POLI328 Civic Engagement

Offered from Stetson University by Dr. William J. Ball

Video about the course that illustrates the subject matter and format.

This course is being offered as a traditional course in Spring 2010 and being prepared to be offered as a distance learning course starting in the Summer 2010 term. I am actively seeking students interested in taking the course for credit in the summer, so please contact me if you are interested at wball@stetson.edu. I'd be happy to talk with you about the course and assist you in getting registered.

A detailed description of the course follows, as well as a complete syllabus of the spring 2010 version, copies of the powerpoint slides and a complete audio transcript of the first week of class sessions.

In the distance learning format students will develop and conduct a community-based research projects that are individualized to their own communities and interests. These projects will replace the "hometown democracy" project detailed in the materials that follow.

The summer 2010 online course will convene 10:45 to 11:45am M-F from May 12 to June 29 (no class on May 31).

Bill Ball

Course description: Civic engagement is a course that will combine equal parts study of the contemporary theory and empirical research on civic engagement in the US with community based research (CBR) designed to enhance the level of civic engagement in the region surrounding the student.

Since the publication of Robert Putnam’s “Bowling Alone” essay in 1995 social scientists and other scholars have been studying the factors that account for differing levels of engagement in public life across citizens. We will examine this contemporary research from the perspectives of political and social institutions, individual backgrounds and identities, and personal motivations. Special attention will be paid to the differences among groups and individuals (including the underrepresented) rather than broad generalizations about the citizenry as a whole.

For the spring, 2010 semester the CBR project will consist of a voter education project for the “Hometown Democracy” initiative, which will appear as amendment 4 on the November, 2010 Florida ballot. Given Florida’s heavy reliance on rapid suburban growth for economic development and the intent of amendment 4 to take ultimate power over growth planning away from planning councils and give it to voters, amendment 4 will be a highly contentious and important decision for Florida voters. In the CBR project, we will work with local partners (governments, businesses, and non-profits) to design and implement a project to assist voters in this region with deciding how to cast their ballots and to increase participation by the typically underrepresented voters in a decision that will have direct impact on all Floridians. The distance learning version of the course will feature community projects individualized to the students enrolled.

Syllabus (pdf)

Powerpoint slides from day 1 and day 2

Audio transcript of day 1 (70 minutes, 30meg mp3)

Audio transcript of day 2 (70 munites, 20meg mp3)