Forced Experimentation: Teaching Civic Engagement Online Amid Covid-19

Forced Experimentation: Teaching Civic Engagement Online Amid Covid-19

By Taiyi Sun, Christopher Newport University

Challenges from COVID-19 were especially severe for teaching classes about civic engagement and organizing. Students who were previously instructed to practice the knowledge and skills learned in their communities were forced to move to e-learning. How can instructors teach civic engagement through distance learning? This article uses a class I taught during spring 2020, “People Power Change: Leadership as a Practice,” to demonstrate the use of a “three-H approach.” This approach focused on students’ head, heart, and hands through public narratives, strategizing, and taking action while also reexamining disruptions as opportunities.