Cross-disciplinary Collaboration: Sharing Course Activities with the College Community

JuliaGrace Jester, Ph.D., Psychology, Harrisburg Area Community CollegeJudith Rosenstein, Ph.D., Sociology, United States Naval Academy

Collaboration performed while at Wells College, Aurora NY

IntroductionThis poster discusses the benefits and problems in creating cross-disciplinary events that encompass both course assignments and activities for the campus as a whole. These observations are based upon the experiences of a psychology professor and a sociology professor who, while teaching a “stigmatization and stereotyping” class and a “hate crimes” class respectively, decided to do joint activities that were open to the college. The point was to open up our in-class discussions on these topics to the college community at large, with the intent being to build towards a proactive event about encouraging positive change.

The Courses

The Preparation

Creating a course-linked cross-disciplinary project takes a lot of preparation because a lot must be decided and arranged long before the class begins:Intense collaboration between teachersPlan the events:Must be equally relevant for both classesWhen, where, and who:In class, out of class, open to whole campus?Include requirements in syllabus and advertising for the courses:Balance the extra work with the “normal” work of the classPolicy Decisions:Can students be in both classes?Funding and logistics for events and foodPermission for moviesScheduling spaces

The MoviesThe first 2 events were movies that were open to the whole campus but were required for our students

Deconstructing Difference

Final project presentations for both classes Students decided projects and advertised the event Goals: Education in a palatable format Addressing the many aspects of hatred and

discrimination Involving audience Creating change

Results

Up to 10% of the campus in attendance High evaluations for classes Comments about long term responses, hope for

change Significant positive feedback from community and

administration“I just wanted to say that ‘Deconstructing Difference:

an interactive fair on tolerance’ was amazing. All the students did a great job and were very passionate about what they had learned. Kudos to you and to all of them! I learned a lot in just the few minutes I was there and really wish I could have spent more time.”

Wells College, Spring 2008 Stereotyping and Stigmatization-Jester Psychology class focusing on the development, content,

effects, and reduction techniques for stereotyping and stigmatization

Hate Crimes- Rosenstein Sociology course focusing on the social forces, group

differences, legality issues associated with, and recognitions of forms of hate crimes

The Events

Our events were open to the entire college community and consisted of:2 movies followed by guided open discussionan event called “Deconstructing Difference” where the students presented their final projects for each class Projects were developed through student discussion and selection over the entire semesterFinal projects had to entertain and educate

The Laramie ProjectHate crimes and stigmatization based on sexualityOpen viewing, guided discussion

American History XRace discriminationHate crimesWhite supremacyOpen viewing, guided discussionMore violent than previous, a building process, set up for final event, challenging the audience

Sample Project: Recognizing Stereotypes Represented in Cartoon Characters

Sample Project: Exploring the Use of Racial Stereotypes in Humor: Is Chris Rock’s comedy funny when read by other races?

Suggestion for engaging in this type of work:Early planning to structure the multiple timelinesCreating a joint vocabulary for ideas and disciplinesEngaging students as collaborators in the course designConnecting to campus groups that would benefit from involvement in course-related events.Events should increase in complexity/intensity. Events need structure but also some freedom for student- driven involvement

Suggestions for cross-disciplinary workMarketing and Environmental Studies

Encouraging sustainability and garnering supportBiology and Graphics Design

Realistic biological displays (i.e. gaming)Film Studies and Psychology

Representations of mental illness Psychology behind genre shifts

Literature and Sociology Cultural representations in popular fiction

Suggestions

Image Sources:All photos from the events taken by JuliaGrace JesterDeconstructing Hate flyer by Steven ThomasOther images from the following websites:http://nottheonlyone.files.wordpress.com/2009/02/american-history-x.jpghttp://www.learningfromlyrics.org/the-laramie-project%5B1%5D.gif