Workshop Summary

This workshop will introduce you to some of the skills you need to successfully integrate interdisciplinary expertise and research into your teaching practices. It will also offer practical tips and strategies for seeking out and building community partnerships that promote greater civic engagement among your students, as well as fruitful collaborations between your institution and the broader community.

By connecting classroom learning to the broader issues and interests of communities, students can gain important insights and a deeper understanding of the subject matter and the impact their education can have on their communities. From integrating other disciplines into your teaching to involving community voices and building mentorship and engagement programs, this workshop offers a variety of approaches to diversifying your teaching practices and bringing new thinking into your classroom.

In this workshop, Dr. Anderson will guide participants through a series of important considerations for using an interdisciplinary approach in teaching. Drawing on her own work studying communities, identities, and political behavior, she will discuss the benefits and challenges of integrating theories and methodologies from other disciplines into political science. She will also share insights from her own experience building partnerships with individuals and organizations outside the university, offering tips on how to identify the right partners, how to build meaningful relationships and engagement opportunities, and how to ensure maximum long-term benefit for students and for the community.

Outline

• Foundations of Interdisciplinary Teaching

  • Benefits of integrating other disciplines

  • Challenges and opportunities

  • Exercise: Identifying your teaching goals

• Community Engagement: Creating Opportunities

  • Community actors

    • Identifying potential partners

    • Matching the right voices and actors to the subject matter

  • Engagement in action

    • Building relationships

    • Ensuring shared benefits

    • Managing expectations

  • Exercise: Creating your engagement plan

• Group Discussion

  • Roundtable discussion of identified teaching goals and engagement plans

This workshop is cross-listed in Leadership and Professionalization.