Essential questions

Today i was reading about essential questions (chapter 5) and I felt that I do fall into some of the questioning traps that are mentioned, for instance, opening up with a really deep, profound question but not following up with activities that allow students to inquire the answers or similarly have many interesting questions but not having a clear intent. This meant that students were engaged in thinking about a topic but never really new why. One of my steps will be to start thinking about my current goals and objectives in terms of potential units and questions.

New goals draft 1

After undertaking my needs analysis, I have decided to give a bigger focus towards individual responsibility rather than focus solely on institutions.

At the end of the course, students will be able to:

· Differentiate the roles of actors in society

o Explain the roles of individuals, institutions, and nature

o Define the concept of stakeholders

o Define good citizenship

o Give examples of differing perspectives

· Explore the impacts of individual and institutional decision-making

o Describe current social, cultural and environmental indicators

o Analyze the impacts of economic activities

o Explain externalities

o Explain cumulative effects

· Propose low impact strategies for decision-making

o Describe quality of life

o Explain sustainable development

o Give examples of individual and institutional responsibility

o Develop a plan of action for a local issue.

· Analyze the role of participation in society

o Describe power relationships among individuals and institutions & the economy, society and environment.

o Describe the values associated with effective participation

o Justify their own views of effective participation and collaboration

o Plan an effective participative process

Backwards Design - Stage 1 Curricular Priorities Draft

Students should be familiar with:

• corporate social responsibility (CSR)
  
• management principals and standards
  
• employee well being
• community relations
  
• eco-efficiency and sustainable production
  
• supply chain
• social marketing
  
• CSR reporting
  
• sustainable development
  
• multi-stakeholder processes

Students should know how to:

• explain CSR from the point of view of different organizations
• describe what a sustainable organization looks like
  
• describe CSR management principals
• explain the social and environmental impacts of a companies actions (at least superficially)
• analyze a companies position on the social responsibility spectrum and make recommendations
  
• identify the advantages and disadvantages of multi-stakeholder processes
• systemic and critical thinking skills (not sure where this goes yet)

Students should understand (develop attitudes) that:

• how their decisions and actions affect others (ethics, empathy)
  
• the importance of our social networks
• the importance of the environment
• the importance of long-term thinking
  
• the importance of confidence in relationships
• the importance of managing communication
• the benefits and challenges of participative processes
• the limits and challenges of corporate social responsibility
  

How do I make a difference?

Inspired by the comments received on my obstacles to teaching social responsibility entry, I searched and found the following SocialEdge Discussion:
How do I make a difference?