Discussion 1: examining social change | EDSD 7900 – EdS Capstone Project: Creating and Supporting Effective Educational Practices | Walden University

  

A core principle of Walden University’s mission is to engage students in social change through their educational experience. If you have taken the time to explore the Walden University website on social change, you may have noted that social change can take many forms, from direct service to individuals, to working more broadly in the community, to developing programs or resources, and many other activities. The social change activities of Walden’s faculty, students, and graduates incorporate some or all of the eight features of social change explored by Callahan—scholarship, systemic thinking, reflection, practice, collaboration, advocacy, civic engagement, and human ethics. How has your thinking regarding social change, and your role as an agent of such change, evolved throughout your journey as a Walden student?

For this Discussion, you will analyze the features of social change as they relate to your experiences in enacting social, community, and educational change.

To prepare:

• Review the Callahan et al. (2012) paper and reflect on the eight features of social change. Which of the features are of interest to you and how might you become more involved in enacting social change in your field by highlighting those particular features?
• Review the Walden University sites regarding social change and Walden’s Global Days of Service. Think about your own past social change experiences in your community, how you currently effect      social change, and how you might plan to do so in the future.
• Read the Cooper et al. (2016) case study. Consider how the leadership practices of the teachers in the case study did or did not impact change within their schools. How might you become a leader in your program, school, district, or community to enact positive educational change?

  An explanation of the following:

• The two features of social change as described by Callahan et al. (2012) that interest you the most. Be sure to explain how those features might support your efforts in creating social change within your field.
• A past social change experience in your educational setting or community and what the web of eight features would look like for that experience. Be sure to explain why some features of social change would be higher or lower on the web.
• Your vision for enacting positive educational change in your setting and the leadership strategies and practices you will need to support your vision.

For this Discussion, and all scholarly writing in this course and throughout your program, you will be required to use APA style and provide reference citations.

Learning Resources

Note: To access this module’s required library resources, please click on the link to the Course Readings List, found in the Course Materials section of your Syllabus.

Required Readings

Fullan, M. (2016). The new meaning of educational change (5th ed.). New York, NY: Teachers College Press.

· Chapter 13, “The Future of Educational Change” (pp. 258–265)

Callahan, D., Wilson, E., Birdsall, I., Estabrook-Fishinghawk, B., Carson, G., Ford, S., . . . Yob, I. (2012). Expanding our understanding of social change: A report from the definition task force of the HLC Special Emphasis Project [White paper]. Minneapolis, MN: Walden University.

Social Change Web Maps [Diagrams]. Adapted from Expanding our understanding of social change, by ​Callahan, D., Wilson, E., Birdsall, I., Estabrook-Fishinghawk, B., Carson, G., Ford, S., Ouzts, K., & Yob, I., 2008. Baltimore, MD: Walden University. Adapted with permission of Walden University.

Cooper, K. S., Stanulis, R. N., Brondyk, S. K. Hamilton, E. R., Macaluso, M., & Meier, J. A. (2016). The teacher leadership process: Attempting change within embedded systems. Journal of Educational Change, 17(1), 85–113. doi:10.1007/s10833-015-9262-4

Walden University. (2016). Global days of service. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/about/social-change/global-day-of-service

Walden University. (2017b). Who we are. Retrieved from https://www.waldenu.edu/about/who-we-are

Review this site for information on Walden University’s mission and vision and its focus on social change.