"I appeal to teachers...to remember that they above all others are the consecrated servants of the democratic ideas in which alone this country is truly a distinctive nation—ideas of friendly and helpful intercourse between all and the equipment of every individual to serve the community by his own best powers in his own best way."
-John Dewey
Public Sphere Pedagogy (PSP) embeds a "public sphere" in first-year courses, moving students from a typical classroom setting to a dialogue-rich environment. It focuses students' course reading, class discussion, and research efforts on contemporary public issues and places students in dialogue with diverse campus and community members. These public events provide students with opportunities to behave as adult participants in processes of dialogue and debate vital to the health of a democracy. PSP aims to increase students' sense of civic efficacy and personal responsibility. PSP students are more likely to persist to graduation than non-PSP students.
First-Year Experience collaborates with others in the development of civic engagement education. We work to contribute to students’ development and address the needs of our campus and community by taking John Dewey’s vision of public education to heart. This is accomplished through the use of Public Sphere Pedagogy and public events in first-year courses.
FYE is in the process of updating our “toolkits” to help others better understand what goes in to putting on our PSP events: Town Hall Meeting and Sense of Place. Check back soon for updated links below with more detailed information, including downloadable tools to help plan an event on your campus.
Town Hall Meeting
The Town Hall Meeting (THM) is our oldest, most proven, and nationally recognized program. In this toolkit you will find information about everything from recruiting community members to making name tags for the event. Our THM takes place within a tight timeframe and this efficiency is reflected in this toolkit, which emphasizes logistical considerations and scheduling. Your version of the THM may look drastically different, but these tools should still be helpful for you.
Chico Great Debate
The Chico Great Debate (CGD) is our largest and longest event, and has been nationally recognized. In this toolkit you will find information to help you in every conceivable area from publicity to moderator instructions. The CGD takes place over the course of 12 hours and incorporates a large number of students and community members, so this toolkit contains a lot of different kinds of logistical information.
Sense of Place
The Sense of Place Symposium on Connection (SOP) is a fantastic opportunity for many aspects of the Chico State campus and community to come together to learn from one another! Many people come together to help make this event possible, including faculty, teaching associates, student staff, and a variety of programs and groups from the campus and surrounding community. This toolkit will introduce you to some of the documents and procedures we use to organize and manage this project. Your version of SOP may look very different, but these tools should still help you organize a meaningful event for students.
If you have any questions about the materials found in these toolkits, please contact First-Year Experience at (530) 898-3705 or via email: fye@csuchico.edu.
