Talk:Public sphere pedagogy

Expansion Plans

Now that the article is up and running lets talk about improvement. I think a couple of sections might be needed. First something covering the assessment data on these programs. Specifically their success and failure rate. Second I think we should do some research to see what criticisms exist of public sphere pedagogy. As it is based on a idealized habermasian model I suspect there are critiques of its inclusivity and such. What other thought of expansion/refining do folks have? Ryanx7 (talk) 06:30, 15 March 2014 (UTC)

Expanding Applications

It appears that we could add a sub-section under applications for Socrates Cafe. Several universities have programs where students train as moderators and then hold public sphere events in local coffee shops where members of the community can come and engage in critical rational discussion via the socratic method.

Examples:

• http://asucom.appstate.edu/students/clubs-organizations/appspeaks/socrates-cafe
• http://washington.uwc.edu/campus/student-orgs/socrates-cafe

Discussion:
Before we add this in, I want to discuss the criteria for qualifying an event as a PSP application.

• Should PSP applications include student organizations or only curriculum embeds
• What elements must be present to qualify as PSP applications?

Ryanx7 (talk) 20:53, 16 March 2014 (UTC)
Response I have a couple of thoughts on this. First, the way the lede section is worded indicates that PSP is strictly connected to classroom assignments/content that is then integrated with the public beyond the college/university. Given that, it would seem student-driven, extracurricular activities do not fall under this category. They should either not be included OR the lede section can be reworked if there is an indication that extra-curricular activities count. Second, events like Socrates Cafe may be implemented differently in different contexts. For instance, if a class requires that students attend a certain number of these cafe events, does it become PSP? What about if the Socrates Cafes are open to the public and a student chooses to attend without formal requirements from a class? The distinction seems complicated to make.Graphemie (talk) 21:07, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

okay so it seems like if we wanted to make it fit we would have to find a institution(s) that uses the Socrates Cafe as part of their curriculum. I'll do some searching and report back. Ryanx7 (talk) 22:57, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

Another Candidate - Student Voices Programmes

Check out this quick write up I did about the student voices programs that have been implemented in several high schools in both washington and seattle.
User:Ryanx7/sandbox/Public Sphere Pedagogy

I think it meets our tentative criteria as it (1) is a built in part of curriculum, and (2) requires students to engage in others via a Digital Public Sphere. Thoughts? Ryanx7 (talk) 23:01, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

The Student Voices program seems like a good candidate for additional applications of PSP...and does a nice job expanding the concept beyond college/university. If there are no objections, I don't see why this wouldn't fit the criteria. Does there need to be a distinction in the article between traditional public spheres and digital public spheres? Graphemie (talk) 23:07, 16 March 2014 (UTC)

We could add a little bit to the Theoretical Foundations section in terms of discussing traditional vs digital publics.Ryanx7 (talk) 00:28, 17 March 2014 (UTC)

Guest lectures?

Looks interesting Ryanx7- I would just like to throw this out in case it may help. (I'm not sure it's directly related to PSP, specifically... I wish I knew enough to review more of the article.) I have been serving as an advisor to a seminar class at a small university in Japan. Other seminar classes at the university also require students to invite outside advisors to present in class, as well as go outside class to meet various local knowledgeable residents or professionals, in order to have students learn and gain perspective from others in society (esp. locally) besides professors and theory alone as part of their studies. In addition to going to cafes, would it be appropriate, under PSP, to also invite other members of the public in to the class? Or a mix of both? DavidBoudreau (talk) 18:04, 31 March 2014 (UTC)

Additional Examples of PSP

The "Handbook of Public Pedagogy" has an entire chapter devoted to the intersection of formal learning institutions and public engagement. I will be looking through for good examples...many of them are referred to as "Social Action Curriculum Projects" and seem to align well with PSP. It will just depend if the examples are actually built into the curriculum vs. being a product of an extracurricular activity or student club. Graphemie (talk) 18:13, 13 April 2014 (UTC)