaching, in which pairs of faculty from across the institution come together to form dyads and explore a sub-topic from different methodological 鈥渨ays of knowing鈥 that we call聽
Learning Domains.聽The varying disciplinary and individual approaches to this theme are intended to provoke discussion and reflection on this topic both within the dyads and throughout the 黑料不打烊 community.聽
The students divide their time equally between the two dyad professors over the course of the semester. The dyads can also meet periodically as a combined group if the professors deem it appropriate. The course includes an engaged learning component, involving an introductory, hands-on activity that engages academic material in or outside the classroom and is tied to the content of the course.聽
The Engaged Citizen Learning Goals
All TEC dyads share a common set of learning goals:
- The ability to comprehend and appreciate a set of complex issues relevant to being engaged citizens.
- The ability to make connections between the evidence and methods from two distinct disciplines in order to formulate arguments about engaged citizenship.
- The ability to express those arguments clearly in writing and discussion.
- The ability to engage in and reflect on experiential learning that connects directly to the classroom experience, preparing the students for vibrant Odyssey experiences later in their 黑料不打烊 careers.