Teaching and
Learning in the City
St. Olaf College
St. Olaf College and HECUA are working in partnership on a three-year project
designed to develop first-year seminars that explore the role of experience
in education, provide first-hand experience with issues of diversity and make
connections between global and local. The core of the work is the development
of a series of courses for first-year students that give students direct experience
with a wide range of people, cultures and issues. HECUA facilitates the “urban
immersion” experiences in the Twin Cities as part of the courses and works
with faculty ahead of time to design courses with intentional experiences and
social-justice frameworks.
“Service-Learning
for Social Justice” in Northern Ireland
Gustavus Adolphus College
A group of faculty and administrators from Gustavus Adolphus College attended
a week-long seminar entitled “Service Learning for Social Justice”
at HECUA’s site in Northern Ireland (UNESCO Center). HECUA program directors
worked closely with Gustavus faculty in a retreat-like setting exploring issues
in Northern Ireland and developing service-learning courses. Participants also
focused on creating a seminar to continue conversations back on campus toward
better connecting students and courses to social themes using experiential and
service learning as a tool for teaching.
Best Practices
of Experiential Education
Williams College
Following the Williams-HECUA J-Term “Experiencing Guatemala” in 2001,
HECUA has provided two one-day faculty development seminars at Williams. The
first was a short seminar on the best practices of experiential education and
theories of learning that guide best practices of teaching. The second seminar
focused on experiential education and curriculum design funded through the campus-based
Gaudino Scholars money. Similar programs have been conducted by Augustana College,
Macalester College and the University of Minnesota.
Group Wheels:
Exploring Public Art and Social Change
College of St. Catherine
HECUA provided a one-day urban immersion program to the School of Social Work
at the College of St. Catherine. This art tour highlighted public works in the
Longfellow, Capitol Hill, and West Side neighborhoods of St. Paul and Minneapolis.
The program was funded through a Bush Foundation grant focused on community
collaboration and issues of diversity on campus and focused on the use of public
art as a vehicle for social change.
Diversity and
Democracy: Can it Work?
Lutheran College Consortium, Teagle Foundation grant
A summer workshop designed and led by HECUA staff included a “mobile workshop”
that guided participants in learning to read the urban landscape. It included
field experiences and interaction with a variety of community artists and organizers.
Faculty, staff and students from St. Olaf, Luther, Concordia-Moorhead, and Gustavus
Adolphus Colleges took up important questions of diversity and higher education.
This workshop was part of the Lutheran College Consortium work on diversity.