Civic Engagement

Traditionally regarded as the Cinderella sector, further education (FE) is not yet recognized for its research potential and, if researched at all, tends to be 'researched on' rather than proactively enabled to carry out research itself. Although Britain's Learning and Skills Council's FE and Post-16 sector encompasses around six million learners, four thousand providers and £7.3 billion worth of provision, little research in the sector uses the extensive data-rich client base it serves. Few, if any, in-house research findings inform its professional practice. The Learning and Skills Development Agency Research Network and LSC Research Centre have begun to address this gap, mapping out a new blueprint for research developments in the sector, and raising a new capacity for in-house FE-focused research. These exciting national developments form the foundation for this book, which builds on the key importance of research to strengthen the role of further education as the main bridging sector between school and higher education at a time of Britain's increased national investment in raising achievements. This groundbreaking core text in a new field identifies and constructs a new theoretical framework for a specialist FE research culture, recognizing the unique contribution to research of FE practitioner-researchers. The book identifies good practice in this field through a series of in-depth case studies linked to appropriate and innovative research methods. The theoretical framework outlined links the concept of the critical reflective practitioner with the development of knowledge management techniques specific to Further Education research. This book will enable its readers to: 1. Recognize the value of undertaking research in their sector 2. Draw upon their current practice to develop research questions 3. Identify appropriate research questions and design appropriate research techniques accordingly 4. Interrogate other research, from associated fields 5. Undertake literature searches and derive information for a variety of sources 6. Use research -- their own or others' -- to inform their professional practice 7. Have the confidence to create, use and evaluate their sector specific research.

More details
Empowering Researchers in Further Education
By Yvonne Hillier and Jill Jameson
Contributor: Introductory Chapter by Andrew Morris
Published by Trentham Books, 2003
ISBN 1858562856, 9781858562858
194 pages

Research on youth civic engagement often sees the everyday lives of young people as barriers to civic engagement.  Recent qualitative approaches have drawn attention to the civic and political dimensions of young people’s everyday lives. This is a crucial insight, but cannot—by itself—answer a key question: Just how is it that everyday experience can be transformed into civic engagement?  I argue that Dewey's theory of experience makes two key contributions towards answering this question. First, Dewey’s situational understanding of experience directs us to the concrete conditions everyday life as the necessary groundwork and starting point for civic engagement.  Second, Dewey’s concept of reflective experience helps us understand how taken for granted assumptions about political and social life can be transformed into more active forms of engagement.  I illustrate this argument by drawing on selected findings from a qualitative study of young people’s experience in Public Achievement, a civic engagement initiative

This book recalibrates literature’s political role for the 21st century by excavating the deep history of storytelling as a civic agency. From Aristotle to Arendt and from the novella to the video story, short narrative forms hence become tangible as active vectors that enable and radically modulate the ontology of human encounters.

“Civic Storytelling lays bare the complex legacies and persistent powers of short narrative forms. Fuchs guides the reader with assurance and learning through fascinating moments in the history and theory of literature”
—Daniel Heller-Roazen, Princeton University

“Why has the novel stolen so much attention from the equally robust lineage of short forms? In his erudite and wide-ranging alternate literary history, Florian Fuchs rebalances accounts, revealing a long backdrop to our data floods and snippet reading. Short forms do not lead us out of the world, but into full engagement with it; they are the democratic media of the commons.”
—John Durham Peters, Yale University

“Civic Storytelling is a timely intervention in our age of debates about fact and fiction. Drawing on Hannah Arendt’s idea of enacted stories, Florian Fuchs makes a convincing case for the particular cognitive productivity of short narratives.”
—Eva Geulen, Humboldt University Berlin and ZfL Berlin

66% of social media users have employed the platforms to post their thoughts about civic and political issues, react to others’ postings, press friends to act on issues and vote, follow candidates, ‘like’ and link to others’ content, and belong to groups formed on social networking sites

Understanding how people engage in politics, and what motivates them to do so, has been an ongoing concern in the social science literature. Over the past decade, scholarly interest in boycotts and buycotts, which collectively comprise political consumerism—the deliberate purchase or avoidance of products for political or ethical reasons—has increased. However, these activities not been well conceptualized, and it is not clear what motivates people to engage in political consumerism. In this paper, I theorize that postmaterialist values increase the likelihood of engaging in political consumerism in the United States. To test this expectation, I use original, nationally representative U.S. survey data, and I find that postmaterialist values significantly increase the likelihood of engaging in political consumerism, while materialist values not, with controls in place for partisanship, ideology, and other democratic norms.

Digital innovation is radically transforming democratic decision-making. Public administrations are experimenting with mobile applications (apps) to provide citizens with real-time information, using online platforms to crowdsource ideas, and testing algorithms to engage communities in day-today administration.
The key question is what technology breakthrough means for governance systems created long before digital disruption. On the one hand, policy-makers are hoping that technology can be used to legitimise the public sector, re-engage citizens in politics and combat civic apathy. Scholars, on the other hand, point out that, if the digitalisation of democracy is left unquestioned, the danger is that the building blocks of democracy itself will be eroded.
This briefing examines three key global trends that are driving the ongoing digitalisation of democratic decision-making. First are demographic patterns. These highlight growing global inequalities. Ten years from now, in the West the differentials of power among social groups will be on the rise, whereas in Eastern countries democratic freedoms will be at risk of further decline.
Second, a more urbanised global population will make cities ideal settings for innovative approaches to democratic decision-making. Current instances of digital democracy being used at local level include blockchain technology for voting and online crowdsourcing platforms.
Third, technological advancements will cut the costs of civic mobilisation and pose new challenges for democratic systems. Going forward, democratic decision-makers will be required to bridge digital literacy gaps, secure public structures from hacking, and to protect citizens' privacy.

The Innovation Center for Community and Youth Development is a Washington, D.C.-based organization engaged in programming, research, and policy development related to youth civic engagement. Its mission is to unleash the potential of youth, adults, organizations, and communities to engage together in creating a just and equitable society.

Empirical studies of citizen communication networks and participation go as far back as the 1940s, with a bolder focus in political—not civic—activities. A consistent finding reveals that individuals with larger networks are more engaged than those with smaller networks. This article expands this line of work with a number of novel tests. First, it compares the predictive power of online

This essay examines the governance of small towns in the United States. Small towns have received little attention in the public administration literature to date, yet 1 in 10 Americans still lives in one, representing roughly 75 percent of all municipalities in the United States and some 33 million people. Small towns are characterized as dense, multiplex networks that lend unique dynamics to local politics. However, they face significant social, economic, technological, and demographic trends that compromise towns’ prevailing frame of reference, fracture their networks, and alter the traditional setting of small-town governance. In the face of these issues, “thicker,” more active ways of engaging the public are needed to reknit community bonds and build civic capacity. Service learning for master of public administration students is proposed as a way to develop the emotional intelligence necessary to make sense of the complex social dynamics of small towns and to facilitate the hard work of building enabling relationships.

This article analyzes the relevance of network embeddedness and social capital in allowing migrants’ associations to gain political capital and access to policy-making in the cities of Barcelona and Madrid. With data from a survey to migrants’ associations in both locations, we examine the degree to which embeddedness in networks of links with other migrants’ associations and with autochthonous Spanish civil society organizations are consequential for the inclusion of migrants’ organizations in policy-making processes. The results show that migrants’ organizational social capital is critical in facilitating their intermediation function vis à vis political institutions and decision-makers, above and beyond their access to financial and human capital.

Participation as such is connected with political, social and civic dimensions. Through participation, citizens can directly or indirectly help to make the public process become more transparent and more efficient. It allows citizens “to see" into a decision-making process, to understand it, as well as contribute and be able to control it. In practice, civic participation has various forms; it includes both formal civic associations and informal groups of citizens that develop activities in order to solve local problems. In this paper we focus on civic participation in the innovation in the provision of public services, i.e. co-creation. Our objective is to map the best practices of co-creation in social innovations at the local government level in Slovakia. The main findings of our analysis are that co-created innovations are mostly initiated by non-governmental actors. Our study uses a qualitative approach and is based on original survey data from our own research, conducted ...

This chapter explores the relationship between ethics, wearable technology and higher education through the lens of teaching with Google Glass.  Beginning with an introduction to Glass and to the contemporary concept of the digital citizen, the chapter traces out a pedagogical framework aimed at preparing learners to embrace their civic duty to contribute to the virtual world responsibly. Continuing with an investigation of ethical obligations, educational concepts, and learning exercises made available by advances in HET the chapter describes how to use Google Glass as a case study for examining the limits and possibilities of a new point-of-view angle on interactive instruction. To this end, students’ project-based and experiential learning about how Glass impacts communication culture and technology, commerce, security, access, etiquette, branding, ethics and law is described. The chapter concludes with a discussion of how technology’s ethical consciousness continues to be enacted and embodied via a “collusive” point-of-view angle and third voice that shed light on the ongoing rhetorical and pedagogical processes of expression, experience and identification in the "Gigabit Age."

In the National Strategy for Inner Areas included in the UE-Italy Partnership Agreement 2014-2020, improving accessibility is one of the priority axes of intervention, either as a lever of territorial cohesion, or a driver of economic development. In these areas, a still existing railroad,
even if abandoned or underused, may represent a strategic asset to
activate revitalization processes. On the other hand, innovative complementary services, including community transport, along with the availability of a smart platform to access them easily, may play an
important role in reducing car dependency among the locals and
attracting sustainable tourism. In the paper, the lesson learned from
some Italian and international good practices is put to use to
outline a comprehensive approach to the accessibility of inner areas,
using Garfagnana, in the Tuscan Apennines, as a case study.

The term social capital has been identified as a collection of resources that either an individual or organization gains through a set of communal norms, networks, and sanctions. Social capital can be viewed on both the collective and individual resource
front and has been studied, analyzed, and reported on the micro, meso, and macro levels. The article reviews the literature on social capital from different perspectives. Specifically, the article focuses on bonding, linking, and bridging social capital. It
also provides a small empirical evidence of social capital among young adults with discussions for future research and implications for civic engagement and social capital.

Crowdsourcing has emerged as an exciting new method for data collection yet its eficacy remains
poorly understood. As part of our mission to end the social acceptability of sexual harassment in Egypt,
HarassMap has conducted a study to investigate the strengths and weaknesses of crowdsourcing as a
data collection method comparing it to traditional data collection techniques, such as questionnaires,
focus groups and interviews. This study took place in order to draw a clearer picture of the role
crowdsourced data can play both in our work and the work of others, as well as to provide insights
into how sexual harassment, which has long been an issue in Egypt, is conceptualized and understood.
The research was conducted in six administrative units of Greater Cairo (Helwan, Imbaba, Masr Elgedida, Masr El-qadima, Shubra El-kheima, and Shubra Masr) covering a range of socio-economic
backgrounds.

Державні підходи до громадянської освіти та її включення до навчальних програм Як освітній предмет громадянська освіта з'явилось в Україні на початку 2000-го року. Розробка першої Концепції громадянської освіти (виховання) особистості в умовах розвитку української державності здійснювалася на виконання завдань «по розробці концепції громадянського виховання як процесу оволодіння особистістю системою національних і загальнолюдських цінностей, формування патріотизму, відповідальності за долю нації, держави, розвитку психологічної готовності та практичної здатності людини служити інтересам держави, вносити власний вклад у реалізацію національної ідеї», зазначених у Національній програмі патріотичного виховання населення, формування здорового способу життя, розвитку духовності та зміцнення моральних засад суспільства, прийнятій в 1999 р. Відповідальність за розробку Концепції була покладена на Академію педагогічних наук, яка представила її у 2000 р. Відповідно Концепції, поняття громадянської освіти розумілось як «виховання», що стосується суспільної та приватної сфери, а саме як процес формування громадянськості як інтегрованої якості особистості, що надає людині можливість відчувати себе морально, соціально, політично, юридично дієздатною та захищеною. Воно покликане виховувати особистість чутливою до свого оточення, долучати її до суспільного життя, в якому права людини виступають визначальними. Підхід Академії педагогічних наук розділив поняття громадянської освіти як виховання та громадянської освіти як «формальної освіти», орієнтованої на отримання знань та вмінь, пов'язаних з правами та обов'язками людини/громадянина: «Громадянська освіта – це навчання людей тому, як жити за умов сучасної держави, як дотримуватись її законів, але водночас і не дозволяти владі порушувати їхні права, домагатися від неї здійснення їхніх правомірних потреб, як бути громадянином демократичного суспільства». Подальший розвиток концепцій і підходів в громадянській освіті відбувався завдяки першим великим проектам з громадянської освіти, які співфінансувались міжнародними донорами, такими як: Демократична освіта, українсько-канадський проект Університету Квінз, Онтаріо; Українська мережа громадянської освіти – UCEN, заснована IREX; «Освіта для демократії в Україні» в рамках Трансатлантичної програми підтримки громадянського суспільства в Україні. Ці проекти стали основою для включення питання громадянського виховання до шкільних програм, а також до програм неформальної освіти та освіти для дорослих. Тим не менш, в результаті цього громадянське виховання так і не було включене у правові рамки освітньої політики. Пілотні програми отримали визнання завдяки схваленню на рівні міністерств. Програми та навчальні посібники були рекомендовані як «факультативний предмет». Пілотні

CHAPTER 3 INDICATORS OF ENGAGEMENT Elizabeth L. Hollander1 John Saltmarsh2 Edward Zlotkowski3 Campus Compact INTRODUCTION As institutions of higher education reshape their organizational and administrative structures and functions in alignment with community-...

A critical feature of contemporary models of civic engagement is mutually-beneficial collaboration between campus and community partners, in which all members contribute knowledge, skills, and experience to co-create knowledge. To date, most research has focused on student outcomes, and we know much less about how to develop successful campus-community partnerships. This article reviews the challenges and opportunities in establishing and maintaining
these partnerships to address issues in Trenton, NJ, USA. We first review best practices for developing partnerships between potential stakeholders on campus and in the community. We then describe the infrastructure at The College of New Jersey (TCNJ) that supports the
development of these partnerships and present 3 case studies that highlight how they were maintained to offer a range of civic engagement activities that benefit all stakeholders involved in the collaboration. Finally, we present recommendations for developing and maintaining partnerships at other institutions.

Why do NGOs exist today? Two reasons: the retreat of centralized government and the keen interest of donors. In the era of governance reform, one of the NGO's key mandates is to advance social, political, and economic development. To succeed at this, NGOs must reassess their operations. NGOs in the South ought to shift from implementing their own programs to building the community's capacity to achieve sustainable livelihoods. And NGOs in the North ought to concentrate on helping Southern ones achieve their goals.

This thesis explores a pedagogical enquiry that has transformed the way I think and the way I teach. I used a variety of critical and theatre theories to frame my enquiry and for four years consecutively, visited a non-government organization (NGO) in India that uses theatre as an alternate pedagogical tool. I reflected upon the methodological differences between the theatre practices of the NGO and my practices. I then turned my enquiry inward to consider how my learning informed my teaching practices. I then created an alternate theatre project for some students in the American Midwest with Ashok, an artist from India. Ashok spent twelve days training the students in what I refer to as action theatre, while I coordinated, observed and reflected. This theatre is a form of social activism; it is designed to provide a forum for the students to express their sociopolitical views and raise individual and collective social awareness in the process. After the training period, the student...

Worldwide, the use of digital communication networks has been a key strategy in activist events involving demonstrations. Its use was evident in the media’s repeated publication of pictures taken on demonstrators’ mobile phones during actions
that have overthrown heads of state during the Arab Spring in 2011. In countries such as Tunisia, Egypt, and Libya, social network websites and mobile communication devices (phones and notebooks) were used widely for organizing participants and for recording events.
This work intends to analyze not only how communication technologies have contributed to the emergence of such events but also how image production can be interpreted in such environments. Since the use of social media in protests
caught the attention of broadcasting media in 2009 during demonstrations in Iran, a strong connection can be noticed between the content circulating through digital
communication technologies and the body. For images produced during the Arab Spring, the same is observed with a series of strategies connecting body image and social mobilization.
Our intention is to contribute to the debate of political images, considering the way they have been produced in contemporary society, which deals with a complex environment composed of communication technologies, social organization, and the body itself.