WHY WAS THIS CREATED?

Our prevailing orthodoxies are being upended as we have seen how capitalism, politics, ideologies, and even well-intentioned social impact efforts have increased inequities and polarization rather than reduce them. Students and leaders alike are craving how to be a better steward of the resources around us that can truly benefit more people. This has come under the banner of social impact, but requires a thoughtful, practical and introspective approach that’s holistic. This can be seen in the rise of social impact-oriented coursework and programming across higher education and more institutions that are rethinking their entire pedagogy to acknowledge systems of power and oppression. With the Covid pandemic and heightened collective consciousness of systemic racism and other societal ills, prospective and current students are craving this type of seminar.

WHERE IS THIS HOUSED?

Similar coursework within schools is through the vantage point of a particular school lens such as business, policy, or non-profits rather than a more encompassing frame. Instead of segmenting their learning between the classroom, clubs, and career, this seminar will integrate these artificially siloed domains combining traditional classroom teaching methods with practical application and introspection. At Georgetown University’s Capital Applied Learning Lab, this seminar will provide students with a comprehensive framework to engage in social change reflections alongside their practical impact internships.

HOW IS THIS COURSE DIFFERENT

By nature of its design, this seminar will speak to the themes of whole person learning and the connection between well-being and doing good. It takes an interdisciplinary approach that acknowledges the varying and important roles there are to do good, and lowering the barriers and costs of higher education.

In an effort to make this content and learning more accessible to all and to further broader social impact consciousness, a public website (this one!) will house the “open source” curricula and students will also devote a small portion of their time codifying their reflections and learnings to improve the course content. This is a curricular innovation in that it works in concert with an impact internship and provides a framework for self-directed exploration and reflection during a 14-week semester load. The open-sourced format of the curriculum will allow for outside speakers to augment the framework and provide practical flavor to the coursework itself.