Beyond Service-Learning: A Comprehensive Model for Undergraduate Civic Engagement

Abstract

Over the past decade, a growing number of scholars have called on American colleges and universities to renew their dedication to educating students for civic engagement. While recent efforts have been made to comprehensively define civic engagement and the skills and knowledge necessary for its accomplishment, the implementation and evaluation of educational models aimed at producing these results tend to be narrower in focus, most frequently examining individual undergraduate courses or co-curricular activities and the effects these have on specific forms of or skills for civic engagement In an effort to provide undergraduate students with broader and, at the same time, more concrete preparation for lives of civic engagement, the University of Michigan has established the Community Action and Social Change minor (CASC), a multi-disciplinary course of study housed in the University’s School of Social Work. Based on a series of focus groups and interviews with current students and recent alumni of CASC, this paper explores how such a program, including both its design and implementation, impacts students’ conceptions of civic engagement and plans for post-graduation involvement in a democratic society. Evidence suggests that CASC participants leave the program with a stronger commitment to civic engagement, a clearer idea of what this will look like in their own lives (direct service, policy advocacy, community organizing), and an enhanced sense of direction about how they will be civically engaged “in the real world.”