Drafting a Renewable Changemaker Assignment, Workshop, or Learning Activity
This section is an invitation to get curious about your understanding of changemaking and the ways that it might naturally fit into your course curriculum or learning context. Whether you enter and leave this section at the brainstorming stage or journey to the end with a fully designed assignment, workshop, or learning activity depends on where you are at on your own journey, as well as what you hope to get out of this experience. Our hope is that you take what you need most from this learning experience with an open invitation to revisit, refine, and redraft at your own pace and in your own time.
Designing a Draft in Four-Parts
Using Ashoka’s (n.d.) Steps to Guide the Changemaker Journey, as well as the cycle of action research, we invite you to move through a four-step process including:
- Planning: Finding your Spark and Vision
- Acting: Getting to Work
- Observing: Analyzing and Refining
- Reflecting: Sharing and Learning
If you are interested in working through Ashoka’s Changemaker Journal for Educators, check out Guidepost #5: Expand – Additional Practicing Changemaking Tools at the end of this module. Additionally, while we will not be discussing the details of Action Research, we encourage you to learn more using Action Research (eBook), an open educational resource and guidebook.
Choose Your Own Adventure
Before you dive into the learning below, select the most appropriate or relevant template as an entry point to begin mapping how changemaking will be enacted in your learning context.
- Download Changemaking Assignment Template [Doc]
- Download Changemaking Lesson Plan Template [Doc]
- Download Changemaking Workshop Template [Doc]
- Download Changemaker Syllabus Template [Doc]
Step 1 – Planning: Finding your Spark and Vision
As a changemaking educator, planning is key to your success! Thinking of your own discipline area, course curriculum, or learning context, think about the following reflection questions. Jot down thoughts, ideas, words, images, or insights that resonate for you.
- What is my understanding of changemaking?
- How have I practiced changemaking within my learning context already? In what ways am I promoting it?
- How could/has changemaking education nurtured my learners alongside myself?
- What is the vision that inspires how I design, deliver, and enact educational opportunities inside and outside the classroom? How does changemaking align with my vision?
Next, brainstorm a list of areas including assignments, activities, or topics where changemaking might naturally fit and select one idea that you would like to develop further.
Then identify the changemaker competency (or competencies) that most align with your idea (i.e., empathy, teamwork, leadership, or practicing changemaking).
Finally, choose one or two relevant UN SDGs that you can map onto the assignment, activity, or topic. If you are uncertain where to begin, start by researching your institution’s connection to the SDGs taking note of strategic priorities.
Step 2 – Acting: Getting to Work
Thinking again about your own discipline area, course curriculum, or learning context, what concrete steps can you take to put your idea into action? Next, determine how you might employ one element of changemaking into your assignment, activity, topic, or learning context to provide intentional space to nurture changemaking skills. Let the following questions help to guide your thinking.
- What do you need to do, explore, or understand to make your chosen changemaker competency explicit and intentional for learners?
- How can you involve learners in the design, development, or delivery?
- What resources will support your idea?
- What skills and knowledge will learners already have in order to be successful? What skills will learners need to develop?
- What do you want learners to know?
- How will a scaffolded approach be used?
- What are the learning objectives that you are trying to achieve?
- How will you account for the diversity of learners’ needs and ensure access for all?
Step 3 – Observing: Analyzing and Learning
Let’s get back to your draft map. See if you can take a step back to notice opportunities for refinement or re-envisioning. Take some time to observe what you have drafted and let the following questions spark any reimagining that might resonate with you.
- Has my understanding of changemaking changed, broadened, or expanded? If so, in what ways?
- Are my values and vision for changemaking education aligning with what I have planned? What adjustments can be made? Is this explicit for learners?
- Are the pedagogies I use or intend to use aligned with changemaking education?
- How am I accounting for learner differences, diversities, and needs?
- Do I need to seek additional support? Who can I connect with to continue my changemaking journey?
- Have I thoughtfully planned for community partnerships and/or community service learning where possible?
- How can this process be iterated as needed?
Remember that this is an open invitation to refine and revisit at your own pace. Perhaps you aren’t ready to do so now or maybe you would like to come back to this stage of observation once you implement or apply your plan into your course curriculum or learning context. Action research is an iterative spiral of learning, so we welcome you back to this stage whenever it feels right to return!
Step 4 – Reflecting: Share and Learn
Changemaking education is a communal process. We strongly encourage you to find your changemaker network, whether locally or globally, share your work, and continue refining and growing your ideas. We deeply appreciate your commitment to changemaking and want to be a part of your spiral of learning. Share your resources with us using our Changemaking Repository Padlet or sending an email to cmtoolkit@georgiancollege.ca. We can’t wait to hear from you!
